Big Chicas Don't Cry(52)

She nodded. “I know. It’s scary out there.”

“Ain’t that the truth,” I said with a snort.

Selena gave her sister a hug. “Yay! I’m so glad we talked about this. I’d make a good sex therapist, wouldn’t I?”

We all laughed again and continued walking.

“So, what about you, Erica?” Selena asked. “Anything going on in your sex life that you want to talk about?”

For some reason, I thought of Adrian but quickly dismissed it.

“Actually, there is. The other night I almost had an orgasm thinking about deep-fried chocolate-covered Twinkies. What do you think that means?”

I didn’t duck quick enough, and both sisters landed punches on my arms.





Chapter Twenty-Seven


SELENA


Something was going on at Umbridge & Umbridge.

After taking an informal poll around the office, I’d found out that all the senior leadership team was behind closed doors in the conference room. Everyone, that is, except for Kat.

I knew this because I’d seen her walk into Henry’s office right before I saw everyone else walk into the conference room.

One of the girls in Payroll instant messaged me to ask if Kat had come out yet. I messaged her back that she hadn’t and asked if she had heard anything from her friend in IT. She hadn’t.

Both meetings had been going on for thirty minutes, and the longer they took, the more I wondered if either of them was about the viral Twitter campaign last week for one of our clients. It hadn’t exactly gone as expected.

After the meeting with Cup of Sugar, Kat had decided she needed to oversee all social media campaigns from brainstorming to execution. And even if a client didn’t want a social media component, she was going to convince them they needed it.

So she talked George & Sons—a successful real estate development company in the city—into doing a special online Q&A with the founder’s son and vice president of the company as a way to promote the upcoming unveiling of their latest shopping center. On the morning of the Twitter chat, Kat and the company’s VP, Darren George, set up a laptop in his office and started tweeting about the project and encouraging questions from Twitter users. About ten minutes into the chat, one Twitter user began posting questions about a pending lawsuit facing the company instead. The same user also accused Darren of bribing city officials and withholding pay from their construction workers. Although Kat said that she’d tried to take over the responses, Darren had become so enraged with the unrelenting tweets that he’d tweeted back with insults and profanities. The exchange blew up and even became the subject of an article on BuzzFeed. The company canceled the unveiling, and I’d heard that Darren was now being investigated.

The door to Henry’s office opened, and Kat walked out. Although her expression was stony as usual, when our eyes met, I could’ve sworn hers were watery.

My phone rang, and I jumped. It was Henry. “Selena, can I see you in my office, please?”

“Yes, I’ll be right there.”

I grabbed my phone, and then a pen and notepad just in case, and took a seat inside his office.

“As I’m sure you are aware, the Darren George Twitter fiasco has turned into quite the blemish on our agency’s reputation. In cooperating with Mr. George, we’ve been looking at this internally to come up with an explanation as to how something like this could’ve happened. Unfortunately, we were not prepared to uncover what we did. All I can tell you is that because of her role in the situation, Kat has been terminated, effective immediately.”

My mouth fell open.

“The senior leadership team was called into a staff meeting for the next hour, and they will be informed at the conclusion of that meeting. Since you report directly to Kat, I felt it was necessary to let you know as soon as possible. I’ve given her thirty minutes to clean out her office, and she requested that you be allowed to help her. I agreed.”

Wait. Kat was fired, but I still had to work for her? What kind of hell was this?

“I’d appreciate your cooperation and confidentiality during this time. We’ll talk later today about her accounts and what you’re comfortable taking on in the interim.”

He stopped talking, and I figured it was finally my turn to say something.

“Um, okay.”

Evidently satisfied with my response, lame as it was, Henry dismissed me.

As soon as I walked out, my phone vibrated with a text. It was from Kat:

Bring me 5 boxes from the mailroom.

Even in disgrace, Kat stayed true to her bitchiness. I guess I had to give her credit for that at least.

Minutes later, I walked into her office with the five boxes and extra packing tape.

“Close the door and start packing up my bookshelves.”

I nodded and did as she asked. We worked in silence for the next fifteen minutes or so. She cleared off her desk except for the computer and telephone and then handed me items from her drawers to put inside a reusable shopping bag.

When we were done, she asked me to help her carry some of the boxes to her car.

The main office was still pretty empty when we walked outside. I was relieved because I didn’t want to deal with any stares or looks of pity. It didn’t matter that I didn’t like the lady. No one should have to endure a walk of shame like that.