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Tears filled her eyes, but they weren’t because of the job. Her lost job. The job she’d once had. They came, because she still felt so stupid about how things had happened at Simple Solutions. “I lost my job,” she said, the words finally bursting free from her throat. “Before the Fourth. When I went to Texas for those few days.”
“You what?” Joy’s eyes had grown as wide as dinner plates. “You can’t lose your job. You’re the VP of the whole company.”
“Simple Solutions doesn’t exist anymore.” Lauren reached up and wiped her leaky right eye. It couldn’t contain the tears as easily as her left for some reason. The skin in the corner and underneath her eye was tender and raw, as she came to near-tears several times a day. Still.
“There were several people there doing some embezzling,” she said. “Something like that. When I got to Texas, the whole building had been torn apart. There were these federal agents there in the middle of the night, and they kept me for questioning.” Her voice caught on itself, and she shook her head.
Joy’s hand covered hers. “You’re okay, though, right?”
Lauren sniffled and sucked in a breath, hoping it would help her compose herself. It only sort of worked. “They didn’t find any evidence they could use against me, so they had to let me go.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Lauren gave her a sharp look, and Joy held up her free hand. “Okay. You’re you. I get it. I mean, I don’t, but it’s you, so it makes sense.”
Lauren wanted to ask her what that meant, but she didn’t trust her voice.
“You didn’t want Cass to worry,” Joy said. “And you’re so headstrong, you think you can take on the world by yourself.”
“No,” Lauren said. “That’s not true. I don’t think I can take on the world by myself. Ihaveto take on the world by myself. There’s a difference.” She glared at Joy, who simply studied her in return.
She finally dropped her eyes and said, “Okay, Lauren.”
“I’m not like you, Joy. Besides, you told me about Wendell leaving a few years ago—when you could. That’s what I do too.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Get another job,” she said with a shrug. “People do it all the time.”
“Did you call Jess?”
Lauren gave her another sharp look at the mention of her brother. “No,” she said slowly. “Why would I do that?”
“Because he’s your brother, and because he probably employs entire marketing teams.”
“In LA,” Lauren said. “I’m not interested in living in California.”
Joy covered her hand again, and this time Lauren turned hers over and braided their fingers together. “Did you like Chester? Did you hold his hand like this?”
“No,” Joy said. “I mean, yes, I like him. No, he didn’t hold my hand.” She gave another wistful sigh. “Like I said, it was awkward. I’ll be shocked if he calls me for another date.” She took a bite of the doughnut and chewed thoughtfully.
“I’m going to get pizza,” Lauren said. She swiped around to do that, ordering on the app, but things didn’t chill between her and Joy. “What else is going on with you?”
“Nothing.” Joy gave her a smile that strained along the edges. “Just worried about Lexie. She’s got another interview with HP.”
“That’s her third or fourth,” Lauren said. “Right?”
“Her fourth,” Joy said. “They’ve hired several people after only two interviews, and she’s not sure what she’s doing wrong.”
“Maybe she’s not doing anything wrong,” Lauren said. She often felt like she’d been doing things wrong in her life. She thought back to when her daddy had died. Her mama had gotten remarried about five years later, and the very moment Lauren had graduated from high school, her step-dad had announced they were moving back to Minnesota. They’d taken their baby girl and gone, and Lauren had barely seen her mother since.
Jess was older than her and already in California. He’d gotten married a few years later, and then his kids had started to come. Lauren had been alone for a long, long time, and she’d wondered for years if she could’ve done things differently. If she’d done “something wrong” to be so isolated from her family.
Then she’d found Bea and Cass and the Supper Club. She excelled at her job—and yet, she’d still lost it. Had she done something wrong to cause that to happen?
She’d never been married. Not only that, but she’d never even been close to getting married. Never engaged. Never even talked with a man about getting married. Had she been “doing things wrong” all this time?
Since last summer, she’d really been pondering these things. “Maybe she’s not doing anything wrong,” she said again, her voice quieter this time. “Maybe she’s just not meant to work at HP.”
Joy nodded, but she still wore a troubled expression. Lauren squeezed her hand to let her know she was there, and Joy squeezed back. Lauren said, “I’m glad you’re here with me, Joy.”
