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Chapter Twenty-Five
Hailey
I spent the weekend making up for my little scene at Val’s house. I had meant what I’d told him—that as his PR pro I needed to know if he planned something like this, but I couldn’t pretend that was the only reason I’d gone berserk. I owned up to my flaws.
On Sunday evening, Reid left for San Diego.
He had an early meeting Monday, and it made more sense for him to sleep there overnight. I wasn’t in the mood to be on my own, so I asked Val if her sleepover offer was still on the table.
“Ummm, is the Earth round? Hell, yes.”
She figured out the second I arrived that I wasn’t in the best mood. I was dreading tomorrow, and I hadn’t felt like that about Mondays since I’d changed jobs.
We were up late into the night, long after Carter and the girls went to sleep, with the result that the next morning I woke up with a headache and low energy. Val took care of the latter.
When I descended to the kitchen, she had coffee and pancakes ready.
“Breakfast of champions, huh?” I murmured. “Where’s everyone else?”
“Carter took the girls to school. But I’m here to give you some sisterly love, and pancakes.”
I laughed, digging into the pancakes. Yep, my sister totally knew how to brighten my day. We talked about nothing in particular, just enjoying the quiet morning.
“Are you going to the office today?” she asked.
“Have to. We’ve got a meeting every Monday morning, or I would have worked from home.”
“Pity. You could have kept me company.” My sister was working from home now that her due date was approaching.
“I could come after the meeting. I don’t know.”
“Hmm, I can sweeten that offer with a homemade burger for lunch.”
“Val. That’s not sweetening the offer. It’s bribing me.”
Val smiled coyly. “You know me. Always up for that. Plus, you can borrow some sweatpants from me. We can slum it if we’re both working from home.”
“Now you’ve won me over. Sweatpants and burger it is.”
I decided to check my emails before leaving, and good thing I did, because I’d received an email from Cameron.
Do you have time after the morning meeting? Need to talk to you.
I gripped my phone tight, rubbing the back of my neck. “Looks like I have to stay longer at the office after all. My boss needs me.”
“Oh, damn. And I was already in a sweatpants mood. Go get them.”
I wasn’t particularly looking forward to going into work. All I wanted was to indulge in some more sisterly love.
But I shook myself, put on my proverbial big girl pants, and headed to the agency. The office was buzzing with activity, as usual on Mondays. It was one of the very few weeks in which I didn’t have any highlights to present.
Afterward, Cameron gestured toward his office.
“Want to grab a coffee before?” he asked.
“No, thanks. I’m good. Let’s get the ball rolling.”
Before, I’d always been excited when Cameron called me in. It usually meant exciting new projects, more ways for me to prove myself. Now, however, I was dreading it.
