Free A Brit on the Side (Castle Calder Book 1) by Brenda St John Brown Page B

Angela Fisher in the dining room? Sounds like a game of Cluedo.” Scarlett smiles, but then her face turns serious. “I’m sorry your first few days have been so manic. I feel like you’ve been thrown in to the deep end a bit.”
    “No, it’s not your fault. Tonight I was feeling incompetent. You know how that bugs me.”
    “I know, but you’re doing fab. You know that, right?” Scarlett asks. Her expression is so earnest I feel like I’ll end up in tears if I don’t break the tension, recounting all the ways Angela Fisher was a bitch tonight. Even though I know damn well Angela Fisher isn’t the thing bothering me.
    Well, not the only thing.
    But it’s the easier thing to talk about, by a landslide. “I’ll get the hang of it, don’t worry. Angela Fisher is like one of those parents who come in at the start of every school year saying, ‘Just so you understand, little Johnny is gifted and I need to know how you’re going to cultivate his brilliance.’ When, in reality, little Johnny is dealing his ADD meds and Snapchatting pics of his privates while Mommy Dearest is too busy fucking her husband’s business partner to notice.”
    Scarlett whoops with laughter. “There’s the Bea Gillespie I know and love.”
    “I like to call it like I see it.” I grin, but let it fade. “In all seriousness, I don’t want to be a detriment. I mean, I know Angela Fisher’s horrible, but she’s paying your parents a shit ton of money for this weekend and I don’t want to blow it so badly she demands a refund or something.”
    Scarlett furrows her brow. “Why would she do that? From everything I hear, you had a blip or two, but you’re doing fab. Jasper said you were ace.”
    “Jasper bailed me out by pulling the American card.” I roll my eyes.
    “What’s wrong with that? You are American, right?”
    “It’s the principle of the thing. I don’t want to need bailing out.”
    “From Jaz? Or in general?”
    “Both.” I’m still reclining on the pillows, but my shoulders tense. A little truth can only be a good thing, but it still makes me anxious.
    Scarlett sits up, crossing her legs on the bed. “Well, it feeds Jaz’s white knight complex, but it’s probably good for him to practice empathy every now and then.”
    “He’s not so bad.” I keep my tone light, but warning bells ring in my head. Defending Jasper is the right thing to do because he helped me out tonight, but Scarlett will find it weird if I defend him too much.
    “He’s not,” Scarlett agrees. “Until he is. You watch. Tomorrow he’ll be a total plonker and all of my current goodwill will, poof, disappear.”
    “You’ve said a million times that you don’t get along, but then it seems sometimes like you do?” I’m totally fishing now.
    “We do.” Scarlett shakes her head. “Until he does something dickheaded. Which, with Jasper, is a matter of when, not if.”
    “I know I don’t have a sibling, but isn’t occasional dickhead behavior part of the deal?” I’m on treacherous ground here, I know, but Scarlett’s being open enough I feel like I can ask without her questioning my motives. Because if I could understand the root of Scarlett’s animosity, maybe I could break it down. Like a math problem with multiple operations. But with two people I care about.
    Scarlett sighs. “I’m glad he’s being nice to you, but I’ve had a lifetime of Jaz being a total arse when he wants to be, yet God forbid anyone ever calls him on it.”
    “Why not?”
    “For starters? Because he’s at Cambridge and he’s brilliant and he got the highest marks in his year. Brilliance trumps benevolence every time.” Scarlett jumps up. “And seriously, why the hell are we talking about my brother? We have a bottle of wine and some voodoo to get to, which is a much better pursuit all around.”
    Because it’s better to avoid the real issue than to confront it?
    The words pop into my head and make it all the way to my mouth before I bite