“When have I ever said that?” she said. “I’m sorry I yelled. And I’m sorry for what I said.
“We’re ok?”
“You’re ok,” Amy said. She looked down at her son. “I have a feeling I’m in for more than I can handle.”
“Well, since you fired me, I have all the time in the world to help out.”
“If you think you’re getting off that easy,” Amy said, “you’re in for a rude awakening.” As she finished her sentence, Caleb started to cry. “Ok,” she added, “I think we’re all in for a rude awakening. Rich and the rest of the team will be waiting for you at the office. When things calm down a bit, we’ll find a few new additions to make up for all of the changes. I’ve been thinking about how we can attract the right people to join our team.”
“Good,” Callie said. “There’s just one thing I have to do before I go back to work.” She waited for Amy to reply, but realized that she was looking down at her son. Callie walked over and gave Amy a hug. “I’ll be back in the office tomorrow.”
Amy kept her concentration on her son. “Sounds great to me,” she said. “As your sister and your business partner, it’s good to have you back.”
Callie looked down at Caleb. “You behave yourself until you’re at least 21, ok?” she said.
“If he takes after his father,” Vi said, “it will take a great deal longer than that.”
“What happens if he takes after his great aunt?” Amy asked.
“If that happens,” Vi said, “God help us all.”
“You always get the last word, don’t you?” Callie asked. She couldn’t help but smile.
“Callie,” Vi said, leaning in towards her, “when you get to be my age, any word might be the last.” She winked. “Go make things right,” she whispered.
Callie hugged everyone goodbye, left her sister to her happy scene and headed on her way. Once she was outside the hospital, she called Rich. “I need you to help me with something a little bit outside the scope of what we normally do. I’ll make sure you get your usual compensation.” Callie found it worked best to get his attention with the promise of fried breakfast foods before continuing on to business.
“Hey, boss. What’s the job?” Rich asked.
“I don’t need to know how, but I need you to get me everything you can find on Veronica Jones.”
“Veronica Jones?” Rich asked.
“Yeah, we’re taking her down,” Callie said. She was doing this for Logan, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t enjoy herself in the process.
***
Callie didn’t care if Logan didn’t want her around; she wasn’t about to be the reason he let everything fall apart. A little over a month ago, she had been flying to Newport against her will, hoping to finish things quickly enough that she could fit in a vacation for herself on the side. Now, she sat by herself in an otherwise empty row in business class, headed. She spent the flight picking exactly the words she wanted to say, and then she practiced them. She practiced them as she got off the plane, as she got into the cab and even as she walked up to the door. When she finally knocked, her mind went blank.
“Hello?” Veronica Jones stood in the doorway and looked more than a little confused. “Can I help you?”
Callie shook her head. “You can’t help me, but you can help someone else for me.”
“I heard about your messy breakup with Logan,” Veronica shot back, “Word travels fast, you know.”
“Are you going to let me in?” Callie asked. “I’m not here to yell at you. I’m not here to try to change anything that happened in Newport. I’m just asking you to think about the effect of your actions before you release that tape.”
“Is that really why you’re here?” Veronica said. “After what he did to you? I thought you were here to tell me you had lined up the New York times to drag his name through the mud or something like that. You’re really here to try to help him?”
“Yeah.”#p#分页标题#e#
“He really didn’t put you up to this somehow?” Veronica asked.
“As far as I’m concerned, he and I are done forever. I just want to make things right,” Callie said.
“You’re even crazier than he is, you know that?”
“What are you talking about?” Callie asked. “I just want to give him a chance at a clean start. He deserves it. Yeah, he made mistakes in the past, but he knows it, and he doesn’t need people like you dragging him down for their own gain.”