Chapter 22
The Moreaus did not consult Sarah when they informed her she was going on leave with pay.
“It’s been a long while since you had a good vacation, anyway.
” Alicia’s petty attempt to make this sound like a good thing was not appreciated.
The fact that Sarah’s employers had come to her home to tell her this was another level.
Nigel stayed out of it. What convenient timing for his former bosses to show up when he had to pop down to the supermarket.
Luca, on the other hand, did not stay out of it.
“You’re humiliating her even more,” she said to Danica. “The last thing she needs is—”
“I can speak for myself, thank you.” Sarah knew her girlfriend meant well, but now was not the time for her to come swinging.
This was about her job and what it could mean for her future.
“I understand. If I were in your position, I would suspend myself too. I’m a liability to your company’s image.
I believe you did business with one of the people in the video. ”
Alicia couldn’t hide her disbelief as well as her wife.
Don’t give me your shocked pity, lady. Sarah needed to approach this objectively.
Yes, that was her in the video. Yes, that was something a vast majority of Americans would call “shameful,” especially if it was leaked and now everyone who cared enough knew who she was.
But she wouldn’t succumb to the bile constantly tickling the back of her throat.
She wouldn’t look into this blond woman’s eyes and feel shame.
She had to approach this from the point of view of someone trying to salvage her employers’ image.
They were generous in offering her pay for at least a little while.
“We did,” Danica said with candor. “Not for a while, though.” She cleared her throat and averted her gaze from Sarah.
Even if Sarah hadn’t walked in on them watching the leaked video, she would still know they had. Their embarrassment every time they looked at her suggested as much.
What was that like? Finding out that your mild-mannered employee, who was as no-nonsense as a programmable robot, was getting her sexy jollies every weekend? To that extent?
The awkward silence became too unbearable for Luca. “Please don’t punish her, Dan. You know as well as I do that this was leaked to get back at me somehow.”
“Until this morning, I would have never guessed that, no,” Danica snapped.
“Ms. Clayborn hasn’t been put on leave simply because of this video coming out.
This relationship has played a part as well.
” She scoffed. So she really never expected anything?
Danica only acted like this when caught off guard.
While it wasn’t difficult for Sarah to keep her private life in the closet, Luca was exactly the type who wanted to broadcast her new romance to everyone who would listen.
Especially to her best friend! “Things must settle down. You know that, Lu.”
She grunted, but said nothing.
“Your job is not in jeopardy,” Alicia reassured her employee. “Please don’t think that.”
“Of course not.” Sarah stood. “I’m going to get more tea.”
She needed to get away from those fools, including Luca. She needed some space to breathe. Getting more tea was as good an excuse as any.
Too bad Alicia followed her into the kitchen.
“Sarah, if there’s anything Danica and I can do…”
Sarah poured lukewarm water from the kettle into her empty cup. If my mother saw me doing this, she would riot. “If there’s anything to do, I’m sure Luca is on it. She’s the one with the PR power.”
“Yes, but…”
“Everything else is my private life.”
Alicia stepped back, eyes wide and hand clutching her stomach. Yes, Mrs. Moreau, your baby girl might one day grow up to be a mess like me. Sarah wouldn’t put that out there with her voice, however. Those thoughts were kept in her caustic mind.
“Please, spare me any pity you feel. I’m more worried about Luca, anyway. It’s more than a little suspicious that both the video and our relationship were leaked only hours apart. Someone’s out to get her, and that video served me up on a platter.” Ouch. That was a line straight from the film.
“Even so, you’ve been dragged into this… like that.”
“I’d much prefer it if you wouldn’t keep bringing it up, thank you.”
Alicia bit her lip. When she next spoke, it was to change the subject back to her. “May I please use your bathroom?”
Sarah pointed down the hall. “First door on the left.”
“Thank you.”
Sarah continued to pour lukewarm tea while Luca and her best friend hashed it out in hushed whispers in the living room.
“You’ve lost your fucking mind,” Danica informed her friend.
“I’m in love, Dan. I wanted to tell you sooner, but we were waiting for the right moment. I was actually going to tell you this morning.”
“In love? With her?”
“You make it sound so far-fetched.”
“Do you even know half of her history?”
“She’s told me enough.”
“Then you know what a hazard dating someone like her could be. And I would’ve said that before that film and her apparent inclinations came out.”
“This is going to shock you, Dan, but a situation like that is how we met. I’ve never been shocked by what she gets up to on her days off.”
“Jesus. You need all the blessings you can get.”
“Never stopped you from marrying the first woman you had a whiff of feelings for. How did that all go down, again? One night, you were insisting that you would never bother with women again. Next thing I know, you’re announcing your City Hall marriage and inviting me to your real wedding to be your maid of honor in the Czech Republic. ”
“That was a different situation. Alicia never…”
“Sarah and Alicia are different women with different personalities and pasts. Drop it there, Dan. You have no room to judge me.”
Sarah couldn’t hear their grumbled words after that.
Alicia emerged from the bathroom shortly thereafter and suggested to her wife that they leave.
They had never removed their coats, and Sarah did not doubt that their driver kept one of the cars idling by the curb.
It was only Monday, yet Alicia’s face was so pale with fatigue that even Sarah was compelled to ask if she was all right.
“Trying, stressful times,” she said, hovering near the front door. Her wife stood in the hallway, on her phone with their driver. “I’ll be fine. Thank you for your concern.”
“Don’t go into labor on account of us, Alicia,” Luca said drolly.
“I should hope not. I still have a few weeks until my due date.”
Yes, Sarah knew all about that. She was the one who had not only scheduled Mrs. Moreau’s ninth month of pregnancy to accommodate possible labor at any moment, but had accompanied her to a few of her doctor’s appointments and overheard talk of “right on schedule,” and “nothing to fear that I can see.” Must have been nice.
“Keep in touch with what’s going on.” Danica hung up his phone and put an arm around her wife’s midsection. “We’ll be heading home from here. Get some sleep, Lu. I’ll see you in the office at nine sharp.”
Sarah went back into the kitchen to clean up and to text her brother that the Moreaus were gone. Luca approached from behind, keeping a respectful distance from her, but remaining close enough to only be a call away.
“Sarah…”
She finished loading the dishwasher and turned it on. “Luca.”
“Please tell me what I can do.”
“You can tell me what your PR person is saying.”
She sighed. “My PR manager or my divorce lawyer? Because my lawyer is blowing me up more than my PR manager right now.”
“How so?”
“He says this is terrible for my custody case. No judge is going to award me part-time custody, let alone full-time custody, if they think I’m a pervert.”
“They think you’re a pervert because you’re dating me, a woman who does disgusting gangbangs and says things like ‘Pet me there, your highness.’”
“It freaks me out how easily you say that stuff.”
“You know what you need to do, Lu.” Sarah didn’t want to say it, but perhaps it was for the best. “You need to let me go.”
“What? You mean break up with you?”
“If I’m hindering your ability to get custody of your son, then you need to let me go. He’s more important than me.”
“Don’t say things like that. You’re both important to me.”
“If push comes to shove, you need to be willing to give me up over your son.”
“Would you stop talking like that? You’re scaring me, Sarah.”
A text from Nigel said he would be home soon. “Don’t worry about me, worry about your upcoming case.” Besides, Sarah had a nagging feeling in the back of her mind regarding Jill Blackbourne. She wanted time to think about it before sharing her thoughts, however.
“I love you,” Luca said with such tenderness that Sarah’s instincts told her to write it off. “I’m not giving that up, not even as a last resort.”
She hugged Sarah from behind, strong arms encasing her in a suffocating embrace that brought her a fleeting moment of safety.
“I’ll stay here tonight, if it’s all right with you.”
“No,” Sarah was quick to say. “You need to go home. I need some space tonight. We’ll see each other tomorrow.”
“Sarah…”
“Please, Luca. If it’s all right with you, I’d rather be apart tonight while I process some of this. If I need someone, Nigel will be here.”
She was sure Luca didn’t like the brother coming before her, but Sarah also wasn’t in the mood to explain how things didn’t quite work that way. I’m not saying I need him more than you, Lu. I’m saying he’s here if I need someone. Go the hell home!
“I’ll stay another hour, in case my PR manager breaks a lead…”
“No. Please. Go home, Lu. I’ll be fine.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
Luca kissed her before heading out. Sarah remained in the living room until Nigel came home, staring at the blank TV screen and wishing she had some ice cream to eat. However, she said nothing, not even thanks, when her brother dropped a one-person serving of Chunky Monkey in her lap.
“Knew you wanted this. I also got a chocolate bar. It’s on the counter.”
“Watch out for the ants.” Sarah popped the lid on the ice cream and pulled back the foil. “Saw a couple when I was doing dishes earlier.”
“Where’s your girlfriend?”
Sarah stiffened. “I sent her home.”
“I see.”
What she liked most about her brother in these situations was that he didn’t push her like Luca was still prone to do.
Her girlfriend didn’t yet understand that she needed to have space during stressful times.
She liked quiet. She liked having a haven where she could turn off her phone, the TV, and stay far away from the internet.
Movies from her childhood, ice cream, and a shoulder to cry on were all she needed.
She didn’t cry, however. Sarah had numbed herself too well that day to cry over what this video leak may mean for her job and relationship. Numbing herself meant she got through it, eventually. It also meant a sleepless night as soon as she attempted to go to bed.
She checked her phone only once. A text from Luca said that she loved her and wanted to meet for lunch the next day.
When she rolled over and heard a commotion out in the living room, her first instinct was that Luca had shown up, demanding to stay the night. Sarah leaped out of bed, ready to go out there and give her girlfriend one last ultimatum, telling her to leave her alone for one night.
She stopped halfway down the hallway, pajama bottoms tangling around her feet, when she realized it was another woman’s voice.
A very familiar voice.
“Sarah!” Her mother, travel-weary in her crimson red trench coat and leather boots, dropped her overnight bag on the living room floor and turned away from her son. “There you are! Are you all right? What’s going on?”
Her American accent gradually slipped to the British accent of her upbringing.
The more posh Elizabeth Brown-Clayborn spoke, the more Sarah felt like a small child running into her mother’s arms and wishing her day would get over itself.
This was the same voice she heard whenever she didn’t perform up to her mother’s standards.
It was also the same voice to enter her psyche whenever Elizabeth verbally kicked someone’s arse on her daughter’s behalf.
Sarah didn’t know which would be a bigger blessing right now. She didn’t care.