Hush Baby Hush

17

mckenzie

Trying notto glance out the window is like trying not to pick a scab. I can resist the urge while I have things to do, but the second I’m without a distraction, my attention wanders back.

I’m sure the camera crews outside the firm can zoom in close enough to see me through the glass. Austin and Jonah have gone out repeatedly to remind them that the parking lot is private property. Now they gather on the sidewalk, blocking foot traffic, a crowd large enough to make the one outside Rudy’s last night look small by comparison.

If only the same trespassing laws applied to phone calls.

“Hi, is this McKenzie Sommers?”

I sigh into the receiver. It’s been like this all morning. I never know, when I pick up the phone, whether it’s going to be a client, a reporter, or someone who’s just seen the video and wants to tell me how much they enjoyed it, in explicit detail.

“Yes, this is she.”

“What are your thoughts on former governor—"

Ihang up.

“Another one?” Cherise asks.

“Just a wrong number.” I’ve been downplaying the phone situation as much as possible. If my colleagues knew how bad it was, they’d immediately take me off the phones. But answering the phone is half my job. If I can’t even do that, I have no business being here.

Then again, maybe I shouldn’t be here. All this attention can’t be good for business. But if I’m not here, where else can I go? Back to waiting tables? Working retail? I’m sure getting an interview will be a piece of cake now that everyone’s watched me fuck myself with a purple dildo.

Cherise returns to her office. I rub the sting from my eyes, still dry and puffy from crying this morning over the poor little chick. I’m not an idiot. I know chicks are fragile and dumb and perfectly capable of drowning in their water troughs without my help. ButAustintrusted me with the care of that tiny creature, and I’d failed them both. When I gathered the lifeless ball of fluff in my hands, something inside me shattered. If I can’t be trusted to care for a chicken, how am I supposed to nurture something as precious as Austin’s love?

My smartphone chimes on the desk beside my keyboard. I ignore it, then think better about ignoring it, in case it’s a text from Hollywood. I check my notifications and find a new message from my therapist, asking if I want to come in for an emergency appointment. I’m about to text her back when I hear footsteps in the hall.

“Hey,” Jeremy says as he rounds the corner.It must be lunchtime. “How’re you holdingup?”

“I’m here.”

He taps on my desk and nods to the window.

“Can you believe that crowd?”

Unfortunately, I can. “I’m trying not to think about it.”

“Right. Of course... Hey, I just wanted to say I’m here if you need to talk about anything.”

“Thanks, Jeremy.” I wish he’d leave. I can tell from the way he’s watching me, like he’s trying to imagine me somewhere else,that he’s seen the video. The thought of it makes my skin crawl.

Thankfully, I’m saved by a ringing phone.

“I have to take this.”

He nods, backing away.

“Pope and Parkes, how may I help you?”

“Oh...”says the woman on the other end.“I’m sorry, I thought Idialed a private number.”

My gaze lands on the office phone, still in its cradle.Apparently, in my haste to get rid of Jeremy,I accidentally answered my own phone.

“My name is Bridget Howe. I’m a staff writer forOur Nation Today. Am I speaking to McKenzie Sommers?”

I don’t even bother to hide my annoyance.“Yeah, you are.”