Page 107 of Ten Rules for Faking It
Stacey laughed. “You were so far in your own head you didn’t hear me behind you. You okay?”
Pressing her palm flat to her chest, she glared at Stacey, who continued to laugh.
“I didn’t make you pee, did I? I hear that happens after thirty,” she said, poking her in the shoulder.
“Pretty sure that’s after babies, not thirty.”
“Hmm. Can’t be too careful. Where were you last night? I texted.”
Right. She needed to tell her friend everything. “Can we talk about it later? I have a lot to catch you up on.”
Stacey’s brows drew together. “Did you sleep with Owen?”
“Why do you always think I slept with someone when I say we should talk?”
She shrugged. “Wishful thinking.”
Everly’s heart rate calmed, and she opened the door, let Stacey go ahead of her. “Speaking of such things, what’d you decide about Rob?”
They stopped in the lobby, and her friend blew out a breath. “I’m going to go for it. We’re going out tonight.”
Everly grinned. “That’s awesome. I’m proud of you.”
Stacey rolled her eyes. “Aw, shucks. Thanks, Mom.”
They were still laughing when they walked down the hall toward the booth. They put their lunches away in the break room, waving to Jane, who was chatting into a headset. It was so weird to know a different side of these people. In all the years she’d worked here, Everly had kept a small piece of herself closed off.
She let Stacey in and felt like she was amicable to her coworkers, but seeing everyone together outside of work was different. Itmade her realize she didn’t reallyknowthe people she worked with. Jane was much less reserved with her girlfriend around, Luke was far more affectionate with his wife than she would have expected of the gruff and tough janitor, and Mari was far less serious.
“Morning, ladies,” Mason said, coming into the room. “Any clue about the big announcement Chris is making?”
Everly’s butterflies returned, and they were sporting weighted wings, all but punching her rib cage in rapid succession. “At the staff meeting?” He wouldn’t announce…them,would he?
Mason filled his coffee, glanced over at Everly. “Mari thinks something is up. Said he was making some changes and wanted to talk about where the station is headed.”
Everly’s breath whooshed out quietly. Okay. Not them.
Stacey filled a mug after Mason and took a sip. “We’ll find out soon enough. Maybe his brother is moving here and joining the ranks.”
Jane walked over and joined them. Everly thought about how strange it was that they’d never huddled in the break room to converse before. At least, she hadn’t. Maybe all of them had and she’d just kept her walls up.
“Noah is in real estate. I don’t think he wants to be in broadcasting. I need to go buzz someone in. He’s here to see Chris, so that might delay your meeting.”
They chatted a bit more about a few on-location event requests that had been emailed in.
“I’m going to go set up,” Everly said. She should definitely make more of an effort to engage, but for now, baby steps would have to do.
Walking out of the room, she was too aware of her pulse. It was beating harder than normal. Faster.You’ve worked with him every day for a year. You can handle one more day of normal until you figure out what to do from here.
She was worried that when she saw him, little hearts would pop up over her head as if she were a cartoon character.
“You can’t just walk back here,” Jane said to a man who came barreling down the hallway.
“He won’t answer my calls, then I’ll speak to him face-to-face. He’s probably too much of a damn coward for that, but I’m not. Where is he?” The man was probably in his fifties, average height, his gray hair a little long on the top. Everly clocked the details like they’d be important later. Mason came up behind her with Stacey.
“What’s going on?” Mason pulled Everly back as the man kept stomping forward.
“Which way isMr. Jansen’soffice?” Blotchy red spots covered the man’s face.
