The Boss Project by Vi Keeland

“Is she still here?”

Evie nodded. “She and her husband are up in Morningside Heights. But we actually lived in New York for a few years when we were kids. My mom moved us around a lot. I lived in eleven different states before I was thirteen.”

“Wow. Did she move for work or something?”

She shook her head. “No, usually we moved when my mom left my dad, which happened every few months.”

My brows pulled together. “They didn’t get along?”

“Oh, sorry. I assumed you knew since Kitty and my grandmother were so close. Kitty was the one who finally got my mom to leave my dad for good. Almost thirty years ago, my mother stayed at Kitty’s women’s shelter for the first time. My father was abusive. My grandmother didn’t know what was going on back then. Mom kept it from everyone until Kitty encouraged her to speak to family. After she did, my grandmother came down to the shelter to get my mom, and she and Kitty hit it off. They became friends, and a year or two later, the house next door to Kitty went on the market. My grandmother had been looking for a one-story house, so she bought it. The two of them were inseparable after that.”

Shit. Evie’s mom was someone from the DV shelter my grandmother had run for most of her life? “I knew your grandmother was Kitty’s neighbor and close friend, but she never mentioned anything about your mom being…”

Evie smiled sadly. “Abused. It’s okay to say it. That’s one of the things Kitty taught me when I lived next door to her during school. It’s not something I’m ashamed of. Kitty made me realize that the more people talk about domestic violence openly, the less victims will feel like it’s something they need to hide. Anyway, there was a period of about nine months, when I was ten, where we lived with my grandmother. She had been trying to get my mom to leave my dad for years, but it was Kitty who got through to her before we finally left for good. That summer was one of the best years I had growing up, so when I got accepted into a few PhD programs, I decided to go to Emory so I could stay with my grandmother. In my third year, she was diagnosed with an aggressive metastatic cancer and passed away only a few months later. Your grandmother and I were always friendly, but we became close after that.”

I nodded. “She’s talked about you a lot over the years. Though of course, she calls you Everly, so I didn’t put two and two together when I was interviewing Evie.”

She sipped her wine with a grin. “Maybe you would have been a little nicer during my interview if you’d known.”

“Or maybe if we hadn’t met when you were sniffing your armpit in the men’s room…” I fought past a smile.

“I never did get a chance to explain that. I had dropped a cherry on my shirt and stained it, then got stuck on a hot subway for two hours and had to rush to buy a new blouse. While I was getting changed, I realized I should freshen up a bit, but all I had was a wet wipe. When you barged in, I was trying to see if the lemon smell had transferred onto my skin.”

“Number one, you didn’t lock the door. And number two, you were in the men’s fitting room.”

She waved her hand at me. “Technicalities, technicalities. You still used me to amuse yourself. Letting me sit there and squirm, wondering whether you recognized me or not.”

“It wasn’t one of my finer moments. I guess we’d both had a bad day. In my defense, I’d gone to a board meeting the night before and went another round trying to talk them out of forcing my hand to fill this position, only to have them inform me we’d been served with another lawsuit just that morning. Any shot I had of swaying things my way obviously went out the window.”

“How about we make a deal? You won’t mention what you saw in the dressing room again, and I won’t bring up Dave Thomas?” She held out her hand. “It’ll be like having a fresh start.”

I smiled and reached across the table, liking the feel of her tiny hand in mine a little too much. “You got a deal.”

Evie pushed a lock of hair behind her ear, and it opened up a clear view of her slender neck. My fucked-up brain immediately imagined licking along her smooth skin. I had to force my eyes to look anywhere else and cleared my throat. “By the way, my grandmother told me to give you the name of a bulldog lawyer. Do you really need one?”

She sighed. “I do, actually.”

“What kind of lawyer?”

“To represent me in a civil suit. My ex is suing me.”

“Is he trying to get your engagement ring back?”

“No, I gave that back. Actually, I threw it at him. But I did something he claims harmed his reputation.”

“You mean the video you showed at your wedding?”

Evie frowned. “You saw it?”

I wasn’t about to admit I’d watched it several times recently. So I shrugged. “I saw bits and pieces of it.”

She took a deep breath and exhaled. “Okay, well, that kind of makes it easier anyway. Less to explain at least. My ex, Christian, and his family are suing me for fraud and defamation. He’s claiming I knew about the affair he was having for longer than I did, and that I purposefully racked up unnecessary bills for the wedding with fraudulent intent. He’s also claiming that I harmed his reputation when the video went viral.”

“How long did you know about the affair?”