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“Yes, I needed a break.”
“Do you have no fucking sense of self-preservation?” he asks me. “It’s not safe there. You need to get home.”
“Liam, we need to talk.”
He laughs but there’s no mirth there. “Oh, now you want to talk? No. You need to drive.”
“Can we talk tomorrow?” I ask him, feeling desperate.
“Just go do whatever you need to do,” he says, and there’s pain in his voice. “Don’t worry about me.”
“I do worry—” I stop talking when I realize he’s ended the call. My heart feels like it’s about to burst. Like it’s too big for my chest, rattling against my ribcage. It takes a concerted effort to breathe.
Broken. That’s how he sounded. And it’s my fault. He’s right, I should have trusted him. But I didn’t. I couldn’t.
I thought he was the one who needed to change, but maybe it was me all along.
That thought bounces around my head for the rest of the drive home.
* * *
It’s eerily quiet when I walk into the station stupidly early the next morning, having gone home only to shower and put on my work clothes. Even the security guard looks bored. We run on a skeleton crew overnight, making sure the networked shows broadcast smoothly. But there are still a few people in the news office and the sports room, getting a head start for the first broadcast of the day.
Michael looks up when I walk in. “I thought you were in Virginia,” he says, frowning.
“I came back. To sort things out,” I tell him.
“There’s nothing you can do,” he says. “Donald is coming in at ten to meet with legal. They’ll take it from there.”
“Can I come to the meeting?” I ask.
He lets out a huff. “No. It’s a management meeting. If we need your input we’ll ask for it.”
“But it’s about me. I should be there to explain exactly what happened,” I tell him. I need to be in that meeting. I don’t trust him to stand up for me.
“Don’t you think you’ve done enough damage?” he snaps. “I need to get ready for the morning news. If you’re staying here – which is without pay by the way – do me a favor and load up the forecast on the website.”
I nod because at least it’ll give me something to do while I wait.
I spend two hours messing around on the website and kicking my heels, counting down until the meeting. At half-past five, Michael knots his tie and pulls on his sports jacket and checks himself in the little mirror at the side of our office, then heads out to the studio without even saying goodbye.
I look up at the monitor we always have running. The credits roll and then Dan comes on, his mouth moving though the television is on silent so I can’t hear what he says.
The camera switches to Michael. He gives an all-American grin to the screen as though he hasn’t a care in the world. Ugh, I hate him. He hasn’t had much more sleep than me but he looks so much better. I swear he’s running on pure venom right now.
Half an hour later, my phone starts to ring. It’s a group call and I see Ava and Lauren’s name at the top.
“Hey.” I put it on speaker because there’s nobody else here.
“Don’t hey me,” Ava says. “I’m angry with you.” Her voice softens. “No, I’m not really that angry. I’m worried. Why did you leave without telling me?”
I blink. I’m not going to cry again. I’ve already used up way too many tears. “I messed up,” I tell them. “I think I might lose my job.”
“What happened?” Lauren asks. I can hear the noise of her bakery behind her.
“Shouldn’t you be opening up?” I ask her.
“I have twenty minutes. And even if I didn’t my best friend comes first. So spill. Tell us everything.”
