Page 90 of Rich and Bossy

“I’m good.” I nod again.

“Terrific. Because we have to meet up with the workers in about an hour.” She checks the time on her phone, giving me another smile when she confirms it on her calendar.

I’m energized and terrified all at once.

The workers.

Way more difficult than the media. They will be the ones who ask the hardest questions of them all, because they have the most to gain or lose.

She must see my deer-in-headlights expression for what it is. “Don’t worry about it. We prepared for this too. You know everything to do. We drilled it, over and over.”

I know what my issue is right now. It wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for him. This would all be a walk in the park for me.

I know he’s seen everything by now. I wish there was a way I could reach out and... what? Apologize? I wouldn’t apologize. Who am I kidding? Just… I don’t know why it still doesn’t feel right. This is all right. I’m sure it’s making his life difficult, but he let things slide into this state of affairs. Not me.

Maybe it was always going to happen this way. Maybe the system and the universe demanded it would end up like this. It’s not like he could stop trying to make more money, and his company had expanded to capacity here. The profits have to start coming from somewhere, and it’s usually out of workers’ pockets when the company gets that big.

I breathe in a huge breath.

I do my best to forget about Paxton and whether he’ll be worth thirty or twenty-five billion at the end of the week.

This is for my fellow workers. It doesn’t have to be personal with Paxton. It’s not personal what he’s doing to us, his workers, obviously. He sees it as doing business, so why shouldn’t we? Fair is fair.

But it is personal for me and my friends at the warehouse, what happens between us all. When I remember that, it’s easier to get my head back in the game. “Am I using the talking points we came up with?”

“Yes. You want to run through them again?” She puts her phone aside in favor of giving me her full attention, and now I’m the shy kid standing in front of the class. Man, if anybody I went to school with back in the day saw me now, they’d never believe it. I went through a period of time when the very concept of getting up in front of the room gave me hives. Like a legit allergic reaction.

But that was then. This isn’t a book report on some thousand-page Russian masterpiece of literature. Of all the materials and talking points Campbell and her team prepared, this particular meeting is closest to my heart. The first meeting with the workers. I’m sure there will be people who won’t agree. That want me to shut my mouth and stop all this madness. I’m hoping those people will be few.

By the time I’m finished talking to the lawyers on how best to explain the legal process—how Campbell will jump in if there’s anything I’m not sure about—it’s clear my homework has paid off. She gives me a thumbs up. “You’re ready. You’re a natural at this.”

“Let’s hope everybody else buys into it the way you have.”

“They will.” She smiles. “I know they will.”

There’s a knock at the door and my face goes pale, thinking it might be more media.

“Room service; food and coffee. Easy to forget to eat when you’re in the trenches.”

“Right. Yeah.” I nod along, knowing I haven’t eaten anything this morning, now that I think of it.

I’m not hungry at all.

And even now, after my first interview went so well and I know Campbell thinks I’m doing fantastic, I have to force down a few bites of a bagel. I only do it so she won’t yell at me for not eating.

Also, passing out in front of everyone at the warehouse wouldn’t be a terrific look. So there’s that too.

You should’ve told him.

Seriously, brain? We’re still on this?

I think that’s what is going to upset him the most. Not what I’m doing, but that I went on that date knowing what I was about to do. It does feel wrong. He’s the one who forced a date with me though. He came to my house. We all saw it. I didn’t ask him to do that.

Yeah, but you agreed to go.

Because he looked hot in my driveway and smiled at me!

Ugh! I want him out of my brain. He will not go. He refuses.

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