Ivy: You really know how to make a girl blush. My life feels lame now too. What are we going to do about it?
Easton: Funny you should ask. We have a group coming through here from the fifth of the month until the nineteenth. What if I came to LA sometime after the twentieth?
The massive squeal that shot from Ivy’s lips made heads at the busy TV station turn.
“Sorry,” she offered from her place among the sea of desks. Well, five desks, to be exact. She set her gaze back on her phone as a rush of excitement filled her body.
Easton was coming to LA! It had been hard for Ivy to be patient since she returned home, but she sensed Easton needed to go at his own pace. He likely needed time to process the idea of dating anyone, let alone a woman from another state. But already he was talking about a trip out to see her. She could hardly believe it was true.
Ivy: I would love it if you came out here! In fact, I just now added it to my calendar and I’ve already dipped it in bronze. That makes it final, right?
Easton: If that’s all it takes to make things final, consider yourself in Colorado by midnight. I’ll write it on my planner now and bronze the crud out of it.
She stared at the text while her heart broke into a happy dance.
“Ivy, Nancy, could you ladies come into my office please?”
Ivy glanced up in time to see Marsha slip back into her office.
Nancy shot to a stand. “Coming!”
Ivy followed suit. “I wonder what this is all about?”
“You’ve got me.” Nancy twirled a wad of gum around her finger as she led the way.
Ivy’s mind shot back to the situation with Marsha and the woman’s disappointment over Easton backing out. The mere recollection made her muscles tense. Had there been a new development?
The knot in her gut began to throb. A knot that had long since passed once Ivy broke the news. Sure, Marsha had been upset that Easton backed out, refusing to—in Ivy’s words—do the interview or sign the contract, but she hadn’t pushed the topic.
“Close the door,” Marsha said once they stepped inside.
Ivy did just that as Nancy lowered herself into one of the white leather chairs across from Marsha’s desk. Ivy took a seat beside her and tried not to look at the massive mural behind Marsha featuring a great white shark with razor sharp teeth.
“Nancy, please explain how you got hold of Easton Spark’s interview and contract.”
Ivy fought back a gasp as those words rearranged themselves in her head. The interview!Andthe contract too?
“Ivy and I upload our data into the same cloud,” Nancy explained. “We know whose is whose, of course, and don’t normally bother with one another’s, but when Ivy didn’t check in with us before Christmas, I figured she got caught in the storm, so I sent hers in for her.” Nancy glanced over to Ivy. “Foryou, I should say.” She shrugged innocently.
Ivy pulled in a shallow breath, the heated air like lava in her lungs. She wanted to think that Nancy wasn’t innocent at all, but she couldn’t possibly have known that Ivy planned to delete both files. Or that she’d made an agreement with Easton to say he’d changed his mind instead.
“So…” Marsha said, dragging out the word and resting her elbows on her desk. “Imagine my confusion, Ivy. Because earlier, you flew back to LA with news that Easton had changed his mind and that youdidn’tget the interview or signature at all.”
It felt like fists were tightening around Ivy’s throat. Was it her turn to speak yet? And if so, what would she possibly say for herself? She’d told a bold-faced lie and there was no getting around it.
“We take a few days off for the new year,” Marsha continued, “and I step back into my office to see an email from Nancy that contains both of the filesyousaid didn’t exist.”
Now. Now it was her turn. Another rush of fire-hot heat moved from her chest to her neck and then settled into her face. She could only fess up at this point and hope her explanation would save her.
“I’m…verysorry for not being upfront with you,” Ivy started. “Ididget the interview and signature, in the very beginning. But then after being with Easton all that time, he opened up to me and said that hereallydidn’t want to do it and that he was just doing it for his sister because he lost a bet.”
“So what?” Marsha sat up tall in her chair once more and narrowed a hard look at her. “Do you know how many people get cold feet at the altar? Or nauseously nervous before a first date? Should we encourage everyone to simply cave to their fears, Ivy?”
She shook her head. “No.”
“I say that to show that you weren’t, in fact, doinghima favor at all. But that’s beside the point. Because you don’t work for Easton Sparks, you work for me. Not only was itnotyour job to cater to his misgivings, it wascompletelyout of line and a breach of your employment contract.” She drummed her fingers on the desk while her lips pinched shut.
Ivy dropped her gaze to the woman’s manicured nails, feeling each audible clank like tiny stabs in her heart. The heat that had rushed to her face had officially gone south because suddenly her head was cased in a cool sweat.
