Felicity remembered those meetings all too well. Her boss had been useless. “You told me once my team would have won a deal if I’d been running the meeting.”
“You would have.” Elena’s eyes became half-lidded. “We kept bumping into each other. And every time we did, you looked older, sadder, and your accent was less Pinckney, Michigan, more 17 Cherry Tree Lane, London.”
“Where?”
“Don’t you read the classics, Felicity?” Elena’s eyes brightened. “Mary Poppins lived there with the Banks family.” She steepled her fingers. “But I made a mistake. I offered you the chief of staff job based on a wrong assumption.”
Alarm prickled through Felicity. “You did?”
“I thought a woman from Pinckney, Michigan, would be more well-rounded than all my other lawyers put together. You’d have seen more of America, have more empathy and connection with people. I assumed you might have a few down-to-earth Midwest sensibilities lurking under your fierce persona. That’s necessary because we live such a privileged existence.”
“We do.” Felicity had come of late to see just how much that was true.
“I’m aware every day that I’m a far cry from being a poor Polish-American girl who mended other people’s clothing to help her family make ends meet. I know crushing poverty; I know the smell of it, the taste of it, the burning need to flee it. And it shaped my ambition. I might have talked myself into an editorial job I had no qualifications for, changed my name, and made sure I never looked back. Even so, I never forgot where I came from. And I thought a Pinckney, Michigan, girl probably understood that, too. I could see you reshaping yourself every time we met, changing your look from long hair to tight bun, your accent, your attitude until no one dismissed you. I saw aspects of me in you. But I was wrong.”
Felicity swallowed. “Wrong?”
“I used to wish, when I was younger, that I could obliterate my past. I saw it as embarrassing. Some people, like my charming rival Emmanuelle Lecoq, occasionally liked to remind me of it. She was a bully who loved to bring up my past and tell me it belonged in the gutter along with me. Younger me would have done anything to have wiped it away like a stain. Older me wishes no such thing. I’m aware it made me who I am. But that’s me. I don’t know how you achieved such a feat of wiping your past from every part of you, but it seems you succeeded.”
Felicity stared. Was that how it seemed?
“The longer you worked for me, the more I noticed: You connected less with people than anyone I’d ever met. You displayed no interest in understanding their lives, interests, or anything unrelated to your job. You were incapable of small talk. Your focus was absolute. In fact, the first few years you were in my employ, I used to watch you in frank astonishment at the way you interacted with people. Because you only had two settings: brutal or awkward.”
Ouch. Felicity’s shoulders sank.
“I know I make the occasional cutting comment, but it’s generally done to remind people I’m not to be messed with. I like to think it’s never cruel—it’s either honest, or it has a purpose. But you?” Elena gave her a look of deep concern.
“Felicity, do you remember when we were based at the Hudson Metro News and an employee’s son fell ill? She wanted to go home to be with him. You told Madeleine the woman should have thought of that before she procreated. That parents play the parent card too often.”
Oh. That. She was only being flippant. She wasn’t even entirely sure she’d meant it. Trust Elena to have overheard that.
“That gave me pause, Felicity. The unnerving truth is, it made me seriously afraid of what sort of a person you were. Despite your skills and expertise, I did not want a Lecoq running my company.”
Felicity was nothing like that evil snake. She opened her mouth to say as much.
Elena put up a hand to stop her. “I’m aware it might have been your idea of a joke, but at the time I wasn’t sure. You are a fine lawyer, Felicity, an excellent manager with an eye for detail, and as clever as anyone I’ve met. But while these are important facets needed to run a corporation, I had to be sure I had someone in charge of my business who doesn’t only put the bottom line first.”
“Cue Living Ruff,” Felicity said.
“Yes. I thought if I sent you to meet people who don’t take anything for granted, you might come away with a bit of personal growth. Or at the very least, some self-awareness that we exist in a bubble filled with experiences so entitled that they have little bearing on the real world. I wanted you to have a wake-up call and return with a bit more appreciation of what you have. Most of all, I needed to see whether those glib lines you toss out that make you sound so uncaring were just a front.”
Elena suddenly looked uneasy. “And in one moment of clarity, it also occurred to me that you might have been trying to mimic me. What if you’d concluded that being cold and harsh was what I wanted from you?”
Shock ran through Felicity. Elena’s personal opinion of her was far lower than she’d even imagined. Did Elena truly think she didn’t care about anyone? Was that how the world saw her, too?
“I’m truly sorry, Felicity, if you’ve been assuming my occasional pointed jabs are what I want to see from my managers,” Elena went on. “And I’m well aware I may come across as indifferent to most things, but it’s a deliberate choice I play to keep people on their toes. But with you, I truly couldn’t tell whether it was a game you played or who you really were. So I had to know for sure. Did you have it in you to empathize with others? Could you make the occasional decision with your heart, not your head? That was the plan. And it seems you overshot even my ambitions.” Elena shook her head incredulously. “You came back owning the charity.”
Well, not exactly, Felicity wanted to say. But for some reason no one ever wanted to hear the boat analogy.
“And I got my donation back, which you’ve no doubt seen I’ve reinvested back in the charity. Further, you ensured Charles Stone would be punished and would make amends. It’s remarkable. You really stepped up. Most of all, you impressed me, Felicity. I’m now in no doubt that Bartell Corp is in fine hands.”
Felicity stopped panicking, and a weight lifted from her shoulders. She’d done right. Still she shifted uncomfortably. Compliments tended to make her break out in hives because she always had to pick them over for their deeper meaning. “Well, it was the logical choice to get the charity and your money back. Double win.”
“The Felicity I knew before all this would have let the charity fold because you’d have decided it was one less headache for Bartell Corp. Or you might have gone to the police to punish Charles for daring to take even a dime from me.” Elena cocked an eyebrow. “Am I wrong? If I had asked you this as a hypothetical before you visited Living Ruff, what would you have decided was the best course?”
“Fold the charity,” Felicity admitted with a rueful smile, “and go to the police anyway, but only after I’d received that refund for your donation.”
“And you know what? That would have still been a sound business option,” Elena mused. “But I would have been disappointed.” She smiled suddenly. “Would you like to stay for lunch? I think we’re going to the place around the corner. It has a lovely salad range, so you’ll be safe.”
Was Elena actually teasing her about her famous diet preferences? And wait— “We?”
“Oh, Madeleine’s around here somewhere.” Elena waved carelessly behind her, indicating the rest of the apartment. “She volunteered to help me pack since she had nothing else going on. I mean, if you can stand lunching with the ‘annoying Australian,’ too?” Elena’s lips twitched up.
The woman really did have exceptional hearing if she’d heard Felicity call Maddie that. “I’m sure I’ll find ways to amuse myself.” Felicity smiled back. “I haven’t politely reminded Maddie about her being from a feral dingo-bred clan for at least a year. For some reason, she seems to find that hilarious.”
“Well, then, by all means. Lunch.” Elena’s eyes sparkled.
And that was the moment Felicity felt it. The first tendrils of friendship. Actual, real, not just business-related friendship.
Instinctively, she understood that this was the first time she’d ever properly seen the real Elena—someone who teased her as an equal, shared stories about her own past, and actually explained in full her business decisions.
It felt momentous, in a way: intensely private Elena offering her this gift.
Felicity wasn’t even sure if she’d be worthy of it. She wasn’t great at friendship, obviously. But this offer wasn’t a ticking time bomb. It was something rare and precious. She’d treat it accordingly.
“Oh damn!” Felicity said, startling them both. “Oh gosh, sorry, but I can’t. Cooper—the vet from Living Ruff that I…that I’m seeing”—her eyes darted worriedly to Elena—“we’re supposed to have lunch today.”
“And you promised her first,” Elena mused. “That’s quite all right. My offer was impromptu. I’m not asking you to choose.”
