Page 111 of Positively Pricked

This, I could believe, but only because Zane was such a jerk now. In comparison,anyversion of him would be nicer, right?

But this wasn't the time or the place to be discussing it, so I gave a small shrug and kept my eyes trained on my book.

Undaunted, Teddy continued. "Anyway, when it came to girls, he always went for the farmer's daughter type, so if you ask me, it's only a matter of time."

More heat rushed to my face, and of course, it didn't help that my parents were, in fact, farmers.

What were the odds?

Oblivious to my discomfort, Teddy kept on talking. "Zane’s grandfather – a really nice guy, by the way – had this thing for old TV shows.I love Lucy. Father Knows Best…." He gave a small laugh. "…Gilligan's Island.So sometimes, we ended up watching along in his media room, you know?"

I gave a noncommittal shrug. It wasn't that I wasn't interested. It was just that I was so terribly conscious that Zane could be listening.

And besides, I wasn't sure how much of this I actually believed. Even as far as the grandfather, the guy had been absolutely loaded. I had no idea what rich people did in their free time, but for some reason, I couldn’t imagine them watching old reruns on TV.

Then again, I was no expert. After all, it wasn’t like we saw a lot of billionaires down on the farm.

Teddy was still talking. "But Zane? He was all for Mary Ann. Never Ginger."

It took me a minute to realize that he was referring to the characters onGilligan's Island.I'd seen only a handful of reruns, but this was more than enough to know that Mary Ann was a farmer's daughter, while Ginger was a movie star.

Now that I thought about it, Ididlook a little like Mary Ann. Or maybe that was just wishful thinking. Either way, I was definitely no Ginger.

I gave a little shake of my head. Why was I even thinking about this?

More desperate than ever to end this conversation, I looked to Teddy and said, "Well, he likes Gingers now, so…" I let the words trail off, as if there was nothing else to be said.

"Oh yeah?" Teddy replied. "So why'd he kick Ginger off the plane?"

Obviously, he was speaking metaphorically – unless her name reallywasGinger, which I highly doubted.

I said, "That's an easy one. He kicked her off because she was being a pill."

"So were you. Andyou'restill here."

"Oh, please," I said. "I wasn't the one who threw a giant hissy-fit. And besides, you were kind of a pill yourself."

He frowned. "I was not."

I returned my eyes to my book. "Sure, you weren't."

"All right, fine," he said. "But here's a fair warning. Youdon'twant to get involved with that guy."

"I wasn't planning on it."

"You know he's an asshole, right?"

I gave Zane a nervous glance. "AllIknow is that he's my boss, and I don't feel comfortable discussing this."

Stubbornly, Teddy said, "Yeah, well he's my boss, too."

With a sigh, I set aside my book and turned to face him. "Oh, come on. He's not just your boss. He's your cousin."

"So?"

"So maybe you two should, I dunno, patch things up."

Teddy looked at me like I'd lost my mind. "With that asshole? You can't be serious."