Page 29 of Fluke
“You ordered an extra shot,” Jenny says as she walks away.
“If only ordering an ex-husband was that easy,” I say, sighing. “I don’t know what I’m going to do, Kerissa. My promotion basically hinges on this. Bridgit wants me to try the retreat—experience it—before we go balls-to-the-wall implementing a whole department around the concept. That makes sense, butI can’t go. I understand the assignment, I just can’t complete it.”
Kerissa breathes in and out, motioning for me to follow along.
But I don’t. I don’t have time for that.
“I can’t lose this job. I love it,” I say. “To be the director of this whole division? That’s huge.”
And it’ll be a real—in your face—to my parents.
“But I also have mounting guilt about lying in the first place, and my conscience is nagging at me that this will come back and bite me in the ass because that’s what happens to liars.”
If Kerissa gets quiet, a problem exists.
And Kerissa is silent.
A ping-pong ball volleys in my brain. The ball slams into one side of my head and then the otherrepeatedly.
I don’t know what to do. I have no clue how to effectively extricate myself from this situation and keep my new job. And not give Chuck the Schmuck an opportunity to steal it out from under me.
I almost hate that I was chosen. It’s a big-level setup for disappointment, and if this falls through,Iwill be at fault. There will be no one to blame but myself.
Thank God I got the extra shot. I take another long drink and feel the heat of the tequila pool in my stomach.
“Here are chips and salsa,” Jenny says, sliding the containers onto our table. “I’ll be back. I haven’t forgotten you.”
I press my forehead with my fingertips in a futile attempt at relieving the pressure in my skull.
“Tell me about your day. Give me the gossip from the mayor’s office,” I say to Kerissa. “Distract me from my woes.”
She scoops salsa onto a chip. “Well, Mayor Chamberlain campaigned and got elected with a promise to bring more businesses into Kismet Beach. Jovie Rey from the tourism board—do you know her?”
“I knowof her.”
“She’s been helping us try to recruit potential employers to the area and found this super cute boutique that’s opening shops along the East Coast. Halcyon. Have you heard of that?”
“Yeah,” I say, nodding. “I’ve bought a couple of their things from ads online. It’s an upscale Always Thirty-One, if you know what I mean. For those of us who can’t quite wear teenager clothes anymore.”
She snorts. “Yes.That. Well, Jovie and I have been collaborating on ways to lure them down here. I had lunch with her this afternoon, and we plotted. It was fun.”
“I’m glad someone had fun today,” I say, downing half the drink.
“That’s a smooth transition into the gossip part of my day.” Her eyes twinkle. “The mayor had a lot offun at worktoday too.”
I furrow my brow. It takes me a second to sort through the rising fog in my brain to read between the lines. My jaw drops. “With whom?”
The sparkle in her eyes gets brighter.
I’m not sure if the tequila is hitting me especially hard and fast, or if I’m just reading too much into things. But Kerissa does love a good splash and screwing her boss would certainly be one way to do that.
No pun intended.
“Let’s just say for legal purposes, I’m being transferred next week to the tourism board,” she says. “Since I’m doing such anamazing joband all.”
“An amazing job doing what, exactly?”
She smirks.
