Page 81 of Manhattan Bossholes

The sourdough looked incredible, but I had zero appetite. “With Summit?”

She nodded. “Mercedes made it pretty clear that we need to commit. I don’t think she expects you to blow everything up immediately but⁠—”

“I’m quitting on Monday.”

She jerked her head back in shock. “Seriously?”

“Yeah,” I nodded. “It’s not like Vincent cares whether I’m around. He made that abundantly clear to me. He’ll probably be happy to see me go.”

My heart cracked open admitting it out loud, and I dropped my head to hide the tears that flooded my eyes.

“I’ve been keeping up with the news,” Darcy said as she squeezed my shoulders. “It’s a shit-show of his own making. The guy needs media training, pronto.”

“Well, it’s not like he knew he was on camera,” I said.

“Hold on,” Darcy swung around to glare at me. “Are you sticking up for him?”

I winced. “You’re right.”

“Do you think he has a clue that it’s coming? That you’re leaving?”

I shrugged. “It’s not like he locked me into a long-term contract. I did what he hired me to do, and there’s no reason left for me to stay. But I don’t think he’s expecting it to happen this quickly.”

Talking about it made it real. Vincent and I were done. My incredible job was over. Yeah, I had an exciting new chapter ahead of me, but I didn’t have Vincent. The tears I’d been forcing down broke free, and I had no choice but to surrender to them.

“Oh, my friend,” Darcy said when she realized I couldn’t be strong one second longer. She swept me into a full hug. “Let it out.”

The crowd was forced to part around us as we embraced, like we were rocks in the middle of a stream. I didn’t care. All I could do was weep on her shoulder.

Darcy stroked my back until I finally pulled away.

“I’m hungry,” I said, amazed that my appetite had roared back to life.

“There she is,” Darcy laughed. “Okay, let’s eat cinnamon rolls, and donuts, and croissants, and drink all the coffee.”

“Deal,” I sniffled.

We walked on, and I tried to think about all of the truly good things that were going on in my life. It would be a long time before I could smile and feel like I wasn’t faking it.

“Wait here,” Darcy said. She broke away and disappeared into the crowd, which gave me time to stare into space and try to think of nothing. When she came back, she was clutching the biggest bouquet of sunflowers I’d ever seen.

“Did you buy out the entire supply?” I laughed.

“Close.” She shifted the bouquet. “I never knew sunflowers are so heavy. But you deserve it. This is a symbol of all of the sunshine to come, my friend.”

I leaned over to place my nose against the giant face of the bloom. I inhaled, but of course, sunflowers had no scent whatsoever.

Perfect. For now, I preferred life with no fragrance.

24

VINCENT

“It’s true what they say: there’s no such thing as bad publicity,” Amanda shrugged as she pushed her glasses up her nose. She was every inch the analyst, hunting me down first thing Monday morning to discuss the fallout from the Evermore launch party. “That’s the core of what we’re seeing. Yes, Summit is continuing to take some hits in terms of online comments thanks to Maya’s ongoing campaign, but we’re also seeing upward sales trending since Evermore is everywhere. I’d go so far as to say that it’s helping sales.”

I sighed as I studied the sales reports on my laptop screen. “But that’s not the full story.”

Amanda’s expression went tight. “No, it’s not.”