Page 15 of Scripted for Love and Poison
“That, basically.” Sol hadn’t realized the extent of her doubts until she heard her friend’s words. “And I want you to know the only reason I don’t have a professional therapist analyzing every single aspect of my disastrous life is because I have you doing an amazing job for free.”
Lola gave her the judgy eye. “You don’t have a disastrous life. Quite the contrary, I’d say. I’ve seen pictures of Luke, remember?”
“He is awfully handsome,” Sol admitted.
“He also seems to know how to make you happy, which is something David certainly forgot how to manage by the end of your marriage.”
“And the middle of it. So you still think I should propose?”
Lola shrugged, as if contemplating the options. “Think about it. There’s no rush.”
“It’s not like I haven’t made any commitments already with him. I got a fucking IUD inserted,” Sol said.
“Those can be painful!”
“But what if he doesn’t want the new commitment that moving in together implies? I’m no longer sure we want the same things ...”
“Then he’ll probably let you know,” argued Lola, and it sounded reasonable. “Why don’t you see how things go, and tell him something by the end of this trip. Traveling withsomeone is a great opportunity to learn new things about them.”
“I think Luke is hating this trip,” Sol said.
Lola arched her eyebrows in an almost offended stare. “He doesn’t like LA?”
“I don’t think he does,” Sol realized. “In his defense, I haven’t made a proper effort to show him the city. And we both know Los Angeles can be hard to know for a European. He’s one of those people who likes walking everywhere, so…”
“He’ll get nowhere that way.”
“Plus, the awards ceremony yesterday wasn’t necessarily a fun activity with Travis getting poisoned.”
“Poor Travis. I like him. When my last TV show opened, his was the nicer review. He really understood what we were going for. Which can’t be said about the rest of your profession,” Lola dissed, pointing in Sol’s direction.
“Ouch.” Sol feigned offense with a hand over her sternum.
“Which is why I don’t understand why they’re firing him.”
“What?”
“Haven’t you heard?” Lola said. “Performance Weeklyfired him. This is his last week at the job.”
“You mean there were layoffs, and they let him go?” said Sol. “He’d been there forever, so he was probably making more than most of the other staff.”
“No, no. The way the story has been told to me, he wasn’t laid off but fired,” Lola said, happy to share some gossip with Sol.
“But Claudia told me he wasretiring!”
“Who’s Claudia again?”
“My former editor atPerformance Weeklyand Travis’s boss,” explained Sol.
“So another journalist?”
“Yes.”
“Sol, guapa, you’re my favorite journalist. But you’re aware your sector has a way of saying things that aren’t completely accurate when it suits a narrative, right?”
“What do you mean?”
“That perhaps Claudia told you Travis was retiring because she didn’t want to tell you why they’d fired him.”
