Page 92 of Forty, Flirty & Fired

"Yeah, yeah." I wave her off, but she's right. I'm a wreck.

Lucia plops down beside me, her designer jeans meeting the cold stone floor. "You know, if emotional crisis were a wine, you'd be a full-bodied, slightly chaotic Merlot."

I laugh, despite myself. Above us, the lunch rush is starting. The familiar sounds of our family restaurant should be comforting, but they just remind me of Alex. Of family dinners and laughter and the trust I shattered.

My phone buzzes again. Roberto.

ROBERTO:Saw the tech news. Looks like you're still stirring up trouble. Katie says don't forget the baby shower. "New beginnings" and all that jazz.

"Delete it," Lucia orders, snatching my phone. "And for the love of God, clean up. You've got basil stains on your sweater."

"I'm wallowing, okay?" I groan. “I quit my job. And lost my boyfriend, remember?”

"Well, wallow with some dignity.” She nudges me, smiling sadly. “And maybe some therapy."

Sofia's voice drifts down from above, directing the lunch service. Life goes on, even when your love life is a train wreck.

"The exposé went viral," I admit quietly, eyeing a 1995 Barolo. "The one I didn't publish. Someone leaked it."

"Ah," Lucia nods. "That explains the stress-gnocchi situation upstairs. And Keith's new song."

My phone lights up with another notification. Keith's latest revolutionary carol is gaining traction.

"Last Christmas, I gave you my trust, but the very next day, you wrote an exposé..."

"Catchy," I admit. "Though I'm not sure HR approves of the lyrics about 'corporate passion's icy death.'"

"Mac," Lucia's voice softens. "Why didn't you just talk to him? About the exposé? About why you started it?"

"Because I fell for him, Lucia," I say, my voice breaking. "Because somewhere between champagne battles and corporate revolutions, I chose him. I just... chose too late."

Outside, the snow falls harder, like the universe is rubbing salt in the wound. My phone buzzes with another alert. Tech news covering the "unprecedented corporate culture transformation" at Drake Enterprises. Changes I helped create while planning to expose everything. Changes that actually worked.

"You know what's interesting?" Lucia reaches for a bottle of Amarone, because why not add day drinking to the mix? "How you're more upset about losing him than about losing the story. It's like you were trying to prove a point, but you forgot what the point was."

Before I can respond, Sofia appears on the stairs, armed with enough comfort food to feed an army.

“I didn’t leave my kids with their nanny so that you two could hold a secret sister fort without me.” She harrumphs, shuffling items inside her arms. “Also, Nonna says if you won't come up for lunch, lunch comes to you." She sets up an impromptu feast between wine racks. "Also, Keith sent another song dedication. Something about 'trust falling like December snow.'"

Nice. A revolutionary soundtrack to my emotional breakdown.

My phone buzzes again.

Alex's latest press statement.

Careful corporate language that says everything and nothing.No mention of champagne or revolution or trust broken beyond repair.

"You know what's really interesting?" Sofia starts unpacking containers filled with childhood comforts. "How you're hiding in a wine cellar instead of fighting for what you want. It's like you're stuck in your own head, Mac."

"I'm not stuck," I protest weakly.

"You're sitting in a wine cellar, avoiding the world," Lucia chimes in. "That's the definition of stuck. Now eat the arancini. Nonna stress-fried them while cursing 'stubborn hearts' in Italian."

Outside, the snow transforms the alley into a holiday movie scene. The kind where love conquers all and trust never wavers. The kind that doesn't exist in my reality.

"The blog posts helped," I say quietly, trying to make sense of it all. "They made things better. Until?—"

"Until you fell in love with the man you were supposed to expose?" Lucia passes me more wine. "Until you chose him over the story but forgot to tell him that part?"

---