Page 52 of We Met Like This
“Margot, wait!”
I didn’t wait. I didn’t stop. I went back inside and sat down at the table again, my breath coming in short angry bursts.
Oliver seemed… cold? His eyes were shadowed, closed off. “Are you sleeping with your boss?”
CHAPTER 16
I squeezed through a group of people standing near the entrance of the bar, either coming or going—whichever the case, loud and in the way. I reached a high-top table where Sloane, Becky, Laurel, and Cheryl (our brunch group) were already standing. A round of shots were in front of everyone but Cheryl.
“Ahhh!” Becky screamed when she saw me. “She’s here! Congratulations on finally asking for a promotion!”
“Yes, it’s the first step,” Laurel agreed. “He’ll come around. He knows how much you do.”
“I quit,” I said. “In a very loud, official manner.” As loud and official as standing next to a dumpster could be.
Sloane slid her shot in front of me, her eyes asking me questions that didn’t make it to her mouth.
I threw back the shot and sucked in some air as it burned a path down my throat. The others followed suit.
“I’ll get started on another round,” Sloane said, heading toward the bar.
“Oh, Cheryl, congrats on the pregnancy,” I said. Cherylhad met her husband at this very bar four years earlier. He’d dumped the handful of drinks he was taking back to his table all over her. He apologized for ten minutes, then offered to literally give her the shirt off his back. She accepted. He took it off right there and she changed into it in the bathroom. He stood around shirtless, talking to her until the bouncer kicked him out for not being properly clothed. But not before he got Cheryl’s phone number.Thatwas a solid meet-cute, an adorable story that could be told for the rest of their lives.
“Thank you,” she said to me now, rubbing her flat stomach. “You all have a built-in designated driver for the next seven months.”
“That is good news,” Becky said.
Sloane came back, carrying four more shots, which she expertly placed on the table. She held one in the air. “To the future.”
I lifted one as well. “If the universe won’t provide, we’ll do it ourselves.” As much as I didn’t want it to be true—in fact, for the last six hours I’d been trying to convince myself it wasn’t true—I knew that the only way to keep my dream alive right now was to start my own agency. With no backup, no name recognition, not enough money, no potential clients.
“For real?” Sloane asked. She must’ve known what I was implying with that declaration.
“It’s my only option at this point,” I said. I’d cut all ties with Rob and, by so doing, probably with the rest of my Los Angeles agency connections. I definitely couldn’t survive alone in New York. I needed to stay here, where I was surrounded by family and friends. This was the only way.
Sloane downed her drink and I did the same. “That’s cause to celebrate.”
I wasn’t sure if it was, but I could pretend, at least fortonight, before reality set in. “How didyourmeeting go?” I asked.
“I’m not going to yum your yuck,” she said.
“You got the saying backward,” I said.
“In this case, I did not.”
“I’m happy for you,” I said.
She pointed to the bar and left again.
Three more shots and a plate of boneless wings later, I started to think my own agency was not just some far-fetched dream but the best idea ever. I was listing all the pros to Sloane while the others were trying to choose which songs they wanted to sing for karaoke. It was an important decision that they didn’t take lightly.
I counted the benefits off on my fingers. “I don’t have to share any of my commission. I don’t have to answer to anyone. I can rep whatever books I want to rep.”
“If you want to rep a romantic thriller with a horror ending, you can,” Sloane said, slapping her hand on the table to emphasize her point.
“Exactly,” I said.
“Did Oliver… this dec… today? If s… tell… amazing.”
