Page 66 of Sunset Serenade
Lillian frowned and tapped a finger on her chin. “How about a pumpkin spice latte? Would that be a good start?”
Rose shrugged, so Lillian popped into line to get a latte for each of them. She also grabbed a pack of cookies, because cookies never hurt.
She sat back down and slid the drink across the table. “I got you extra whipped cream.”
“Thanks.”
“Do you want to tell me what happened?”
Rose shrugged. “Not really.”
Lillian stayed quiet and opened the cookies. Rose reached across the table and took one. When she was finished chewing, she went into the entire story, going as far as to claim that SerenadeMe would collapse into a black hole because of her.
“I know you’ve been doing a good job and you’re important,” Lillian said gently, “but don’t you think that’s a little grandiose?”
“If Craig wasn’t desperately trying to sell the company, no, but he is. Apparently, the new buyer was already leery of me. What’s he going to think now?” She sighed, puffing out her cheeks. “He’s going to walk away from the deal. Craig is going to have to fire me.”
“He’s not going to fire you.”
“I’m pretty sure I’m already fired. I admitted to lying about my qualifications and my name. I literally couldn’t have lied about more important things.”
Okay, that waskind of bad, but now wasn’t the time to dwell on it. “Just go and talk to him. I’ll bet he’s calmed down, and the two of you can come up with a plan to fix things.”
“I don’t think he’ll ever speak to me again.” Rose rubbed her face with her hands. “I know what I have to do.”
Lillian set her drink down. “That sounds ominous.”
“I need to convince Brett to buy the company. That’s the only solution.”
Ugh, Brett. Lillian didn’t want Rose to have to talk to that guy again. “But he’s ridiculous!”
“I know, and that’s why it might work. If I make him feel like I like him, like it’s a good idea…that he’s getting a deal…”
“Rose,” Lillian said slowly, “why would you need to make him think you like him?”
Rose continued mumbling to herself, her speed picking up. “He won’t ask questions, he’s too obtuse, and if he buys the company, no one has to know the truth. I’ll train someone to replace me, then leave. Disappear. The company will be fine, no one will be the wiser…”
“You love this job, though. You can’t quit.”
Rose’s eyes snapped into focus, as though she’d just remembered Lillian was there. “Ihaveto quit. I don’t want anyone to lose their livelihood because of me.”
“That is not going to happen,” Lillian said firmly.
“You don’t understand how high the stakes are.” She shook her head. “I never should’ve done this in the first place. I didn’t belong in a company like this.”
“That’s not true!” Lillian leaned in and grabbed her hands. “It clearly didn’t matter that you don’t have a PhD. You were still amazing at matching people. That was allyou, and you can’t deny that.”
There was silence while Rose stared straight ahead, her expression flat. “You should’ve seen the way he looked at me. I swear I felt my heart crack.” She touched a hand to her chest and let out a long, heavy sigh. “I think he might’ve even said he liked me back. I ruined that, too.”
This was too many problems muddled into one. Rose wasn’t thinking clearly.
Lillian nudged a cup toward her. “You haven’t even tried your drink yet.”
Rose stared at the coffee cup. “I used to love pumpkin spice lattes.”
“What do you meanusedto?”
“When I was happy.”
