It was better that way.
It had to be.
* * *
By the time Char made it to work, she was already ten minutes late and had missed her morning coffee.
A few people whispered when she walked by, which really wasn’t all that odd. She made her way to her desk amidst all the stares. Please! It wasn’t as if she was doing the walk of shame, not that she’d been opposed to the idea last night. Ugh, how could she be so stupid! The man was her kryptonite! One kiss and she was powerless. The man needed a warning label or an act of government to warn unsuspecting women.
“Hey.” A man she’d never seen before stopped her. “Happy Birthday, Char. Hope it was awesome.”
“Um, yeah, thanks.” Self-consciously, Char looked around the room and noticed every eye on her. Keeping her head down, she made a beeline for her desk.
It was covered in roses.
Hundreds of yellow roses.
With shaking hands she picked up the card. Written inside was a simple note: “Sorry you cried. Hope you had a great birthday. I’ll pick you up at five to finish the list—Jake.”
“Damn.”
“Who are those from?” Her boss, Mark, walked up behind her and smiled. “And why didn’t you tell us it was your birthday?”
“I, uh—”
“You don’t have to tell me. But I need to see you for a few seconds, okay? When you’re ready.” He lifted his coffee cup in the air, giving her a waft of the caffeine she so desperately needed, and walked off.
Char set her purse down inside her desk and stomped off toward Mark’s office. After closing the door, she took a seat.
“You didn’t tell me you were going to be in the Titus wedding,” he began. No hello, no hi, how are you? Nothing. Just a simple fact. She’d failed to mention she was going to be in the wedding of the century. Whoops?
“I, uh, was trying to respect their privacy.” The lie came swiftly; really she was just trying to push the attention away from her and Jake, again. Eventually, word would get out and she didn’t want to be hounded by all her female co-workers, asking what he smelled like.
“I want you to cover it.”
“But I’m in it.”
“Exactly.” He leaned forward and folded his hands across the desk. His gray eyes gleamed as the fluorescent lights drew attention to a vein in his forehead. “Ever since the incident—” That’s what he called it. The incident where she showed up for a news report completely wasted after a one-night stand with Seattle’s infamous bachelor. Would she never live that down?
Mark paused and cleared his throat. “You’ve been doing a few stories for us here and there, but have yet to gain your spot back as one of our premier reporters. It’s not you. It’s our reputation that’s at stake. We can’t have a girl with your type of—”
Oh, this should be interesting.
“Reputation, being the face of KOMO news, but I’d be willing to give you another chance if you did a good job covering this wedding. Every news station wants the story, but we’re the only one with the in. We have you.”
“I’d have to ask permission, Mark. You know that.”
He shrugged. “Ask permission or don’t. It’s up to you, but if they
say no I still want you to do it.”
“But—”
“This is your career, Char. Do you really want another chance or not? Because if you don’t, the door is behind you.” He turned on his computer and didn’t give her another glance. “We’re done here.”
Char rose carefully. “Yes, sir.”
“And Char?”