Page 81 of The Thorne at My Side
I look quickly at Kyle who is an Eagle Scout and more than capable of cutting down a Christmas tree. It looks like he’s about to share that tidbit too but Liz cuts him off with a whack to his chest.
I guess I’m the match-making target today.I roll my eyes and end the call with Sam promising her that I’ll call her again soon but feeling hopelessly lost in my thoughts and farther away from my friend than ever.
“Yep, let’s go,” I try to muster as much enthusiasm as I can.
We fall in line together, two by two. Mom and Dad, Liz and Kyle, and Cole and me at the end.
“Well, well, well, Maggie Collins is back in town,” Cole jokes and I laugh with him. “How long are you staying?”
“Not sure,” I admit with a shrug and I can feel his stare on me.
“That’s odd,” he says.
I turn to him, “What do you mean?”
“You’ve had a plan to get the heck out of Lakeville since grade school.”
I laugh a little in agreement.
When I don’t say anything, Colecontinues, “I remember us in high school. Man, I sure loved you,” he laughs and I turn to him in shock. “But I kept telling myself that Maggie Collins wasn’t going to stay in town for anyone. She was going out to rule the world.”
“Ha, I didn’t even come close,” I scoff.
“No?” I feel Cole turn to look at me. “Your mom said you wrote speeches for President Quinn. That’s about as close to running the world as someone can get!”
“I guess so,” I shrug, “but I don’t do that anymore.”
“What happened?”
“They fired me,” and replaced me with a robot.
“Their loss,” Cole says with a quick lean in to bump my shoulder. I force a smile to hide how distraught I am. In one conversation with my high school crush I’m revisiting all my shortcomings and if he asks me what I’m going to do next there’s no way I could keep myself together. “You staying until the wedding?”
“Probably,” I shrug again and Cole stops walking. He reaches out and grabs my hand so I stop too.
“Maggie, I can tell you’re lost. It happens to all of us. Try to remember what’s important to you, why you made all the career and life choices you did so far. It’s not that they led you astray, they led you here.” Cole reaches up and grabs hold of my shoulders, he lowers his head so we’re eye level before he continues. “And you can always start fresh from here,” he says and then he turns my shoulders so I’m forced to turn around.
Behind me is a view of Lakeville I’ve never seen before. There is a clearing where last year’s trees were harvested and I can see down the rolling hills to the lake, I can see Sunfish Park, I can see the buildings in town with their Christmas decorations already shining.
It’s beautiful but I don’t have the heart to tell Cole it alsomakes me itch to leave. As far as places to be from go though, Lakeville ranks pretty high up on the list. I just wish I knew where I was going from here.
CHAPTER 23
Meanwhile in DC
AUSTIN
“Okay everyone, it is 9:00 and I am calling this meeting of the Thorne Media Corporation Board to order.”
Today is a great fucking day. I get to present the first earnings report for AI Media. We have crushed it. The product has been live for nine weeks and we’ve already cleared our initial investment. From here on out, there will be some maintenance costs, but it’s essentially pure profit.
Not only do I get to show strong revenue numbers, I get to share that we are not being sued. We were able to prove that the speeches AIM wrote and the news articles it created for users were based on articles created by TMC only and from content uploaded by users under contract.
Basically we aren't being sued because Maggie and her team uploaded everything willingly.
It sucks.
But it's true.
