Page 65 of Love is Fake

“He’s already said he will,” Kiara confirms and the lack of judgement in her voice makes me relax a fraction. “You said it’s just a few follow-ups anyway, right?”

I nod.

“Did you tell Michael why?” I ask, sniffing loudly like a total lady. The man is my mentor and the last thing I want is for him to think I’m a complete flake.

“I told him you were taking some long-overdue vacation time.” Kiara gives me a meaningful look as I scoff.

“I haven’t taken a vacation since…” My mind blanks.

“Exactly. So you’re definitely in need of one. Take a couple of weeks – do something fun, you work so damn hard - you more than deserve it,” she nudges me.

“So, let me get this straight; I screw things up by falling for the biggest client we’ve ever had– even though you warned me not to – and when the whole thing implodes you punish me by giving me vacation time?” I frown over at her, before I suddenly go cold inside. “Oh crap, Ki – you’re not firing me, are you? I love this job and I know I messed up but -,”

“Will you stop?” Kiara puts both of her hands on my upper arms as if she’s about to shake some sense into me. “Of course, I’m not firing you! Only you would consider a holiday a punishment!” She shakes her curly head at me in despair. “And you didn’t screw anything up with Len… him,” she interrupts herself, looking at me quickly to see if I’ve heard her almost name he-who-shall-not-be-named. “He’s the one who screwed things up with you and there’s no doubt in my mind the day is gonna come when he’s going to realize what he missed out on. And you don’t need to worry about the work side of things. We’re paid up in full, I got an alert this morning from the bank confirming the final installment has been received, two weeks before your contract was due to be up.”

I go quiet, processing what she’s just said. Lennox has held up his end of the deal, even though – contractually – he didn’t have to. The ungracious side of me, says it’s the only way he knows to make things right, to apologize by throwing money at the problem. The hopeful side says he’s done it because he’s a good person. I tell that part of me to shut the hell up, because I have no business thinking anything positive about Lennox. Not right now. Maybe not ever.

I see Kiara’s phone light up with a text from a familiar name and I blink in surprise at it.

“Kai finally called you?” I ask, wiping my tear-stained cheeks, because I need to talk about something other than he who shall no longer – ever - be named.

Kiara gives me a sidelong look, as if she’s checking that I really want to hear this rather than just spewing the beans if I’m not up for the information.

I respond earnestly. “Tell me, I need to think about something other than my crappy life!”

“Ain’t that the truth,” she mutters, nudging me gently, forcing a watery smile out of me. “We were supposed to go out tonight but -,”

“Nuh-uh,” I shake my pounding head. “No buts, you’re going!”

“There’s no way – I’m not leaving you like this, Iz.” She gestures to my sad, unwashed, pajama-in-the-middle-of-the-day state.

I glance down at myself, knowing she has a point. If Kiara looked this pathetic I wouldn’t want to go out and live it up either. But if Kiara ever looked like this it would be nothing short of a national emergency.

“I promise to shower while you’re gone,” I assure her.

“And eat something.” She looks pointedly at the cheese sandwich still sitting on my nightstand. Turns out having your heart ripped out is murder on your appetite.

“And I’ll eat something.” I hold up my little finger for the standard pinky swear.

“And you won’t stay up all night binge-watching repeats of ‘Gilmore Girls’,” Kiara adds because, damn, the woman knows me too well.

“No promises on that one.” I snatch my pinky finger away from hers. ‘Gilmore Girls’ is my happy place. I’ve seen it so many times it’s like a comforting blanket. I figured all momsand daughters – apart from in my house, obviously – were like Lorelei and Rory for so long I’m ashamed to admit it.

Kiara looks conflicted so I resort to violence, physically pushing her towards the door.

“We both know how long you take to get ready, so go home and make yourself even more beautiful and get out there and knock Kai’s damn socks off!” I tell her.

“Iz…” she starts, her voice far from convinced.

“Kai’s one of the good ones,” I assure her, hoping I haven’t got that completely wrong – my man radar is apparently faulty. “And he really likes you. And if it works out with you guys, we could give you a cute couples name like KaKi! So, everyone’s a winner!” I joke.

“Khaki’s not really my color,” Kiara deadpans.

“Noted, it wasn’t my best work,” I admit, hands up. “I’ll think on it while you’re out.” I make a shooing motion with my hands.

Kiara gives me one last once-over. “If you’re sure…”

“I’m sure, one hundred percent,” I assure her. “And I expect a full de-brief in the morning.”

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