(Almost) Happily Ever After

by Annabelle Costa

  “Oh, for God’s sake,” she sighs. “You’re not going to be speaking at the rally. Just go. It’s not like he’ll ever know.”

  It’s true. It’s not like he’d ever find out that I was part of some giant crowd. Still, I feel bad enough that I lied about working on it in the first place. I’m not going to lie to him again. I can’t. I won’t.

  “Sorry,” I say.

  “Fine,” Stephanie says, “but let me give you my number. If you decide on the job or if you change your mind about the rally, give me a call.”

  So that’s how I end up programming Stephanie Zimmer’s phone number into my cell.

  Chapter 26

  I spend the next several hours trying to decide what to do about the job offer. I want it. So bad. But I know Will wouldn’t want me to take it. He’d want me to finish school—or short of that, he wouldn’t want me working with his old ex-girlfriend. Who was his first… well, I don’t want to think about it.

  The thing that worries me most is that I’m not certain about Stephanie’s feelings for Will. They hardly seemed to be on good terms when she accosted us at Shake Shack, but don’t they say there’s a thin line between love and hate? Maybe Stephanie isn’t necessarily trying to get Will back, but what if they spend more time together and something gets… rekindled?

  Still. That seems like an awfully stupid reason not to take my dream job. One that I’d love, where I could also make a difference.

  By the time Will gets home at a somewhat reasonable eight o’clock, I’ve decided to feel him out on the job idea. Maybe he wouldn’t be as upset as I think. I definitely can’t go to the rally, but that’s okay.

  Except when I see the look on Will’s face when he wheels through the door, I change my mind.

  “Libby,” he says in a low voice. “We need to talk.”

  Oh my God, he’s leaving me for Katie Corrigan. (I’m joking, but actually, he did end up meeting again with Katie and some other people from the station. They thought he did such a good job, they want him to come on the show again just to weigh in on other legal issues.)

  “What’s wrong?” I ask.

  He wheels around the couch to where I’m sitting. He squeezes his knees with his hands. “Hanford pushed back our next court date,” he says. “I’ve got to show up in court on December fifteenth.”

  What he’s saying takes a minute to sink in. “You mean…”

  “There’s no way I can go to Vegas on December thirteenth.”

  I feel like he just punched me in the gut. “But you have non-refundable tickets…”

  “I know.” He rubs his face. “I’ll send you the e-tickets. Maybe you could take Mia…”

  Is he kidding me? “I don’t want to take Mia!” I cry. “I wanted to go with you. We were supposed to get married. That’s what I want.”

  “That’s what I want too!” he says, his face turning pink. “You think I don’t want to marry you, for Christ’s sake? I want it more than you do, believe me.”

  “I don’t believe you,” I say. “Because if you wanted to marry me, you’d make time to do it.”

  “Well, what do you expect me to do?” he shoots back. “The Hanford Corporation is one of the most powerful companies in the country. You think I can just say to them, ‘Sorry, I can’t be in court for you because I’m going to Vegas with my girlfriend.’”

  “To get married!”

  “They. Don’t. Care.” I can see the dark circles under Will’s eyes. “They don’t give a shit what’s going on in my personal life. They want me at their disposal all the time. That’s my job. And if I screw this up, Libby, I’ll never work again at a major law firm. My name will be mud.”

  “So what?”

  “So what?” he repeats. “Are you serious? I’ve worked my ass off to get to this point. I’m not going to throw it all away over one trip to Vegas.”

  “It’s not one trip to Vegas,” I say quietly. “It’s us. It’s the fact that we’ve been engaged for over a year and you can’t make time to even get married. What kind of life is that?”

  Will closes his eyes. I look at him and something occurs to me: they’re killing him. They’re taking everything from him, working him harder than even my workaholic boyfriend can handle.

  And I can’t figure out why he’s going along with it. After everything I’ve read and learned about the Hanford Corporation, I don’t understand how he can go to court and defend something like that.

  “I’m sorry, Libby,” he says. “I swear I will make this up to you. I swear.”

  It is at that moment that I decide to attend the rally.

  Chapter 27

  I can’t believe how many people are here.

  It’s not like I’ve never been in a big crowd before. I’ve gone to Times Square to see the ball drop at New Years. I’ve been to my fair share of rock concerts. But I didn’t expect it here. I thought there’d just be a handful of us mulling about, but instead the streets in front of City Hall are spilling over with angry citizens who are yelling at the top of their lungs that animal cruelty isn’t right. I know Josh and Reid and their friends were working hard to spread the word, but I didn’t appreciate how hard they worked until this very moment. As I look around at all the people who took time out of their days and lives to stand on the street on this frigid December day, I am completely blown away.

  Despite the crowd, Reid finds me practically the second I get out of the subway station. His face is flushed with excitement—he looks adorable, actually. It’s got to be about thirty degrees out, but he’s still wearing shorts and sandals. But at least this time, he’s paired it with a fleece, scarf, and hat. Still, I’m worried he’s going to get pneumonia.

  He’s holding two signs in this hands, one declaring, “Justice for Animals,” the other calling, “Stop Animal Cruelty,” both in big purple letters on a yellow background. He holds out the latter to me and I shake my head.

  “I don’t want to draw attention to myself,” I say.

  “Well, you’re the only one not holding a sign,” he points out. “So really, you’re drawing more attention to yourself by not having a sign.”

  He makes a good point. I take the sign. If I see any cameras, I can use it to hide my face.

  “I’m really glad you’re here, Libby,” he murmurs.

  “Me too,” I say.

  Will obviously has no idea I’m here. I feel incredibly guilty that I came here after he explicitly asked me not to. But at the same time, this isn’t about him. This is about what I believe in. I’ve never felt so strongly about a cause as I do right now. The truth is, I’m angry that he even asked me not to go—he clearly had no idea how important it is to me to fight against animal cruelty.

  Sometimes I’m not sure if he understands me at all.

  “Are you cold?” Reid asks me.

  “A little,” I admit. The sheer mass of human beings in this space is making it warmer than it would be otherwise, and also, I’m wearing my giant puffy coat, but I’m still cold.

  Reid pulls his hat off his head. “Here, take this.”

  I stare at him. “Reid, I’m not taking your hat. You’re dressed in practically nothing. You’re going to die, seriously.”

  He shrugs. “I’ll be fine.”

  “I’m not taking your hat!”

  He might have insisted, but at that moment, Stephanie squeezes out from the midst of the crowd, dressed in a royal blue suit. Her hair is the puffiest I’ve ever seen it. She beams at me, then before I know what’s happening, she leans in and hugs me. “Libby, I’m so happy you’re here!”

  “I wouldn’t want to miss your speech,” I say.

  “Oh, it’s going to be amazing,” she says with a confidence she didn’t seem to have the other day. It seems that she’s figured out what her speech was missing. She leans in close to me. “Does William know that you’re here?”

  I shake my head no. And I feel that familiar stab of guilt.

  She grins at me. “Well, what he doesn’t know won�
�t hurt him. Dare I ask if you’ve put any more thought into taking that job?”

  “I’m thinking about it,” I say honestly.

  “It will be the best decision you’ve ever made.”

  I want to believe Stephanie—I really do. But I’m still worried about how Will would take the whole thing. He’d probably be furious just to know I’m standing here talking to his ex-girlfriend.

  “Listen,” Stephanie says to me, “I’ve got to give my speech. Would you mind hanging onto my purse?”

  “I guess,” I say. I look at Stephanie’s fire engine red purse, which is absolutely gigantic. It’s bigger than my luggage. “You don’t have a gun in there, do you?”

  “A gun?” Stephanie looks horrified. “You think I would carry a gun? You know, Libby, gun violence has now overtaken motor vehicle accidents as the leading cause of—”

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah, you don’t believe in guns,” Reid says. “We get it.”

  I bite my lip. “Okay, I’ll hold your purse.”

  Stephanie hands me her ginormous red purse, which is just as heavy as it looks. I can’t believe she doesn’t have a twisted spine from this stupid thing. I bite my lip to keep from asking if she’s got a bomb in there. Probably not.

  I watch as Stephanie makes her way to the steps of City Hall. Reid tugs on my arm, “Come on, let’s get closer.” He sees me hesitate and says, “What are you worried about? Come on, don’t you want to hear her speech?”

  I do. Of course I do. But I can also see a reporter from MSNBC who seems to be filming the whole thing. Still, I follow Reid to get slightly closer to City Hall. There are definitely enough people around me that I feel safe.

  “Attention, everybody!” Stephanie booms into the microphone. Despite how tiny she is, her voice cuts through the noisy crowd like a lightning bolt. I’m really starting to see why Will fell in love with her all those years ago. She’s really something else.

  A minute later, everyone in the crowd is staring up at her. Including me. She smiles at the audience, completely in her element. She owns this crowd. This is what she’s been wanting to do since she was a little girl.

  “Thank you all for coming here today!” she shouts. “With your help, we’re going to make the Hanford Corporation pay for their crimes against animals!”

  The crowd bursts into wild cheers until Stephanie holds up her hand to bring it to an instant halt. She’s incredible.

  “My name is Stephanie Zimmer,” she tells them. “And I’m an attorney fighting against the Hanford Corporation. I want to tell you all a little bit about these lovely people…”

  Then she launches into her speech. She’s holding at least a thousand people completely captive with her words. I don’t know how she manages to summon tears to her eyes at the exact right moment. It’s quite the performance.

  “And now I’d like to show you some enlarged photographs,” she says. “I made copies to pass around to everyone, just so you can see for yourselves the truth about what goes on.”

  Stephanie frowns, faltering for a second. She looks to her right side, then to her left. Then she smiles apologetically. “Sorry, it seems I left them in my purse. Just a moment. Libby?”

  No, she’s not doing this. No. No.

  I’ve got to get out of here. I’ve got to make a run for it before the cameras catch me. I’ve got to…

  Except it’s too late. Stephanie has identified me in the crowd, which has parted to allow me to go through. The MSNBC cameras have swung in my direction. This is really happening.

  That bitch. She set me up.

  I push away a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach as I make my way to the steps of City Hall with Stephanie’s red purse. As I climb each step, it’s another nail on the coffin of my engagement to Will. I hand Stephanie the purse and she smiles sweetly at me.

  “Ladies and gentlemen,” she says to the crowd, “I’d like to thank Libby Saunders here for her tireless efforts to make this rally come to life, and to bring down a despicable company!”

  The crowd roars in appreciation and I give a weak wave. At this point, it will be a miracle if I make it down the steps without my knees giving out from under me.

  “Thank you, Libby,” Stephanie says, staring me straight in the eyes. Her green ones don’t even blink.

  I just shake my head at her, unable to trust myself to speak.

  She leans in and says softly in my ear: “William should have known better than to mess with me.”

  Chapter 28

  Okay. There is, perhaps, the teensiest tiniest possibility that Will might not find out about this. I mean, the cameras didn’t get a close-up of me or anything. Yes, Stephanie did say my name, but it’s not like Will and I have the same last name. It’s not absolutely guaranteed that someone will recognize me and tell him about it.

  Although when I get home at five o’clock and find Will already home, I know that I’m busted.

  He’s sitting at his kitchen table, nursing a beer. His tie is abandoned on the table and the top two buttons of his shirt are undone. He looks up at me with bloodshot eyes. “What the fuck, Libby?”

  “Um,” I say.

  Will takes a swig of beer. “I told you to do one thing. Stop working on that goddamn protest. One thing. For the sake of my fucking career.”

  “I did stop,” I say weakly.

  “You were there!” He slams the beer bottle down so hard that I jump. “You were on the goddamn stage! They filmed you! They said your name!”

  “That was…” I swallow. “I didn’t mean for that to happen. Stephanie tricked me.”

  “Right,” he mutters. “She tricked you. Or maybe she tied you up and brought you there.”

  “Will…”

  “You don’t even know what kind of afternoon I’ve had,” he says. I notice now that there are another two empty beer bottles on the kitchen counter. Three beers is a good amount for him—he usually only drinks one and stops. “Saperstein himself called me into his office to show me the video. Asked me if I knew anything about it. Then he got the CEO of Hanford on the phone and I had to apologize to him while they talked about what they were going to do about me.”

  “Are you fired?” I squeak.

  “Not yet.” He takes another swig of beer. “They haven’t decided. But this looks horrible, obviously. It’s just a matter of time before some reporter figures out that you’re my fiancée. I’ll bet Stephanie has already leaked it.”

  “I didn’t know she was going to get me on stage,” I say. “She blindsided me.”

  “Yeah, well, that’s what she does.” He shakes his head. “Why do you think I told you to stay away from her? Of course, you didn’t listen to me. And you didn’t listen when I told you not to go to the rally. You don’t give a fuck what I tell you.”

  “I’m sorry, but…” I raise my chin. “I believe in this cause, Will. I believe that what the Hanford Corporation is doing is wrong. Really wrong. And I couldn’t just stand by and let it happen.”

  “So a bunch of pigs are more important to you than me,” he says.

  “No,” I say softly. “I just… I don’t understand how you could possibly defend a company like that. I used to think that you were one of the good guys.”

  Will’s eyes widened. “What are you saying? That you think I’m a bad person?”

  “I don’t know,” I mumble. Finally, I say, “Maybe.”

  “This is fucking unbelievable.” Will rakes his hand through his hair. “Here I am, just doing my goddamn job, and you’re judging me. This is what I do. You knew that when we met.”

  “This isn’t what you do though,” I say. “I mean, you helped save the animal shelter. You helped Ming at the dim sum place.”

  “You have no idea,” he says. “You don’t even know why Ming came to us. Maybe that dim sum place is full of rat droppings and I kept them open.”

  “I think that’s unlikely.”

  Will looks up at me. “I’m doing what I’ve always done, Libby. My job. Maybe you’r
e the one who’s changed. You’re the one who suddenly won’t eat meat and is hanging out with a bunch of stoners. You don’t even seem to care anymore about your biology class and your dream of being a vet.”

  “I’m failing that class,” I blurt out.

  Will looks utterly shocked at my revelation. Shocked and disappointed. The way he’s looking at me makes me realize why I never told him in the first place—I couldn’t bear to have him look at me this way.

  “Libby,” he murmurs, “I had no idea… why didn’t you tell me?”

  I swallow around a lump in my throat. “Because I didn’t want you to know that I’m not as smart as you thought I was.”

  His brown eyes widen. “I don’t think… I mean, you’re not…”

  But he can’t say it. I know the truth—I let him down. He believed I was capable of breezing through college and becoming an animal doctor, but I always knew I wasn’t. He believed I was like him—a genius with a photographic memory. That’s the sort of woman he’s always been with. After all, Stephanie might be a terrible person, but nobody can doubt she’s brilliant. I’m not even close to being on the same level as the two of them.

  It’s at that moment that a horrible thought occurs to me. I can see he’s thinking the exact same thing. But I’m the one who finally says it:

  “Maybe I’m not who you think I am. Or who you want me to be.”

  And he’s not who I thought he was.

  Will looks sick. He buries his face in his hands for a moment, and when he looks up again, he looks so sad. “No. That’s not true.”

  Is it? I used to think Will and I were so perfect for each other. But all I know is that I can’t imagine marrying a man who thinks that what’s happening in Stephanie’s photos is okay. And I don’t think he wants to marry a college drop-out either.

  “Maybe we should take a break,” I say. “Just to figure things out.”

  Petunia leaps onto the kitchen table, something that’s gotten more difficult for her since she moved in with Will and got all fat. She nuzzles against his arm. Even though she’s my cat, I think she’s gotten to prefer him. I would let him keep her.