Chapter Seventeen #2
Tessa gasped. Millie’s sharp words stung her cheeks like a slap. “I would never!” She glanced nervously around, then back to Millie. “Do you think that’s what I’ve been doing?” Did everyone else?
Millie shook her head. “Absolutely not,” she said.
She gripped Tessa’s hands in hers. “I see a woman drawing healthy boundaries and making choices for her personal peace and balance. I’m not alone in that, and those who recognize what you’re doing are proud of you.
Maybe a little envious too. I say bravo. ”
Tessa swallowed the hard lump forming in her throat. She appreciated the kindness and reassurance. “But Xavier thinks I’m doing what? Sabotaging this place? Why would I do that? I work here.”
“He’s just mad and can’t navigate it,” she said.
“He has a temper that rarely makes an appearance at the office. He lets frustration simmer until his pot boils over, then he blows up. Usually at the wrong person, because he knows he’s the one responsible.
It was a big part of why we divorced.” Millie glanced away, looking sadder than Tessa had ever seen her. She took a step back. “I’d better go.”
Tessa watched Millie leave, hating the implication that she’d been Xavier’s innocent victim before.
Tessa headed back to her computer, then dithered a moment, unsure if she should heed Millie’s warning and pack up to check on her clients downtown.
She could always pop into a few shops and have face-to-face discussions that would’ve otherwise been an email tomorrow morning.
Or maybe she should stay, be brave, and stand her ground on principle.
How could Xavier possibly blame her for Peyton’s failure?
Eventually, her inner coward decided it was best to listen to Millie, who’d never led her astray.
She logged off. The screen had just turned black when Xavier appeared at the mouth of the hallway.
He looked at her as if she’d keyed his car, then he turned on his heels and marched into Peyton’s office.
Tessa picked up the pace on her escape plan.
Xavier’s muffled angry voice carried through the glass and around the closed office door, poisoning the workspace beyond.
Employees shifted into motion, hurrying to their desks or down the hallway toward the elevator.
Tessa’s phone buzzed. Kate’s worried face centered the screen, and Tessa carefully answered the call.
“Hey, this isn’t a great time—”
“You’re right,” Kate said. “This is a no good, very bad time. I lost another eight hundred followers in two days,” she said.
Tessa could hear tears in the quake of her voice.
“What am I going to do, Tess?” she begged.
“Lilly Pulitzer just pulled out of our new brand deal before the ink was dry! I’m trying to be real, I swear it.
I’m being brave and showing people other sides of me, hoping to make connections with more types of people than the ones I grew up with, but those people aren’t showing up, and my followers are leaving in hordes. I don’t know what to do.”
Tessa swiveled away from the hubbub across the office and focused on her hurting friend. She pulled the phone from her ear and opened Kate’s social media profile, then checked the latest posts.
Kate had shared multiple sun-drenched images from her small backyard.
Each of which stole Tessa’s breath. Flagstones weaved a drunken path down the center of the space where Kate kept a tidy garden on one side, and flowers mixed with vegetables to create a bigger yield.
A chicken coop protected her feathery babies beneath an ancient oak on the other side.
Storybook-worthy flowerbeds lined the idyllic space, brightening the entire area around her literal white-picket-fence perimeter.
The fact Kate had included these images proved how determined she was to stay the course.
Further motivation for Tessa to make tonight the best night ever for her friend.
In her favorite image, Kate held her fattest chicken, Blanche, in her lap. She looked truly happy, but infinitely vulnerable, and it broke Tessa’s heart.
“You look beautiful,” she said. “These photos are gorgeous. I’m really proud of you for doing this.”
“They hated it,” Kate said, releasing an outright sob. “Some people commented about the garden, but mostly they wanted to know where the couture went. Southern_Charmer54 said they weren’t there to look at another Daisy Mae, glamorizing the backwater life.”
Tessa gasped. “That’s awful. I’m so sorry. You are not a Daisy Mae, and they shouldn’t have said that.”
“At least they stayed,” Kate said. “And interacted with the post. A whole lot of other people just quietly left.”
Tessa opened the comments and gave them a quick read.
Kate groaned. “How am I supposed to show my face at the ball tonight when my status as an influencer is unraveling at warp speed? God, this is so embarrassing.”
Tessa split her attention between the comment section and Kate’s distress. “You have to go because being there, and all the posts you’ll make about it afterward, will remind people you’re fabulous and unflappable. You’re MC gosh darn Kate.”
“I am flappable!” Kate shouted. “I’m flapping in the wind of the followers racing away from me.”
Tessa snorted. “Good thing you aren’t dramatic. Hey—” Tessa looked more closely at the comments. “I see some questions about your hen house and garden here too.”
Kate sniffed. “Where?”
“Looks like they came in while we’ve been chatting,” Tessa said. “Either they all happened upon your post at once, or a friend group shared the link and others followed.”
Silence stretched for a long beat. “I didn’t see these,” Kate said, sounding infinitesimally brighter.
“There,” Tessa said. “You bravely revealed your gooey cottagecore center, and your crunchy counterparts arrived.”
Kate laughed. “Okay, so this is good, I guess. Now I just need those people to tell all their friends and follow me.”
“Just keep being you,” Tessa said. “I know it must be scary facing numbers every day. If some kind of chart showed my constant progress or failure, I’d freak out too. It’s a lot of pressure, but you’re a queen. Keep going. More people will find you.”
Kate sniffled again. “Okay. Maybe it’s not over yet.”
“It doesn’t end until you say so.” Tessa glanced over one shoulder at Peyton’s suddenly silent office.
“Are you leaving at five?” Kate asked. “I want to be casually late to the ball, but I don’t want to be so late that we miss anything.”
“I’m packing up now,” Tessa said. “I won’t be late.”
“Thanks.”
“No problem. I’ll see you soon.”
“Okay,” Kate said. “Wait. Hallie’s calling.”
Tessa waited, eager to say goodbye.
“Hello?” Hallie said. “What’s happening?”
“I patched you in,” Kate said. “We’re talking about the ball. How’s it going?”
Hallie made indistinct choking sounds. “I spoke with Mama about my worries about the wedding.”
Tessa wrinkled her nose. This was going to be a longer conversation than she could manage at the office, and she really needed to get moving. She headed for the hallway. “How’d it go?”
“About as expected,” Hallie said. “I only called her because I’ve been putting off talking with Bryce.”
“You haven’t done that yet?” Kate yipped. “Hallie!”
“I know,” Hallie said. “What if he doesn’t want to marry a lesbian?”
“You said you’re bisexual,” Kate said. “Regardless, if he doesn’t want to marry you, you shouldn’t want to marry him either. You should be worshipped.”
“What did your mom say?” Tessa asked. She slowed and peered down the row of cubicles toward Peyton’s office door. Still closed. Still silence beyond. She took that as the miracle she needed and hurried down the hall on quick silent feet.
“She said I was an idiot if I chose to break an engagement to someone from a family as wealthy and powerful as his. Also that sexual orientation was irrelevant. Apparently, if sex was something that mattered in marriage, then young, beautiful women wouldn’t marry ninety-year-old geezers on their deathbeds. ”
“Tessa,” Xavier’s low, growling voice ripped through the space behind her, and she froze.
“Shit,” she whispered. “I’ve got to go.”
“See you soon!” Kate said. “Call me as soon as you’re ready, and we’ll meet you!”
Tessa turned slowly, disconnecting the call and lowering the phone to her side. A glance at the clock above the elevator told her it was nearly five.
Xavier closed the space between them in long angry strides. “Conference room,” he said. “Now.”
She wet her lips and nodded, then sent up a prayer for whatever came next.