Chapter 29
CHAPTER
Bindi left around ten pm and Elora didn’t know whether to be relieved or disappointed.
Relieved, because that meant the informal interview must’ve gone well and her new friend would have a place to live; disappointed, because she’d be sleeping in the studio tonight when she’d rather be in the homestead. Back in Cruz’s bed.
She hoped he’d come knocking on her door to let her know how the interview had gone, but chirping crickets and the occasional hoot of an owl were the only sounds she heard as she tinkered with ideas for the restaurant’s website.
After another fifteen minutes, her eyelids grew heavy and she shut down her laptop and turned on her phone.
The battery drained too quickly these days.
Frustrating, considering she managed social media accounts for several clients.
She’d been putting off buying the latest model until she paid off Jason. The sooner that happened, the better.
As the screen on her phone flared to life, she couldn’t believe the number of notifications.
If one of her clients had gone viral, maybe she could get that new phone after all.
She tapped on the first notification, not surprised it led to the Kinstead Avocados Instagram page and the reel of Cruz disrobing by the pool.
What did surprise her was the number of views: six hundred and eighty thousand.
Stunned—and elated—she brought up the reel, equally shocked by the number of comments.
Over three thousand. She’d never had such a successful reel and was glad that out of all her clients, Cruz and the farm would benefit from the exposure.
Until she started reading the comments.
Mortified, much?
Glad it’s you and not me, sister.
Desperado.
Keep it in your pants, girlfriend.
The comments were aimed at her, and only a few mentioned how hot Cruz was. Bizarre.
She tapped on the reel to replay it with sound on, and almost dropped the phone.
She couldn’t hear the song she’d added to the reel.
Instead, she heard the running commentary she’d given while filming, a slew of embarrassing observations that were only meant for her ears.
‘Give me some of that’, ‘I’d do him’, ‘I’d swipe my tongue over every inch of that delectable guy’ were among the tamer comments, accompanied by the occasional moan and ‘Yeah, baby’.
Mortification scorched her cheeks, and she flung the phone onto the sofa.
In all her years of marketing, she’d never made a rookie mistake like this.
She carefully selected songs to go with her Insta reels or TikTok videos, but somehow, this time, she’d screwed up.
Maybe the editing app she’d used had glitched, because she’d definitely chosen a sexy country and western song to accompany the video and mask her embarrassing commentary, which she’d done for a laugh at the time.
Now, almost seven hundred thousand people had heard her make an idiot of herself.
She could edit the reel, but too many people had already seen and heard it, so she’d probably only draw more attention to it.
Better to laugh it off and hope it brought some much-needed business to the farm.
If there were female CEOs of companies in the region, they would definitely make an appointment to see what Cruz had to offer—farm-wise, of course.
She picked up the phone again and brought up the reel. In the few minutes she’d been having a meltdown, views had increased by ninety thousand. Yikes. This could be her first million-view reel, and it had taken her being an idiot to do it.
It might not be too bad. How many people would go to the farm’s website and see that her one-woman company was managing the farm’s media?
Not many, so hopefully she wouldn’t cop too much flak.
In the meantime, she’d draft a statement, something classy but honest, admitting to her mistake and apologising for her inappropriate remarks.
As for Cruz, she hoped he’d see the funny side.