“Let me know if you need any help. Your online store interface could be more current, too.”
“I can take all the help, but I don’t want to take advantage of your time.”
“I’m not doing much with my time right now,” Ivy said. “I’m happy to help.”
“I can’t do anything about club business. That’s Zee’s department, not mine. But I have a friend looking for a co-host of a podcast. It’s paid.”
Ivy pushed her hair behind her ears. “What’s the podcast on?”
“Sex and kink and things like that,” Ella said.
“I don’t know. I’ve done nothing like that before.”
“Julien is a great guy. This is a pet project of his.”
“I’ll think about it. I came here to start the job search. It’s time I find something or try to.”
“I don’t think you’ll have a problem, Ivy. Sometimes things are bigger in our head than in reality.”
“Maybe.” Ivy shifted in her seat.
“Can I give Julien your name?”
“Yes, sure,” Ivy said.
“Perfect. I need to get to physio, and my girls are home tonight for dinner, and I have a hundred more errands. Talk to you soon.”
“Bye, Ella. And thanks.”
Eating her scone, she brought her laptop out of her bag, set it on the table next to her phone and plugged in her headphones. She flipped open the screen and logged into her social media accounts for the first time in seven months. After Metric fired her, she locked down all her accounts and stopped posting online.
Scrolling through her notifications, she saw she didn’t miss much. Opening her messages, she saw a few messages of support from her co-workers. A couple of them told her that she was too good to be fired and let her know if she needed anything. There were a couple of troll messages and one that seemed a little creepy, a message saying she better stay out of it if she knew what was good for her. Out of what? Ivy frowned. That message seemed very specific. She clicked on it, and it led to a blank profile. She hit the block button and kept scrolling.
Emery and Ella were both correct. This had blown up so huge in her head that she had disconnected from the reality that people didn’t care that much about it. Other than her bosses and Gabe.
She smiled, seeing a picture of her cousin Alice’s baby in Alberta. Though her cousin had sent photos to her phone, it wasn’t the same as the daily posting. Ivy liked a bunch of them, then sent her cousin a private message saying she was on the job search and asked if she knew anyone who was hiring.
She laughed, seeing her dad post pics of her new truck. Ivy commented, “You’re right. Dad, the red does look good on you.”
How could she be nervous about making a post? But as her fingers flew over the keys, she was. For the first time in seven months, she was putting herself out there. She made a post, telling everyone she was looking for work again, ready to take on a new PR role and let her know if anyone knew anything. As soon as the post went up, she logged out and spent the next half hour going through the online job postings.
She knew she should take anything, but she had worked so hard to get up the ladder that she didn’t want to take a step down.
Her phone buzzed. Glancing at the number, she bit her lip. He was the last person she wanted to talk to. But she answered. “Hi, Cole.”
“Hey, Ivy. Look, I just saw your post, and I think I might have something. I’ll swing by later and check it out? I could bring beer and pizza.”
She didn’t like Cole. He was rude and arrogant, and she hated how he joined their father in putting down Gabe. After she had convinced him to sign on with their client at Metric, she saw too much of his personality to trust him fully. He would yell at the camera crew and the make-up people on the commercial set, and he was a complete ass to work with. Ivy had never been so relieved to have a file taken from her when Flint told her he was taking over all celebrities on that client’s list. Gabe didn’t need her to gain up on how awful Cole was, so she tried to keep the peace.
“I’m not sure what happened, but I’ve missed you, Ivy. Let’s hang out together.”
She was being silly. It was like the nerves she felt while making the post; she was just nervous about interacting with people again.
“Fine, Cole.” He wasn’t her favourite person, but he had been around more since retiring, and if he was trying, Ivy thought she and Gabe should, too.
“Great, I’ll see you at seven.”
Ivy bit her lip and texted Holton, rescheduling for tomorrow night.
