#SoBasic
Page 15
A tight smile crossed Lisa’s face. “That’s wonderful.”
“Do you really think so?” I asked. “Because I know how you really feel about me. You don’t have to put on an act.”
The question and its follow-up statements flew out of my mouth before I really had a chance to think about them, but even if I had, I would have said it all anyway. It felt good—liberating—to confront Lisa like this. Even if we were in public.
“I know you’re the reason I was fired at WCIN,” I added. “You made that complaint to human resources, didn’t you?”
Lisa’s eyes searched my face for a moment, and then her shoulders slumped. “Yes,” she admitted in a voice so low I had to strain to hear it. “I did.”
“You did what?” I crossed my arms, willing myself to not let her see my anger, and my satisfaction over her confirmation of what I’d suspected. “I’m listening.”
“I was the one who wrote that email,” she said on the top of a large sigh. “I … I popped it off without even thinking. I’m sorry.”
“You’re sorry? You’re sorry?” I sneered. “That’s why I was fired from WCIN, Lisa. It was the main reason.”
“It was?” She frowned. “I … I didn’t know that. I mean, I heard they let you go, but I didn’t … I’m sorry,” she said, and her face fell some more. “You know, I was always sort of threatened by you.”
“What? You were? By me?”
She nodded. “You’re young and full of energy. You have this huge following. You’re … you’re good at things like seeing trends.” Lisa pointed at herself. “I’m not. At all.”
“That’s why you wanted me gone?”
“Yes.” She shook her head and looked away from me. “In a way, it was. I thought it would be easier if I didn’t have you around as competition.” She returned her gaze to me. “That was a really terrible thing to do, wasn’t it?”
“Yep.”
I stared at her for a moment. In a way, it felt reassuring to hear her admit what she’d done. The dismissal had upset me and thrown my life into chaos. It had hurt.
But then I looked around. The party was in full swing.
“You know what? Forget it. You don’t have to apologize anymore.” I eyed the partygoers in the room. If there was any definition of success, this was it. “Because that happened, I took a long inventory of my life. And I’m happier here at Gallery 29.” I drew a circle with my hand. “This is where I belong.”
She opened her mouth as if to say something but closed it.
I tossed her a genuine smile. “For the longest time, I thought about what I was going to say to you if I ever saw you again. I wanted revenge. I wanted you to understand that you’d hurt me. But now”—I looked her up and down again— “now that you’ve admitted what you did, I feel sorry for you.”
And I did. It shocked me, but it was also the truth. I almost pitied Lisa. What a sad way to live, going around making accusations that threatened other people and destroyed careers. It was no way to live.
“Apology accepted,” I added. “It was nice seeing you, and I mean that.” I acknowledged the rest of her group. “Have fun the rest of this evening, okay?”
Then I turned away from her and wove back through the crowd. Every step took me away from my past and toward my future. It was almost as if I felt every click of my heel. As I got closer to the bar, I spotted James in the far corner, talking with a guest.
James. I grinned as I moved closer to him. James Newhouse, my hot-neighbor-turned-friend-turned-boyfriend-turned-boss. What a few months it had been, and something in my heart told me it was only going to get better.
“Hey,” I said in my sexiest voice, “fancy seeing you here, stranger.”
He handed me a glass of champagne from a passing waiter’s tray. “I heard there was a hottie on staff who just took over as marketing director, and I wanted to meet her.”
I cocked my head. “I don’t know if you do. Some people think she’s pretty basic.”
James grinned and raked his fingers through his hair. “Turns out, I think basic is pretty awesome. Especially when it means I meet a woman like you.”
He pulled me close to him, and I sank against his body. His lips met mine, and we shut out the party as we kissed.
Four months earlier, my life had almost fallen apart. I’d been clueless about who I wanted to be, and where I wanted my life to go next. I’d thought of myself as lacking in so many ways. I had stammered my way through conversations with bosses, blustered interactions with hot men—well, just one really—and doubted my ability to self-examine and make wise decisions.
But I wasn’t that way anymore. Funemployment was over, and it couldn’t have ended any better. My life and my future were right in front of me. And that was awesome.
I’d never been so ready.
Thank you to my fantastic team of beta readers and editors, including Lisa, Ainslee, Tasia, Lauren, Karen, and Marion. Can’t do this without you! Thank you as well to Jenny for the awesome social media help, Julie for the formatting, and Judi for the cover design. Thank you to Sean for his faithful and endless support.
Most of all, thank you to the readers! I hope you enjoyed this!
Other Books by Sara Celi
The Undesirable
The Palms
Prince Charming
Natural Love
Hollywood Nights
Primary Season
Primary Flip
Spellbound
Lusting for Luke
Acquiring Ainsley