“Honey, what happened? Was it that new boyfriend? Did you two break up?” Jane’s calm, sweet voice is normally soothing, however, nothing is soothing right now, and I’d rather just be angry at everything.
“I don’t have a boyfriend.”
April plops down on the couch, right on my feet. “What about Mark?”
“Who’s—Oh, yeah. No, we broke up a couple months ago.”
April’s referring to a bartender I met a few months back on one of my very rare nights out. We had some fun, but in the end, I worked too much and our schedules never worked enough for us to see one another.
“What? You never said anything!”
I shrug at April’s outrage and smile when Jane hands me a glass of water. “So you got laid off, huh?”
“Yes,” I mumble.
“Did she give you a reason?”
I shrug and click the side of my phone. Organizing TikTok really is addictive, but it gives me the best ideas! “Not really. Just said I didn’t have what it takes.”
Jane’s face scrunches up. “Are they crazy? You’ve done like a million campaigns in the last year. Not to mention the one for the Trevors that made their festival an amazing success.”
“I know,” I mumble, then stab my spoon into my ice cream. “It has nothing to do with me. Charlotte’s always had it out for me. I don’t know why, but she hates my guts.”
“Unsuccessful people always hate successful ones,” April muses, stealing my phone and presumably opening TikTok for her own pleasure.
I knew I wasn’t the only one who liked those organizing videos.
“But she was successful. She owns the whole damn company. That’s what I don’t get.”
Jane makes a sympathetic noise and rubs my arm. “Well, this sucks. You didn’t deserve to be let go, but hey, I could look for something at Leads for you!”
I shake my head and smile. “Thanks, but you and I both know your marketing department is already amazing. And you’ve got that new employee, Maryanne, killing it. I couldn’t come in and take over.”
“Yeah, you’re right.” Jane kind of pouts.
What she’s done with Leads Energy is amazing. Maryanne is one of the many homeless mothers that Jane has made friends with through Place of Hope, a shelter downtown that only focuses on women and children. She went in and started an entire program to help those women find jobs with day cares included.
Not only that, Leads Energy put a day care in their building to be more accessible to their employees who have children.
Jane is a boss lady extraordinaire.
“Don’t worry about me.” I smile at her and April, who gives me a small one in return. “I’ll find something.”
Though, despite my positive reassurances, I’m not sure I feel so optimistic about my future.
Chapter Two
“Something about her pulled to me. Maybe it was the way her lips were plumped with red lipstick, or maybe it was the way she smelled like bacon on a Sunday morning.” – Derek
ARCHER
My stomach churns with unease as I stare across the island in my shared loft apartment. Enzo, my best friend since fifth grade, is making his normal breakfast like he does every day. He’s a chef—a damn good one—and loves cooking. He also prefers we don’t cook if we can help it, so he does most of the meals in our place.
But his food isn’t what’s making my gut churn.
“Hey, so, how’s work?” I ask, keeping my tone as even as possible.
Enzo and I have been tight since I walked into our fifth-grade classroom as the new kid. He saw me lingering on my own and came up to declare us friends. Enzo saved me from what could have been a miserable school experience.