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It’s my turn to shrug. I lean forward, using the sledgehammer to balance as I stretch out my aching lower back. “It was fun. When I was twenty-five. Do you know the most fun I’ve had in years? Taking Madison to a book signing. That’s the literal highlight of my year. Not the jetpacks a few days earlier. A book signing with Maya Hall.”
He frowns. “The cat lady? You know, the one with streaks of gray who never talks to anybody but always donates extra to the pet charities?”
The cat lady. Not a surprising way for Dante to think of her. “The same. She’s Madison’s favorite author.”
“Small world, eh? But what does that matter, man? And more importantly, what does it have to do with tearing the walls down in your house?”
I give him a smile and turn back to the wall. “I bought this house because the people that live in this neighborhood are the people we should be pulling in as clients. I never liked it, and I especially never liked these damn plaster walls. I’m fixing them.”
“You know, you could have hired someone to paint them. That’s not a crazy thing. This, on the other hand, is batshit, and that’s coming from me.”
The grin on my face doesn’t waver, but I don’t turn around. Instead, I swing the hammer again, and more plaster explodes. Madison was right, and some things take time, but not everything. Not this.
I can’t move mountains in a day, but I can certainly move a few hills.
Chapter 54
Madison
It’s been a week since I told Em to leave my apartment, and the hollowness inside me hasn’t gone away. I wonder if it ever will. It doesn’t matter, though. Life has to go on. “Damn, you look hot.” Tessa grins from my doorway as I put on the expensive business suit. My first thousand dollar outfit.
I’m not just an intern anymore. I’m going to change the advertising world, and I needed a skirt suit that tells people I’m not just the data analyst my degree says I am. The interview for Herman and Schuster won’t be like the one for Aspire. I won’t be losing my skirt in an elevator or embarrassing myself.
I’m going to tell them what I expect, and if they can’t deliver, I’m going to find a different firm to work for. Even if they give me everything I want, I’m not sure I’ll take the job since I’m pretty sure they’re the ones who sent that picture. I don’t want to work for a sleazy company that would do something as unethical as that, but I’d like to have an offer to compare my future ones to.
“Do I look like someone worth a seven-figure salary?” I ask.
Tessa blinks. “I don’t know. My boss doesn’t make a seven-figure salary, so… Maybe?”
“Good enough for me.” I cross the room and grab my purse from the hook on my door.
“Have you heard from Em?” Tessa asks as I walk past her, and it stops me in my tracks. “I saw a thing about him on the internet. He’s up to something.”
I take a deep breath. It’s been hard to keep from getting stuck on Em as I work to move past him. Everything in me wants to believe that he’s willing to change. Not just for me, but for him. He doesn’t deserve to live a lie, to feel like he has to be the actor that never leaves the stage. At the same time, I don’t think he knows how to do anything else.
That’s why I have to treat him like he’s dead. If I let myself get sucked back in, I wouldn’t be able to interview at his competitors. I wouldn’t be able to live my life and move past him.
And I have to.
“I hope he’s doing well,” is all I say as I walk toward the door. The five-hundred dollar purse swings at my side, and I try to let the mention of Em slide off me like water. I have an important interview to go to.
The hollowness can’t suck me in. I may have had my wings cut, but I can still walk.
When I leave my apartment, I head to the stairs, taking them one at a time without any rush. I have plenty of time, and even if I’m late, Herman and Schuster went to a lot of trouble to convince me to interview. They can wait a minute or two.
“You look like you’re moving up in the world, Miss Carter,” a voice says from behind me. I whirl around and see Dante Poole, one of the owners of Aspire, leaning against the wall. “Might want to pick up a Dolce purse instead of that one. It’d suit your look better.”
I blink. Why’s he giving me fashion advice?
He pushes off the wall and walks toward me, and I realize his eyes are just as intense as Em’s. He reminds me of a cat playing with a mouse as he stalks toward me, grinning the entire time.
I only talked to Dante a few times at Aspire, mostly joking around or explaining something in the idea room when he was bored. Something inside me feels almost pinned down as he stands next to me.
His sky-blue eyes seem to laugh, and he looks down at me. “Good luck at your interview. Tell old Herman that I said ‘hello’, and then call me because you’re going to be disappointed. I’ll find you a real company to work for.”
He pulls a business card out of his inside coat pocket and hands it to me. The entire exchange is bizarre. Why would he help me find a different job with one of his competitors?
As he walks away, I ask, “Why would you want to help me find a job?”
