Page 99 of Hot Summer

When she exclaimed as much in the group chat, Skye sent a stream of leaf and sparkle emojis.

Skye: Nature is healing

Cas felt like she blinked and found herself at Wednesday morning, staring at herself in the mirror as she put the last few touches on her eyeliner. She probably didn’t need to get all dressed up, probably could have just rolled in, dead eyed and sallow skinned and made Robert confront the reality of her time off, but Cas needed to feel like she had something under her control.

Again, delusion. But for a good cause.

She hadn’t missed the Northern line—the smell, the sound, the crowd of people who didn’t have the slightest idea how to queue for the train—but she felt herself settle into her routine more or less automatically as she made her way through the station. It was a little scary how quickly her body remembered, how, even after nearly two months away, she was able to fall back into her routine like it was the most natural thing in the world. And, because the number one rule of London commuting was to avoid making eye contact at all costs, she made it through without a single person recognizing her.

Jana was sitting behind the desk as always when the lift opened at the office, and she smiled as Cas walked into the lobby.

“Good morning, Cas. You’re looking tan.”

“Ha. Thanks.” Cas unearthed her badge from her crossbody and tapped it on the card reader. “It’s the best thing I got this summer.”

It wasn’t true, she knew it as soon as she said it, but it was too late to take the words back now. Too hurtful to acknowledge what her real favorite part of the summer was.

Jana laughed and shook her head, her fingers clicking away on her keyboard. “You never change.”

Robert was sitting behind his desk when Cas walked into his office, fingers hunting and pecking across the keyboard. Cas scanned the view of the city over his shoulder, the sun shining off the buildings in the distance, the glitter of the Thames. It was beautiful here, the exact kind of view she’d been hoping for in an office of her own.

Robert hit enter and looked up, his face immediately blossoming into a smile. “Cas. Welcome back. I hope you had a nice summer.”

It took a lot of energy not to laugh directly in his face. She sat down, gripped the arms of the chair instead.

“Well, it was nice up until the end, obviously.”

“I can imagine,” Robert said. “That’s part of why I wanted to talk to you today.”

This could go one of several ways—he could surprise her and, for once, be genuinely helpful. He could give her some useless advice. He could encourage her to go on Instagram Live or something and “set the record straight.” Anything, realistically, could come out of Robert’s mouth.

“I got an email from Chloe. They’re not happy with how the partnership turned out this year.”

“Well, yeah, I’m not exactly thrilled with them, either.” Cas should have tried for a more genuine tone, but her ability to contain herself had gone completely out the window. “They pinned this entire situation on me. They still haven’t taken responsibility for it.”

“You can’t have expected them to publicly acknowledge the contract,” Robert said. “There’s a lot riding on this for them—they don’t want people questioning the legitimacy of the show they’re running.”

“But we’re okay with people questioning my legitimacy? My intentions?”

“From their perspective,” Robert said, “it’s better if the damage is contained to one person rather than across the brand as a whole. And, I have to say, it makes sense.”

“I—I wasn’t even the one who said anything. I understand damage control, but this wasn’t on me.”

“Regardless of who’s at fault, someone has to take the fall. And, unfortunately, you’re the person closest to the situation.”

Cas couldn’t keep the disdain out of her voice. “This is unbelievable. I was only there because you asked me to be.”

After all the years she’d given this place—all the late nights and long hours and last-minute event plans that got dumped on her head—they weren’t willing to fight for her. To take responsibility for the situation that they put her in.

“I mean, ultimately, you did agree. And, I think, given the state of your relationship with Hot Summer and your public position at the minute, it would be best if we held off on installing you in your new role for a few months.”

Cas felt like an anvil had been dropped on her head. “What?”

“A large part of the position is the ability to make connections with these brands,” Robert said, and from his tone of voice, you might have thought he was talking to a child. “Someone smack in the middle of a public scandal like this isn’t going to be able to do that effectively, and we need to get this office off the ground. We’re going to set George in charge in the interim, but you should be okay to take over by the beginning of next year, as long as everything has passed.”

Cas really didn’t like how many conditionals there were in that sentence.

And to be replaced by George of all people? He was one of the least organized, most annoying people in events.

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