Page 45 of Pierced

“Lunch today, well—” And I’m just about to say OK, but Eden is shaking her head, mouthing the words, No. I’m taking you to lunch today. “I can’t do lunch, I’m sorry.”

“Oh. OK, how about dinner?”

“Ooooh,” I say, my lips making a tiny ‘o.’ “Well, tonight is not good either. I have… things I need to prepare for.”

“Tomorrow?” she asks, her voice filled with hope.

“This week is just tight, Pearl. I don’t think I can do it. How about Monday? Can we do Monday?”

“Monday…” She is clearly unhappy about Monday. “OK. I guess. I mean, I know you’re really busy and I’m so, so, so appreciative that you’re doing this, so yes.” She has talked herself into Monday. “Do you want to meet at the restaurant?”

“Sounds perfect,” I say. “I’ll see you at noon!” I place the handset back down before Pearl can object because now I’m positive Eden is looking at me weirdly. “What?” I say. “Why are you looking at me that way?”

She turns, closes my door, and then takes a deep breath. “Did you… and Pierce… do anything interesting last night?”

“He told you?”

“Yes. Well, no. Not exactly. I walked in on him telling Andrew.”

I smile a classic Mistress Myrtle smile. “Why, yes. We did have a fascinating evening.”

“What are you doing? Are you crazy?”

“I might be. But I don’t care anymore, Eden. I mean. This place”—I wave my hand around to indicate my office, but it’s not my office. It’s the whole magazine—“I don’t want to stay here. So hell, why not go out teaching Pierce a lesson, right?”

“No,” she says.

“No what?”

“You’re not quitting. You can’t quit on Pierce. That’s just so… so wrong.”

“It’s actually not,” I say, leaning back in my expensive leather chair to cross my legs. “I have no duties here. I have no purpose.”

“Your purpose is the same as it always was.”

“Wholly untrue. I don’t even have a job description. How can I run a social media department when you, the only person we had in social media, left?”

“I’m still here. And you’re still in charge of me. We’re planning a really big event at the moment. You have purpose!”

“So what?” I scoff. “The party is just a façade. The whole position is just a façade. It has no meaning at all.”

“You told me that the magazine is in trouble. That Pierce is counting on this December spread to raise two million dollars in advertising.”

“Right. There’s that. And I’m sure the photographs we get from the party will be super interesting. But I’m not in charge of advertising, Josh is. He’s taking care of it. I’m in charge of decorations, Eden. How does that give me purpose?”

“It’s… gonna be… social and we’re gonna… media the fuck out of it!” She stammers out that entire ridiculous sentence.

But I don’t laugh at her. Because Eden is sweet and she’s trying hard. “You don’t get it,” I say.

“I do get it! You feel adrift. And it’s because your job used to be supporting Pierce and now you feel like Valerie has taken your place.”

“Valerie,” I sneer. “She could work here a hundred years and never replace me.”

“Exactly!”

“Exactly,” I agree. “And yet there she is. Sitting at my desk outside Pierce’s office.”

“You have this desk now. And this office and—”