Say It Again (First Wives, #5)(25)

“But I graduate in June. I can convince my parents to send me somewhere else. I’ll get on the outside, take my tuition money, and you and I can get a flat somewhere. Experience life.”

“If they say no?” Claire asked.

“Then you’ll just have to find a place for us. We can keep in touch, Loki.”

Claire leaned her head on her friend’s shoulder. “Okay, Yoda.”

“We’re going to be fine. Language tutor . . . something.”

She gave her friend a fist bump and then flopped back on her bed.



Sasha caught up with Linette walking through the administration hall. “Do you have a minute?”

Linette turned, her serious expression softened slightly. “For you? Of course.”

Sasha took the space beside her and they continued down the hall. “Thank you again for letting me stay here.”

“I hope it’s been helpful,” Linette said.

“It has been. I saw Mr. Pohl down in the shooting range, watching me.”

Linette lifted her chin. “It’s his way of interviewing you.”

“For what, exactly?”

The headmistress was silent as they walked. “I couldn’t tell you. He works in highly classified areas of the government.”

“Which government?”

“Many.”

“Doing what? Security? Surveillance?” Sasha asked.

They walked through the administration office doors and went straight to her office. Once there, Linette removed her robe and placed it on a hanger, hung it on a coat rack, and moved behind her desk. “I would assume that those skills are part of what he needs.”

“You would know the people he has hired from Richter in the past. People I might talk to in order to determine if I want to take any job he might offer . . .”

“I do.” She folded her hands together and rested them on her desk.

“You’re not going to tell me.”

“Classified, Sasha. If you choose to take a job with Geoff, then your name will also be one I don’t tell others. It’s for everyone’s safety.”

“That’s fair.” Cryptic, but fair.

“You seem more settled since you first came back,” Linette told her.

“I feel more centered. Returning has helped me more than I expected.”

“I’m glad. And if Geoff feels you don’t fit, or you don’t want the job . . . I wouldn’t be opposed to a situation where you work here with us.”

Sasha knew her jaw dropped. “Oh, I never considered . . .”

“I can’t imagine you would have. Think about it.”

A knock on the door interrupted them.

“Sorry to disturb you,” Linette’s assistant said with a shy smile. “There’s a call for Miss Budanov.”

Sasha’s stomach twisted. The only people who knew she was there were those at the school . . . and AJ.

“It’s a Mr. Reed, he said it was important?”

Sasha attempted to keep any emotion from showing on her face. “Thank you.” She started to walk out of the room.

“I hope everything is okay,” Linette said from her desk.

“I’m sure it’s fine. His wife is expecting twins.”

“How lovely,” Linette uttered.

Sasha picked up the phone at an unoccupied desk. “Hello?”

“Sorry to bother you, darling.” Reed’s voice was elevated.

Darling?

“Are you a father yet?”

“No, no . . . but I wanted your opinion on names.”

“And it couldn’t wait . . .”

“Babies come whenever they want. So, we were thinking, Olivia and Jocey, if they’re both girls. Or Alex and Blake if they’re boys.”

The familiar names kept Sasha’s expression natural. Obviously, there was something Reed needed to tell her and didn’t want anyone who might be listening to understand. “All solid names. Why do you need my advice?” Sasha noticed Linette’s secretary smiling.

“You know my friend Neil? He tells me every Olivia he ever knew disappeared after the first date, no call, no forwarding number. But we really like the name. And Jocey . . . Lori loves it, but my sister’s best friend in school was a Jocey, and she was pretty messed up, eventually killed herself. It was awful.”

The air in Sasha’s chest caught. Jocey was dead?

AJ was onto something.

“I think you skip both names. Too much baggage.” She glanced at the clock on the wall. Almost five. She needed to touch base with Alex and get him to stop poking around until she could regroup and devise a plan.

“What about Alex?” Reed asked, keeping with the baby name ploy.

“Everyone I ever knew by that name was overly inquisitive. Always getting in trouble.”

“Now that you mention it. We should scratch that. We both like Blake. It’s a safe name. No baggage. I knew a Blake once . . . ended up in finance, made a shit ton of money. Had houses all over the world last time I heard.”

As close as London, if Sasha remembered correctly. Blake Harrison could provide safe harbor for Alex until they could figure out what the hell was going on.

“It sounds like you need to go back to the baby books.”