Page 118 of A Fool's Game

“Not even you are that stupid, Taylor.”

“Okay, let me get this straight,” Ainsley cuts back in. “She got a publishing internship interview in New York and got on a plane without even saying anything? Why?”

Marisol speaks only to me when she answers. “Because she knew you were too committed to your albatross of a house to choose her.”

Ainsley turns on me. “Is that true, man? You would have let her go for your parent’s house?”

“I don’t know,” I answer honestly.

“Jesus fucking Christ,” he shakes his head, clearly disgusted with me. “Well good thing it doesn’t matter anymore, huh? Grab your shit, I’m calling a plane.”

I tear my gaze away from glowering at Marisol, as if she was the problem, to sneer at him. “You can’t just call a plane.”

But he already has.

“That’s right. Yes. Forty-five minutes will be fine. Everett, yes. Great. Thank you.”

He hangs up and turns to me, incredulous. “I told you to get your shit, man.”

And, because I’m more ready than anything to just let go and let someone else be in charge. Because I literally have nothing else to lose but her. Because I’m seeing my life and my stupid, selfish choices in the light of truth for the first time in…possibly ever. I do just that.

Chapter 40

Gemma

“Really lovely to meet you, Gemma. We’ll be in touch.”

“Thank you so much. It was an honor to even be here. I appreciate you taking the time.”

I walk as slowly as I can through the hallways back to the elevator after shaking hands with the interview team and assuring them I’ll be in the city for a few more days if they want to follow up. I’m trying to soak in the energy of the place, just in case I don’t get the position—or I can’t convince myself to stay.

There’s a really good chance they’re going to choose me. Magnus Publishing was my first choice for an internship, and they seemed enthusiastic about the prospect of having me join their team.

I should be ecstatic. I should be bouncing from the walls and daydreaming about a career in one of these high-rise offices with a view of the park.

Instead, I can hardlybreathe.

What should feel like a success feels a lot like failure. And not the good kind.

If this whole experience has taught me one thing, it’s that walking away from everything is going to be a lot more challenging than I imagined.

That’s just how heartbreak goes, Gem. It’s hard for a while and it slowly gets better with time.

The familiar voice—the voice that got me on that plane and checked me into a New York hotel last night—is sounding a lot less sensible now that the possibility of me getting this job is so real.

Can I actually do it?

Can I leave behind everything I’ve built for myself?

Rain starts as I watch the streets fly by through the grimy cab window. It casts my tiny, cheap hotel room in a gray haze that makes me nostalgic for home.

I flip on every light and close the blackout curtains.

The sterile, unfamiliar room glares back at me in the bright light like a taunt.

With nothing to look at but the mauve floral bedspread, I dig my phone out of my bag and light up the screen. The photo of the three of us poolside on Faraday Island makes me smile despite my rapidly souring mood.

We had a good time.

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