Page 10 of Be My Valentine

“The ones in the window. I asked Allie to display them, so I don’t even have to go inside to see them!” She immediately felt like a perfect idiot, but Emma seemed to take no notice and peeked at the pair indicated.

“Boy are they beautiful! They’d look so good with this suit you have on under your coat.”

Her outfit, the final lunge of the “bitch.” Kate hunched her shoulders.

“Did I say something wrong? Again? What did I do?” Emma asked.

“Some nonsense, I was pointed out that it’s not exactly fashionable.”

“Nonsense! This cut never goes out of style.” She confidently opened her coat to peer more closely at the dress “It looks amazing on you. Way too much. Let me guess. Annie Carson, right?”

Kate looked at her in wonder.

“Yeah, I know her too, she’s kind of a legend,” she sat back down “I’ll try on the other shoe, and I think I’ll take these!”

“Seems the least you can do,” her brother objected “you’ve been wearing one for half an hour.”

“Really? I didn’t realize. I delayed the closing of the store, too. Tell you what, I’ll take the Louboutins too, not Kate’s, the model next door. Sooner or later my feet will go back to normal!”

“They’re not my Louboutins…” said Kate in a huff, but Emma was unstoppable.

“Anyway, it’s clear that Annie Carson can’t stand anyone, especially attractive, younger women, and you, my dear, are both. Plus, she’s still hoping to bed my brother. So, eliminate the competition by nipping her right in the bud.”

Competition? He barely tolerates me!

“Emma, stop it!” Mark attempted to curb the ongoing avalanche.

“It’s the truth and it’s not a secret! You’re new, you were going to hear about it from someone else sooner or later. But, again according to the rumors, her mission has not been accomplished. That’s still true, eh Mark?”

“Oh my God! I did not sleep with Annie Carson!” He blurted out.

“And you better not, or I’d never speak to you again.”

“That might be a valid reason to do it…” Muttered the lawyer.

“I heard you! Don’t be an idiot.” finally she spoke again to Kate “Her nickname is Carson ‘Boob Job’.”

“That rumor got to me.” Confirmed Kate, smiling.

“See, you’re fitting in! Like having stratospheric boobs means you have perfect ones, I mean, look at you, yours aren’t huge, but they’re perfect! Aren’t they, Mark? Aren’t they perfect?”

“Jesus!” groaned her brother, “Get out! Now!” He yanked her by the arm.

“I still have to pay!” Protested the sister, grabbing Kate on the fly.

“I paid,” he roared, dragging them both to the sidewalk outside the store, “while you were talking about Annie Carson’s tits.”

“I was talking about hers, too.” She pointed to Kate, who instinctively tightened her coat.

Attorney Arrow looked exhausted.

“Miss Donovan, please accept my apologies and those of my sister. I am truly mortified.”

“Why don’t you call her Kate?” Emma asked as she hopped from one foot to the other. It was obvious how much she enjoyed teasing her brother.

“Because she’s not a friend, she’s my employee and I don’t call employees by their first name.”

Annie Carson can call you “Mark,” though.