Page 60 of Legally Ours

"Don't you dare take me off this screen, Skylar," Jane reprimanded, sticking a finger into the webcam. "Tell that bitch to go back to the seventh circle where she belongs."

"Jane...I gotta go."

"No, Sky––"

"Byeloveyoutellyoueverythingafter," I said quickly enough that my friend couldn't get a word in edgewise before I exited out of the chat window.

A few minutes later, I watched through the glass office walls as Peter escorted Janette down the hall. She was dressed as impeccably as ever in a pair of white summer pants and a blue-and-white-striped blouse. With her light brown hair twisted back, she looked a little like Audrey Hepburn.

She caught sight of me through the walls and waved Peter away. I stood as she entered.

"Skylar," she said cautiously, hovering near the doorway, then taking a few more steps in.

"Janette."

"Thank you for seeing me."

I tapped my fingernails on the desktop. "You didn't really leave me a choice."

"Skylar, please. I wouldn't have made a scene."

She looked me up and down, her bright green eyes––the same exact shade and almond-shape as mine––perusing me. "I heard you were...hurt. Your grandmother called to tell me."

Bubbe. I shook my head. Of course she wouldn't have been able to resist rubbing everything in Janette's face. She hated her with a passion, and wouldn't have hesitated to lay all the blame for my kidnapping straight at Janette's designer-shoed feet.

"I'm glad to see you're all right," Janette continued. "You haven't answered any of my calls."

I didn't say anything, just glared until she had the decency to look away.

"Skylar," she started again as she trailed a delicate finger up and down the back of the chair. "I'm so sorry, darling––"

"I don't think so," I cut her off. I pushed my glasses up my nose and crossed my arms. "After what you and Maurice did, you should be glad I haven't already filed a restraining order. And if you don't leave me alone, that'll be the next step."

That's right. Don't fuck with your daughter when she's a lawyer.

Janette paled visibly, grasping at the edge of the office chair.

"That's all," I said as I sat back down. "I have a lot of work to do. You should probably leave now."

"I was wondering if I could take you to lunch," Janette said, pivoting completely, although when she looked at the half-eaten salad on my desk, her expression fell.

I gaped. "Are you kidding? Did you hear a word I just said?"

Janette rolled her eyes, the first sign I'd seen that broke through her carefully crafted elegance. "Of course, Skylar, my ears work perfectly well." She looked at me, her green eyes flashing. "I'd like to talk to you about Annabelle and Christoph. I know you want to see your brother and sister."

I pursed my lips. Annabelle and Christoph, Janette's children with her husband, Maurice, were a delight––in other words, nothing like their parents. I had only just met them this summer, and the thought of losing them all over again did hurt. Before things had all gone south, Brandon and I had been trying to convince Maurice and Janette to put their children in boarding school in Massachusetts instead of Switzerland so that I could see them more often.

Finally, I sighed and tossed the rest of my salad in the trash.

"Fine," I said. "Thirty minutes. But that's it."

~

We walked in relative silence, letting the buzz around Copley Square and our steps on the sidewalk fill the space between us. Lucas followed several yards behind, but every so often, Janette would glance back at him, as if his presence unnerved her.

"Must he follow you everywhere?" she asked. "He's so...conspicuous."

I glanced back at Lucas and waved. He continued to survey the scene.