Page 84 of Well, Actually
“But you have apparently decided that you are too good to do the job we pay you for,” he continues softly. “You flouted our directions in favor of your precious feelings. Not only that, but youlied, Eva. You made a fool of me, and in a public place, no less. Do you have any concept of how unflattering it is to have an employee talk back to me at a charity event I’ve donated tremendous money to on behalf of the company I’m in charge of?”
Heat floods my cheeks, my heart pounding so hard againstmy sternum I’m scared I’m going to pass out. “I’m sorry,” I choke. “I’m so, so sorry. That wasn’t my intention at all. I didn’t mean to be disrespectful. I didn’t—”
“But youweredisrespectful,” Landry chimes in. Her voice isn’t raised or even harsh, just dripping with disappointment. “Everything about this, from your lies to your gall at the fundraiser to initiating a tawdry affair with someone you were engaged in business with and letting it interfere with your work, was disrespectful.”
“I’m sorry,” I repeat, tears pricking my eyes. Landry acknowledges them with a pitying purse of her lips, but a flash of satisfaction alights on William’s face. “I see where you’re coming from and I’m sorry. I never intended for anything to happen with Rylie. I swear. But things have started to become real, and I—”
“Things arereal, are they?” William doesn’t use air quotes, but I sense them. “How Pollyanna and adorable. So glad you’re going steady and sporting his letterman jacket. But I’d also like to remind you this is therealworld. You signed up for transparency around this and that’s what you were expected to give us. If you had any journalistic integrity and hope of making a name for yourself, that is.”
“I do have journalistic integrity,” I sob, feeling close to getting to my knees to beg for mercy. I know I’m the smallest fish in the vastest ocean, I know how insignificant I am, but I can’t lose this job, I can’t lose this chance to actually make something of myself. I’m too attached to the only dream I’ve ever had to see it shatter to pieces like this.
“I want nothing more than to build a long, meaningful career in journalism,” I say, turning to Landry. “But this popculture beat isn’t for me. I’m sorry I messed things up the way I did, but I promise, if given the chance to apply my passion to something I’m interested in, something I really care about, I can do so much more. I’ll make it up to you, I swear.”
“Oh, Eva, don’t you get it?” William’s voice is scalding, his smile a hot knife that slices through me when my eyes slide to him. “You’re fired.”
My blank stare makes him laugh.
“Oh my god, did you not know that? Did you actually think this was a legitimate conversation about you lying to us that you could bargain your way out of?” His laugh is cold and empty. “Stop pretending to be some puppet master when you are, in fact, the strings we pull.”
“W-why are you doing this?” My lips tingle, a high-pitched buzzing growing in my ears as I struggle to process everything. “Why did you make me think this would be civil?”
His look of disgust makes me flinch. “It’s solely your own naivety that made you think this would be anything other than a well-deserved termination. You lied. You proved yourself financially useless. You are dismissed.”
“You can’t let him do this,” I beg, splaying my palms to Landry in surrender. “Please. Woman to woman here, you have to understand where I’m coming from, right?”
Landry’s expression shifts from pitying to patent disbelief. She shakes her head, letting out a cool laugh that matches her son’s. “Please don’t make this more embarrassing than it needs to be.”
“Landry,please. You said you saw potential in me. Saw some of yourself in me. I can prove it to you. Please, please, just don’t fire me.”
“My god, what do you expect me to say?” she says, face twisting. William snorts. “Are you expecting me to chantgirl powerwhile throwing my fist in the air? This is abusiness, Miss Kitt. Does that not compute? It doesn’t have feelings or qualms or guilt about whether you’re up to the task of doing what it takes to get ahead. You have proven you are not. We have proven that we are. And that is why we are leading and you are about to file for unemployment. But don’t worry, HR will be sending you a severance agreement with a reminder not to share private company information. I’m sure that will ease any difficulties as you look for a new position. Perhaps TMZ is hiring.”
I stare at them, tears streaming down my face. William’s focus back on his watch, Landry’s eyes slipping to her computer.
“Are you—”
“You aredismissed,” Landry snaps, leaving no room for argument. I scramble to the exit.
“Been a real treat working with you, Eva,” William says dryly right before the office door closes behind me.
I stand there for a moment, world spinning, vision swimming. I’m going to be sick, pass out, dissolve right into the floor. It travels to me from a distance, but I register a laugh disguised as a cough from Landry’s assistant.
Somehow—as my insides crumble and the scaffolding of my identity crashes down—I manage to walk to the elevators and get in without collapsing to my knees and crying.
I’m frozen as the elevator glides down to the bottom floor. How am I supposed to get off it? Where am I supposed to go? Home? And do what? What am I supposed to do withthe endless, empty vastness of my life that now stretches before me?
My phone vibrates in my purse as I step out of the building’s beautiful, grand doors for the last time. In a daze, I fish my phone out, not processing the sheer number of notifications popping up.
A ton of missed calls from Rylie. And Ray. And Aida. Texts from them too.
Where are you?
Are you okay?
Please don’t panic
We’ll figure this out.
Seriously, let me know you’re okay.
