You Looked Down on Me Once Now You Look Up (Patricia and Oliver) novel Chapter 744

Patricia kept the conversation going with Oliver, chatting about how Amy had tried to cozy up to Theo, hoping for a big break, only for Theo to kick her to the curb at the last second. After that, Amy switched agencies, thinking she could finally make it big, but then her new agency was bought out by Ruby. Just her luck. She barely got settled before they benched her. It was only because Skyline Entertainment started running low on cash that they decided to give Amy another shot.

It was all just the usual work gossip. Dinner was still a while off, so Patricia set down her utensils and found something to talk about. It was her way of being polite, keeping things from getting awkward or quiet while they waited for food.

But Oliver didn’t see it that way. To him, it felt like Patricia was talking about Theo, not Amy, even though Amy was clearly the one at the center of the story. He couldn’t help but think she was still paying attention to Theo.

“You seem really interested in all their drama,” Oliver said.

“Not really.” Patricia blinked her big, round eyes at him, looking innocent. “Amy came to me, otherwise I wouldn’t know any of this. Honestly, I just keep an eye on what Ruby’s up to, so I hear about the people around her too.”

Oliver took a breath, steadying himself, his hand resting gently on her waist. “So, when is Ruby supposed to get what’s coming to her?”

“This week.”

“And what about Tina? Has her court date been set yet?”

“I heard it’s at the end of the month.” Oliver didn’t usually ask about this kind of thing, but Patricia answered every question without skipping a beat.

“Isn’t that cutting it close?”

“It doesn’t matter. Tina can’t stir up trouble anymore. As long as Ruby’s dealt with soon, that’s enough.”

And “soon” really meant soon. The week was nearly over already. Oliver’s eyes lowered as he thought about it.

Was Theo’s return really about Ruby? Was this all part of Patricia’s plan? Was she doing all of this just to make Ruby pay, nothing else behind it?

Oliver’s fingers traced slow circles on her back. “I heard…”

Before he could finish, Marian came in. “Dinner’s ready.”

She placed a bowl of steaming noodle soup in front of Oliver, clear broth with bright greens and thin slices of pork, all done up Northern style.

Patricia’s mouth watered just looking at it. She reached over and grabbed a few greens from his bowl, and Oliver helped by adding more to her plate.

She picked up her chopsticks, all smiles, ready to dig in and watch her show at the same time. Then she remembered and looked over at Oliver. “What were you about to say?”

“Nothing. Let’s eat.”

...

“Mr. Martin, Mr. Drumps from Limitless Tech changed his plans for this Friday. He won’t be back in Riverdale until Sunday night.”

“We’ve already confirmed the new schedule with his assistant.”

“Alright.” Ruby closed her door, tossed her bag onto the bench by the elevator, then leaned against the wall and slowly sank down, her head tilted back, exhaustion etched across her face.

She stared at the shoe rack across from her.

“I thought the trial was set for the end of the month. Why did they suddenly move it up to Friday? That’s just a few days away. What’s management thinking?”

Brandon stayed calm as he pulled out his chair and sat down. “Guess they want us to wrap things up. This case has been dragging on forever.”

He wanted it done, too. No point waiting for the end of the month if they could just get it over with now.

“It makes sense for me to want to finish, but you? You’re single, no family, no girlfriend. Finishing early just means you get thrown onto the next case. Why not stretch this one out a bit? Everything’s already done, you could actually take a breather for once.”

As he spoke, for some reason, Patricia’s face flashed through Brandon’s mind. His hand on the mouse stiffened.

“It’s easier being single,” his colleague kept going with a sigh. “If you’ve got a girlfriend, you’re always guessing what she’s thinking. Mine used to text me back right away. Now, if I get busy, she takes forever to reply. It’s like she’s trying to make me feel what she feels.”

“Just tell her about your job,” Brandon said. “Sometimes you just can’t reply right away.”

His colleague shook his head. “You clearly haven’t had a real relationship. If explaining worked, why do messaging apps have a block button?” He figured that feature was made for women. Otherwise, why would he end up in “message jail” so often?

Brandon shot him a confused look but didn’t say anything.

His colleague circled back. “Do you really think pushing up the trial is just so they can close the case faster?”

“You think someone’s pulling the strings?” Brandon asked.

His colleague shot him a look. “Any chance it’s that person you’ve been spending so much time with lately?”