“We’ve been best friends for a while. I know your work ethic. Where is this insecurity coming from?” Concern etches her features.
I’ve lost a lot of confidence in myself. In my abilities. In the decisions I make.“I’m proud of what I accomplished for my floral business. But this is next level. It’s one thing doing social media for your own company, it’s another when you’re carrying the responsibility of four successful brands on your shoulders.”
She brings the phone close to her face. “You got this, bitch.”
I laugh. “If that’s your idea of a pep talk, personal coaching isn’t for you. You better keep your day job.”
“Made you laugh. My work here is done.” She does a mic drop gesture with her hand.
I miss this. Us hanging out and being silly.
I miss so many things about my old life.
Ciara puckers her lips, mirth glinting from her light brown eyes.
“What is it?”
“How’s thebitchy colleague? Did she finally get that personality transplant?”
The overdramatization and mockery in her voice catches me off guard.
I laugh. “That’s hilarious.”
“When you sent me those texts about how rude that office barracuda was on your first day, I wanted to hop on myhusband’s private jet and come bitch slap her. How dare she talk to my bestie that way? She’s lucky I’m too pregnant to fly.”
God, I love this woman.
“I still can’t get over that sordid phone business on Wednesday,” Ciara says.
“Same.” I roll my eyes. “I leave my office to go to the kitchen for a coffee, spend a few minutes chatting with coworkers, and when I return to my office, both phones are gone. Disappeared into thin air. There’s only one person who would be responsible for stooping that low. Kaz gave Cressida the green light to overnight two phones. Then out of the blue, I find my phones swimming at the bottom of a toilet bowl.”
Ciara shakes her head. “She needs to get over herself. It’s an office. As for her unrequited obsession with Kaz, the Roy Kent of hockey is fake dating my bestie. Eat your heart out, barracuda.”
Fake dating.
That’s my status relationship.
How I long to remove the word fake from that equation.
“I hope Kaz puts his foot down,” Ci says. “The way Maybellynn talked to you is unacceptable. It’s not like you stole that office from her. It was never hers to begin with. And then the phones. That’s thousands of dollars down the drain.”
“Kaz has been out of the office all week.”
She tilts her head to the side. “He’s still dealing with the Grazie Mille situation?”
“After three days of extended search, the police and FBI didn’t find any drugs hidden anywhere in the restaurant. Kaz hired a plumber and a renovation crew to repair the bathroom he had to have destroyed. That nightmare is behind him, but the Brazilian owner is itching to sell. All of these surprises aren’t helping his heart condition. The man is literally pulling his hair out.”
“Poor guy,” Ci says. “In a matter of weeks, he’s had to deal with a manager who was running an illegal gambling operation after hours whose partner in crime is the idiot stepson of a Chicago Governor who groped you, a bartender who was stealing booze, and a bunch of morons using his restaurant as an exchange place for drugs.”
“It’s been nonstop for the poor man. In any case, Kaz has been at the restaurant, overseeing everything, and meeting with perspective buyers. Once he’s done with Grazie Mille, he needs to take care of his own businesses. He’s usually at the office really late.”
“Kaz has been MIA from the office with good reason, so he has no idea Maybellynn is a terrible human being, but I hope you’re going to tell him.”
I shake my head. “I don’t want to be the one instigating office drama. I only just started this job.”
She considers me for a beat. “I see where you’re coming from, but someone needs to put that woman in her place.”
“Let’s hope she got all the venomous poison out of her with her childish antics this week.”
