Page 65 of Not In The Contract

“I’ll come pick you up,” she said excitedly. “I’m almost there anyway.”

She hung up before I could ask her why she was so close. I threw one last glance at the live feed of my class before shutting the lid of my laptop, effectively silencing the old man.

I walked back down the hallway into Alex’s office and poked my head around the corner.

“Katya,” I whispered, and she looked up expectantly.

“Yeah?”

“I’m heading out to lunch,” I said. “Alex is only back around two, right?”

“Yeah, she’s got one more site visit,” Katya said with a smile.

“Okay, I’ll be back way before then,” I said. “Do you want me to grab anything for you while I’m out?”

She shook her head, waving me out with a chuckle.

I turned to leave but paused and looked at Katya again.

“This is super personal, but uh,” I paused, and she looked at me, waiting. “Are you seeing anyone?”

Her red lips stretched into a smile and she shook her head.

“Who has time for that?” She chuckled.

“Exactly!” I groaned. “Ugh, if only I could get that through Tamera’s skull.”

“Tamera?”

“My best friend,” I explained. “She’s relentless—sorry, you don’t want to hear about that. I’ll see you later!”

Katya blinked in surprise at my sudden farewell and waved me off.

I met Tamera outside on the sidewalk, half hanging out her window in her hurry to wave me down.

“Let’s go, I’m starving!” she called and I climbed into the passenger seat.

She sped into traffic with the radio at full volume, blasting her favorite song as she sang along. The familiarity of it helped whittle away at my anxiety, and soon enough I was singing just as loud as she was.

We arrived at our favorite restaurant and went inside, grabbing our usual spot near the street-facing window.

“You still haven’t told me about your run in with the crazy sister,” Tamera whined.

“She’s not crazy,” I scolded but there was no heat in my words. “But itwaspretty crazy. I can’t remember the last time I wanted to crawl out of my own skin.”

“Was it really that bad?” She frowned. “I thought Alex would have stepped in.”

“I don’t think her stepping in was necessary,” I explained. “It was just uncomfortable. She was trying to grill me about my studies and what I was doing at Alex’s place. It was weird.”

“She seems obsessed with her sister,” Tamera observed, her lips turning down at the corners. “At an extremely unhealthy level. Have you talked to Alex about it?”

“I want to,” I hummed. “It just feels personal and I don’t know how to broach the subject.”

“I mean, the whole point of you staying there is to get personal,” she pointed out.

”Yeah, but it’s uncomfortably personal.”

Tamera shrugged, stretching her arm out to flag down a waiter. “You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do.”