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I’d like to make this woman’s early experiences at Glisten a little better than mine were. There will be no inviting her to clubs, taking photos of her plastered and kissing strangers, and showing them around the office. No, that shit ended the day Pia was fired for sharing our editorial calendar with our competition.
That’s right. The fool leaked confidential information to the competitor. And I’d thought she was canned for falsely accusing Ethan of inappropriate behavior, among her other transgressions, like reading people’s DMs, not to mention bending over backwards trying to bring me down.
While I knew there was something off about the woman, I guess what I saw was only the tip of the iceberg. She was bad news, through and through. Thank God she’s gone.
No gloating, I remind myself.
In a strange twist, I heard she’s over at Martha Stewart, having talked Danny into hiring her. I hope this gives her a chance to start over, re-invent herself, and maybe even become a nicer person. Whether she does that or not, however, I’ll never know.
That chapter is closed, I am happy to say. Time to focus on the new ones that open all the time.
For example, all I’m learning about the guys—both good and not-so-good. Turns out we all have things we hide, and that I’m not the only person in the universe who feels like a fraud from time to time.
Take Leo, working all hours of the day and night just to prove himself. He finally got promoted, except when we went to celebrate, it was clear something was bothering him.
“I don’t deserve it,” he told me later, raking his fingers through his normally perfect hair. “I don’t deserve any of this.”
My heart broke a little when I heard this.
“What the hell are you talking about? You work all the time. How can you not deserve a promotion? You’re a talented hard worker, honey.”
He shook his head, avoiding my gaze. “You don’t understand. You don’t know everything about me.”
“What do you mean?” I ask slowly.
He couldn’t possibly be another Danny, stealing other people’s work. He’s not like that. Not at all. But I could see the pain in his face, and I remembered how I felt when I was sure I was a big fraud.
“Leo, did you do something you regret? Do you want to talk about it?”
“It… it was something I did a long time ago. You know the scholarship I got for school? Well, I beat out my best friend for it. He never spoke to me again. He’s still stuck in the town where we grew up. He never had the chance I got. I feel like I ruined his life. If I could do it all over again, I’d give the scholarship to him.”
Oh my God. What a thing to carry around.
What a wrong thing to carry around.
“Leo,” I start, “you competed for that. I get that you feel guilty for leaving the other guy behind. But it’s not like you did something dishonest or vindictive. You have to forgive yourself. Let it go.”
He looks up at me, tears in his eyes. “I don’t know, Ava. It’s been so hard to live with sometimes.”
I knew there was a reason he suffered. And it was crushing me. I take his hand and bring it to my lips.
“Leo, you are a good man. Look at you and look at your little brother, too. He’s going to college now, thanks to you. You’ve done a very good thing.”
But when it comes down to it, I know all the words in the world aren’t going to heal Leo. Just like I did, pain is something you have to wade through yourself. I just hope he knows when he comes out the other side that I’ll be there waiting for him. Like I am right now.
And then there’s Ethan. My grumpy love, always stressed and at the end of his wits. He recently revealed to me he’s happy he never made it to the NBA, that he never ended up playing pro basketball.
In fact, he purposely messed up just so he wouldn’t be drafted. Turned out he hated the game and only played it all his life because his dad coached every year, and wanted Ethan to do what he hadn’t been able to—play at the pro level.
He’s been tormented by this deception for so long, it’s now part of him, like a big scar. I don’t know whether he’ll ever end up sharing this with his parents, or just keeping it to himself for the rest of his life. Only time will tell. But I do think honesty is the best policy most of the time.
Only he can decide.
The good news is that he’s started coaching basketball for inner city kids. He says it’s a blast and that his blood pressure is better. I’m so happy for him.
Last, there’s Jasper, my roommate and Master of the Universe, who changed in so many ways when I came into the picture.
He recently visited his parents after not seeing them for years, thanks to receiving a long-awaited for apology from his father. Turned out the home Jasper grew up in was a pretty unstable, tumultuous one, thanks to his father’s drinking. His dad got help, and is all about mending his ways now, including reconnecting with his only son.
