Something To Talk About

Chapter fifteen

I'm sorry in advance if there are any mistakes.

_

Winter talked to her mom every Saturday. Sometimes they talked during the week, too, but her mom got mad if she didn’t call on Saturdays, even if they talked on Friday.

She didn’t want to talk to her today, would rather get a lecture on not calling than a discussion of her week. But her mom called her, and she couldn’t not pick up.

There were the standard pleasantries, and then:

“Honey,” her mom said, and Winter already sighed, knowing what was coming. “I talked to your sister. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, Mom,” Winter said. “I told Jisoo I’m fine. I’m not mad at her.”

“I know, sweetie,” her mom said. “We’re just worried about you.”

Winter rolled her eyes and collapsed onto her couch. She stared up at the ceiling just like she had after Jisoo left last night.

She wasn’t mad at Jisoo anymore, truly. Jisoo had apologized. They were fine. But her stomach still felt queasy when she thought about Karina. Over and over again she told herself: Karina was her boss, not her friend. Her boss, not her friend.

“Do you think . . . ,” her mom started. “Do you think maybe just because you’re not mad at Jisoo anymore doesn’t mean you’re not mad anymore?”

“It’s fine,” Winter said. “It doesn’t matter that they’re friends. Or business partners. I honestly don’t care.”

Her mom was quiet.

“I just think—” Winter half scoffed. “I’m just surprised, is all. That Karina didn’t care enough to mention it to me? I’ve been reading scenes for Black Mamba, you know? Don’t tell anyone, because I’m not supposed to, I don’t think. But I am. So I guess I thought she—we—I’m just pretty involved in her business dealings, usually. But apparently I’m not important enough to know anything about her sponsoring a pastry chef for Jisoo.”

“I’m sure that’s not it,” her mom said. “She probably just didn’t know how to tell you.”

“Didn’t know how to tell me, ‘Hey, I saw your sister’ after the first game. It’d be that easy. If she had cared enough to tell me, it would be that easy.”

Winter rolled over, pressed her face into the couch cushions. She felt stupid for pouting. It shouldn’t even matter. Karina didn’t have to tell her anything. And just because she was helping Winter figure out her career didn’t mean she couldn’t sponsor a pastry chef for Jisoo. There was no reason for Winter to feel like this.

“I don’t think she doesn’t care about you, honey,” Winter's mom said gently. “You told me how worried she was when you had that asthma attack in New York.”

Winter shrugged even though her mom couldn’t see her.

“Sweetheart,” her mom said. “I’m not saying this to tease and I don’t want you to get mad.”

“That’s always a good start to a sentence,” Winter grumbled.

“Sweetheart,” her mom said again, and Winter felt mildly bad for being rude. “Do you think maybe the rumors about you two might have a point? One that maybe you didn’t realize before?”

Her mom was asking if she had feelings for Karina, had a crush on her. Winter's instinctual reaction was to roll her eyes and brush it off like she’d been doing since the SAGs, but today her chest ached. Today she was lying facedown on her couch complaining to her mom about her boss not caring about her enough. Today she blinked, and her eyes were wet.