Chapter Twenty-Three
“...Received the highest mark possible for all areas evaluated, which shouldn’t come as a surprise.” Michael adjusted his tie. “You’ve been an extraordinary employee, but I’m sure you know that.”
“Thank you.” Normally, Olivia would’ve glowed beneath all the compliments and her top-notch performance review, but all she could focus on was what Michaelhadn’ttouched on yet: her official request to transfer to the San Francisco office after she graduated next May.
Even though she disliked a majority of her SF coworkers, she’d do whatever it took to make her and Sammy’s relationship work this time around.
Sammy had offered to look into moving to New York as well, but Olivia wouldn’t let him. He was too close to his family to move across the country from them, and while there’d soon be a Crumble & Bake in New York, San Francisco was his company’s headquarters and flagship store. It held special sentimental value. Plus, he already owned a house here. He had far more roots tying him to San Francisco than Olivia did to New York. She loved the Big Apple and all it had to offer—the food, the shopping, the energy and endless sources of entertainment—but besides her job, Farrah was the only thing keeping her there. She’d miss having her best friend in the same city, but Farrah was married now, and she and Olivia were no longer roommates, so even that tie had loosened.
The fact Sammy had offered, though, reinforced Olivia’s belief she was doing the right thing. He was willing to make sacrifices for her; she’d do the same for him.
Except her company had to, you know, approve her request first. She’d applied for the transfer after returning from Lake Tahoe, and the status was still pending.
Michael leaned back in his chair and steepled his fingers beneath his chin. “However, there is one thing we need to discuss that isn’t part of our official performance metrics, but which is still an important requirement for employees of Pine Hill Capital.”
Olivia’s brow creased.Huh.Whatever the “thing” was, it had never come up in her past performance reviews. “Of course.”
Her boss clicked something on his computer and spun the monitor around. “Have you seen this?”
Surprise washed through her. Was that...anInstagram post?Why the hell was her boss—who had no personal social media except for LinkedIn—showing her an Instagram post?
When she looked closer, though, Olivia realized why, and her blood iced over.
The post was a carousel by @influencerstea, a massive account that specialized in gossiping about (i.e. dragging) social media-famous personalities. Michael clicked through, and the temperature continued to plummet when images of Olivia and Sammy kissing and playing hacky sack in Dolores Park flashed past. The photos themselves weren’t scandalous—it wasn’t like they were having sex or anything. It was the caption that twisted things all out of proportion:Baking influencer and Crumble & Bake founder Sammy Yu spotted canoodling with a mystery woman in Dolores Park. Yes,thatCrumble & Bake—the one that still hasn’t gotten to the bottom of the roach-in-a-cupcake incident that blew up earlier this month. Guess a food safety crisis isn’t enough to keep an influencer down. Now the real question is: did those stoners he’s playing hacky sack with offerhima roach? ;)
The roach pun was so bad whoever came up with it should be arrested, but the post still had over 60,000 likes and hundreds of comments.
Tornadoes of fury, disgust, and disbelief tunneled through Olivia’s system. There was so much wrong with the post she didn’t know where to start. Was it a fucking crime for a man to enjoyoneafternoon out without getting lambasted for it? Yes, his business was in crisis, but that didn’t mean he had to flog himself until the public deemed it an appropriate time for him to live his life again. He worked so hard, especially after the tweet broke, but none of the people behind the account or the keyboard warriors trolling in the comments would know, would they?
She was also sketched out by the fact that someone had been snapping photos of them without their permission. She’d figured some people might recognize Sammy, but he wasn’t Harry Styles or anything. Stolen wannabe-paparazzi shots had not factored into the equation.
Finally, Sammy barely fell into the influencer category. He had a large social following, but he didn’t build his name purely based on social media. He was a businessman, so why the hell was @influencerstea going after him?
Olivia wanted to scream. She hated people sometimes. She really did.
“Another employee brought it to my attention this morning,” Michael said. “Someone identified you in the comments, and they were concerned it would reflect poorly on the firm. The post is already gaining traction on Facebook and online news sites—some of which mention you by name.”
She took a long, shaky breath and forced herself to count to three before she spoke. “With all due respect, sir, I understand your concern, but I didn’t know I was being photographed. I was out with my boyfriend on my personal time when someone invaded our privacy and posted our activities online. I also want to note that I’m not doing anything illegal or scandalous in those photos. I was simply enjoying the day.”
“Yes, well.” Michael cleared his throat, looking mighty uncomfortable. It was clear he didn’t want to have this conversation any more than she did. “That’s up to interpretation. Many of Pine Hill’s clients are quite conservative, and they wouldn’t take kindly to photos such as this one.” He stopped at a picture of Olivia and Sammy kissing. She had her arms around his neck, and you could see a sliver of her stomach from where her shirt had ridden up. “You did nothing wrong, but it’s often more about perception than the facts. It’s imperative clients take our analysts seriously if we want to survive as a firm. I’m afraid, er,indiscretionssuch as this—whether or not they’re your fault—would negatively affect your reputation and, by extension, the company’s reputation.”
Our clients aren’t on Instagram or gossip sites!Olivia wanted to yell. The average age of the PHC client was sixty-two, and they were too busy worrying about their net worth to pay attention to online drama. It wasn’t like she’d been called out by theNew York Times,for God’s sake.
Besides, what did Michael want her to do? Stop going out in public?
She took another deep breath. “I understand. It won’t happen again.”
“Good.” Michael tapped his fingers together. “Unfortunately, despite your best intentions, there’s no way to guarantee it won’t happen again unless...”
The hairs on the back of her nape prickled.
“You stop seeing this gentleman—or any public figure whom people might be tempted to sneak paparazzi shots of. I realize that may sound unfair, but it’s the only way to ensure more unwanted photos—perhaps even ones of a more scandalous nature—won’t pop up in the future.”
Olivia stared at her boss, mouth agape. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. They wanted her to stop dating Sammy because they were afraid of—what? More photos of her enjoying her damn life?
A small part of her understood where Michael was coming from, but a larger part was too stunned and pissed for her to apply her usual verbal filters. “Sammy isn’t a public figure,” she argued. “He’s a baker. He’s just in the news right now because of...unfortunate circumstances that’ll blow over soon.”
Perhaps it hadn’t been the smartest idea to bring up his PR troubles, but she meant what she said. Sammy wasn’t a celebrity; the chances of more shots like the ones on-screen were razor-slim.