Jessie & Elizabeth (abandoned)

15. The Olive Branch [Part 2]

She rolled her eyes. "You're just like Camille. If you hadn't only just started out here, I'd say she gets it from you."

The warm glow in the pit of my stomach was back, this time even more intense. There was just something about the idea of these kids copying parts and bits of me that made me feel like this was exactly where I was supposed to be. I felt myself relax, suddenly sure that closing the door on Lennox had been the right choice. "Now that you mention it," I said, "I caught Ari with another chili pepper. Apparently, Manon told her it wouldn't do any damage at all. Wonder where that wise-ass gets that from."

Elizabeth laughed. "That might be my mother's genes," she said, as if she wasn't just as much of a smart-ass.

"Oh, yeah, it's not like Manon is a small version of you."

"No, not really. It's Ari who takes after me the most." She smiled wistfully, looking up at the icy blue sky. "My mom used to say she hoped I'd get a child just like me. She certainly got her wish."

"Really?"

She nodded. "I didn't sit around reading books all day. In fact, every second I wasn't outside getting into trouble seemed wasted to me."

"You're kidding!"

"Is it so hard to imagine?"

"Sorry, but yeah." I looked her up and down, from her perfect make-up to her classy earrings to her grey woolen coat. "You always look so... cultivated." It was a word Hakim had taught me, and now I could tell him I used it in a conversation, like some fancy-pants college grad.

Elizabeth chuckled, as carefree as back when we were out on the water, and I drank in the sound of it. She flipped her hair over her shoulder, brushing a stray one aside. "That's not difficult when you've got money, Jessie. Believe me, if I'd still been seven years old, I'd be up that tree right now, trying to reach the top."

It wasn't hard to picture, but that was mainly because Ari would've done the very same if she'd been with us right now. "I've never actually climbed a tree," I said, flashes of my own childhood coming back to me. "Was too busy making sure my brothers didn't fall out of one. Probably for the best." With my clumsy footing, I'd have surely broken something if I'd ever tried.

"You always sell yourself short."

That wasn't the response I'd expected. Most of the time, people tended to agree with me and my shortcomings. Ma had taught me from a very young age I was better off not exerting myself; that only led to trouble and disappointment. "Have you seen me walk?"

She halted in her step again, seizing me up like she was trying to measure me or something. Then, she turned on the spot, searching around for something in the trees. "I bet you fifty dollars you can climb up that one," she said, pointing out a sycamore. It was tall, its top shooting out of sight, but it had a couple of thick low hanging branches a few feet above the ground, and some well-placed bumps and knots on its trunk. "Only to the first branch."

The idea was utterly laughable.

"I don't have fifty dollars to waste on bets I can't win." Honestly, it was tempting, mostly because I had never seen Elizabeth get into something as silly as a bet.

"If you lose, you'll have to stay out of my office for a change." There was the same playfulness in her tone as back on the boat, and damn, it worked so well with her sly smile, brown eyes glinting like Ari's could.

"Deal."

I hadn't consciously decided to agree — it was that smile, really, it was unfair. Determined to win this thing, I shrugged off the coat and handed it over to her. The wind crept up my arms, teasing my neck. Luckily, I was burning with warmth from the walk up here, and I was pretty sure the task at hand would leave me sweaty in only a matter of time. I made a show of flexing the biceps I didn't have; her scoff, laced with a suppressed laugh, was enough to spur me on.