I got so lost in staring out at the snow that I startle when my phone buzzes. Picking it up, I see a text from Karen.
Karen: LOOK!!
At the bottom of the message is a link to a popular gossip site. When the article opens, I gasp. The headline reads:
Mega influencer Hadley Halls arrested. We’ve got the video!
Clicking the video included with the story, it’s immediately apparent that someone in Starbucks recorded the event with their phone, which meant she went off in front of people. That surprises me since she was always so good about faking it whenever she was in public.
Whatever faking skills she possessed seem to have deserted her. I watch as Hadley screams at a male barista over the “indecent” amount of cream in her iced coffee. The man offers to make her another, but she’s so busy flying off the handle that she can’t reel it in. My jaw is on the floor as she calls him every name in the book along with a few even I’ve never heard.
When he tells her to leave, she throws her coffee in his face. I cringe for the poor guy, who was lucky the coffee was cold. A woman enters the shot and tells Hadley the manager is calling the police. That sets Hadley off even more, and she starts picking things up from the counter and tossing them at the workers. She’s a pit of rage, bellowing that they’re incompetent losers and telling them only people with pitiful lives work in service.
It goes on for several minutes, which I know from experience is typical for one of her tantrums. Unfortunately for Hadley, the video ends with her arrest. I can’t contain a bark of laughter when they march her handcuffed, hollering ass out of the store.
Going back to the text from Karen, I type a response.
Me: I feel bad for those people, but I admit I’m glad someone finally caught her real personality and shared it for everyone to see. If that makes me petty, so be it.
Karen: You’re far from petty. You took her abuse in silence for far too long. Now everyone will see who she is. What people put out comes back to them three-fold.
I agree. How can I not when the two most horrible people I’ve ever known are both dealing with the aftermath of visits from karma?
Rita is going on trial for a myriad of charges for assault, kidnapping and, now that it’s proven that she purposely put peanut powder in her ex’s drink, pre-meditated murder. The prosecutor is going for a thirty to life sentence.
Hadley getting arrested in Starbucks won’t lead to her doing time, but I know how the influencer game works. There’s no doubt that she’s bleeding sponsorships and subscribers at this very minute.
I view both women as cautionary tales about why trying to lie, cheat, and steal—and in Rita’s case, kill—to get where you want to go in life always ends in disaster.
I’ll stick with being authentic all day, every day.
_______________
“ARE YOU SURE you’re warm enough? I hadn’t planned on there being so much snow.”
I have to bite my cheek to keep from laughing as I take in Tyler’s concerned expression. I’m starting to suspect he believes being truly warm in the snow means getting suited up like Randy, the little brother in A Christmas Story. My man takes being overprotective to the extreme.
I’m wearing jeans, a sweater, UGG boots, a jacket, and a pair of soft white gloves that matches my scarf. On top of that, there’s a thick faux fur blanket draped across my lap and I’m drinking from a thermos full of deliciously decadent hot chocolate. At this point, I’m more in danger of melting than of freezing.
“I’m toasty warm and ridiculously excited to see the Christmas lights,” I assure him.
“Just making sure.” As he speaks, he hugs me to him so that he can drop a kiss on top of my head.
I switch my full attention from him to focus on what’s happening around us as the sleigh we’re riding in turns onto Leavenworth’s main street. The lights make the village look even more beautiful than usual.
Our sleigh pulls up to Front Street Park, where every tree is covered in lights. After Tyler helps me down and tips our driver, he tucks my arm in his before he leads me to the center of the park where a group of carolers are singing in the covered gazebo. I wish I could bottle the feeling of being here right now. The way the lights illuminate the falling snow is nothing short of magical, and the Christmas carols make it perfect.
Tyler stops walking as we near the front of the gazebo. Turning, my eyes widen as I watch him get down on one knee and my breath catches in my throat.