We engage in a bit of a staring war, and it’s completely awkward and uncomfortable. It’s hard to do battle with the great Midge Payne. Just as I feel my resolve weakening and I’m ready to let my gaze drop, Midge leans back in her chair and crosses one elegant leg over the other. “You’re making a bad decision, Emma.”
“I don’t think so,” I rebuff her, not willing to let her get in my head.
But she’s undaunted. “Evan’s the best thing that ever happened to you—”
“—he was with another woman,” I can’t help but blurt out.
“—and you’re going to let him get away if you don’t wise the fuck up,” she continues, unperturbed. “You know damn well he didn’t do anything to betray you.”
“He was with another—”
“Emma,” Midge snaps at me, and I jerk with surprise over the venom in her voice. “I know damn well he wrote you an email that explained what happened. Tyler set him up. Got him drunk, possibly drugged him, and he arranged for that woman to be in his bed. He didn’t do a damn thing with her other than share a bed in a passed-out condition. Even his friends verified that all he did was talk about you all night. He had no intention of cheating on you, and perhaps the only thing he’s guilty of is trusting in the wrong person. So yeah… I know he wrote you that email, and more importantly, I know damn well you read it. In fact, I bet you couldn’t help yourself. And I want to know why you’re being so damn stubborn about this.”
I grit my teeth because I hate everything she just said.
I hate it because yes, I read his email, and perhaps Evan was telling me the truth that nothing occurred and he had nothing to do with that woman. But it’s all coming from Evan, a man who I found in a very compromising position.
I don’t know what to believe.
I know I want to believe him, but I would do so wondering at the same time how much of a fool I’d be if I did. Worse yet, if what he wrote in that email is true, then I’m a complete and utter bitch for not reacting to his email. I’m heartless for not reaching out to him to talk about it. He sent me that email five days ago and it’s gone unanswered, my cold silence making it clear there’s nothing left to say.
“It doesn’t matter,” I say softly, letting my gaze drop down to my hands where they rest tightly clasped against my dull, boring brown skirt of creped polyester. “I’m not cut out for that life anyway.”
“You know he fired Tyler,” Midge says offhandedly.
I nod without looking up. “He told me that in the email.”
“He’s going to take the deal with Phoenix,” she goes on to say. “Without an active manager and without someone to help him handle an indie career, he thinks it’s best to go ahead and go with a label.”
At that, my head shoots up. “It’s not what he really wants though.”
“I see you do know my nephew,” she says with a smile. “But regardless, he doesn’t feel he has any other options. I’m looking over the contract now, and we’ll ask for a few changes, but it’s pretty much a done deal. They’re pushing for a three-album deal.”
She’s baiting me, but I don’t rise to it. It’s not my problem what Evan decides to do with his career, and it’s certainly none of my concern.
“Are you going to get me that job at Crowley and Padrick?” I ask with resolve.
“Maybe,” she says evasively, then reaches over to the phone on her desk. She picks up the receiver, hits one button, and says, “Cary… darling… can you come into my office? Your wayward daughter is sitting in here and perhaps you can talk some sense into her.”
Now that’s low.
I start to stand up from the chair, completely intent on walking out of her office. She just points a finger at said chair and says, “Sit.”
My butt drops faster than Sirius’ ever has in our training sessions.
Midge even says, “Good girl.”
I fume as I glare at her, but, within less than thirty seconds, my father’s walking into her office.
“What’s up, babe?” he asks, and I have to suppress an eye roll at their easy and flirty banter in the face of these very important career decisions I’m trying to effectuate.
“Your daughter’s asked me to get her a job at a law firm in the western part of the state. She’s being pigheaded and stubborn, and I figured you should have a crack at her before I grant her wish.”
My head tilts and I look to my left as my dad takes a seat in the chair next to me. He angles his body my way and crosses one leg over the other. He looks healthy and fully functional, so I suppose it’s not going to hurt his heart too bad for me to leave him.
“What’s going on, Emma?” he asks in a very fatherly voice.
“I would like to make a career change,” I say succinctly. “I want to try mergers and acquisitions, and Crowley and Padrick is the best firm in the state for that. It’s a very good move for me professionally.”
Midge snorts. “She’s running because she knows she’s fucked things up with Evan, she knows she’s wrong, and she doesn’t have the guts to fix it.”