Page 67 of Reckless
“Why would beauty concern me?”
Britney muttered, “Because it has a security team.”
Roxanne laughed.“You are all so practical.It’s exhausting.”
“Someone in this family has to be,” Miley said.
“Yes,” Roxanne said.“That is what the men think they do, but they are also wrong.”
“For what?”Miley asked.“Preparing for an uprising?”
“That’s not an answer.”
“It is if you are dressed well enough.”
Hope laughed helplessly.
“It’s beautiful,” Avril said softly.
Roxanne’s whole face warmed.“Thank you, azizam.”
She started opening cases with the excitement of a woman showing children her favorite room in a museum she personally owned.Which, I guessed, was basically what this was.
Hope got pulled toward emeralds.
Miley got cornered into trying on a pair of absurdly expensive earrings and looked like she wanted to sue everyone present.
Isabel slipped into easy conversation with Roxanne about cuts and settings and older pieces.
Avril stood near me, wide-eyed and a little overwhelmed, and whispered, “This is too much.”
“It’s definitely too much,” I said.
“It can be both.”
Britney stayed on my other side, arms folded, gaze moving around the room with the exact kind of cool suspicion she usually reserved for financial men in custom suits and systems built to make women grateful for crumbs.
Then Hope made the mistake.
She turned from the emerald case and looked right at me.
“So,” she said carefully, “how are we feeling?Do you still hate me and Charlie from stopping that.”
I didn’t answer right away.
Roxanne was across the room.Miley was trapped in pearl-related despair.Isabel and Avril were distracted.This was as private as the night was going to get.
Britney had gone still.I set down the bracelet I’d been pretending to admire and looked at all three of them.
“No,” I said.
Hope blinked.“I didn’t mean?—”
“I know what you meant.And the answer is I’m fine.”
“You don’t look fine,” Hope said carefully.“Maybe shouldn’t have let Charlie stop you both.You look like you’re lost.”
“Can’t be lost in a sealed vault complete with security.”
