Page 90 of Book Club Confidential

She leaned against the bathroom wall. “I don’t know what I’m going to do for work next,” she said. “But I know that if I want to stay in marketing, I can’t continue to work with any of my Hello, Marketing accounts.” She’d have to start fresh, build a new list. “I don’t want to cross any lines.”

Grant huffed a heavy, frustrated breath. “I’m happy to break the contract with Hello, Marketing.”

She laughed. “You can, but—” Her smile fell when she realized the bigger issue. “I can’t work with you. It would be a very bad look for me, and not who I want to be.”

“Your insistence on a good reputation is exhausting,” he joked.

“Thank you.” She imagined him smiling on his end of the line, and her smile widened in response.

Her phone beeped with an incoming call, and she checked the screen. “My friend Hallie is calling,” she said. “I need to take that.”

She hated to say goodbye. She and Grant were just becoming friends, and without the benefit of work between them, she wasn’t sure they’d ever talk again.

“Rain check on lunch?” he asked.

Her smile returned. “I’d like that.”

Her stomach growled at the thought of a meal, but they said their goodbyes, then she switched calls. With any luck, Hallie would want to meet for lunch, or even better, she’d want to make food. Hallie’s cooking was always better than restaurant food, and Tessa was officially on a budget.

“Hey!” Tessa said, a little more brightly than she felt. “What’s up?”

“I just got fired!” Hallie yelled. “I had less than two weeks to go, and he fired me!”

Tessa dragged her body back onto its feet. “Where are you?”

“Pacing outside of Roll with It. Contemplating burning it down!”

“No, no,” Tessa said. “Go see the food trucks, and I’ll meet you there in half an hour. Don’t burn anything down.”

“Ugh. Fine.”

Thirty minutes later, Tessa found Hallie sitting crisscross applesauce on the bridge, tossing pebbles into the water. Her cheeks were red, eyes puffy, jaw set.

Tessa took a seat beside her and offered one of the apples she’d stowed in her pocket. She’d eaten a hunk of mozzarella on her way. “How are you doing?”

Hallie took the apple. “Shitty. Thanks.”

Tessa bumped her shoulder. “Anytime.”

“I can’t believe he fired me,” Hallie said. “I’ve lived in fear of being fired since the day I was hired. Turns out it’s twice as upsetting as I imagined and very anticlimactic.”

“I don’t understand,” Tessa said. “Why didn’t Quinn just let you finish out your two weeks?”

“It was my mouth that finally did me in,” Hallie said. “I saw Quinn saying some of the condescending bullshit to Eloise that he used to say to me, and I spoke up. He was being a colossal dickhead, and I was already on my way out. I just couldn’t let it go. So I cracked.” She looked at Tessa.

Tessa nodded in quiet support. “Go on.”

“He started making her do everything twice. He talked down to her in front of customers. He made little comments on her hair, makeup, jewelry, voice, anything and everything to get under her skin, but nothing so over the top that she’d have a case against him for harassment. I don’t know if he needs someone to kick, or if he was trying to get me to speak up for her since I never spoke up for myself. Either way, he got it.”

Tessa leaned forward. “Are you going to tell Eloise how you feel?”

Hallie shook her head.

“Because it’s scary and confusing?” Tessa asked. “Or because you’re engaged to Bryce? Because only one of those is a good reason. I don’t want you to ignore this newly discovered part of yourself. Avoidance isn’t healthy.”

Tessa set a palm on Hallie’s back and rubbed a little circle of comfort. “Have you told Bryce about Quinn firing you?”

Hallie gave a dark puff of laughter. She shielded her eyes from the sun with one hand. “Yeah. He said, and I quote, ‘Who cares?’”