“I still feel bad,” I said. “I just wanted…well, I wanted the house. I wanted independence. I wanted to create something perfect and beautiful.” I picked at my nail polish. “Sorry I messed up. I know you all wanted to open the wedding venue and move out of this dump.” I kicked at one of the walls.
Shirley hugged me. Then Edward wrapped his arms around us. “It was a pipe dream anyway,” Edward said, rubbing my back. “Take a shower, and we’ll order Chinese.”
“It will be fine,” I told myself as I scrubbed in the tepid water in the tiny apartment shower. “You are a survivor. You’ll sell this watch, move to the West Coast, and start over fresh.”
Except that wasn’t the life I wanted. I wanted to be with Blade
67
Blade
“Oh my word, Blade,” Stacy exclaimed when I walked into the office on Monday. “I cannot believe Avery did that to you. I’m here for you if you need a soft place to land.”
I stared at her coldly. “Stacy, please pack your things and go. You too, Kitty. You’re fired.”
“But—”
“We lost the Harris & Schultz project, which you were going to be working on. As we will not be winning this contract, therefore we no longer have any need for you as a project manager. Maybe you can try Holbrook Enterprises.”
“She was a liar,” Stacy shrieked.
“It may have started out that way, but at the end, I fell in love with her, so it wasn’t a lie to me. However, your little display of jealousy cost us a billion-dollar contract.”
Stacy stamped her feet.
I curled my lip. “There’s been enough drama, so I’d like to not have to call security to escort you out, but I will if I have to.”
After sending an email to HR about the firings, I stared out the window. It was still raining. I wondered how Avery was. Cesario was still at my apartment, along with many of her things. I couldn’t bear to be in there, so I’d been crashing at Gunnar’s apartment.
My phone buzzed.
Weston:All-hands meeting. You’re making an announcement.
“Look,” I said to my employees, who were assembled in the large meeting room, “I know ‘sorry’ doesn’t cut it. It was my fault that we lost the Harris & Schultz contract. I gambled, and it didn’t pay off. Now we need to move on. The Honest Pet Company has moved us to the next round, and Weston and I will be flying out to give a presentation tomorrow midday. I have full confidence that we will win the contract.”
I stayed late to work that evening, wanting the presentation to be perfect. The first image was me with Cesario. It was that little personal touch that Weston was always so good at.
My inbox dinged with a new message. It was from Chuck Schultz. I almost trashed it without reading it. I didn’t need any more nasty emails. It was clear we weren’t winning the contract. Feeling masochistic, I opened it anyway.
We need to discuss the events of this weekend, was all it said.Are you free tomorrow evening to meet at my office?
I tipped my head back and blew out a frustrated breath then wrote,I’ll be there, but later in the evening after I return from Boston.
The confirmation came quickly.
What did he want to talk about? What was there to say? I didn’t have a good excuse. None of this was good for my company.
At least we’re relocating soon, I thought.A fresh start will be nice.
* * *
I ventured backto my condo to grab a new suit for the presentation in the morning. Shirley was there with Edward. They were packing up Avery’s things.
“How is she?” I asked tentatively.
“She’ll survive,” Shirley said in a clipped tone.
“I didn’t mean to hurt her,” I said. “Could you just—”
