Page 125 of We Met Like This
“I came here to talk.”
I sighed, bracing myself on the back of the love seat. “I’m not in the mood, Audrey. I just took a job as an assistant to an assistant, so you can gloat and leave now.”
“You took a job? I thought you were starting your own agency.”
“Didn’t you assume I’d fail at that?” I said.
“Maggie, you’re not being fair.”
“You made a fruit tray, Audrey. You didn’t even give mea chance to follow through. You didn’t even trust me with fruit.” Maybe it wasn’t the right example, since I did not, in fact, follow through with the fruit. But that was beside the point. The point was that she didn’t believe in me, not even with the most minuscule things, like a stupid fruit tray.
“I trust you,” she insisted. “Don’t give up. Don’t take an assistant job.”
“Wasn’t it you who said I live in a dream world? Encouraged me to go to Santa Barbara instead of UCLA, told me to give up screenwriting. Said it was impractical? I’m just being realistic, Audrey.”
“I was trying to help,” she said.
“Were you?”
She blew a breath out her nose. “Fine. Whatever. Do what you want.”
“Thank you. I will.”
She grunted and crossed her arms. “And Oliver?”
His name made me flinch, then settled in the pit of my stomach and seemed to harden there into a painful knot. “What about him?”
“It’s just, my viewers have researched me. Found pictures I posted online years ago. They know I’ve dated him. How will that look if they find out you’re dating him now? It will be weird.”
“I don’t care about your viewers.”
“It’s my life, Maggie. My livelihood. I care.”
I sighed. “I already told you I’m not dating him anymore. So you can stop worrying. There is no evidence of our time together anywhere on the internet.” That thought made me sad. Made it seem like it had all been something I’d conjured up in my imagination. I stepped out of my heels and used myfoot to slide them next to the couch. “Wait, is that why you came here? To make sure I wasn’t dating him?”
“I came here to try to make things right.”
“Okay, well, things don’t always happen just because you want them to. I need some time.”
“I don’t understand why you’re so mad at me,” she said.
“I think that’s the main problem,” I returned.
She stood. “Maggie, you don’t have to get a job. I’ll let you borrow some money. Help you develop a plan for your business.”
“Absolutely not.”
“But you were going to let Mom loan you money?”
“Mom wouldn’t hold it over my head. Tell me exactly how I need to spend it.”
“I run a successful business.”
“You know nothing about publishing and yet you still think you would do a better job than me. You don’t believe in me. Only in yourself. That’s why I’m mad, Audrey. That.”
“Idon’t believe in me,” I said.
“What?” Sloane asked.
