2. Elodie #2
My molars clenched as I fought back tears. “Well ...” I huffed a humorless laugh. “Color me surprised. And fuck off with your lunch. This is over.” I turned toward the door.
“Ellie, I’m so sorry,” Amy started, but I whipped around, my finger pointed directly at her.
“Don’t.” I swallowed back the betrayal with bile hot on its heels. “I can’t even look at you.”
The genuine hurt that flashed across her face was an ice pick to my heart. I lifted my chin. “I quit.”
I glanced at Brandt as a fresh wave of embarrassment washed over me. My stomach grumbled, and my eyes landed on the brown paper bag, still in his hand. I reached forward, snatching it out of his grasp with more force than necessary.
“Ellie, there’s no need to quit. You’re being asked to step down,” Amy called to my back as I pushed through the office door.
I spun on my heels, eyes slicing toward her. “What?”
Amy lifted her chin. Her eyes took on an icy glare. “ Look, I didn’t want to do this here—and certainly not in this way—but you’re leaving me no choice. You’re amazing, there’s no denying that, but sometimes ...” Her eyes darted away.
“No, go ahead.” My hands planted on my hips. “Say it.”
Her eyes were sharp when they met mine. “You’re one hell of a closer, but you’re also kind of a flake. I need someone who can follow through, not just get excited about the next project.”
Guess now I know why the business card was declined.
The truth in her words stung more than I wanted them to, embarrassment flooding my system.
I bit back hot tears as her eyes pleaded with mine. “You’ll get a nice severance package, I promise.”
Pushing open the door, I looked around the office space—the office we had built from the ground up after college. As expected, we’d drawn quite the audience, and they scampered back to their desks without making eye contact.
My shoes pinched my toes as I stomped toward the exit. I held out my arm, clutching the brown bag like I could strangle it, before opening my fist and letting it drop onto Mel’s desk. “That’s lunch for you. Please know that the next few sentences out of my mouth are not directed at you.”
My chin lifted as I glared at Amy. “I don’t want anything from you.” I turned, raising my arm high above my head, my middle finger on full display. “Everyone here sucks! Consider this my resignation letter, assholes. Signed, sealed, and aggressively delivered.”
I sank deeper into a buttery leather chair .
The apartment view was perfect. Or at least that was what I had told myself.
Below me, the city stretched out in a tangle of lights, glittering in the early-summer dusk—all sharp angles, penthouse rooftops, and the kind of expensive cocktail bars where you paid twenty bucks for a drink that barely got you buzzed.
It was the kind of view that should’ve made me feel successful.
Instead, it felt like staring at something that didn’t quite belong to me.
The apartment had never really felt like mine either.
A year ago, I had moved in with Brandt because it was the logical next step, not because I actually saw a future here.
The cold modern furniture, the sleek gray countertops, the obnoxiously expensive coffee maker that required an engineering degree to operate—it was all very his .
I swirled the wineglass in my hand, watching deep-red legs crawl down the crystal. It was some ridiculously expensive merlot—a thank-you gift from a client who assumed my life was as put-together as my Instagram grid made it seem.
Fake it till you make it, right?
I exhaled, rolling my shoulders, trying to shake off the exhaustion curling at the edges of my mind. A very specific kind of exhaustion—the kind that comes from knowing your bank account is holding on for dear life, but you still hit add to cart with reckless abandon.
The kind that whispers maybe happiness wasn’t about money, but also, money would sure as hell make happiness easier.
I reached for my phone again, scrolling mindlessly.
Three unread texts from Brandt.
A voicemail from the credit card company .
An email reminder about an automatic payment I definitely did not have the funds for.
I swiped them away. Future Elodie’s problem.
I had spent the last year chasing something—though I wasn’t entirely sure what. A feeling. A spark. A reason for why I was still living paycheck to paycheck in designer heels.
Something had to click eventually, right?
I tossed my phone onto the couch, but a second later it buzzed again.
I groaned, rubbing my temples, but when I saw the name on the screen, I sighed and picked up.
“Finally decided to call me back?” I teased my sister.
“I was at work,” Selene clipped. “Unlike you, I don’t have time to drop everything for a midday scandal.”
I snorted. “Oh, so you did read my texts.”
“Oh, I read them. Twice.” She exhaled, long and slow. “And I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact that they didn’t even bother to lock the damn door.”
“I mean, really,” I continued, words spilling out like I’d been holding them in for too long. “What kind of idiot gets caught that easily? Office sex is, like, the oldest cliché in the book. At least have the common decency to get creative about it. Frankly, I’m offended.”
“So, just to be clear,” Selene said, her voice thick with amusement. “You’re not mad that he cheated—just that he sucked at it?”
I groaned. “No, I’m mad that Amy was the one he cheated with. I’m mad that I gave two years to a man who just—” My voice cracked before I could stop it.
Selene softened. “Hey. It’s okay to be sad ... about all of it.”
I dropped my spoon into the now-empty pint of black cherry chocolate chip ice cream. “To be honest, I didn’t know what felt worse—the shock or the sheer humiliation. Losing Brandt? I know I’ll live. Losing the company I helped build from scratch? I’m gutted.”
Selene grumbled at the mention of my cheating bastard of an ex-boyfriend’s name. “Has he tried to call you?”
I sighed and didn’t have the heart to tell her the contents of the final text message that had come through earlier in the day.
Brandt
I’m sorry for what you saw, but I’ve been unhappy for a long time now. I will stay at Travis’s house for a few days while you pack your things. You’re beautiful, and I love you. I just don’t think I like you anymore.
Oof. Twist the knife, why don’t you?
The nerve. The unmitigated gall. The pure, unfiltered testosterone-induced stupidity of this man.
“He texted, but I have no interest in talking with him.” I groaned and pressed a hand into my stomach.
That second pint of ice cream was definitely a bad idea.
“You’re not stress eating again, are you?” When she needed to, Selene had a knack for sounding exactly like our mother.
I frowned. “Of course not,” I lied. “In fact, I am about to jump on the treadmill and think up all kinds of witty comebacks while I rage-run.”
It wasn’t a bad idea.
“Well ...” Selene sighed. “I guess it was a good thing you two were always too busy to bring him home. That way Mom and Dad couldn’t get too attached to him. ”
I let out a humorless chuckle. Our parents loved everyone. “Amen to that.”
“So this means you’re coming to Winnie’s birthday party, right?” she asked.
A genuine grin spread across my face. My niece Winnie was one of the coolest kids on planet Earth. Selene had been single-momming it for a while now, but Winnie was pure, chaotic sunshine.
The two of us were kindred spirits.
I looked around Brandt’s apartment. We had lived together for a year, and there wasn’t much there that really felt like home anyway.
I could always find a new apartment. “Yes, I’m in.
Text me the details and I will be there.
Do you mind if I stay with you for a few days?
Just until my murderous rage subsides a little? ”
Selene chuckled. “Sure. I can fix up the couch for you. And don’t do anything that’ll put you in jail. My advice is to make sure your revenge is nearly undetectable. Split the seams in the seat of his pants. A little hair remover in his shampoo. Glitter bomb the vents in his car.”
I chuckled, feeling lighter already. “You are diabolical.” I loved seeing a wicked side to my typically buttoned-up older sister.
Selene laughed again. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
I sighed. “I really love you.”
We said goodbye, and a sly grin spread, slow and easy. I had some work to do before I headed home to Star Harbor.