Fame by Susan X Meagher

Author:Susan X Meagher [Meagher, Susan X]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Brisk Press
Published: 2017-06-16T04:00:00+00:00

***

Charlie’s diet allowed for four ounces of fish for dinner, and as many green, red, or orange vegetables as she wanted. All had to be prepared without oil or butter or sauce, of course, making them even less appealing to Piper’s vegetable-averse palate. But Piper cooked for both of them, tossing some frozen tater tots into the oven for herself, while Charlie asked questions about all of the projects that were in her “possible” folder. After they’d eaten, Piper reluctantly went to her apartment, with her little shadow begging to tag along.

She normally liked spending the evening alone, especially when she’d had a lot of human contact during the day, and today had been chock full of it. But having both time and the opportunity just made the prospect of calling Haley that much more ominous.

Every instinct was to let it ride, to tell her about the job once she returned home. That was how to have a productive conversation about this—face to face. But Haley clearly wasn’t amenable to secrets, and Piper assumed that held true for this scenario. Even though she only wanted to delay the timing of the discussion, she resisted. Despite her instinct that this could mean the death knell of their fledgling relationship, she texted Haley, asking for a call back when she had time to talk.

It took an hour, but her phone finally rang. Quickly, she put in her ear buds and said, “Hi, there.”

“Hi,” Haley said, sounding relaxed and happy. “I hope you had as good a day as I did.”

“Mine was okay. But tell me about yours first.”

“Oh, there’s not a lot to say. Just that I got to spend most of the day with my maternal grandmother, who I am absolutely crazy about.”

“Aww, I bet she’s crazy about you, too.”

“True. We worked in her garden all day.” She laughed. “Calling it a garden doesn’t do it justice, though. She grows everything from sweet corn to watermelon, and she does all of the work herself.”

“How old is she?”

“Gonna be eighty,” Haley said. “The only concession she’s made to age is that she now uses a little stool when she’s weeding. Other than that, you’d think she was sixty.”

“I hope you got those genes,” Piper said. “Mine are pretty defective. My mom’s parents were dead before I was born, and my mom didn’t even make it to forty.”

“Poor Piper,” Haley soothed. “I wish you’d been dealt a better hand in the parent game.”

“Yeah, it would have been nice. But I can’t complain. At least I don’t have a bunch of relatives sponging off me like some of my friends do.”

“No,” she admitted, laughing a little. “Your sister seems like she’d go the other way. What’s the opposite of sponging?”

“Um, exactly what she’s doing.” She cleared her throat and steeled herself. “That’s why I called, actually.”

“What do you mean?”

“My sister wants to throw a bunch of money at me. And even though I don’t want to take it, I’m going to.”

“What…” Piper could hear her take in a sharp breath.

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