“Okay.” He made a note.
Her shoulders dropped as the tension released. She’d stood up for herself and nothing had combusted. He wasn’t angry, which was a huge relief. The oddest part was that she didn’t feel as guilty as she usually did. Nico acted as though refusing was entirely reasonable and the end of the discussion, rather than an opportunity to keep asking until she gave in.
He went through a few more points, then put away his tablet. “Can you be ready to go in three days? That’s July first and the family goes for the Canada Day weekend.”
It would be tight but she hastened to agree. “Sure. What should I pack?”
“I’ll send you a list.”
Of course he would. That made her laugh and Nico cracked a smile. It was small, but it was there.
It was shaping up to be an interesting summer. As long as both of them didn’t end up dead in the forest.
Seven
When Valerie was younger, her favorite rides were roller coasters. She loved the way the wind felt like a living thing in her face and snatched her breath away when she opened her mouth. Her stomach would swoop down before catching up with the rest of her body as the cars sped around loops, careened down hills, and rattled over curves. But then she grew up and found that emotional roller coasters were way less fun than physical ones, although they generated the same need to scream.
Take today. The high of Roger’s money landing in her impoverished bank account was immediately followed by the low of seeing it fly out to pay off her bank loan. The rock bottom of clearing out the Ad Astra office had alternated with the flat relief of doing it by herself. Alexis might still be on the payroll but the job had been depressing enough without her commentary.
Then there was Ad Astra itself. With her departure looming, it was time to make a choice about its future. Too bad every time she tried to think about it, it was like being sent around a dizzying loop-de-loop.Shut down or keep going? Keep going or shut down?The words cycled on repeat like the world’s most stressful earworm but did nothing to help her reach a conclusion. She hated the thought of giving up her dream, but the empty calendar provided such a harsh reality check that she worried not even Roger’s social, and possibly financial, capital could reverse.
Once home, she dashed off a distress text to Ruth, who had sent her an encouraging note after the Badgerton debacle.
Can I have my old job back?
The phone rang a moment later. “Did you forget Rule Two?”
Rule 1 wasThe customer is not always right, but you’d better make them feel like they are. Rule 2 wasNo sudden decisions.
Valerie stared into the baroque-style mirror over her couch. How much did she really look like Yvette? “Rule Two should be scalable.”
Ruth’s sigh gusted through the line. “I have exactly three minutes to spare because I’m currently knee-deep in a ballroom of oversized origami goldfish, but I’m going to tell you a story.”
“What’s the origami for?”
“Bella Tanners thought regular balloons were clichéd, so I had them made out of huge sheets of origami paper. Those were boring, so we settled on goldfish that took a week to fold. Forget the fish. When I started doing weddings, I made mistakes. Everyone does. For the most part, no one can tell because you’re one of the few people with the run sheet.”
“That’s not what happened to me,” Valerie said morosely.
“I was going to say, if you’re unlucky, something happens that you can’t control and it’s noticeable. On my third wedding, the groom didn’t show.”
“Ouch. That’s not your fault, though.”
“It was. He’d told me the day before he wasn’t coming, but I didn’t take him seriously. If I had, the two could have talked. I might have prevented a huge scandal.”
“You couldn’t have done anything,” Valerie argued. “Not like me. IknewAlexis couldn’t handle things by herself. I should have planned backup in case I was hit by a car or fell down a sewer.”
“No, Valerie.” Another woman might have made her voice soft and sympathetic but Ruth spoke firmly. “You’re focusing on the wrong thing. You should ask yourself why you let it get to the point of needing a work-around instead of dealing with your employee when you noticed the issue. If I remember correctly, you didn’t want to hire her in the first place.”
“I didn’t,” Valerie admitted.
“That’s what you need to consider before you make any rash choices. Why you prioritized her feelings over your own and Ad Astra’s success.”
Ruth was right. This was her fault, although not in the way she’d thought, but in a worse way that exposed a fundamental weakness in herself. Brilliant.
“I don’t know if I should shut the company down.”
“Given what that Badgerton-Willis woman has been saying, I can see why. Eight clients have sent me the rather scathing review she’s provided of your services.”
