Answering while she continued to undress, Lando said, “Hello?”
“Lando, it’s Diane.”
“Uh-huh.” She shucked her pants to the floor, picking them up and tossing them into the basket.
“Look, I wanted to talk to you and apologize for what happened out here in Kansas. Violet never wanted me to hire you.”
Well, Lando knew that much was true, but her stomach tightened as she waited for Diane to drop the next lie into her lap. She hadn’t thought she was so manipulative as to blatantly lie, but Lando had been proven wrong on that one already.
“So when we got into the field, she was less than enthusiastic about you being here.”
That was equally another truth, although Lando was pretty sure Violet had warmed up to her since then. Her lips tingled at the thought of what they’d done only thirty minutes before. She bent over her drawers, trying to decide what to wear but settled on her basic outfit of cargo pants and a T-shirt.
“I didn’t want to fire you.”
Lando snorted, and she didn’t even try to hold it back. She let Diane hear it for all its glory. Whatever Diane had to say, unless it was a flat-out apology for what she had done, not what Violet had supposedly done, and a paycheck, Lando didn’t really want to hear it.
“So I talked to Violet, and she’s no longer working on the team either.”
“Oh really?” Lando feigned innocence, wondering if she could get away with lying as well as Diane. It would be a feat, but she could try if only to have a nice fuck-you moment in about three minutes.
“Yeah, she left shortly after you did, actually, and I’m left without a team and someone to help me fulfill the requirements of the grant.”
Lando knew without a doubt that Violet had been the one to receive the grant, which meant Diane couldn’t actually run a team with the money from it without asking for a change in leadership, which she wouldn’t have gotten in the week they’d been gone.
“You were so good at catching the storms and tornados, that I was wondering if you’d be willing to come back and work for the team.”
Lando really wanted to ask what team, since it seemed to just be Diane.
“Since Violet is gone, I can pay you more.”
Diane had no shame about anything, did she? What had Violet ever seen in her? “You mean more than a hundred and twenty-five bucks a week? Gee, I might hit the threshold for poverty level.”
Silence echoed through the receiver, and Lando wasn’t surprised. Her comment had been particularly harsh. Lando tugged a dry pair of pants on but left them unbuttoned as she fiddled with the phone.
“Diane, while I appreciate the offer…” She did, mostly. “…I have a new job, and I need to stick this one out. I don’t think you can out-pay them, so just quit while you’re ahead. Thanks! Bye.”
Hanging up, Lando dropped the phone onto the mattress. She grabbed a dry sports bra and was just about to pull it over her head when the door to her bedroom suddenly opened. Violet stood still, her hand on the doorknob, dry clothes on, and her eyes locked on Lando’s chest.
“Vi, my eyes are up about twelve inches.”
“What? Oh…” Violet blushed, her cheeks beet red. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be.” Lando raised an eyebrow, trying to be more confident than she felt. She dropped the sports bra back onto the mattress and put her hands on her hips, realizing all too late that she still hadn’t buttoned her pants. “Like what you see?”
“I thought you’d be done by now.”
“I started water for tea.”
“I thought…” Violet trailed off, her gaze dropping again. “I didn’t…well, yes.”
“Yes what?” Confused, Lando furrowed her brow and stayed still. Violet had a death grip on the doorknob and hadn’t moved, but her gaze raked up and down Lando’s body, sending a shiver through Lando’s spine. She liked this openly appraising Violet. For the two weeks they’d spent locked together, Lando had been so careful to maintain privacy and not overstep boundaries, but there was none of that to mess around with anymore.
“Yes, I like what I see.”
“Then come here already.” Lando stayed put as Violet left the door and walked into the bedroom.
She stopped right in front of Lando, her eyes still locked on Lando’s breasts. Reaching up tentatively, Violet brushed her fingers over Lando’s collar bone and then lower as she murmured reverently, “You’re so beautiful.”