Total pages in book: 197
Estimated words: 199143 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 996(@200wpm)___ 797(@250wpm)___ 664(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 199143 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 996(@200wpm)___ 797(@250wpm)___ 664(@300wpm)
The woman at the podium turned to greet Catherine with a wide, friendly smile. “Hello, Catherine, right?”
Catherine blinked. “Uh, yeah.”
“Your cousin let me know who to look for,” the woman said in explanation. “Siena is back in the offices, unless you would prefer to wait for her at a table, then—”
“The offices are fine.”
“Great, follow me.”
The woman directed them through the main floor of the dining room, and then past a private section. They bypassed the bar and the doors leading into the kitchen before cutting through a back hallway that housed bathrooms and storage rooms. Siena’s office—which actually wasn’t big, but wasn’t cramped, either—sat at the very back of the hallway.
Behind the desk, Siena glared at the screen on her desktop while John sat across from her desk looking like he was two seconds away from taking the computer away from her altogether.
“First of all,” Siena said, “there is nothing wong with my computer, John.”
“It’s five years old, Siena.”
“And it works fine.”
“Last week, it froze, you panicked, and—”
“We don’t talk about that!”
John pressed his lips together to keep from smirking, but it was still clear to Catherine all the same. “Okay, but the fact still remains that it is older, and it should be replaced, love. That’s all I am saying.”
“Do you know how much work that is going to be for me to move everything over from this to another computer?”
“I think we could hire someone to do it and then you won’t have to worry about it at all. See, simple.”
Siena stared at John like he was a small child who didn’t comprehend large words. “Excuse you?”
“What?”
“Hire someone?”
“Siena—”
“John, literally no one but me can be on this computer. What if they accessed the wrong file? What if all the business I have handled for the last several years was right in front of their faces—”
“They probably wouldn’t know what the fuck they are looking at. They fix computers, they don’t do accounting.”
Siena sighed.
John looked unmoved. “So, that’s settled then?”
“No, it’s not settled. I am not—”
“New computer will be delivered tomorrow.”
“You’re impossible!”
“You need new electronics, that’s the end of it.”
“I know someone, actually,” Catherine spoke up from the doorway. Two heads turned in her direction. John smiled as if to silently greet his cousin, and Siena too offered a little wave as if to invite Catherine further into the office.
“Well, if you’re settled, then,” the woman said behind Catherine, “I will get back to my work.”
“Thank you.”
Once the woman was gone, Catherine entered the office, and closed the door behind her. She took the seat John vacated, sitting across from Siena at her desk. The two women stared at one another for a moment before Siena broke the silence first.
“What kind of someone?”
“A guy,” Catherine said. “I mean, call him a hacker or whatever, but that’s kind of like his side hustle. Mostly, he just does whatever with electronics, and if you need a little extra ... or something specific, he can basically hack into whatever you need him to hack into. Which means, he’s kind of willing to turn his cheek to any extra business he might find on your stuff for a little extra money.”
Siena nodded like she was contemplating that. “I have computers across ten business that need to be upgraded.”
“And entire programs that need—or could afford to be—redone for business sake,” John put in.
“He could handle all of that,” Catherine said, shrugging. “And I promise he’s safe to use.”
Siena was quiet for a moment before she gave John a look. Nodding her head to the side as if to silently ask him to leave. John didn’t need to be told again. He was quick to drift out of the office, and close the door behind him, but not without a wave over his shoulder at his wife and cousin.
That just left the two women alone.
“Sorry I haven’t been around much since ... you two got married,” Catherine said. “Life is crazy.”
Siena smiled—sweet and brilliant. “That’s okay. I hear you’re doing big things in Cali with your mom.”
Catherine nodded. “We can call it that.”
“Still making money?”
“Too much for me to handle.”
Siena rubbed her hands together. “Too much money is exactly what I specialize in, Catherine.”
“That’s why I’m here, right?” Then, Catherine glanced at Siena, adding, “Well, not the only reason. Should make friends, too, you know? We woman in this family have to stick together, or all the men railroad right over us.”
“Is that so?”
“Not really. They’re smart enough to know better. I wasn’t lying about the friends thing, though. Do you wanna grab lunch, and maybe do something later—a club, or whatever? Without the guys, I think. They’re distracting.”
The woman across from her laughed. “Very distracting, I think.”
“Is that a yes, then?”
Siena nodded. “Yeah, Catherine, sure. I feel like we have a ton to get to know about each other.”