Page 109 of Movers and Shakers

“I . . .‍” But my phone rang again.

“Go,” he said. “Go so I can fuckingthinkfor a minute.”

His words hurt, but I knew I had no basis to argue. I stuffed the wig in my bag, slowly nodded, and brushed past him.

And I let him go.

As I descended the stairs, I knew I’d messed this up in a way I’d never be able to fix.

I went through the hordes of people, trying to ignore the stinging in my eyes. I met Juno out on the sidewalk.

“Why are you here?” she asked suspiciously.

“We need to get back to the Airbnb.”

“What did you do?”

“I want to go home,” I snapped. “Then you can be mad at me there.”

Just like everyone else was.

She did what I asked. She waited until we pulled into the driveway before she started. “You told him, didn’t you?”

“Yes.”

There was a long sigh. “This is bad. Really bad.”

“I couldn’t do it anymore.”

“Well, good for you.”

I turned to her. “This wasmysecret, Juno. I can do what I want with it. And don’t worry, I won’t fire you over calling Mom.”

“I do care aboutyou,you know. Not just the consequences of what your mom could have done.”

“Sure, but maybe I need someone to support my choices, not be one of the millions of people begging me to do what they want.”

She was silent for a long time and I readied myself to hear all the reasons why she was right and I wasn’t.

I didn’t expect her to agree with me.

“Okay, yeah. I should have been better about supporting you, not telling you what to do.”

I glanced over at her, eyes wide. “Don’t you have more to tell me, though?”

“About what?”

“About how I’m wrong?”

“All of this is a little wrong. It’s not a black-and-white situation, especially when so much rides on this. The one thing that is one hundred percent true is that itisyour secret. Not mine.”

I’d said that in anger and I was ready for it to be torn apart. Nothing was ever truly mine.

Until now.

“What did Barry say?”

“He was pissed, as he should be.”

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