“I’m fine,” Nora said, “but I already miss you terribly.”
“I miss you, too. We all do.”
“Hi, Mom!”
Nora smiled at hearing Trevor’s voice in the background. She also heard what sounded like the television before she recognized Jane’s familiar laugh. “Is that Jane?”
David cleared his throat. “Um—well, yes. She showed up when I was out and made spaghetti while keeping Trevor company. We just finished dinner. Trevor ate two helpings.” There was a short pause before he added, “I was under the impression you knew she was coming to the house.”
“How would I know? She never called me back. The message Jane left for me at the hotel said she was detained and would be arriving today. I assumed she would be at the hotel when I returned.” Nora felt annoyance bubbling inside her. She did her best to tamp it down and stay cool.
“Is that Nora?” she heard Jane ask.
Nora did not want to talk to her, not when she was feeling upset. “Tell her I have to go. I—”
There was a rustling sound. Before she could finish her conversation with David, Jane was on the line. “Nora! How is Paris? When I checked the weather over there, it appeared to be nothing but sunshine. I so wish I could be there with you now.”
“I was expecting you to be at the hotel when I returned,” Nora said flatly. “What’s going on?”
“Well, I didn’t want to ruin your day, but before I could get out the door the other morning, I had to take care of a problem.”
“A problem at work?” Nora asked.
“Yes. Christian Murray was having trouble with the new software. He was in a panic.”
Nora had spent a lot of time training Christian and his staff. “What sort of problems was he having?”
“No need to worry about this now,” Jane said. “It turned out to be a user problem. No big deal. We figured it out, but by that time, I had missed my flight.”
Nora had called to check in with Mr. Murray, one of IMPACT’s VIP clients, the day before leaving to let him know she’d be gone for a few days. If he was having complications, she wondered why he hadn’t mentioned it. Not only that, Christian Murray aside, she knew for a fact that there were plenty of flights from Sacramento to Paris.
“All the first-class seats on United were taken,” Jane said, as if she could read Nora’s mind. “I refuse to fly coach with two stops, and besides, if I had taken a flight out today, I would have missed most of the show. But then, as I mulled it over, I had an epiphany.”
Nora said nothing.
“I thought, how could I help my good friend while she’s away? And it came to me in a flash. I’ll greet her children when they come home after school and make her family dinner.”
Nora wasn’t buying it. Her tone was sharp when she asked, “Did you meet Robert Gillespie at last year’s conference?”
“Yes. Best thing that ever happened. That’s why it was so important that you are there to represent our company.”
“To find more clients like him?”
“Exactly.”
“You didn’t use unethical practices to gain favor and win him over?”
Jane released a long, exasperated sigh. “Don’t tell me. You ran into Levi Hale, and he blames me for all his problems because he can’t accept losing a potential client to a woman?”
Nora’s shoulders relaxed. Jane didn’t have to mention her competitor’s name, but she had, and she sounded genuinely exasperated. “I haven’t had the chance to meet Levi,” Nora said. “It was a young woman who obviously likes to gossip. I told her she shouldn’t spread misinformation without concrete evidence to back up her story, and then I walked away.”
“Thank you. And I’m sorry. I thought people in our line of business were better than that, but maybe I was wrong. I forgot about Levi Hale. My absence has gotten tongues wagging again. Maybe I should fly to Paris tomorrow after all.”
“I wouldn’t bother,” Nora said. “It was one person. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have mentioned it at all.”
“Don’t be sorry. If people were spreading false tales about you, I would ask you, too.”
A heaviness fell over Nora. Maybe she was jet-lagged. All her excitement about seeing Mona Lisa had left her. “If you could hand the phone over to David, I should go. I have a lot to do before the meet and greet tonight.”
“I’m not sure where everyone ran off to, but do you want me to find one of the kids so you can say good night?”
“No. That’s okay. Tell them all good night for me.”
“I will.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Goodbye, Nora.”
Nora’s espresso had gotten cold. She called the car service to let them know she was ready to be picked up. Then she grabbed her things and headed out.
Goodbye, Nora. Jane had said those two words with a chilling finality. Jane Bell became known as a honey badger. Fearless, unwavering, and ferocious. Rhonda’s words verbatim if she remembered correctly. Why ferocious? Nora wondered now. Because of the photos Levi Hale had received after returning home? Anyone could have sent them.
As she walked toward the exit, she tried to remember her first conversations with Jane, but for the life of her, she couldn’t remember how Jane had answered Nora’s question when she’d asked what made Jane want Nora to work for her. It boggled the mind to think that Jane had come after her with that same unwavering determination she was known for.
Visions of Jane sitting at the kitchen table with her family when Nora had returned from a spa day flooded her memories. And now, once again, Jane was at her house, cozying up to David and her children. Yes, Nora considered Jane a friend, but that didn’t mean she wanted her to take her place whenever she was gone. If she’d felt as if her kids needed to be looked after, she would have asked Mom and Dad to stay at the house.
As the crisp, fresh air outside hit her smack in the face, she knew it wouldn’t do her any good to get herself worked up, especially when she was a world away from her family. She thought about the woman she’d met in the registration line. Rhonda. What if the stories were true and it was Nora who was being naive?
Going forward, after she returned home, she decided it would be in her best interest to stay vigilant when it came to Jane. Find out more about her childhood and what made her tick, all the while protecting what was hers—her family.
Trevor sat on the couch with the remote, flipping through channels. He’d rather be upstairs in his room on his computer, but he didn’t like the way Jane hovered around Dad, always touching him and laughing at all his stupid jokes. He still couldn’t believe she’d ended the call with Mom without asking any of them if they wanted to talk to her. He thought about going upstairs and calling Mom, but she would probably notice he sounded worried, and she would call Dad and things might spiral out of control. It was better if he stayed right where he was so he could keep an eye on her.
All night long, Trevor had gone back and forth between thinking Jane might not be so bad and thinking she was the devil. Sometimes she would smile a certain way that made him wonder if he was blowing everything she said and did out of proportion. But then he’d noticed her eyes darken and her face go slack when no one was looking, and he would go back to not trusting her. It was like watching a chameleon change its colors depending on its background, only Jane changed her expressions and tone of voice instead.