English shrugged. “How hard is it not to fuck someone else?”
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault. And this isn’t your fault either. I’m anti-men right now. So, I’m all cut off his balls and feed them to him.”
I chuckled. “I don’t think that’s an option.”
“It could be!” she proclaimed. “But maybe just talk to him? Pray it doesn’t go as poorly as my talk with Josh?”
“Oh yeah, that’s really promising.”
“What’s the worst that could happen?”
I bit my lip. “He decides to get back together with Claire, just like he did with Melissa the last time around.”
“And what would you do if that were the case?”
“I don’t know,” I whispered, bracing myself. “Cry? Eat ice cream?”
“Survive,” English said softly. “Just like me. Talk to him.”
I sighed heavily, but I knew she was right. I was just putting off the inevitable because I was afraid that during those two hours, he’d decided he’d made a mistake. That he wanted Claire after all. That they hadn’t even been broken up and I was the other woman in all of this. A million worst-case scenarios ran through my head, but the only way to know was to talk to him.
“All right. I have to head to work anyway. Are you going to be okay?” I asked as I stood up.
She gave me a noncommittal half-shrug, half-wave. “I know what I have to do next. And that’s go to talk to fucking Court Kensington.”
“That sounds…pleasant in your state.”
She rose to her feet. “I have had a very bad weekend. My husband cheated on me, I flew back and forth across the Atlantic in the span of two days, and now, I get here and find out he jeopardized everything. Again. Yeah, I think he deserves a piece of my mind.”
“Go easy on him.”
“Oh no, everyone goes easy on Court. That is not my job. My job is to whip his ass into shape and craft him into something the public can love—or at least, fucking sympathize with. Nothing in that says that I have to be nice. And nothing in that says that he should be in a position to almost get arrested again!”
“Okay, okay. Give the boy some tough love. I’ll be at work, trying not to die and waiting for the rug pull.”
“I love you,” English said. “Thanks for being here for me.”
“Always.”
“Good luck with Sam. Text me when you talk to him.”
“Will do.”
Even though I was really fucking dreading what was about to happen.
I made it to work only a handful of minutes late after my conversation with English. I’d desperately needed a shower to clear my head and nearly fallen asleep under the stream. Today was going to suck. No buts about it.
I yawned as I walked through the door, wishing I’d had time to stop at Coffee Grounds before coming in. But I was already late, I had a meeting with Shawn and the team leads, and I needed to see Sam before I could hope to get anything done.
“Morning, Lark,” Aspen said with a smile.
“Hey. Could you get me the largest coffee that we have in the break room? I didn’t sleep, and I have that huge meeting.”
“Sure thing. Oh, also, Shawn came by and said that he needed to see you before the meeting.”
I nodded and waved her off. “Will do. I’ll go see him.”
Right after I talked to Sam.
With a giant sigh and another yawn, I walked across the room, knocked on Sam’s office door twice, and then opened it, uninvited.
“Hey, I know that we need to…”
But the rest of my sentence died on my lips.
“What are you doing?” I gasped.
He looked around the office he’d worked in all summer and shrugged. “What does it look like?”
“Packing. It looks like you’re packing.”
And he was. He had a cardboard box open and was filling it with his personal belongings from the office. It was a blank, nearly empty space already.
“Yeah, Shawn just came in here and fired me.”
“What?” I snapped. “He fired you? Holy shit! Why?”
Sam shrugged again, dejected. “I guess someone else found out we were dating.”
“Oh my god,” I whispered in horror. “But…no. This isn’t…”
“It is what it is,” he said with a sigh.
Finally, he looked up and met my gaze. I could see what this had done to him. He believed in this campaign like I did. He wanted Leslie to win. He hated that it had come to this moment.
I’d gotten him fired. Somehow, someone had found out we were dating…and he’d been sacked because of me. Without anyone even telling me.
Shawn.
He’d wanted to talk to me when I got in. Oh god, was he going to get rid of me too? It seemed unbelievable, but so was this moment.
“I’ll talk to him. I’ll make this right,” I told him before marching right back out of his office.
36
Lark
I stormed into Shawn’s office like a thundercloud. “What is going on, Shawn?”
“Lark, good. I’m glad that you’re here.” He gestured to the chair in front of his desk. “Sit down. We should talk.”
“You just fired Sam.”
“Yes,” he said evenly. “I hated to do it. It would have been easier to let HR handle it, but it came from Leslie.”
“What?” I gasped, my stomach dropping out. I sank into the seat in front of his desk.
Shawn steepled his fingers before his face. “Why didn’t you tell us, Lark? You could have come to us. We could have worked something out.”
“I didn’t…I don’t…I don’t know.”
I’d known it was a big deal. I was his boss. His boss’s boss actually. Even higher up the chain. I’d freaked out when Shawn walked in on us together. I’d asked Aspen to lie for us. I’d known. I just hadn’t wanted to think about it.
“Are you letting me go too?” I managed to ask him.
I’d been with the mayor for so long. Almost since day one. Shawn and I had been together on and off for five years.
He just shook his head once. “Thank god, no. Leslie said you were too valuable.”
I sagged in my chair in relief. I felt like an asshole, doing it. Since Sam was currently packing up his office and heading out. He’d just been fired, and I was relieved that I hadn’t been. It was shitty, but it was real. I loved this campaign. I couldn’t imagine losing it. Fuck.
“But Sam…is there any way…”
“No,” Shawn said with a stiff shake of his head. “I liked Sam. He was a nice guy, a great dedicated attorney. But we need you, Lark. We need you to keep running this ship. You’re irreplaceable this close to the primary. And honestly, I’d argue, period.”
“Thank you. I mean, I appreciate you saying that. It means a lot. I just…can’t believe Sam isn’t going to be working here anymore.”
Shawn held his hands up, wrists together. “My hands are tied. It was Leslie’s decision.”