“Okay, okay.” There’s nothing really left for me to say and hang up the phone.
I hang up the phone and my head drops with a loud thud onto my desk. Never mind the pain when my world is imploding. There’s absolutely no coming back from this, not even a miracle can save me from the disaster that’s going to be The Cupid’s Ball. If the table runners were missing, most people wouldn’t even know. But no band, that was something everyone will notice and talk about until my mistake is this towns’ biggest celebrity.
This is what a downhill spiral must feel like, but when will the bottom appear? Between last night and being told the band was canceled, I honestly don't know which hurts worse.
I wanted to believe Nolan and I were creating something deeper, something organic that might last beyond whatever expiration date was on our arrangement but now it's evident we’re just too different to work. No matter how much you shake it, oil and water separate in the end.
My creaking office door catches my attention but I don't even bother lifting my head. My world is ending and I’m fine wallowing in my melodramatics for now.
“Sleeping on the job is a bit tacky, don't you think?”
I don't have to open my eyes to know my sister is standing in my office. But why on Earth is she here? Our father’s been mayor for the last twenty years and I don't think she’s ever willingly set foot in City Hall.
Reluctantly, I peel my cheek off the wooden desk. “What are you doing here, Hallie?” Locking eyes with a woman who, despite our differences, looks almost the same as me. It's a bit eerie, knowing she hates all that I am.
“Came to see Sadie.”
“And since when do you know Sadie anyway?”
She rolls her eyes. “Years, how do you think she got the job? Daddy said Nolan needed a new secretary and who better than Sadie?”
That actually makes me laugh. “Literally anyone would be better than Sadie,” I mutter under my breath.
Hallie hovers in the doorway.
“Well she doesn’t work in here so feel free to go find her.”
“You and Nolan seem to be close?” She takes a step further into the room.
“He’s my boss.” I’m not sure if she can sense the tremor in my voice but if Hallie’s here and questioning me about Nolan, it’s not good. My stomach twists at the thought.
“Pretty nice of yourbossto come to your defense last night. Even left the table to go check on you.”
“Where are you going with this?”
Another step toward me and a sinister smile graces her face and her eyes go dead. “Whatever’s going on between you two, end it.”
The twister in my stomach takes off cause how the fuck does she know. “I’m not sure what you're talking about.”
“Oh, please, Nolan couldn’t take his eyes off of you all night and then after that little display of chivalry, it was easy to put together. Tell me, does Daddy know you’re sleeping with his best friend?”
“Thats nobody’s business.”
“It’s my business,” she snaps.
I rise from my desk, shaking fingers pressing into the desk. “Why? What’s it to you, Hallie?”
I expect her to give me some shallow reason about why I should call it off. Something about Sadie being a better match. Instead, her face slowly hardens. “Leave Nolan alone.”
“Or what, Hallie?” I throw my arms up. “What will you do? Ruin my life? Newsflash, you’ve been doing that since we were kids, three decades of being tortured or ignored by you, so why would this be any different?”
“Oh, please, Harper, you’re so quick to act the victim. Grow up.”
“Are you kidding me?” My feet move on their own, walking around my desk and to Hallie until our shoes are practically touching.
My whole life I’ve been waiting for my tipping point. The point in my life where I finally grew a backbone andstood up for myself, although I’m surprised the motivator is being told to stay away from Nolan. A lifetime of being told I’m not good enough should have toppled me into a well I can’t climb out of, but it didn’t, it merely sent me running from everything in Cupid, my family included.
And then I found Nolan—the one person who sees me the way I see myself. A capable woman. A woman worth a life full of love, passion, and fun. If they think they’re going to take him away from me, they’re wrong.
