Big Chicas Don't Cry(65)

I was impressed. She was drop-dead gorgeous, and for a moment I wanted to be her best friend. But when she barely looked at me as Adrian introduced us, she became my mortal enemy.

So it’s going to be like that, huh?

“How are your parents?” he asked and invited her to take a seat with us.

“They’re good. I think they’re inside the house right now with your mom. I just arrived, and she told me to come outside and see you.”

Yeah, right. Blame his mom.

I was taking a big bite of one of my tacos when Isela finally decided to look at me.

“So how did you two meet?” she asked, her voice sweet but also deadly terrifying.

My mouth was full of carne asada, so Adrian answered. “Oh. Oh? We’re not dating. Jesus, no. Erica is a reporter for the newspaper. I’m her editor.”

That made me cough up a piece of corn tortilla. When he’d introduced me to his parents, I worked with him. Now, I was his employee and a woman he was very clearly not in a relationship with.

“Oh.”

Isela’s eyes widened, and I watched as the light went on inside that pretty head of hers. And it burned bright with hope for a reunion now that he’d made it clear we weren’t a couple.

“There you two are,” Adrian’s mom called from a few feet away. “We want to take a photo. Isela and Adrian, come over here, please.”

She stood and headed over to the group.

“So, you almost married her, huh?”

He nodded. “How did you know? Let me guess, a woman’s intuition or something like that?”

I scoffed. “God, no. But the fact that you nearly pissed yourself when you heard her voice was a very good hint.”

“Was I that bad?”

He was, but he already looked embarrassed enough, so I let him off the hook. “Nah, I’m just messing with you. And your mom is giving you the evil eye, so you better get going.”

He took a step and then looked back at me. “Aren’t you coming?” he asked.

“Me? No, that’s okay. I’m going to grab some more tacos. Go ahead, and I’ll wait here.”

“Sure?”

I nodded, and he took off. As I watched the group of people hug him and pat him on the back, I knew that he had nothing to worry about. He definitely belonged here.

What I didn’t know anymore was whether I did.

And why in the hell did that bug me so much?





Chapter Thirty-Five


SELENA


Gracie thought I was crazy, but I believed Kat’s spirit still haunted the offices of Umbridge & Umbridge.

“She’s not dead, Selena. How could she be a ghost?” Gracie said over the phone.

“I didn’t say she was a ghost. I said it was her spirit that I could feel sometimes.”

It had been weeks since I’d seen my old boss. Yet, I couldn’t help feeling like she was constantly watching me, waiting for me to mess up. This morning, for example, I’d nearly sent an email by mistake to the very client I was complaining about to our art department.

“It’s your guilt.”

I froze at my sister’s comment. “Um, what do you mean? I didn’t get her fired. She did that all on her own.”

“You didn’t, but there’s obviously something you feel guilty about that has to do with work. That’s why you’re being paranoid and hypersensitive about everything.”

Oh my God. Did Gracie know about the job in New York? My Zoom interview with a few more department heads was just a few days ago. It went well. At least I thought so. But I hadn’t said a word to anyone but Nathan.

After a few more minutes, it became clear that Gracie was clueless about my interview. But she still might’ve had a point. Was I feeling guilty about a possible new job and purposefully messing up so Umbridge would fire me? That way the decision to go to New York would be out of my hands.

Stop it, Selena. They haven’t even offered it to you yet.

After I hung up with Gracie, I tried to concentrate extra hard to make sure I didn’t have any more close calls. I thought I’d done everything right up until it was time for me to head out.

That’s when Alan Umbridge called me into his office.

Shit.

“Is everything okay?” I asked as soon as I sat down in the chair in front of his huge desk.

He sat back and crossed his arms. “Things are fine. But I believe they can be better.”

Dread filled my chest, and I clenched my fists in my lap to try to stay calm. “Oh?”

“Yes. I want you to know that we’ve noticed how you’ve taken over Kat’s responsibilities and clients without us even having asked you.”

Now my knee was shaking on its own. “Well, yes, um. I didn’t want us to fall behind. I’m sorry if I—”

Alan snorted. “What are you sorry about, Selena? You’ve really impressed us with your initiative and team player attitude.”

“Oh? Oh! Thank you,” I said, slowly unfurling my fists.

“And to show you how much we appreciate all of your work, we definitely want to make it official since you’re already basically doing Kat’s job. We want to give you a promotion.”

Shock made my mouth drop. Was this really happening? I couldn’t believe it. I had to ask to make sure. “Are you offering me the position of senior vice president of marketing?”