Page 26 of Rise

His right-hand man had been so helpful the last time. Then again, that situation had ended in near disaster.

The only thing they could do was hunker down and ride this one out.

“You’d better call Cat,” Kane said, and finally she heard amusement in his voice.

“Yippee.”

“Are you going to be there for her birthday?”

“Couldn’t miss it. Like, literally, can’t miss it without fear of losing a limb.”

Finally, she got him to laugh. “That’s right. We’ll see you there.”

“Can’t wait. Are you in the office today?”

“Yes, but I’ll be in and out.” So she wouldn’t be able to see him in person.

“I’ll see you on Sunday, then,” she said. “Love you.” Then she shouted, “LOVE YOU, ELLEN!” so Kane would get it right in the ear.

He yelped, and she heard Ellen laugh and reply, “Love you, too!”

Megan hung up. Phew. Crisis averted. All she had to do was not regret her decision.

♦

Chapter 7

Megan left the house later than usual and hoped that her early starts for the last few days would keep people from judging her for it. She wanted to get on with her life, that was all. Finish up in PR, move into manufacturing. Take the steps that had been laid out for her.

Two people with professional cameras called to her as she left her building, but she didn’t look at them. There was no story here.

However late she was, she had to stop at Roman’s. She was disconcerted, but she wasn’t dead. The baristas’ reaction to her joining the line inside the door, however, did not help. Sophia danced her fingers against each other and bounced on her toes a couple of times. And Grace said, “Yup, here she is,” which made the entire line turn around and stare at her.

“Thanks, ladies,” she said, aggrieved.

“You are welcome,” Sophia said seriously. Megan supposed she had a point, since Megan had met Alessandro here in the first place.

The crowd continued to stare at her, so she assumed they recognized her from those photos. At least her outfit would pass scrutiny. Today she wore wide-leg black pants and a houndstooth silk blouse under a long black padded coat. With less time to style her hair today, she’d opted for a loose side braid. She’d chosen her pointiest, shiniest black boots, feeling that she might need some kind of metaphorical weapon against the world. Especially as the coat didn’t have a hood, so there was nowhere for her to hide. As a final layer of armor, she was wearing three of her mother’s gold chain necklaces; their icy touch against her neck from the wind helped her stay calm.

“It’s not what you think!” she called over the heads of the crowd—or it felt like a crowd, with all those pairs of eyes looking at her.

“That’s what they all say,” Sophia replied with a sly grin just as Megan heard a phone camera click somewhere down low. She didn’t want to look down and see that the people in front of her were sneaking pictures of her. Hadn’t she just promised Kane she would stay out of the spotlight? That this would blow over? The more pictures taken, the more this would stay right where it was.

“I’m not interesting,” she tried again. “Nothing to see here!” She caught a glimpse of the phone a kid was holding by their waist, hoping to catch her on the screen. She put her hand out to block the shot, which was probably pointless, and widened her eyes imploringly at Sophia.

More phones began to rise up, making the photo op more obvious. “No photographing the customers,” Roman growled suddenly from the coffee machine. “Megan, come through.”

Megan gratefully stepped out of line and over to the counter that Grace had lifted for her yesterday—only yesterday? Her world had become unrecognizable since then. “Hey!” said the customer who’d begun photographing her. “She’s cutting the line!”

“Typical celebrities,” grumbled another.

“I’m not—” Megan began hotly but stopped herself. Shewascutting the line. In fact, Grace was nodding to the back hallway just as she had yesterday, and Megan was grateful for the respite from the other customers.

“I’ll bring you your coffee here,” Grace said. “And you can leave through the back door.” She waved to the end of the hallway, past Roman’s office where Alessandro had touched Megan’s knee with his.

“That okay?” Grace said.

“Hmm? Oh, yes. Thanks, Grace.” Megan slumped against the bare beige wall. Her heart was thumping, and her hands were tingling. Was she having a panic attack? No… she didn’t think so. She didn’t feel like she was dying. In fact, the fizzing in her extremities might even be described as… excitement?

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