She bit her lip, trying to hold back a grin.
“Read the card.”
With great trepidation, I reached forward and extracted a single sheet of stationary from amongst the thorns. I had to tug it a little, but it finally came loose.
Hope you two are so happy together.
- Ella
That, at least, brought a smile to my face.
The last I’d heard of Ella Campbell, she was embroiled in a nasty lawsuit with her ex-landlord. He had tried to evict her. She had tried to claim squatter’s rights. The faithful manager she’d brought from Oklahoma was nowhere in sight.
“Well, I guess in a way I deserve that.” I kicked back in my chair, and put my heels up on the desk with a wistful little smile. Oh—for the days when the biggest stresser in my life was Ella Campbell. Who would have thought I would ever actually miss it? “Thanks, Aly.”
She nodded quickly, but paused again on her way out.
“Abigail?”
I glanced up in surprise. Jake was the only one who ever called me that. To most everyone else, I was Ms. Wilder.
“Yeah?”
She studied me closely for a moment, before going out on a limb.
“Are you...are you okay?”
Something about the soft-spoken question caught me entirely off-guard, and I realized, all at once, that no. I was absolutely not okay. Not by a long shot.
My eyes misted up, but I pursed my lips with a tight smile.
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
She’d been with me since the office had opened. Over two years. She knew bet
ter than to believe me right now. But she also knew better than to press.
“Can I get you anything else?”
“Coffee,” I reminded her. “And actually...can you connect me with Bree Miller?”
She frowned in surprise.
“Bree Miller? Right now?”
I nodded briskly and turned on my computer.
“Yep—thanks, Allison.”
She disappeared a second later, leaving me alone with my pile of newspapers. I glanced down again in spite of myself, scanning the headlines with a growing feeling of rage.
So what? Mitchell stopped a journalist from leaking the photos, but then ended up letting them leak the actual story anyway? Like that was so much better?!
Blowjobs in a boxing ring...
It was no wonder my own staff could hardly meet my eyes. It was no wonder Jake and Allison had tried to shield me from the worst of it. By now, the entire city thought that I was some kind gold-digging, sex-in-a-public-venue whore. A publicist who fucked her own clients.
In my business, it was the kiss of death. A blow you could never recover from.