Episode 1131: Good While It Lasted

She stepped off the elevator with a grin on her face, happier than she could remember being since she was a little kid. She had good friends and good family who didn’t expect her to slap an exact label on herself, who didn’t push her to be someone she wasn’t, they just let her march to her own drum, no questions asked, just plenty of support.

The judgment at school had let up, too, or maybe it just helped that she’d gotten more of a handle on not judging herself so it let her care less about what other people said.

Then there was her uncle who even if she wasn’t close to him it was a relief to know he was on the mend, just as it was a relief that all that drama had unfolded without Sebastian remembering Xavier’s part in it or her grandpa finding out.

Xavier was like the uncle Tansy actually wanted and she’d been so afraid that Xavier would be run out of town or something. But the need to worry about that seemed to have passed, leaving Xavier in the clear.

So life was good and seconds away from better when her grandpa’s dog Walter would enthusiastically greet her and then she’d take him for a walk and between errands throughout the Marques Industries tower, she hoped to have a few minutes here and there to sway her grandfather into making more mindful choices with his business practices.

“Hi grandpa,” she sang out after his assistant told her to go right on in to the office.

Predictably Walter scrambled onto his paws, his backside wiggling, elated to see Tansy. Her grandpa, not so much. He nodded a frowny sort of greeting at her.

“What’s up?” Tansy asked, suddenly feeling a little squeamish inside, wondering if the terms she’d encouraged her grandpa to put in a couple days earlier had maybe soured the business deal and explained his foul demeanor.

“What’s up?” He mimicked. “What’s up is that it occurs to me young lady that when I came into the bookstore after your uncle’s accident, you failed to disclose everything you knew.”

Episode 1132: Know Your Enemy