Page 105 of Bad Situation

I sigh. “I know. The Montgomerys—we’re drama llamas, right?”

“I’ll see you tonight.”

“Tonight,” I agree and can’t wait. “My next meeting is waiting for me, I’ve got to go.”

“Don’t be late,” he warns.

I start to smile, but hear a scuffle outside my door. “Never.”

“Love you.”

I turn to see what’s going on as I tell him the truth that I’ve never meant more, “Love you, too.”

We hang up and I double-time it across my large office when I hear her. “Get out of my way. I don’t give a shit what she’s doing. I need to talk to her.”

“She’s late for a meeting. She can’t see you now,” Callie insists, taking her horse-holder position a bit far, even for my liking. Especially with Ellie.

“Get your fucking hands off me. I might be small but I promise I could kick your ass all the way to Waco and back and won’t give it a second thought. Let me through.”

“What’s going on?”

Callie is trying to block Ellie from my office and has a grip on her forearm. I glance over at Seth, the vice-president of environmental standards, and my next meeting. He’s moved close and I can tell he’s wondering if he should step in.

Callie is tall and lean and I’m not sure Ellie could even kick her ass to south Dallas, but she has more spirit, that’s for sure. She might win on effort alone.

But I don’t want that brawl to go down in my reception area and demand, “Let her go, Callie.”

Callie releases her arm and takes a step back before turning to me. I can tell she’s flustered when she runs her hands down her skirt and tries to catch her breath, telling me something I already know. “You’re already late for a meeting.”

Ellie moves past Callie as she gives her a glare that would remedy the mosquito issue in Texas. That is, until she turns her glower on me.

What the hell?

I turn to Seth. “Do you mind giving me five minutes?”

He settles back on the sofa, happy to not have had to break up a cat fight. “No problem.”

I turn and barely get my door shut when she unleashes. The moment she loses it, tears fill her eyes.

“You weren’t going to tell me?” she cries. “You of all people? Sure—Mom and Dad, I get. But you?”

The pain cutting through her is almost tangible as it fills my office. I take another step toward her. “Calm down. I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“The hell you don’t. How long? How long have you been keeping me in the dark? It fucking kills me that you, of all people, would hide this!” she screams.

“Lower your voice,” I demand.

She doesn’t lower her voice. She moves and thrusts her phone in my face and I freeze. All the oxygen leaves my body and everything clicks into place.

Shit. I knew this would be hard but this is not the way I wanted it to play out.

“I’m in a meeting with my contractor and a notification from the Dallas Morning News pops up on my phone, alerting me you got your dismissal. But when I open the Twitter link, this is what I see. Are you fucking kidding me?”

“Ellie,” I lower my voice and try to reach out for her. “Let me explain. It’s been a ridiculous few weeks and I wanted to tell you the right way and not—”

“Fuck you!” she exclaims and throws her phone across my office. It hits my credenza, exploding like a firecracker that matches my heart, splitting into pieces. “There’s no excuse! Not if you love me. Not if you have my back the way you always promised. I have no one but you and I find out like this?”

She’s right. I have no excuse other than talking myself into the fact I was protecting her when really, I knew this would happen and was avoiding it.

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