The Boss (The Boss 1)

“Not well,” he confessed. “There is a lot of concern that perhaps the subscribers were supporting Gabriella and the culture around her, not the magazine. And Rudy and I spoke, he should be calling you this evening to officially let you go.”

“Rudy is going to do it?” I made a face at that. “I thought you already fired me. Why do we have to drag him into it? Now it’s going to be all awkward the next time I see him.”

“But it’s not awkward to fuck the man who fired you?” He chuckled, but his laugh quickly turned in a grimace of pain.

“Oh my god. Neil, are you okay?” I pushed my chair back, intending to get up, but he motioned for me to sit.

“No, it’s just these horrible contacts.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’m not feeling well, Sophie. I hate to suggest we cancel our plans—”

He looked pale, and slightly sweaty. This wasn’t him faking sick to get out of talking about our situation. I was sure Neil would never do anything like that, anyway. He looked really, really ill.

“If you need to go home, go home. Do you need me to come with you?” I asked.

“No, no. I’ve kept you far too long this weekend.” He managed a tired smile. “Let me drive you home?”

I shook my head. “You look like you need to go eat about an entire bottle of ibuprofen. I can get home fine on my own. If you go to work tomorrow, I’ll call you during your lunch. And if you’re sick, I’ll come over and bring you chicken soup. Which I will feed to you through a plastic bubble while wearing one of those Ebola suit things, because I can’t afford to get sick again right now.”

He tried to smile. He still looked miserable. “I love you. We’ll talk tomorrow.”

“I love you, too.”

I walked with him to the door. He tossed a bill on the hostess’s station and apologized for holding the table. Outside, I wondered if I should offer my shoulder to lean on, he looked so bad. For a second, I considered overruling him and getting into the car with him to go straight to the emergency room, but Neil was a big boy. He could be sick on his own, if he wanted to. I saw him safely into his car, and watched the Maybach pull away from the curb before heading toward the subway station on the next block.

So, our date was a bust. And I was going to get officially fired. But at least I knew I was turning down the job with Gabriella’s new magazine for the right reasons. I loved Neil even when he was sick and nearly standing me up. That had to count for something.

When I got to the apartment, I found Holli and Deja snuggled on the couch, watching A Christmas Story.

“Tell me it’s not Christmas Eve,” I said, with a note of panic, gesturing to the television. “Because if it is, I missed my flight home.”

“DVD,” Deja said. “It’s the fifteenth.”

“I thought you were hanging out with Neil tonight,” Holli said, moving her feet so I could sit on the couch.

“He wasn’t feeling well. I hope he’s not coming down with that thing I had.” I waved her off. I wasn’t planning to stay up, I just needed some time on my own, and I didn’t need to horn in on their evening. I patted my stomach. “I’m still not entirely over it.”

Deja frowned, and traded a look with Holli. “Um.”

“Soph...” Holli began uncertainly. “We’ve actually been meaning to talk to you about that. You’ve had that twenty-four hour stomach thing for like a week now.”

“No, it’s only been...” I counted backward in my head. How long had it been? With my job going down the tubes, I had lost time, like one of those alien abduction stories. “Oh my gosh, it has been a week. Do you think I should go to a doctor?”

Would my health insurance still cover that, now that I was canned?

“I think you should,” Deja said. Why were they talking to me like I was stupid? She went on. “This thing has been coming and going, right? And you’ve been really tired.”

“It’s the stress, it has to be.” I shook my head. “Stress is what causes ulcers, right? I’ve had this awful heartburn—”

“Sophie... oh my god. How are you not getting this?” Holli’s mouth dropped open.

“I know. Oh my god, I know.” I shook my head, one hand lifting my long bangs off my forehead. “I should have gone last week, before my benefits were up in the air. If they want to do tests or anything it’s going to cost a fortune, and I can’t afford private insurance—”

And then I looked at Holli and Deja, and I saw genuine pity in their faces. Well, pity and, “are you fucking kidding me?”