Clara nodded expectantly.
“It was him!”
Her mouth parted in a perfect O of disbelief.“No!Your boss?”
“My new boss!”I threw my hands up in the air.Then I sighed.Dramatics over.Time to tell her the truth.“My new boss for the foreseeable future, since I actually need the job.And, don’t tell Fernando, but I kind of knew all along.”
She frowned.“You knew what?”
“I knew he was an asshole.”I gave her a guilty look.“I figured out who he was after that fair, and then I realized Fernando had an in with the company, and… don’t hate me, but I think I can get some hidden camera footage out of this.”
Clara’s face paled slightly as she stared at me.“Fernando could get in trouble.”
“No way,” I exclaimed.“He didn’t know.I made sure evenyoudidn’t know.Don’t tell him now, and he’ll still be in the dark.Once this all comes out, I’ll make sure to tell them it was nothing to do with him.Actually, I already did.I told my new boss I knew Fernando but that he didn’t put in a word for me or anything, and he wasn’t in the interview.And Ace – the guy who hired me – at least seems friendly.”
“Well, that’s something,” Clara said.“Maybe you can switch over to Ace’s desk if a position comes up and actually still get a career out of this.Then you won’t have to sell any footage anyway.”
I noted the dark rings under her eyes.She’d been spending a lot of time chained to her laptop lately.The almost bitter note in her voice reminded me that I wasn’t the only one struggling with work.I decided now wasn’t the time to argue about whether I was or was not going to sell any footage (especially because I was).Over the years, there had been plenty of times when I had to make choices I didn’t want to in order to put food on the table for both me and Clara.I hadn’t burdened her with those choices back then, and I wasn’t going to start now.
It was time to change the subject.To talk about her life instead of mine.“Have you heard anything back from that producer yet?”
She shook her head.“I keep telling myself it could be weeks before I hear anything and not to constantly check my emails, but…”
I smiled.There were some things that Clara and I had in common – apples that fell from the Dunbar tree.“You keep refreshing them at three in the morning just in case?”
She groaned.“Yep.”
I got up and grabbed a takeout menu from where it was stuck on the fridge with magnets.“Well, how about we celebrate our mutual torment by ordering in tonight?”
Clara made a face.“Sorry, Keat.When you said you might be out late tonight, I made plans with Nando.”
I tried not to let disappointment flare in my chest.It made sense for her to fill her time.She spent a lot of evenings with Fernando, anyway.They were dating.That was only natural.
When I’d been seeing Jordan, I’d been the same way.
It was just my newly single status that made it sting a little that Clara was leaving me behind.
“Right, sure,” I said, trying to make my smile feel easy and not obviously stitched on.“It would mess up my meal plan if I ate something different tonight, anyway.Wouldn’t want my precooked food to go bad.”
Clara laughed and rolled her eyes at me in that way that only family can, knowing all of your quirks and foibles and being able to tease you for them without it meaning that they don’t love you.My heart pinched and swelled at the same time.Because she was my sister and I loved her.
Because we were all we had.
“I’ll see you later if you’re still up when I get in,” she said, getting up from the table.I only then noticed her purse, sitting on the counter behind her.She was all dressed up and ready to go.She must have been waiting for me to come home before she left.
“Yeah, maybe,” I said.The smile felt more genuine this time.“But I’m going to bed early so I can get a head-start on tomorrow, so don’t rush home on my account.”
She threw me a wave and she was out of the door in an instant, leaving me standing at the counter alone.
I opened the fridge and eyed my carefully boxed and labeled pre-made meals.Lasagna again.That was fine.
Just fine.
I sighed, scrubbed my hand over my face, and tried to find that famous Dunbar smile from somewhere inside.
Tomorrow was a new start, and this time I wasn’t going to disappoint my new boss so much that he made me go home early.
“Good morning, sir,” I said smartly, stepping through the door and into Mr.Harvey’s office.The space was just like its owner: spartan and quiet, with every piece of décor allowed its own space to breathe.The smooth black surface of the vase in the center of his bookshelves was like a single word, no punctuation, no unnecessary frills.
