Magdalene Read Online Free PDF

to talk to
me.
    “Cassie!” she hissed, then lowered her
voice. “I’m in class.”
    I knew that.
    “Question,” I said, disregarding her
irritation. “When do you graduate?”
    “In May. Which you know. My graduation
application is posted on the refrigerator.”
    “It’s dated two years ago, Clarissa.”
    “What do you want?”
    “Are you serious about going where Knox
Hilliard teaches?”
    “Dammit, Mother. Of course I am. An urban
commuter school—a state one at that—in some hick town in the middle
of nowhere that doesn’t have skiing or a beach?”
    Her willingness to sacrifice so much for her
educational goals was admirable.
    “I mean, for real? As in, you’re going to
work, not simply drool over Professor Hottie and wait for him to
notice you and fall in love with you?”
    “I’m going to ignore that and point you to
my 4.0 in a double major. Which is criminal justice and
Spanish. Not humanities, also known as underwater basket
weaving. Unlike some people I could name. Mother .”
    She had me there. The snob. “I am on my way
to a meeting at which he will be present. Would you like me to
finesse your name into the conversation? Plant a few seeds?”
    I would have thought the call had been
dropped but for the background lecture going on and the rustlings
of students. “What kind of meeting, exactly?”
    “Not that.”
    I could hear her breathe a sigh of relief.
“Thank God .”
    “Although I might change my mind...”
    “Mother! Don’t you think you’ve poached
enough men? You have to move in on my territory, too?”
    “A crush on a man old enough to be your
father does not ‘territory’ make.”
    “God, you’re a bitch.”
    “Isn’t he married? To that gorgeous
redheaded right-wing nut?” Stony silence. “Oh, I remember. We don’t
like to talk about that.”
    “Bite me. This conversation is over.”
    And it was, because she’d hung up on me.
    I attempted to annoy my other three
daughters, but none of them were available. I doubted they were
avoiding me, but I couldn’t rule it out.
    My phone rang then— “I’ve Never Been to Me,”
my best friend’s ringtone.
    He hates that.
    “Where are you?” Nigel demanded.
    “About halfway to Lehigh Valley. Why?”
    “Word got out that you’re detaching Jep
Industries from Hollander Steelworks, rebranding it, and installing
a COO. Hollander’s bigger customers are biting their
fingernails.”
    “Shit, already?” I had hoped that word
wouldn’t get out so soon, but it was inevitable when the CEO of OKH
Enterprises—J.I.’s biggest customer now that Fen Hilliard was
dead—was married to Hollander’s best friend. King Midas probably
didn’t want to piss off his wife by doing the reorganization
himself.
    “You’re the wild card in this scenario.”
    I would have pinched the bridge of my nose,
but I didn’t want to disturb my makeup. “Keep mum until I can work
Logan around to my point of view.”
    Indeed, Sebastian Taight’s wife could be a
right bitch when she was unhappy, and as the CEO of the biggest
metals fabrication plant in the country, her opinions were
critical. The health of OKH’s equipment depended on Jep’s products,
and any change in its leadership could negatively affect her
production lines—which would affect a lot of other companies. Thus,
the manufacturing sector took its cues from her: If Eilis Logan
wasn’t happy, nobody was happy.
    Naturally, I’d planned for that.
    “I’m not sure how long it will take me to
beat Hollander and his cronies into doing it my way, especially if
she fights me. And God knows how Taight will figure into it. Even
if he likes my plan, he’ll stand with his wife.”
    “That’s a helluva conflict.”
    “Has that ever stopped the Dunham family
before?”
    “Good point,” he said. “Gotta go. Bring all
their balls home in a jar.”
    Right.
    I looked at my watch. “Damn. Sheldon, could
you drive around Bethlehem and Allentown? I want to see a