Series: Webs We Weave Series by Krista Ritchie
Total pages in book: 147
Estimated words: 145038 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 725(@200wpm)___ 580(@250wpm)___ 483(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145038 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 725(@200wpm)___ 580(@250wpm)___ 483(@300wpm)
Katherine struts right in front of us and smiles warmly at the paper in Hailey’s hands.
Very odd.
“I’m just so proud of Sidney,” Katherine says with the affection of a mother hen to a tiny chick. Even knowing she was Jake’s nanny, I really did not think Katherine possessed a soft maternal bone in her body. More like an iron rod in her butt. “She’s really blossomed with this new internship at the Weekly. Isn’t her column so engaging? Claudia Waterford even called it a delight.”
I feel so far behind.
All because I don’t read the damn newspaper. Sidney Burke stands twenty feet away near the orchids, but I only see her blonde hair and blue velvet Blair Waldorf–esque headband since girls cluster around her.
“It’s an intriguing column,” Hailey says. “I didn’t know that Archer Fitzpatrick adopted a three-legged dog.”
“Wait, that’s the happenings around town? Archer’s new dog?” I say in disbelief. I just can’t believe this information has the rest of the Clue Girls fawning over black-and-white print.
“He also volunteered at the blood bank,” Katherine snaps at me, like I should be praising his very good deeds. “He’s not even thirty yet, but he’s already up for tenure at Caufield University.” She peers at the newspaper in Hailey’s hands. “It’s such a mystery how that man is still single.”
“You could always ask him out yourself,” I suggest.
Katherine blanches. “I’m nearing fifty.”
“And?” I shrug. “You’re hot, and he might like women with good balance in pencil skirts.”
She sucks in her cheeks. Maybe she thinks they’re backhanded compliments—which they aren’t. I admire her ability to dart around in corporate attire. “You’d do well to mind your own business, Phoebe.”
“Like how everyone’s minding theirs?” I mutter at the newspaper.
Katherine huffs like I am a pain, bother, and nuisance she’s forced to suffer with. She digs out two envelopes from her tote bag. “Here.”
Hailey and I take our envelopes, and Katherine struts out of earshot to fix Chelsea’s torn sash. I run my finger over the red wax seal with Victoria Country Club’s mountain-laurel crest.
From what I’ve been told, the country club hosts The Hunt, but the entire town is invited to bid on Clue Girls.
We’re being auctioned off.
“For your clues,” Katherine emphasized, but the way she described it, people are paying to spend the afternoon with us.
“Grey is picking me,” Sidney Burke says so loudly, I instinctively twist around and catch her smug smile. Her chin lifts. “I’m his first choice. He’s already told me.”
Liar.
I bristle. “He’s not going to The Hunt.” I raise my voice so she can hear.
“How would you know?” Sidney retorts, causing the atrium to fall more hushed. Clue Girls are staring uneasily between me and her.
“Hailey told me,” I snap back. “His sister. Right here.” I point at her platinum-dyed hair. “My best friend.”
Hailey waves, not looking up from the newspaper. “He did tell me.”
“See.”
Sidney coils a blonde tendril around her finger. “I think he’ll be there, and he will bid on me.”
“You’re nineteen. He wouldn’t.”
“You have the maturity of a fourteen-year-old, and he married you.”
Ouch. Direct hit.
Girls snicker, some wince, and Hailey sends a harsh look Sidney’s way. I breathe in toxic fumes to say, “He’s not interested in you.” I sound too territorial, but the concept of Rocky with anyone sends poisonous darts out of my mouth.
I want her dead.
Sidney prickles. “Why do you care? You’re with Jake.”
I’m with Rocky.
He’s my Rocky.
Mine.
I take a breath. “Grey is still my ex-husband. Maybe I think he can do better than you.”
The atrium is uncomfortably quiet. Some girls giggle at Sidney’s expense, and guilt knots my insides for a blip.
Sidney goes red. “At least I’m a step up from you.”
Back off, Phoebe.
I’m trying to retract my claws. She’s nineteen. I’m twenty-four. Be mature. I force a pained smile, and I’m happy to hear Katherine’s strict tone.
“It’s time,” she snaps. “Get yourselves together.”
Sidney fixes her Clue Girl sash on her shoulder. I adjust mine, and my face contorts in an ugly scowl like I’m shapeshifting into a grotesque monster. It’s hard to hide my sweltering disdain toward anyone who’s eyeing Rocky. I wish I could scream that he’s taken.
By me.
But I didn’t come this far to blow up our spot because of Sidney fucking Burke.
* * *
—
Pink garlands hang from lampposts, and the fountain on Main Street has been drained for the winter. Heart-shaped chocolates, stuffed bears, and red roses are displayed in various shops like Hidden Treasures and Petals & Pearls.
No one in this town will let you forget Valentine’s Day is right around the corner.
I’ve never been a sucker for the holiday.
It’s just another way for corporations to dig their hands in people’s pockets with the pressure to buy buy buy! The balloons, the candy, the cards, the flowers, the expensive dinner out—it’s a capitalist’s wet dream. It’s kind of one big scam.