But at least I had coffee. I could get through another dreadful meeting with him droning on about how the people in this town demanded truthful reporting when he continued to have me write articles that were practically complete fabrications just to appease the citizens he liked if I had coffee.
I walked toward his office at the very end of the hallway, smiling and saying hi to my co-workers as I met them going in and coming out of their own offices. Checking my phone, I saw the time change to one minute after nine just as I reached his door.
Knocking, I slowly pushed the door open as I said, “Howard, it’s Poppy. I’m here for our meeting.”
And then I saw it. Or rather him. My ex-boyfriend Jared. Why the hell was he here?
“Poppy, come in!” Howard said with an uncustomary excitement in his voice while he offered me a seat that would require sitting right next to Jared. “It’s good to see you this morning! I think you know Jared, right?”
Know him? Yeah, I know him. All too well, as far as I’m concerned.
I pasted a smile on my face and stood frozen in the doorway. “Good morning, gentlemen. Howard, I can wait until you’re done meeting with Jared. I’ll just be outside in the hallway here.”
“No, no. Jared’s here for our meeting, Poppy, so come on in and sit down.”
Jared’s here for our meeting? Again the question was, why the hell was he here? This was a newspaper. Jared barely opened the paper to scan the comics, much less actual words in paragraphs. Reading had never been his thing.
I continued to force my smile, which already began to hurt my cheek muscles, and sat down in the chair next to my ex. I placed one cup of coffee on the edge of Howard’s desk and clutched the other in my hand, hoping the liquid inside it would somehow give me the strength to get through a meeting with two men I really couldn’t stand.
“So what’s going on?” I asked, terrified at the answer that would come out of Howard’s mouth.
He smiled broadly, which made his bulbous head seem even more grotesque, and looked at the man who sat next to me. “I’m happy to announce that Jared is going to be the new society page writer. Now you’ll be able to spend all your time writing about crime and the police blotter.”
For a moment, the words flew through the air but my brain couldn’t put them together to make any coherent thought. Jared was taking my job as society writer? Not that I would miss writing all those pieces on gardens and tea parties and ice cream socials, but Jared? I wasn’t even sure he could write a complete sentence.
And as much as I loved the idea of spending my time writing about crime, Sunset Ridge didn’t really have much crime. At least not the kind anyone cared to hear much about. True, there had been murders in the past few years that I had worked with Alex and the police on, but other than those crimes, most of what the police did in town involved mediating neighbor disputes about parking and who should be responsible for raking up leaves from trees that shed them in other people’s yards.
I stammered out, “Oh, oh…I…guess that’s a good thing.”
Howard nodded his head in agreement, and then came the real reason he’d called this meeting. “Well, the board decided that two part time positions would be better for everyone involved instead of one full-time position.”
My surprise evaporated quickly as I saw this for what it truly was. “With a reduction in pay and benefits, I’m sure.”
“It’s not that bad, Poppy. I mean, you are getting married and you’ll be able to be on your husband’s insurance next month,” Howard said still wearing that irritating smile that made his face expand so he looked like the ugliest jack o’ lantern I’d ever seen.
Nice. Suddenly, I felt like I’d been transported back to sometime in the 1950s. Don’t worry your pretty little head about things, Poppy. You’re going to have a big, strong husband to take care of you. Oh, thank you, Howard!
All of this ran through my head in my best damsel in distress tied to the railroad tracks voice as I sat there hating my boss at that moment.
“So let’s talk about how you’re going to bring Jared here up to speed on the workings of the society page.”
I looked over at my ex-boyfriend and wanted to laugh in his face. He had no idea what he’d gotten himself into. I knew the people who filled the articles of the society page. Jared had never bothered to take the time to even recognize they existed. Plus, the vast majority of them knew exactly what he’d done to me years ago and didn’t approve.
It would have been easier for Howard to give him the crime page and police blotter. The officers on the Sunset Ridge police didn’t hold a grudge for as long as the people who saw themselves as worthy of being featured on The Sunset Ridge Eagle’s society page. They were going to eat Jared alive.
“Well, you’re going to need to get to know the players. There’s the mayor and his wife, of course, and the former mayor and his wife. Don’t forget that she insists on being called the First Lady, despite the fact that her husband is no longer mayor. Then there’s Mrs. Scanlon, who—”
Howard held up his hand to stop me. “Whoa. He can learn all of that as he moves through the job. For right now, he’s going to be working on the Founders’ Day celebration piece, so I thought it would be a great idea for you to give him the article you’ve written so he can jump in with both feet.”
I stared across the desk at Howard in amazement. “You plan to publish my writing with his name on it?”
With not a hint of guilt, he answered, “Oh, Poppy. Don’t be upset. It’s not like you change the article much from year to year. I practically wrote it myself for you the first year, so in a lot of ways, it’s my writing.”
My heart slammed into my chest so hard I worried it might come through it like some kind of cartoon heartbeat. Unable, and more importantly, unwilling to keep my opinions on what kind of horrible boss he’d always been to myself any longer, I opened my mouth and they all came spilling out.
“You wouldn’t let me write it the way it should have been, and every time I tried, you told me to basically just keep it the way it was the year before. So that’s exactly what I did. But that writing is mine. Not yours, Howard, but mine. The style, the cadence of my sentences, the sound of the article is mine. I’m not just going to hand it over to anyone, least of all some guy who I’m not even sure can string a sentence together. You want him to write the society page articles, then have him write them. I’m not doing his work for him.”
For a moment, Howard sat staring at me with a mixture of anger and hurt in his eyes, like I’d just slapped him across the face. He was lucky I didn’t say everything I thought about him and the way he ran the newspaper. Then he’d really be smarting.
Jared dared to put his hand on my forearm and said, “We’re all one big team here at the paper, Poppy. You’re not acting like a team player, if you don’t mind me saying so.”
I jerked my head right to look at him in stunned disgust. “It’s The Eagle, Jared. You might want to actually know the name of the newspaper you’re going to be writing for. And don’t you dare to say anything about me being a team player. I’m a team player all right. I know how teamwork works, pal. When you join with other people to achieve the same goal, you don’t betray them in any way, shape, or form. That’s teamwork, Jared. You don’t know the first thing about that. You and your boss here know nothing but what you want. You, you, you. It’s all about you.”
For a moment, I stopped myself before saying the words that were on the tip of my tongue. I took a deep breath and then let them fly in Howard’s direction.
“And you two can do all the work on this team that you want because I quit. And another thing. Those society page people are going to eat your new guy here up. They live by a set of rules you don’t even know or understand. As for the crime page and blotter, consider yourself lucky if the Sunset Ridge police department gives you even the tiniest morsel of information before a case is closed and the file is locked away in some filing cabinet in Derek’s office. Re
member, one of them is soon going to be my husband. I’ll just use my feminine wiles on him and make sure you get nothing.”
Howard and Jared sat staring at me in shock. They were lucky I stopped myself from saying anything more. I stood up and grabbed my coffee cups before storming out down the hall toward my office. The rage coursing through me reached my fingers, and I nearly squeezed the Styrofoam cups to pieces. Once I closed the door to my office, I took another deep breath before I set them down on my desk and began tossing my things into a box.
My folder with all my articles went in first, and then I tossed in the pencils and pens scattered around the desk, even though they were technically the newspaper’s property. I grabbed my dog-eared old copy of Strunk and White I’d picked up when I got the job there and threw it into the box. I’d been so proud of myself that day and wanted to do such a great job for the newspaper.
But I rarely got the chance to, and all the times I’d used that book to make sure my writing was the best it could be were the same times Howard had simply cut most of my words and replaced them with his own.
After I emptied the desk drawers, I saw out of the corner of my eye the little figurine Bethany had given me on my first anniversary with The Eagle. A porcelain grey squirrel wearing oversized glasses and sitting on a stack of books with a pencil in his hand poised to write on a scroll. She said she immediately thought of me when she saw it in a store in Frederick.
So much had changed since that day all those years ago. After her death, that horrible Samantha person took over her job and nearly all the sales staff left one by one, replaced by people more like their boss than Bethany. Now was my turn to leave.
I carefully wrapped the squirrel figurine in a couple tissues and placed it in my purse. Looking around my tiny office, I saw nothing else that belonged to me. With one last glance, I said goodbye to The Sunset Ridge Eagle and walked out into the sunshine of a brand new day for me.
I carried my box of things to The Grounds and sat down at the table in the back Alex and I called ours. Every table sat empty, and even Pam seemed to have disappeared into the back, so I had the place to myself.
What would I do now that I’d quit The Eagle? Writing, even for a small town newspaper, had brought me more joy that I ever imagined I could find with any other career. But opportunities were few and far between in Sunset Ridge for writers.
I’d been with the newspaper for so long that I didn’t know what I was if I wasn’t the one who reported on society events and crime for the people of my town. Now that I wasn’t that person, who was I?
More importantly, who was Poppy McGuire going to be from now on? I didn’t want to be that person Howard thought I would be once Alex and I married. Some woman whose most important accomplishment had been that she found a husband. I loved Alex with all my heart, but I needed to be more than just his wife just as he needed to be more than just my husband.
As I sat there thinking about my future, I wondered if all I’d been still existed now that I wasn’t that person anymore. Deep in thought, I hadn’t noticed anyone approach my table and then suddenly Nate Cardow stood in front of me.
“Hi, Poppy. Are you okay? I saw you sitting in here and you looked a million miles away,” he said as he smiled down at me.
“Oh, I’m fine. You know how it is,” I lied. “When the effects of the caffeine start to wane, it all goes downhill from there.”
“Oh sure. I get like that too. Are you waiting for Alex?”
“No. Well, sort of. I just came in here to grab a coffee but Pam doesn’t seem to be around right now, so I figured I’d just sit and relax a minute.”
I made it sound like I’d just walked ten miles to get to The Grounds. Nate frowned, likely thinking I was lying to him.
“So, have the police made any progress on Samuel’s case yet?” he asked, looking around at the empty coffee shop.
Knowing I couldn’t share any information about an open case with anyone, I simply gave him my nicest smile and shook my head. “Not really, but don’t worry. They’ll find out who did it.”
“I’m sure they will. Well, I guess I’ll let you get back to what you were doing. See you around, Poppy.”
“Thanks, Nate. See you later!” I said as he turned to leave.
Happy to be alone again, I watched as he walked out and returned to my thoughts about who I was and if the Poppy I’d always been still existed now that I’d left The Eagle. And then my past walked through the front door of the coffee shop, making me wish he didn’t exist anymore in my world either.
Chapter Thirteen
Jared approached me with a smile on his face, like there would be any reason I’d want to ever speak to him again. I had to admit he was still good looking, even after the terrible things he’d done to me. But I wasn’t in the market for another friend.
Even a good looking one.
Holding my hand up, I stopped him just before he reached where I sat. “Before you say anything, don’t bother. I want nothing to do with you or Howard. So whatever you were planning to say, save it for someone who cares.”
He stopped in midstep and frowned down at me. “I was hoping we could talk. We are still friends, Poppy. Aren’t we?”
His definition of friends and mine clearly weren’t the same. “We aren’t friends, Jared. We’ve never been friends. We dated and then got engaged, and then you cheated on me with that cheap floozy from the Food King. Since then, nothing close to friends has been possible.”
Pulling out the chair in front of me, he smiled. “Can I sit?”
“No! I don’t want you to sit down, so just don’t,” I said without a hint of equivocation in my words or my voice.
Jared either intentionally misunderstood or just completely ignored every word I’d said and sat down anyway, infuriating me. This guy broke my heart, made me question nearly everything about myself, and made me the laughingstock of Sunset Ridge. All of that made being friendly with him impossible. Why he didn’t get that baffled me.
“I guess the way Howard presented that came off badly,” he said, as if the last thing in a long line of insulting and irritating events surrounding him was the one that truly upset me the most.
“If that’s what you’ve come to talk about, there’s no need. I’m fine with you taking over all my responsibilities at The Eagle. Knock yourself out. I hope you and Howard are very happy working together. He’s a joy and so are you, so I’m sure you’ll get along splendidly. Two peas in a pod.”
Rotten peas I’d like to feed to a pack of wild dogs.
“He didn’t mean it like it came out, Poppy.”
I leaned away from him and stared across the table with a mix of confusion and disgust. “Like it came out? So he didn’t mean to tell me that he was taking half my job away from me and decreasing my pay by a corresponding half so you could have that job? Is that what he didn’t mean to say? Because it sure sounded like that’s what he meant to say.”
Jared leaned forward, mistaking my body’s movement as a sign to encourage him to get closer. “My mother’s been bugging him for weeks to give me a job at the paper. I haven’t really had a job since I got back to town, and she just wanted to help. Howard never told either one of us what he planned to do would affect you.”
Now my confusion faded away, leaving only pure disgust. Was there anything more pathetic than a man in his early thirties back living with his parents and having his mother get him a job because he couldn’t do it himself? Did she cook his meals for him and wash his clothes too?
Pathetic.
Pushing down the desire to insult my ex on just those points, I shook my head and once again held up my hand to stop him. “I don’t care why this happened. I’m not working at the paper anymore, so have at it. You and Howard. Just make sure you go to those society ladies ready for some real insults because they’re going to serve you your head on a silver platter. They don’t forget anything, and if you think they won’t bring up how you ran out on me for that Food King check
out girl, you’re in for a nasty surprise.”
My words seemed to fall on deaf ears. Jared stared across the table at me for a few moments and then sighed. “You still haven’t forgiven me for what I did.”
I had to stifle a laugh. So that’s what he thought this was about. “Let me help you out with something, Jared. I don’t need to forgive or forget what you did to live happily ever after.”
Raising my left hand, I wiggled my ring finger with my engagement ring on it. “You see, I moved on. I have an incredible fiancé who loves me as much as I love him. He’s gorgeous, brave, honorable, and best of all, he’s a grown man. You’re still a boy who’s looking for forgiveness. Sorry. I can’t give that to you. I’m busy giving all my good stuff to Alex.”
My ex looked around the coffee shop and then turned his attention back to me. “Where is Mr. Supercop? I figured I wouldn’t be sitting here two minutes before he swooped in to let me know I had to leave by giving me that squint-eyed stare he’s always doing when I’m around.”
“I’d guess he’s working, but I sent up the bat signal when I left the newspaper, so I suspect he’ll be here any moment now,” I said in my most sarcastic tone.
“Always right nearby to save the day, huh?”
“Always.”
Pam walked out from the back room and saw us, so she walked over to the table. “I’m sorry you were waiting. I didn’t realize anyone was out here. How long have you been here?”
“Oh, just a few minutes. Not long. Can I get a large French roast, Pam?”
She smiled and nodded. “That’s your third today. I don’t know how you do it, Poppy, but I swear if you ever left town, I’d go out of business. Can I get you anything, Jared?”
He put a weak smile on his face and shook his head. “No, thanks. I’m good.”
After she walked away, I couldn’t help but say, “So you came to someone’s coffee shop and you don’t even buy anything? You’re a real winner.”
The Finest Hour Page 13