Chapter 3

Josephine O'Bannon loves her twin sister. Really, she does. Still seeing her get her happily ever after stings.

[3]

　

　

　

I woke up the next morning in my bra, without my panties, and with an arm resting across my chest. My head was spinning the second I opened my eyes and before you could say the words, dirty w***e, I was tossing the arm off me and sliding out of bed.

 

I didn’t do one night stands but between finding out I was stuck on the east coast, four scotch and soda’s, and two glasses of wine I was practically giving it away. I distinctly remember spending half my night at the bar flirting with the sorta cute bartender but when I looked down at the bed and saw that THIS beau had a full head of perfectly cropped hair I thanked my lucky stars I hadn’t slept with the help. On cue my mystery beau rolled over onto his back and gave me a good look at his face. Clint Baker.

 

Clint Baker was handsome in a strong jawed politician way. Well educated, he’d gone to Yale law and graduated Cum Laude, and quick on his feet according to rumor. A closer look into last night’s debauchery revealed a bit of flirting at the bar, a heavy make out session in one of the many bathrooms, and sneaking up to his bedroom to have sex.

 

His bedroom. Well at least we didn’t have to have the awkward morning chat. I could simply sneak out before he woke up. I found my bridesmaid dress crumpled on the floor near the door right next to his pants and boxer shorts. If I wasn’t so hung over I’d have turned red from embarrassment. It had been at least a year since I’d last had sex but this was simply too much. Drunken sex with a stranger? This was surely the sort of thing that would get me sent back to Houston in shame.

 

I slipped the dress on before remembering my panties were still somewhere in the room. Having no desire to leave this guy a memento I spent a minute searching the room for my underwear. Not having any luck my stomach turned when I considered the possibilities. Please tell me he’s not one of those freaks who wants to wear them.

 

I pulled back the blanket to reveal his naked body, toned and panty free. I felt sick for thinking it but he had a nice body. He was well built and in great physical shape. I fought back the urge to stroke his, um, abs. If I wasn’t such a lush I’d probably have a pretty good memory to show for it at least. He was more than above average in size and if he had any clue as to what he was doing in bed I probably had a blast last night.

 

Getting back to work, I found my underwear wadded into a ball under the blanket. I snatched them off the bed squeezing them tightly in my hand. Something crumbled inside my palm and as I opened them up I saw the empty condom wrapper.

 

Something inside me did a back flip. Awesome. Even being a drunken dirty w***e I still had enough sense to make him strap on a condom. I took the condom wrapper and sat it on the night stand next to his head. There was no need in making him worry if we’d practiced safe sex. I grabbed my purse off the floor shoved my underwear inside and snuck out of the room pulling the door closed quietly behind me.

 

The Baker mansion was large. Really large and it took me more than a few minutes to find my room. I wandered the halls in my bridesmaid dress, a perfect example of how NOT to behave at a wedding. I was pretty sure getting hammered and hooking up was frowned upon by the upper class 1%’ers. Instead of embarrassing myself I stalked silently through the halls looking for my room. When I was sure I was in the right wing I heard talking in one of the hallways, my hallway. Damn, I couldn’t get lucky twice I supposed.

 

“I’m tired of living like this Patti. It’s the twenty first century for Christ’s sakes. We’ve been together for twenty years. Twenty freaking years and you’re acting like I’m just some girl you’re banging on the side. I’m tired of it. It‘s bad enough I have to deal with Conrad. I‘m not doing this anymore. Not like this.”

 

I recognized the voice almost immediately. Jill. And Patti? Were they getting it on? For twenty years? Yowsa! Lesbian alert.

   

“Jill will you keep your voice down? Now that Doyle’s back I’m going to try to get him to take a more active role in the company and I can take a step back. WE can take a step back. We have more than enough money to go anywhere and do anything you want. That vineyard in Spain that you were looking at, I bought it for us. I promise you that we’ll go there once we get it fixed up and we’ll be together. No camera’s, no media, no family, just me and you. We can stay as long as you want, I promise.”

 

“You always say stuff like that but it never happens. You’ve been saying it since junior prom.”

 

Patti, I assumed, sighed. “Jill we couldn’t go to prom together, you know that. I had to go with a boy. Besides you went with a boy too. When are you going to let that go? We did dance together that night, it was the best I could do.”

 

“Yeah, in our bedroom, afterwards, like a couple of closeted lesbians.”

 

“We WERE closeted lesbians Jill.”

 

Jill huffed loudly. “That’s not the point Pat.”

 

“Had we gone to prom together our parent’s never would have allowed us to see one another again, you know that. Your mom would have freaked. Anyway this time is different. I already bought the vineyard. It’s in both our names. It’s our place, our home together. Our very first home together. I‘ve got guys getting it cleaned up and fixed up. We‘ll go there soon and be Ozzie and Harriet.”

 

“What about the girls?” Jill asked seemingly convinced. Her voice had softened to that of a love struck school girl.

 

“They’re going back to Childress tonight, they‘re fine. We can come back to see them whenever we want. Your daughter loves it there anyway and Katherine is so determined to get into Harvard she wouldn‘t come home if I begged. They don‘t have to come with us.”

 

“I mean are we ever going to tell them the truth?”

 

Patti laughed. “You think the girls don’t already know? Why do you think they tell everyone they’re sisters. My daughter asked me about us two years ago. I told her our relationship was complicated. She told me that she knows her father is gay and was curious why we got married in the first place.”

 

“Heather never asks me about Spence. It’s like he doesn’t even exist. She visits his family in LA but its always through clenched teeth. Since he passed away she doesn’t want to talk about him at all. When she turns eighteen her trust kicks in from his family but I doubt she even touches it. I think she believes he cheated on me and turned gay or something.”

 

Patti laughed again. “That’s surely not it. Katherine explained it to me one day in passing. She said Heather just hates that…”

 

“Josie.” Somebody practically screamed out to me. “Where were you, and why are you still in last night‘s dress?”

 

I recognized the voice as my own. Jo. Around the corner I heard a door slam. Patti and Jill knew I was spying on them. Great. And Jo knew I was sleeping around. My day was shot and I had only been up five minutes.

 

“I fell asleep.” I said doing my best to sound casual.

 

“In whose bed?” She asked. I turned to face her and she rolled up on me in her standard issue wheelchair. There was a hint of a smile on her face, knowing and amused. She knew what had happened to me last night, there was no need in lying to her. Did everybody know?

 

“Clint Baker.”

 

Jo laughed. “Of course you did. Go get changed I’m leaving soon and I want you to see me off.”

 

How could I resist that? “I’ll be right down.”

 

 

As promised there were two envelopes sitting on my bed when I stepped into my room at the Baker Estate. I knew what they were and tucked them in my purse for later examination. I peeled off my skank clothes, showered, dressed, and head downstairs. It was nearly eleven and despite the hour the house was relatively empty.

 

My head was pounding from getting wasted last night but I had the innate ability to not toss my cookies after drinking all night. Instead of pouting in bed like I normally did when I got sick, I decided to be proactive. I spent another few minutes tracking down the kitchen so I can have some breakfast. The house seemed to have several and I got lucky on my third try. Inside I was met by a young blonde girl in a chef get up. She smiled at me and went into a long explanation about what was on the menu. I let her ramble on then asked for toast and black coffee.

 

She eagerly agreed and suggested I have a seat while she prepared. I wasn’t a chef but I didn’t see what preparation went into making toast and coffee. I kept my mouth shut, too tired to argue about something so trivial and turned to find a seat. It wasn’t until this moment that I realized we weren’t alone. Across the room sitting at a table was another familiar face. A young woman wearing a red habit. I recognized her instantly. Luke’s cousin and the VP’s daughter. Sister Margaret, currently the most well known nun in the world due to her father’s status as the VP and President elect.

 

Sister Margaret was a member of a relatively small order of Catholic Nuns named the Sisters of the Solemn Solace. The Sisters’ order was devoted to abused children, a coincidence that wasn’t lost on me seeing as how Luke and Jo had recently devised a way of keeping perverts away from children. The sisters were front and center in the fight to assist the children who’d needed help during the scandal. Their work with the children had drawn them lots of attention and the order was growing slowly in donations and interested potentials. Still, sister Margaret wasn’t technically a nun, according to Jo she was a Sister. I wasn’t sure what the difference was but apparently it was an important distinction.

 

She looked like a nun to me, she was dressed in the usual get-up, sitting casually at a small table eating what looked to be an omelette. I found the sight a bit strange, I’d never seen a nun eat before. I was sure they did, everybody ate. I was sure if Jesus provided them sustenance through mystical means I would have heard about it by now. Still seeing her doing the simplest of things made me want to smile. She even had a napkin tucked into her habit.

 

“Hello.” I said not sure if I was breaking some sort of religious rule. It was strange, that was always the first thing I considered when faced with a man or woman of God, was I doing something offensive to Jesus.

 

“Hi. Josephine correct,” she said politely.

 

I had never met her and wasn’t sure how she knew me. I fought off the urge to say something stupid and she simply stared at me apparently waiting for me to do just that.

 

“Jesus told me who you were.” She finally blurted out before taking a sip out of a small coffee cup. My mouth formed an O to respond but she interrupted me with a smile. “I’m just joking. Of course I know who you are. Your sister is my cousin and seeing as how you two are identical twins I figured I’d see you around too.”

 

I laughed finally shaking my head and relaxing. “That sort of freaked me out a bit.”

 

“I know. I do it to break the ice but it always makes people uncomfortable.”

 

Sister Margaret had a pretty face with light blue eyes that seemed to twinkle under the lights. I’d never seen her publicly without her habit but her mother and older brother were both blondes so I figured she was too. This close I was surprised to see she was so attractive. I began to wonder how she’d chosen this life. Wondered what had drawn her to a religious life.

 

The Lucas family had a long history of service and that service had benefited the VP well during the campaign. The VP’s son Calvin was currently a Major in the US Army and with his daughter being a catholic sister he had shored up two power bases at once, the religious and the defense zealots. His opponent during the election was a southern fire and brimstone Baptist named William Zeeks, a man who steamrolled his previous competition by challenging their devoutness to the lord almighty. That strategy had backfired in his campaign against Harvey Lucas. No matter what Zeeks said about Lucas he couldn’t compete with a man of enormous wealth who’d raised two children who chose to serve God and Country. The photo of The President and The Vice President sitting front row while Margaret Lucas took her vows to God made world wide news. The photo ran on the front page of every newspaper in the country. Nothing Zeeks could ever say could compete but he’d foolishly tried and the strategy had sunk his presidential campaign. Half of his base supporters had even been turned off by the spectacle. Vice President Lucas won in a landslide victory.

 

Sister Margaret to her credit had not participated in the politics at all. She hadn’t even given an interview about her father during the campaign. Her small order however had garnered at lot of interest. The Sisters of Solemn Solace was currently a household name around the country. There had been a write up in Newsweek magazine about them detailing their good works, and two years ago the Lucas Family had donated a Manhattan brownstone for the sisters to call home. The order’s West Coast sisters had been shown the same generosity. A large home in Los Angeles had been procured by the family, according to reports it even had a pool.

 

Sisters were supposed to be serious weren’t they, but Margaret was making jokes. I wasn’t sure why Sister Margaret continued the joke if it constantly made everyone uncomfortable but I didn’t ask in fear of being struck by lightning. Instead I decided to change the subject and ended up saying something dumb after all.

 

“So does that get hot?”

 

She shrugged and played with her fork. “It does sometimes but I don’t actually wear it all the time. Most of the time I wear regular clothes. I just had an official thing early this morning and I usually dress the part. People like to see me in the whole to-do you know.”

 

“So you’re allowed to wear jeans and stuff?” I asked her.

 

She laughed. “Are you kidding? I have a closet full of Manolo Blahniks.” She grabbed a small purse that was sitting on the table and raised it in the air. “This purse is Coco Chanel.”

 

I laughed out loud. “I thought you guys took vows of poverty.”

 

She shook her head quickly. “Oh heavens no. That’s nuns. I avoided that so I can keep my trust fund.”

 

“What’s the difference between nuns and sisters,” I had to ask even though my Sunday school teachers would be ashamed of me.

 

“Not much. Nuns take solemn vows and they’re usually cloistered. Sisters are a part of a sisterhood, we usually take simple vows. Chastity, obedience, the usual.”

 

“Poverty. Poverty was one too, I remember that much from Sunday School.”

 

Sister Margaret shrugged. “Who’s the expert me or you?”

 

Defeated I forced myself to laugh. “Whatever you say.” It was then the chef decided to bring back my toast and coffee.

 

“So tell me about your sister. She seems pretty cool.”

 

I nodded. “She’s lovely, just lovely.”

 

I spent breakfast getting to know Sister Margaret. I never imagined I’d enjoy hanging out with somebody like her but once I got passed the whole religious thing it didn’t wind up being that bad. She had a dry sense of humor that complimented mine and we spent half our time together giving one another a hard time. We exchanged numbers before I remembered Jo had tasked me with changing my clothes so I could see her off. Instead I’d gotten comfortable, had breakfast, and forgot all about it.

 

I hurried towards the front of the house to catch her before she left the country but was grabbed by Luke on my way towards the door. He grabbed me by the arm and drug me into a nearby hallway. Apparently we had business that he wanted to discuss before he hopped into a limo and skipped town with my best friend. Over the years I had done my best to stay away from Luke. He was a handsome guy, smart and funny, and oh so charming. Hanging out with him had always been uncomfortable because despite my threats I found the guy irresistibly attractive.

 

It wasn’t something I was proud of. I mean he was my sister’s guy and anybody who had a sister knew that once he was hers he’d always be hers, even if they broke up and never spoke again he was permanently off limits. Those women who dated their best friend’s exes and snuck around with their ex brother in law behind their sister’s back were traitors to the kind. I found Luke attractive but I on the other hand had simply made a point of never being alone with the guy for more than a few minutes at a time. It was awkward and tiresome, a bit annoying and possibly even silly but Jo was my sister, Luke was her guy and I did my best to respect that. Even if I sometimes dreamed of white sand beaches and erotic dancing in an empty ballroom, (Hey they’re MY fantasies, laugh if you want to).

 

Luke was wearing a flimsy white vee-neck tee-shirt that did little to hide the outline of his muscular frame. From the time I’d first met him he had the body of a well toned swimmer. I’d stumbled across him without his shirt once and was taken back. He had the abs of Michael Phelps. Even today in his casual attire of tee-shirt and jeans he looked like he’d just stepped out of a magazine ad. He was movie star handsome, the kind of handsome that got girls into trouble if they didn’t keep their distance. I wanted to run in the opposite direction when the smell of his cologne overtook my senses. He stared at me with his blue eyes and his square jaw, the face of a billionaire genius with a heart of gold. A man who despite having the opportunity to be any where doing anything, chose to work as a cop in Memphis to help devise a way to better the world.

 

“Josie I talked to Jill,” he said pulling me close. His breath was blowing softly against my neck, his voice barely a whisper. “She said you decided to stick around.”

 

I nodded, too nervous and uncomfortable to say anything. The guy routinely sent me into a tailspin. It bugged me on some level that I was his type, the physical embodiment of his dream woman. I had all the tools he was looking for physically. Yet it wasn’t enough. It wasn’t the physical me that was unacceptable. It was everything else he had an issue with, my personality, my habits. It was a hard pill to swallow. Hard because despite my differences with Jo we always found ourselves attracted to the same type of guys. Strong jawed, handsome guys who’d look good on our arm. It hurt being rejected, or at least not picked, because when a guy chose Jo over me it was a rejection of me as a person. Physically we were the same so if they chose her it was because they didn’t like me. It was hard not to take it personally. Liking the same type of guys only made things worse. Luke was surely our type, a guy I would be extremely comfortable sharing my life with. This situation was different though. Jo and I had never spoken about Luke in that way, it was the only discussion we’d avoided like the plague. She had to know I found him attractive. It had to be written all over my face when I looked at him. Still, I assumed she knew deep down I’d never betray her. If not my avoidance of him surely gave her comfort.

 

“You know you don’t have to agree to everything they say. I know my uncle can seem sort of demanding but his word isn’t law.”

 

I found that ironic. He was the VP, the future President of the United States. MY future President. Of course his word was law. Who tells the President of the United States to shove it and mind their own business?

 

“No it’s okay.” I said in my best confident doctor voice.

 

He shook his head seemingly easily defeated in his protests. “Well Jill told you about the house?”

 

I nodded once again.

 

“Well it should be ready in a few days. Until then you’re going to have to fend for yourself unless you want to hang out with my family at the Compound in Connecticut, which you are more than welcomed to do. I know Jo would want you looked after and it’s going to be the first question she asks when I tell her you aren‘t heading straight back.”

 

“I’ll be fine. I’ll get a hotel or something.”

 

He shook his head. “Don’t be silly. I had Jill send you up some credit cards and stuff. They’re on Jo’s private account so when she get’s back you two can talk about the specifics but you know how Jo is with money she could care less. And you’re family so as far as I’m concerned you can spend whatever you want. Jill said you needed some clothes because you’re getting a job in the city.”

 

I was dumbstruck but still managed to string a few words together. “You guys don’t have to do this. I’m a doctor, I’ll be making good money once I start pulling in a paycheck. I can fend for myself. I have my own credit cards.”

 

He was already shaking his head. “Josie look, it’s not like you’re going to go out and buy yourself a condo in Trump Tower. We’re talking about clothes and walking around money. Besides you have no idea how much money Jo and I are going to be dealing with. I made Billions of dollars last year in Interest and dividends alone. Billions, and we have more coming in. We’d never spend it all. It’s not a big deal for us to put a few million aside for you to draw on every once in a while for shoes and handbags or whatever. Trust me, it’s not a big deal.”

 

A few million? Was he crazy? “Luke. I.”

 

“Hey do me a favor,” he said cutting me off. “I gave the security guy your number. He’ll call you to take possession of the place once the upgrades are finished. Just deal with that for me and we’ll talk about all this when we get back from Paris.”

 

I nodded dumbly. What was I going to say no? “Okay.” Sure I’ll look after your fifty million dollar house. Why not?

 

He nodded and gave me a kiss on the cheek that made the whole situation even more uncomfortable. “Thanks sis. You’re the best. Jo’s going to be so excited. She’s going to love having you around. New York can be a bit much sometimes but I know you’ll be fine. You’re a fighter.”

 

Uh, thanks. “I’ll take care of it.” Was all I could say before he was pulling away and heading off down the hall.

 

“Oh and Rafferty and Hoyt are going to be out of town too. They’re going to shoot up to Vegas then head back to Memphis to see their families. We’ll all be back at the same time so you‘ll be flying solo. Jill did hire the house manager, she‘ll fill you in.” Then he was gone, disappeared around the corner and no doubt back into my sister‘s arms.

 

The second he left I dug through my purse and tore open the envelopes I’d shoved inside. One was a list of names and addressed. The jobs. The other held a little more weight and was rigid to the touch.

 

I wasn’t big on credit, mostly because I didn’t have any. Up until yesterday I was nearly two hundred and fifty thousand dollars in debt. My last year of residency at the hospital I’d pulled in nearly fifty grand a year but it wasn’t nearly enough to live comfortably while paying back student loans and medical school tuition. The good thing about it was I spent most of my time at the hospital and therefore had little time to spend money. I had quite a bit of money tucked into a savings account, a little over twenty grand, more than enough to finance a new wardrobe for myself I assumed.

 

Still when I opened the envelope I was shocked. They hadn’t just given me one card, but three. One basic Visa still attached to the official credit card placard they give to you when you open an account. I flipped through to the next card and was similarly unimpressed. A Mastercard. The last card sent a lump to my throat. A black credit card adorned with the American Express logo and my name.

 

“Holy s**t.” I said to myself. I’d heard about the American Express black card. The card with no limit. This was surely too much for me to handle.

   

“Oh great. You did get them.” Jill said walking up to me. She was still smiling, seemingly unaffected by the awkward situation we’d shared this morning.

 

I shoved everything nervously back into my purse and nodded. It was a silly thing to do, Jill was rich and from what I knew had been around the family for years working as Patti’s personal assistant. She had gotten shares in Lucas Tech early on and rumor had it she along with half the other assistants had made a killing when the company went public. A program I’d watched on Patti back in the day, before I knew Luke was her brother and actually owned Lucas Tech, said that Patti’s assistant had made several hundred million dollars in the IPO because of stock options. I assumed they were talking about Jill. She had no desire to rob me and dump me in an alley.

 

“Uh, yeah.” I said forcing myself to regain my composure. “I just discussed everything with Luke. Uh, Doyle.”

 

“Great. Well we’re heading out in about an hour. We’re regrouping at the Compound in Connecticut. Somebody is already being dispatched to get us all packed and loaded up so you just relax, say goodbye to your sister and we’ll see you there.”

 

Okay. “Actually, I was thinking of heading into the city. I really should get a jump on those jobs you told me about.”

 

Jill nodded with understanding. “That’s a great idea. Better to jump in feet first and get settled into a routine. It helps facilitate the change. I’ll call ahead and get you a hotel reservation.”

 

“You don’t have to.” I began.

 

She waved me off. “Don’t worry about it. It’s what I do.”

 

I figured I should probably say something to her about the hallway so things didn’t get weird. “Look, earlier this morning.”

 

Once again she waved me off. “Clint Baker is a very handsome man. He’s single and unattached, if you want to have some fun that’s not the sort of thing the family is going to take an interest in. I mean it was done in private, in a family rich enviornment so no outsiders were around to see. Actually it’s probably a good thing. It shows the family you’re one of the gals.” She laughed playfully. “You wouldn’t believe half of the stuff some of them did last night.”

 

OH. MY. GOD. Did they know about that? All of them? I wanted to talk about her and Patti not me and Clint. What a disaster. “Jill do they all know about that?”

 

She shrugged. “Some of them,” she said dismissively. “But don’t worry about it. Adam slept with Robin Baker last night. AND Enid Gall. Robin and Enid got into this big fight afterwards and broke an antique chair. Cousin Veronica even got drunk and groped the Prime Minister.”

 

I couldn’t tell if she was serious or not. “Am I humiliated? Should I be embarrassed?”

 

She laughed. “For getting drunk and having sex with a man?” She chuckled harder. “No. Like I said you’re officially one of the girls now. What‘s a wedding for if not a little drunken fornication?”

 

Even though she said I shouldn’t be embarrassed I was. It had been a long while since I’d had sex and my first time out I’d publically labeled myself Hester Prynne. I said a quick goodbye and hustled off to meet Jo.

 

I found her out front, out of her wheelchair and leaning against the limo watching Luke say goodbye to his family. I practically stomped over to her, more than a little annoyed for her not warning me about behaving myself but more irritated she was out of the chair when she didn’t have to be.

 

“What exactly are you trying to prove?” I asked her. More than a few heads turned to look in my direction but I ignored them. “The walk down the isle I get. The dance I get. This, I don’t get. If you don’t stop being proud I swear to God Jo.”

 

She rolled her eyes at me. “Josie relax.”

 

“I’m not going to relax. You beat it. You’re walking again. You don’t have to press so hard anymore. Relax, enjoy your honeymoon and when you get back we can kick the physical therapy up a notch. But until you get back use your chair, enjoy your husband. You have the rest of your life to get back on track.”

 

“Josie.” She began to plead.

 

“Jo.” I said sternly.

 

She rolled her eyes again and reparked herself in her wheelchair. Luke had watched the whole thing with half a smirk then looked at her with mock pity. “I told you she was going to freak out.”

 

Once Jo was comfortable and pouting I leaned into her and read her the riot act about last night.

 

“Why didn’t you tell me everybody knows about last night?”

 

She looked at me with confusion. “They do not.”

 

“Jill said everybody knows,” I said, confused about why she was trying to protect me. If they knew, they knew, lying to me wouldn’t help.

 

“Josie I swear to God nobody knows anything. I only know something happened because I saw you in last night’s dress. You disappeared pretty early, nobody knew where you went. Honestly I thought you fell asleep in some closet. I didn‘t suspect you‘d hooked up with anybody. It‘s the furthest thing from anybodies mind.”

 

I glanced across the lot towards Jill who was standing with her arms crossed staring off into space. That sneaky b***h, she lied to me.

 

“I don’t know why Jill would say that.” Jo said confused. “She’s so sweet. Maybe people do know, but if they do they didn’t say anything to me about it.”

 

I leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. “You know what. Don’t you worry about it. You enjoy your honeymoon.” This wasn’t her problem. I should simply learn to keep my panties on next time.

 

She kissed me on one cheek and patted the other with her palm. “I’ll call you when I get back to New York. I want to set up another visit soon. I love having you around.”

 

I smiled to myself. Luke was right, she’d be thrilled I was staying. “You got it sis, anything. Anything for my baby sis.” I was four minutes older and since then Jo had always been baby sis.

 

“Love you, thanks for standing up with me last night. It meant everything.”

 

“I love you JoAnne. I’ll fly to the moon for you.”

 ~

A veiled threat. That was Jill’s game. It was a nasty thing to do, mean and manipulative, sneaky and devious even, not to mention hitting below the belt. In her own way she’d told me that spying on her and Patti earlier was not cool. It was totally effective though, worked like a charm. It was something I had no intention of ever doing again. After Luke and Jo had taken off for the City of Lights Jill looped her arm around mine and whispered in my ear.

 

“So, do we have an understanding? I can be your best friend Josephine, or we can go the other way.”

 

All I could do was nod. I had no idea what she’d meant to prove but it didn’t matter. I got her message loud and clear. Keep my damn mouth shut. Fine by me. I was playing in little league and she was clearly in the pro’s. It was a small thing, probably done at the spur of the moment but it totally threw me on my heels. I had no doubt this woman could and would destroy me without breaking a sweat if I crossed her. She dealt with some of the most powerful business men and woman in the city, perhaps the world, on a daily basis, some hick doctor from Tennessee was nothing. In a matter of an hour she’d totally made me her b***h.

 

“Great.” She said with a smile and despite the vicious threat I had all confidence all was forgiven. It was strange, the way she’d scared the bejesus out of me without ever having raised her voice. I had a knack for threatening people, when I got angry people walked on the opposite side of the street. Still I didn’t have her finesse. She’d managed to wrangle me in without getting the least bit angry or threatening.

 

“It won’t ever be a problem.” I reassured her.

 

She pulled me tighter into her body. “Of course not. We won‘t mention it again.”

 

Hey since she was the threatening type. “Did you hear about this Gabriella thing?”

 

Her brow scrunched. “What Gabriella thing?”

 

It was so nice having henchmen.