Chapter 21

"I know you're keeping something from me," Petra was saying into the phone. "I can tell by your tone of voice. Besides, you've cut every conversation short this week and that's not like you."

"I've been very busy," Alix protested. She was lying on her bed in shorts and a T-shirt, a glass of wine at her elbow, trying to unwind from a grueling session in court. Every muscle in her body screamed from the day's accumulation of tension.

"Not more than usual." Silence hummed along the connection. "Okay, 'fess up. What's going on with the ice queen?"

"The ice queen?" Alix was both stunned and horrified. Was that the way her friends saw her? That was both depressing and horrifying.

"Well, maybe just the frozen queen. But honest to god, Alix. I think the only things you know how to cuddle up with are your law books and legal briefs. You need to use some part of your body besides your brain."