The Sunday Arrangement Read Online Free Page B

me it’s time I do some ‘real work.’”
    “Real
work? What does he think you’ve been doing all this time, cooped up in that
giant office of yours? I would’ve slapped him.”
    My
eyes strayed to an old family portrait hanging on the wall by the front door.
It was the last one where we all looked happy, years and years ago. “I’m going
to have Monica continue to work on them while I’m away. She has her dog to look
after, and she doesn’t want to leave with me to go to whatever spot in Vegas
Maverick wants to build this damn casino.”
    “I
can’t believe you’re just going to sit there and let your father pull the
strings like that.” She quickly stood up from the couch. “Stand up for yourself,
Lo.”
    I
pulled her back down to the couch before she had a chance to storm off in her
normal fashion. “I want to become CEO of the company before I’m thirty, and if
this casino deal goes well, it could be a good stepping stone for that.
Besides, if we happen to build the casino in Vegas, which I’m sure we will,
I’ll fly you out a few times to have fun with me. I know I’ll need you if I
have to be around him all day.”
    She shook
her head at me and smiled. “You don’t have to pretend to be so fed up with him
around me, friend. I can tell you don’t completely hate the idea of being
cooped up in the neon city with Mr. Please Fuck Me Anytime You Please.”
    I
grimaced. “I doubt I’d go that far. . . .”
    Kat
fiddled with her white-blonde hair. She swooped the short strands over to the
side, giving her pixie cut a small adjustment. “Fine, but I still say you need
to start your own company. You don’t need your father’s business anymore. Just
look at your brother. He’s doing just fine without good ol’ Hart Corp. Go out
and build something friendly for women, Lo. The world is your pearl!”
    “I
thought it was ‘The world is your oyster,’” I said with a laugh.
    “Sick,
who wants those slimy things?” she asked.
    I took
another drink from my beer. “Anyway . . . I can’t build my own company because
it would destroy my father. Ever since Toby left the company, Dad’s been more
cantankerous than ever. He still brings it up every time we’re all together.
It’s really tiring to hear the same speech at every meal.”
    “You
care too much for him. He was never there for you, and he’s using you now.” She
sighed heavily and rubbed her brow with her hand.
    “Maybe,
but it’s still my job—Daddy problems or not. Besides, I’m good at it.”
    Kat
reluctantly agreed. “Kicking ass in the office is kind of your thing,” she
said. She set her empty Dos Equis bottle on the small chest in front of the
sofa. “Enough business talk for the day. I came over to see if you wanted to go
clubbing. . . . Let me rephrase that. . . . I came over to see if I could
persuade you to come clubbing with me.”
    “You
know I look like an awkward chicken on the dance floor. Besides, I’d rather not
have women who don’t know I’m straight trying to hit on me all night. I feel
bad when I have to turn them away.”
    “You
can always tell them you’re with me. That’ll keep them from trying to get in
your knickers.”
    I
laughed. “Panties, Kat, say it with me. Pant-teees.”
    She
shuddered. “Even the word sounds gross . . . pan . . . I can’t do it.”
    “I
think you’re the only lesbian in the world who hates that word.”
    She
shrugged her shoulders. “Can’t help it. . . . Knickers, now that’s a fun word to
say. Knickers, knickers, knickers!”
    I
just shook my head. “Really though, I’m pretty beat from the day anyway. I was
in the office before sunrise again. I think I’m just gonna crash.”
    Her
grin quickly faded. “How are you feeling? Are you still getting those
headaches?”   
    “You
mean my work-induced migraines? Sometimes, but not recently. Maybe that’s a bad
sign?” I laughed. “Clearly my brain has just submitted to the hours and hours
of work I put in