Page 101 of Accidentally Amy

“Damn it,” I groaned, my head aching as I flopped back onto my pillow.

I lay there for a while, feeling Big Sad about being jobless, but after a half hour, I decided to get up and eat. I was mildly hungover, and the only cure was going to be cold pizza. I climbed out of bed and shuffled toward the kitchen.

Man, did I feel like shit.

I grabbed a slice and a Red Bull from the fridge, then took them over to my desk. After waking the laptop that I always forgot to turn off, I plopped onto the chair and logged in to—ugh—LinkedIn.

Because as much as I’d like to spend the day loafing, the tiny balance in my savings account was pushing me to start job hunting immediately.

I clicked on the search window and typed H-R-Gen before noticing the little inbox flag on the side of the screen:25 New Messages.I knew they were all spam, but clicked into the messages anyway.

The first one was sent at eight that morning, from someone named Ashley Lea at MOA. I was familiar with the huge insurance company, but no one named Ashley.

Hi, Isabella. We currently have an opening for an HR Generalist, and a little birdie told me that you might be looking. If you’re interested, please call me—I’d love to chat.

I took a bite of pizza and read the message again. It looked like a legit message, but that was just a little too good to be true, wasn’t it?

I moved down to the next message, which was also sent earlier that morning.

My name is Emily Fitzgerald, and I’m with Price-Harper Corporation. We’re looking for a Senior HR Generalist, and your name was mentioned with a glowing recommendation. Would you be interested in discussing?

I dropped the cold slice onto the table and leaned closer to my laptop screen. What the hell?

I started clicking through the rest of the messages, and they were ALL employers reaching out tomeabout jobs. I couldn’t believe it. Pam must’ve made some calls on my behalf—it was the only explanation. The woman was thesweetestand had felt horrible when she’d let me go, so thathadto be it.

I grabbed the heavy old rotary phone that sat on my desk, a throwback relic that my grandparents kept connected to a landline becauseyou never knew.As long as I’d lived there, I’d never used the old phone. Not even once.

Now, however, I was grateful as hell for its existence.

I lifted the phone to my ear and dialed the first number. It was a direct line to Ashley, the VP of HR at MOA, and when the woman answered, she behaved as if she’d been dying for me to call. She said she wasthrilledto hear from me and would love to chat in person.

Two hours later, I had six very promising interviews scheduled. I couldn’t believe my good fortune; like, what were the odds?How is this even happening?

But when I was on the phone with the seventh person, a MaryCartwright at Citibank who was going to rearrange her entire schedule in order to fit me in, it all started making sense. Mary slipped and mentioned Blake’s name—“when Blake called”—and I made the woman slow down and tell me everything.

And that was the moment I knew.

Chapter Thirty-Four

Blake

I pulled up in front of Izzy’s building, shut off the car, and texted,I have pizza, McDonald’s, flowers, a six-pack, a gallon of chocolate ice cream, a bottle of wine, and a thousand apologies. If you’ll let me come in, I’ll give you all of it.

She hadn’t responded to me since the night before, when I admitted I’d told Brad about us. And honestly—I couldn’t blame her for being pissed. I should’ve asked her permission before going to the top with our relationship, but I’d been so fucking desperate to somehow have both Izzy and my integrity that I’d been impulsive.

And I was never impulsive.

Although, to be fair, I felt wildly desperate and maniacally impulsive at the moment as I sat there in a car full of bribes and a gnawing in my gut that worsened every time my brain said,It’s too late—you’ve already lost her.

Lost her.As if I’d ever had her. I’d had a perfect weekend with her, but that was all.

I looked at her apartment window and didn’t even know if she was home. Her car was still at my shop, but she was also incredibly adept at finding alternate modes of transportation and weird ways to get herself where she needed to be.

Ilovedthat about her.Shit.I just liked her so fucking much.

When Skye lied to me, I’d been pissed and disappointed and felt like an idiot.

But somehow today, the possibility that I might’ve lost the girl I’d only been friends with until a few days ago felt far more devastating than a lost fiancée.

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