Page 528 of Manhattan Bossholes

“I love their vodka penne,” Kathleen exclaimed. “And garlic bread! Perfect.”

Sharing a delicious lunch with them was indeed perfect, if I let myself forget for a minute about all of the ancillary bullshit in my life.

“As I was saying.” Bernie gestured to me with a piece of garlic bread. “We’re aware that your working conditions might be…challenging, given what happened with James.” She cleared her throat. “But you need to know that you have a home at Branson for as long as you like. James might run the show, but I’m the ultimate authority, whether he wants to admit it or not. And I want you to stay with us.”

I smiled. It was no secret that Bernie pulled strings whenever she could.

“Branson needs you,” she continued. “Your vision, your passion, and your drive.”

“You’re special, Natalie,” Kathleen added. “Christopher can’t stop raving about you. But it’s more than your talent. We appreciate you, as a person. You’re kind, and based on the way you helped Christopher, you have incredible empathy.”

My eyes filled with tears again. This type of pep talk was completely foreign to me. What I wouldn’t have done to hear these sorts of things when I was younger!

“Don’t cry, sweetheart,” Bernie said in a soft voice. “Everything will be okay. It might not feel that way now, but you’re going to pull through stronger than ever.”

I sniffled and rubbed my eyes, not caring that I was smearing my makeup. These two women clearly got me; there was no need for me to worry about appearances with them.

“I’m not sure what’s next for me, to be honest,” I said once I felt more even-keeled. “But I appreciate your kindness today. I hope you know how much I love Branson Design.” The knot in my throat cut off my words. “Thank you,” I finally said.

Bernie and Kathleen exchanged a glance, and Kathleen leaned over to clasp my arm.

“Once we finish our food we’ll dive into the archives,” Bernie said. “Where would you like to begin?”

And with that we shifted to topics that didn’t make me want to cry. My future was a mystery, but in this moment, flanked by two women who seemed to really care about me, I allowed myself to feel safe.

26

JAMES

“Baby, what’s wrong?”

I couldn’t tell Heidi that absolutely everything was wrong with what we were doing together. We were in the VIP section of a packed nightclub at midnight, celebrating the product launch of some random twentysomething influencer named Brayleigh because Heidi thought being connected with the up-and-comer would look good on her social media accounts. She’d dragged me along because I was now her miserable plus-one.

The only piece of luck working for me was that Chazz wasn’t there. The model from our launch had come to me in tears days ago, apologizing left and right for being the one who had snuck Heidi in. She swore that she didn’t know that Heidi planned to grab the finale dress and steal the show. Heidi had supposedly told her that all she was going to do was take a look at things and then leave. No one with a brain in her head would have actually believed Heidi…but Chazz wasn’t exactly known for being the brightest crayon in the pack. When she said she didn’t know what was going to happen, I was pretty sure she was telling the truth. No model would cry that hard, dripping snot with her eyes red and swollen, unless she was sincere.

And honestly, even if I wanted to retaliate—which part of me really, really did—what could I do that wouldn’t blow up in my face? If I got Chazz blackballed out of modeling or tried to bring her up on charges, it would just expose publicly that Heidi had fooled us and that our “amazing publicity stunt” of her wearing the dress hadn’t been our plan after all. No way would I put Branson Designs through that embarrassment. So I’d let the situation with Chazz slide. As far as anyone knew, there was no bad blood between us. But that didn’t mean I was eager to run into her socially.

On the other hand, there wasn’t a single person there with us in the VIP section who I actually wanted to spend time with. Chazz, even when she was crying buckets and looking like she thought I was going to tear her throat out, had actually been better company. At least she didn’t bore me. The real test of the night was having to look totally enamored with my drunken mess of a girlfriend when the truth was that I was tired, aggravated, and very ready to leave.

But I was well aware of how many people were watching us, despite being in the “exclusive” section of the club, where everyone was usually too snobby to care about anyone else. There were cameras everywhere, and beautiful people pretending that they didn’t notice us even though they were avidly listening in on everything we said. And everyone on the dance floor below us was watching. So that meant I couldn’t tell her what I was really thinking. I needed to fake it.

“Nothing’s wrong. I’m fine.”

I managed a weak smile and managed to keep from grimacing as she leaned closer to kiss me. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw phones swing in our direction to capture the moment.

Heidi had been drinking all night thanks to the event sponsor, the influencer’s new prosecco called “Bubbles and Baubles.” I’d tried a sip and nearly spat it out, but Heidi couldn’t seem to get enough of it.

The DJ shifted from techno music and Heidi perked up when she heard the drums.

“Oooh, this is my song!” she yelled over the noise. “Let’s go, Queen B! Who run the world?”

My heart seized when I heard the unmistakable voice cranking over the sound system. It was the song Natalie had been singing the first night we met. I’d put it on my gym playlist, and I now knew every note of it.

I caught myself smiling at the memory of Natalie attempting to sing it, until Heidi stood up on the banquette and started dancing. It was supposed to be cute and sexy, but to me she looked desperate, like she could feel that Brayleigh was getting more attention than she was. Her wild gyrations also showed that Heidi was tipping over from buzzed to full-on wasted. Not a good look for either of us. I tried grabbing her hand and pulling her down, but she shook me off.

People started cheering, which made Heidi gyrate harder, even though the woman didn’t have an ounce of rhythm.

Brayleigh appeared out of nowhere, probably attracted to the noise of the crowd. She was in a tiny cut-off white shirt and a complicated looking leather skirt that showed off lots of leg, which Heidi had deemed “tacky as fuck.” I knew she was jealous of the much younger woman. It was no secret that Heidi hated anyone she saw as a threat.