Mr. Vice-President? Oh man. She sounded like a total moron.
Samuels chuckled. “Please, call me John. I’m really looking forward to hearing this idea of yours.”
“I hope you don’t mind that I asked John to sit in,” Kathy spoke up. “I felt he needed to be included, especially since part of this pitch relates to advertisements.”
As the two executives sat, Lynn went to the head of the table and pulled up the first slide.
Forty minutes later, she knew she’d hit the presentation right out of the park. Kathy and John rose from their seats with enthusiasm on their faces, walked over and vigorously shook her hand, thanking her for her hard work. Kathy even winked before she slid out the door.
Lynn was just leaving the conference room when her cell phone vibrated in the front pocket of her laptop case. Reaching in, she pulled out the phone and smiled when she saw the message on the screen.
How did it go??
Happiness danced through her as she headed down the hall, texting Parker back as she walked.
So good! I think I have a real shot. She added four exclamation marks and three smiley faces to finish off the message.
His response came as she entered her cubicle.
That’s awesome.
Two seconds passed, and then another message came through.
What are you wearing?
Lynn burst out laughing as she flopped into her desk chair. The loud sound caught the attention of the woman who’d been walking by her cube, and when Lynn looked up and saw it was Dana Hastings, her amusement promptly faded.
“What’s the punchline?” Dana asked coolly.
“Huh?”
The blonde gestured to the phone. “I assume you were told a funny joke?”
“Ah. Oh. No, it was…nothing important.”
Dana’s stilettos clicked on the linoleum floor as she took several steps forward. Then, to Lynn’s surprise, she backpedaled and stepped into the cubicle.
Lynn frowned. “Do you need something?”
The other woman hesitated, and some of the ice hardening her expression thawed. Lynn glimpsed a flash of unhappiness in Dana’s eyes, along with a glint of defensiveness she couldn’t make sense of.
“I slept with Phil.”
Lynn’s eyebrows shot up. The confession itself hadn’t surprised her—she had already come to the solid conclusion that Phil was a louse—but the fact Dana was admitting to it absolutely floored her.
“Oh. I see.” She was proud of how casual she sounded.
Dana’s lips puckered, then she narrowed her eyes. “You knew.”
Lynn shrugged.
Silence fell between them. Dana continued to watch her with an unreadable expression, and when the woman still didn’t speak, Lynn pushed past her discomfort and said, “Are you here to apologize? Because don’t bother. I ended it with Phil last week, so he’s all yours.”
“I’m pretty sure he’s everybody’s,” Dana muttered.
Despite herself, Lynn had to laugh. “You found out about Sylvia and Alana, huh?”
Dana blinked. “What? No, I was talking about Vanessa, the new intern in the features department. I heard her bragging to Yvette that she and Phil went out for drinks this weekend.”
“He gets around,” Lynn said with another shrug. It really was sad how little it hurt.
There was another beat of silence. Then Dana started to laugh.
Lynn couldn’t stop the rush of amazement that washed over her. This was the first time she’d ever heard Dana Hastings laugh.
“He’s a real ass, huh?” the other woman said.
“Yep.”
Crap. Were they having a moment? Oh God. Was this how it was going to be from now on, all of Phil’s scorned women becoming buds?
But nope, because whatever moment they’d been having didn’t last long. In no time at all, Dana’s icy expression had returned. “Anyway, I thought you should know.”
It took a second before the truth dawned on Lynn, and she couldn’t help but laugh again. “You weren’t looking out for me by telling me about you and Phil. You wanted me to dump him and indirectly get revenge on him for Vanessa.”
“No, that’s not…” Dana’s nose wrinkled, and she frowned. “Oh. Oh, you’re right.”
Whoa. Not the reaction Lynn expected. She pulled her jaw off the floor as Dana paced back and forth in the open three feet of space, her face twisting between confusion and anger.
What exactly was the right response to that confession?
Lynn hesitated. Her old self would have silently let it go. Not made a fuss, not even approached anything with the possibility of conflict. After spending even a short time with Parker, though, she felt something more needed to be done. Take a bigger risk. “He’s not worth getting tied in knots over, Dana.”
Dana jerked to a stop, arms folded across her chest. “We can’t just let him get away with it.”
“Continuing to think about him isn’t how I want to waste my time. I’ve had enough, and I’m moving on. Why don’t you do the same?”