I was friends with everyone at work, but I was the boss, and it would be inappropriate for me to offload personal stuff onto them. And anyway, this whole mess called into question how I was doing my job. My editor was being patient and accommodating, and I was working until midnight to keep up the Home and Garden pages, but after the show’s premiere, I could see her patience would come to an end, especially with the new assignment interviewing the developer brothers.
Who would even understand what I was going through?
There was one person. A hulking, bossy man who literally threw his weight around when it was needed and even when itwasn’t. Should I call Tim? No, that was crossing the line again. We had a professional relationship, albeit a bickering, sniping one. This would drag him into the mucky quagmire that was my family life.
MAKEOVER YOUR MONEYMAKER,sneak peek.
Four design teams compete to turn a home into a business.
Team: Tim and Tabitha.
500 Comments:
IWantTimToNailMe2:House: Good bones. Man: Good bones, if you know what I mean…
LaIslaBonita:Groan… We always know what you mean.
LlamasRLife:Could we have more of the llama? That li’l cutie is the real star.
RugbyThighs69:Break down my walls, Tim!
TimTheBuilder:Lucky Tabitha. But Tim seems so sweet and fun, and she seems so…
LaIslaBonita:Don’t you dare say strident. If she were a guy, you’d be applauding.
TeamTimFTW342:Gathered skirts not your best look, sweetheart.
GirlBossesDoItBetter:Calling her sweetheart doesn’t make your comment any less sexist, you wally. Pull your neck in. Her style is floral outfits, and she looks great in them.
TeamTimFTW342:I call her sweetheart because I want the best for the poor girl.
LaIslaBonita:Riiiight.
21
Tim
Oh, the legs.
This morning, Sunday, we were knocking off all the old kitchen tiles. Tabs had on another floral combo. She seemed to be getting more confident by the day, maybe because she’d become instant friends with Poppy. Today’s skirt was even shorter and flouncier and flirted around her thighs. I was sold. And her bow top was unbuttoned just a little more. She was also grinning. I thought maybe it was about her new outfit, but it could have been something else.
Poppy turned up to freshen her makeup for the next scene.
“You looked so pretty yesterday with that pink blush, I’m going to do it again. What do you think? Did you get a chance to check out the videos on the production website?”
A sick twinge screwed into my side. Poppy’s voice was casual but had a slight worried edge to it. Seemingly unalarmed, Tabs smiled over Poppy’s head as she dusted Tabs’s cheeks with her brush.
“Just do what you think, Pops. No, I haven’t seen the vids. I don’t want to be distracted by them.”
“So, you haven’t read the comments either?” Poppy was definitely trying to spark Tabs’s curiosity.
Tabitha’s shoulders tensed. “I’m too busy, and honestly, I don’t want to spend any more time stressing about the show.”
Those bloody comments. I tugged my phone from my back pocket. More brush-offs from the execs I’d emailed and called yesterday. Nothing they could do about it, not their remit, freedom of opinion cannot be interfered with. And the totally dismissive, “Kindly consult the social media clause in your contracts. Further discussion is inappropriate. Please refrain from placing us in this awkward position again.” I’d gotten to the end of my list of execs, but I’d keep on at them and keep commenting on my fake handle, defending her and highlighting her strengths. Maybe a lawyer could find a way to get the comments deleted through some clause in our contracts.
Poppy left, and Tabitha went back to smiling and hummed happily. My phone rang, and I pressed answer, still distracted by what might have put that smile on Tabitha’s face. I wanted to make her smile like that.
“Hi, Tim, Blake Currington here. How are you?”
