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“You would think that, but no. My mom expected something like that from you,” Erica said.
I raised my eyebrows. “Well, that’s very nice.”
“Oh, it’s not personal. My mom thinks the worst of every man. She became pregnant at nineteen, and my dad left before I was born. She believes every man is the same, and she is sure you’re using me. That it’s all in public is beside the fact.”
“She sounds like a bitter woman.”
Erica shrugged. “My guess is yes, but I understand where she’s coming from. Her past doesn’t bother me. What bothers me is that she still thinks she can run my life and stop me from making my own mistakes. This time, I told her off. I feel bad about it, but I can’t handle her lecturing on top of everything else.”
I nodded. Everything was bent out of shape right now, but despite the chaos we were caught in, having Erica open up to me about something in her personal life made me feel good. It made me feel like we're still on the same side.
“I can think of a few upsides,” I said.
“Oh yeah, like what?”
“One, you’re not nineteen, you’re twenty-six, and I’m not going anywhere.” At that, Erica raised her eyebrows. I wasn’t sure what I had tried to say, but now that the words were out, I realized I meant them. I powered on. “Also, you’re not pregnant. She has nothing to worry about.”
Erica laughed, and it was good to see that she could still find humor in the midst of all the madness. “I guess you’re right. Talk about finding a silver lining.”
Miraculously, the conversation turned to lighter things, and by the time Susan came to call me for the meeting, I wasn’t nearly as panicked as I had been before Erica had arrived.
Erica didn’t go to the meeting, just as we had discussed. I was sure we had made the right decision. I was more confident now that I knew she and I were in a good place. It was almost scary to know how much my mood was affected by how Erica reacted to me. What was happening to me?
I didn’t have time to analyze what I was feeling. I had to focus on the investors and what they wanted from me. If they still wanted anything from me at all.
“What do you have to say for yourself?” Harper asked me when I stood before them like the accused before a jury.
“There is nothing I can say other than that I acted wrongly, and I apologize.” There was no use trying to spin a story to get them to believe me. I had already realized that the press release hadn’t gone down well. It was pointless trying to lie myself out of the mess I had created.
“Our stocks have fallen, and judging by the way the public is reacting, you’re losing precious clientele. Give us one reason why we shouldn’t pull funding right now.”
“Because you know who I am and you know what my company is worth. Not just financially. We have a very long history of success. One mistake shouldn’t sink the company.”
“You hope,” Brock interjected.
I nodded. “I know that your faith in me has been shaken. Please, give me a chance to redeem myself. Don’t leave just yet. Let me prove to you that your investment will be worth your while, the way it always has been.”
It felt like we talked forever. The investors were difficult to convince. I had to suck up to them like I had never done before to get them to stay interested. I promised them I would make it up to them. I promise them they wouldn’t be sorry. And all the while, I hoped to God I could pull it off. Right now, the most important thing was to not lose my funding. If I lost the investors and the stocks dropped even more, Loomis was going to eat shit. My aim right now was to prevent that from happening. Anything else I could deal with later.
Chapter 16
Erica
By Friday, the heat had only died down a small amount. It was as if the world had nothing else to do with their time than stick its nose in our business. What had happened to all the other celebrity scandals the media usually covered? I bet they were having a great break with Brett and me taking center stage for so long.
Brett and I had been keeping our contact to the bare minimum. We had kept our communications strictly to work and nothing else. Even in the office, rumors were making the rounds, and more than half of the employees made me feel uncomfortable just being around. There wasn’t much I could do about it. Brett had managed to appease the investors, and right now it was just a waiting game.
