“I’m going with you to the…” There was no point in finishing the question. She was going to meet the Chislehursts, whoever they were. And that was it? That couldn’t be right. Vivian wouldn’t have flown her all the way out here just to be her fucking dinner companion. She couldn’t be in that desperate need of a, of a—

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and collected herself. Don’t think. Just do. Don’t think. Just do. “What time are we leaving?”

“Seven.” Vivian still didn’t look her way.

“Fine.”

The slightest blush was creeping up Vivian’s throat, though whether it was from anger or embarrassment, Jules couldn’t be sure. The woman must know how ridiculous this was.

She must really feel like shit to pull this kind of stunt for company.

“So, what are we doing tonight?” Jules heard herself ask.

Vivian turned quickly to look back at her. “Do you have short-term amnesia or something? The schedule—”

“I know what’s on it.” Jules dropped her phone in her lap. “The schedule says Christmas Day, just like the calendar. What are we doing for Christmas?”

Vivian sneered. “I didn’t think you were the sentimental type. Maybe we should go home and watch It’s a Wonderful Life?”

“Maybe we should. Or some dumb Christmas movie on Lifetime. Do they have Lifetime here?”

“Are you kidding?”

Jules crossed her arms.

“I don’t like Christmas,” Vivian said.

Jules fought back the urge to laugh. Of course Vivian didn’t like Christmas. She was the most fashionable Grinch ever. She probably also disliked kittens, rainbows, and sunsets. “Well, I love Christmas. I was going to celebrate it with my family, but now I’m here.”

Vivian crossed her own arms, far more elegantly than Jules had. With the tilt of her head, she could have been a queen glaring at an impertinent subject. “Celebrating it with me?”

“Celebrating it with you,” Jules confirmed.

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

“I’m not being ridiculous. It’s not like I expect a present or anything.”

What would a present from Vivian Carlisle be? A book titled An Underling’s Guide to Debasing Yourself More Efficiently?

“You don’t?” Vivian asked. “Then you must not have noticed the one you just got.”

“Huh?”

Vivian gave her a level look. “Didn’t you just say you appreciated meeting some of the most powerful people in publishing?”

Jules returned her look, dumbfounded.

“Do you think that disease-riddled PA was going to sit at my table? Or that she was attending at all?”

Her head was spinning again. The luncheon had been her Christmas present? It was supposed to make up for snatching Jules out of the bosom of her own family?