Page 4 of The Love Haters

“But I want you to stay. Because if she fires all the talented people, that makes my life harder. And I don’t need my life to be any harder.”

“You think I’m one of the talented people?”

“I do.” Cole shrugged.

This was news to me. “Since when?”

“Since the other night. When you told me about your dreams.”

Oh, god. Had I done that?

I thought back. We’d had a company dinner. I might have had a little too much to drink. Cole and I were the last two people in therideshare heading home, and okay, to be honest… I might have gotten a little weepy about my long list of recent disappointments. And—ugh, yes—possibly overshared a few things.

Dammit, Katie!I scolded.Don’t tell people about your dreams!

“Sorry about that,” I said, wincing.

“It was strangely endearing,” Cole said. “I normally don’t notice junior employees too much. How long have you been here? Six months?”

I wasn’tthatjunior. “Twelve.”

He nodded. “The tears got my attention. You also told me about getting jilted—and I’ve been jilted myself.”

Was he sharing? Did he want me to commiserate? Were we about to bond?

But then he went on. “You just seemed so… what’s a nicer word forpathetic?”

“Pitiable?” I offered.

“Exactly. Pitiable. Do you remember when you blew your nose straight into your blouse like a Kleenex?”

I did now.

“You also told me about the videos you’ve done for your ‘Day in the Life’ project,” Cole went on. “And I went home and watched one. And it was surprisingly good.”

This conversation was like a Ping-Pong game. “It was?”

“Your cinematography is strong. Your camera angles are unexpected. And you get fantastic emotion out of your interviewees.”

Thatwasa specialty of mine, for better or worse: making people cry.

I didn’t realize how good that encouragement would feel until it was happening. Cole might be overly confident, and a smidge narcissistic, and not exactly my favorite person in the office. But he was good at his job.

And when a person who’s good at something says that you are also good at that same thing… it’s nice. No matter how much trouble Cole Hutcheson was about to cause me, I have to admit that him flat-out acknowledging my professional strengths like that was inspiring.

Because I really had been jilted.

And I really did love my work.

And I really did not want to get fired.

“That’s why you’re helping me?” I asked.

Cole counted off on his fingers. “I’m helping you because: One, now I’ve seen your stuff, and it’s good. Two, if you get fired, that makes my life harder. And three: this job fits your topic.”

My topic.

Oh, god. Had I told him about that, too?

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