“That’s because she just scheduled it five minutes ago.”
I let out a groan, stepping out of my bathroom oasis. “I’m not ready to talk to her. I don’t have a plan.”
“Well, start thinking of one, because you have”—she looks at her watch—“four minutes.”
She puts a hand on my back and guides me toward my office.
Okay, Claire. You can figure this out. What would Simone do in this situation? She definitely wouldn’t be hiding in a bathroom, that’s for sure.
But nothing comes to me as I make my way to the office, and my phone rings as soon as I take a seat at my desk. So I’m just going to have to wing it.
I take a deep, cleansing breath and then press the speakerphone. “This is Claire,” I say.
“Hi, Claire.” The soft, lilting tones of Bailey Lockhart fill the room.
“Ms. Lockhart,” I respond, glancing quickly at Tessa, who’s sitting across from me, ready to take notes.
“Thank you for making time for me,” she begins. “I’m not the kind of person to expect people to drop things for me, but I’m . . . kind of panicking.”
You andme both, sister.
“I’m here to help,” I reassure her, even though I’m not much help at the moment. “I’m guessing you’ve heard the podcast?”
“Yes, I listened to half of it before making the appointment with you.”
And I was tucked in a bathroom swiping on men to self-soothe. Wow.
“What are your thoughts?” I ask.
“I don’t know,” she says. “This feels like it’s all gotten out of hand. I never wanted any of this to happen.”
“I’m sure. But we probably need to respond to this somehow,” I say, trying to ease her into doing something. Anything.
“Well, my manager is telling me to just wait it out.”
“Is that what you want to do?” I ask, holding in the irritation I feel toward her manager. I need to get her on the phone and tell her to stop with this do-nothing nonsense.
She sighs. “I don’t know. What do you think I should do?”
“You can definitely do nothing,” I say. “I would advise against that, though. The group unfollowing is still fresh, and being silent right now could read more like guilt.”
“I had nothing to do with that.”
“I know,” I say. She’d explained what happened in a text after it all came out online.
She lets out a breath. “So, what do you think I should do about the podcast?”
“It might be good if you did something that would take attention away from all this,” I tell her. “Something not related to River and the blind item.”
“What would that be?”
“Can I put you on hold for just a minute?” I ask. I need to gather my thoughts without her listening.
“Sure,” she says.
“What are you thinking?” Tessa asks once I’ve pressed the hold button.
“I honestly don’t know.”
