Hit send before I could change my mind.
Immediately hated myself for it.
My phone buzzed with her response:
Good. 6pm sharp. Don't embarrass me.
I set the phone face-down on my desk and pressed my palms against my eyes.
"Fuck," I whispered.
What had I just agreed to?
My phone buzzed again, but this time it was a different notification. A text from Luca:How are you feeling? Need me to bring anything when I come by tonight?
Then one from Jaxon:Away game tomorrow night. Gonna be gone til Sunday. You good until then, Pretty Girl?
I stared at both messages, my chest tight.
Saturday night. The dinner was Saturday night. Jaxon would be at his game. And I couldn't ask Luca to come with me. Couldn't subject either of them to my mother.
I typed back to both of them:
I'm fine. See you later.
Short. Dismissive. A lie. They'd know something was wrong.
But I couldn't deal with explaining it right now.
I turned back to my computer, tried to focus on work. But the photographs blurred in front of me. All I could see was my mother's house. The formal dining room. The judgment in her eyes.
And whoever this "special guest" was that she wanted me to meet.
My phone buzzed one more time.
I almost didn't look.
But it was Shayla, her office just down the hall:
Seriously, go home. You look like death. I'm not asking.
Despite everything, I almost smiled.
Maybe she was right. Maybe I should go home. Try to prepare myself for whatever Saturday was going to bring.
I saved my work, shut down my computer, grabbed my camera bag.
As I walked out of the office, I caught my reflection in the glass door.
Pale. Dark circles under my eyes. Blonde hair pulled back in a messy ponytail. I looked exactly like someone who hadn’t been using suppressants but will power as a heat was approaching and whose mother had just dropped a bomb into her life.
I looked like I was falling apart.
And Saturday hadn't even happened yet.
The elevator ride down felt too long. The parking garage too quiet. I sat in my car for a long moment before starting the engine, my mother's texts still burning in my mind.
I'm the one who got you that interview.
