by Fiona Riley
Reagan handed her the tiny napkin square she’d been fiddling with and shrugged. “Well, why don’t you start from the beginning and catch me up to speed?”
Olivia nodded and took a deep breath. She was in for a bumpy ride.
Chapter Twenty-six
Olivia saw Corrine shifting papers in front of her when she came through the doors of the coffee shop. She signaled for the barista and smiled as she sat in the booth next to her.
“Hey, Corrine.” Olivia was sure her face reflected the restless sleep of the night before. She and Reagan spent the remainder of the flight discussing her disaster of a personal life. Savannah had texted her later that evening, but she had fallen asleep before having the chance to reply. The phone call from Corrine this morning asking her to meet her at the coffee place near the office had caught her off guard, seeing as it was a Saturday.
“Hey, Olivia. How was the flight?”
“Bumpy.” Olivia accepted the cup the barista brought over and added the extras from the bowl in front of her. “So, what’s so important that it couldn’t wait until Monday morning?”
Corrine hesitated. “Listen, I got the final pictures from the Chicago launch and everything came out great.”
“I know—it was pretty seamless,” Olivia said.
“I really want to commend you on the job you and the team did. It’s great that even given the obstacles and environmental challenges you faced, you pulled off such a smashing success.”
“Why do I get the feeling that a but is coming next?” Olivia leaned away from Corrine and sipped her coffee, pulling back when the too hot liquid touched her tongue.
“With all that being said, I just wanted to give you the heads-up that although the people at New Horizons loved the final product, they will not be contracting with us to continue with the project.”
Olivia was mid-sip, after blowing on her cup to cool it down, when Corrine concluded. She choked on the liquid and Corrine patted her back to help her. “What?”
“We completed our contract with them and they’ve decided to go another route moving forward.” Corrine’s tone was diplomatic.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Olivia was shocked. “We hit every angle they wanted, we made impossible timelines work, Randal and Daniel both almost quit on me during this process, and don’t even get me started on Reagan…They just…Corrine, did we get fired?”
“Fired? No. Of course not, Olivia.” Corrine looked scandalized. “We were perfect. So perfect they have decided to replicate the installations nationwide and internationally.”
“But without us. That’s what you’re saying?” Olivia felt blindsided.
“Correct.” Corrine looked uneasy. “It’s still a huge win for us, Olivia. Greater Image Design is being recognized by all the major interior design magazines and architectural journals for the work we’ve done with New Horizons. The positive press we’ll get from this will really boost our business. I’ve already got two interviews scheduled for next week that I want you to headline. This is big for us, Olivia.”
“Then why do I get the feeling like we’ve been cheated somehow?” Olivia pushed the nearly full cup away from her. She sat there for a moment before something dawned on her. “When did you find out?”
Corrine looked remorseful. “I received the formal notice on Friday, while you and the team were flying back.”
Something about the guilty look on Corrine’s face made Olivia’s stomach roll. She took a stab in the dark. “And when did you get the informal notice?”
“Wednesday.” Corrine looked pained by the detail.
“Who told you?” Olivia pressed, fearing that she already knew.
“I don’t know that that’s important.” Corrine tried to dodge. “What’s important is that we really aced this one and I wanted you to know that I am truly grateful of all your hard work.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence.” Olivia slid out of the booth and grabbed her purse. “Was there anything else, Corrine?”
“Oh. Uh, no. I just wanted to let you know in person before our debriefing Monday with the rest of the group.”
“Thanks.” Olivia hesitated before she turned to go. “Thanks for letting me know ahead of time.”
Corrine nodded. “Of course, Liv. I know this project was important to you.”
Olivia sighed and headed toward the café door, reaching into her purse for her phone.
* * *
Savannah answered on the second ring. “Hey.”
“You knew, didn’t you?”
Savannah could hear the hurt in Olivia’s voice. She’d expected a call like this but had hoped for it to be on Monday so she could find a way to break it to Olivia over the weekend.
“Savannah?” Olivia was impatient.
“I’m here.”
“It was you. You told Corrine. You knew, didn’t you?”
“Is that what she told you?” Savannah’s fingers dragged over the edge of her desk as she listened to the sounds of Manhattan in the background of the call.
“No. She wouldn’t tell me anything,” Olivia said. “But my gut tells me it was you. She was far too calm and far too informed to have just heard the night before. Tell me.”
“Tell you what, Liv?”
“How long did you know?”
Savannah weighed the pros and cons of the situation. She didn’t want to lie to Olivia. But she also didn’t want to come across as the bad guy. Last night had been miserable for her. When Olivia didn’t text her back, she’d thought something bad had happened. She found herself a little shocked by how much the prospect of that sent her into a panic spiral. Of course, she just checked online to see that her plane had landed safely, but still, she found herself missing Olivia more last night than ever. “I found out at the emergency meeting Wednesday morning.”
Olivia raged. “The fuck? Why didn’t you tell me, Savannah?”
“I couldn’t, Liv.”
“That didn’t stop you from telling Corrine. So that’s bullshit.”
“It’s not—” Savannah tried to defend herself. “I didn’t want you to be blindsided. I wanted someone there to protect you.”
Olivia’s angry cluck in response spurred Savannah to try to explain further. “It was a matter of my job on the line. Ken didn’t like how upset I was at the meeting, and that’s why I was so cold to him that night at the party. He had the legal department inform me that if I told you prior to the formal announcement, I could expect to be out of a job.”
“So, you put your own career aspirations ahead of doing the right thing?” Olivia’s reply was bitter.
“Olivia.” Savannah backtracked. “I did what I could to help soften the blow. I did the best I could with what was given to me.”
The line was silent except for the bustling sound of the city in the background on Olivia’s end. Savannah felt helpless.
“That was rude. I’m sorry. I’m just…” Olivia’s voice trailed off. “I guess…I guess I thought…Well, it doesn’t matter what I thought, does it?”
“Liv.” Savannah wanted nothing more than to be there. She hated that this was happening on the phone. But she hated herself even more for letting Corrine deliver the news. It just felt wrong. After their last night together, even being away from Olivia for a night had felt wrong. She felt so out of control in this moment. This was more than she felt equipped to handle.
Olivia said, “We knew all along this was a slippery slope. That was the whole reason we resisted in the beginning, right? There were no guarantees. I know that. I knew that. And yet, I can’t help but feel betrayed. You should have told me, Savannah. I would have rather heard it from you.” Olivia let out a heavy sigh and something inside Savannah broke.
“Olivia, I—” Savannah’s heart felt like it was in her throat. Her eyes burned and her chest felt tight. How had they reached this point? How had she fallen so hard and so fast for this woman? The thought of disappointing Olivia made Savannah feel sick.
“I
need to reevaluate some things, Savannah. I need some time.” Olivia’s voice sounded far off, distant. “I’m sorry. I have to go. Good-bye, Savannah.”
Olivia was gone before she even had a chance to process what had happened. Her stomach rolled, and she thought she might be sick. She dropped her head between her knees as the room spiraled around her. Everything was ruined and it was all her fault.
Chapter Twenty-seven
New York City
“Okay, team, new project on the books.” Corrine sashayed into the room with a wide grin. She handed out folders and laminated binders with bright pictures on the covers and each creative designer’s name on the binding.
Reagan groaned. “Corrine, seriously, why does my binder always look like a Lisa Frank reject?”
“Because you need a little light in your life, and it brings me great joy to put hologram stickers of little monkeys on your stuff. Besides, Olivia suggested it.”
Reagan kicked Olivia’s chair, causing her to snicker. “Way to throw me under the bus, Corrine.”
“All right.” Corrine called the meeting back to order. “We’ve really been crazy busy this past month and half and I just want to reiterate how proud I am of you guys really going with the flow.” Corrine smiled when Devon and Reagan high-fived. “Those three pieces in the beginning of last month’s marketing push really propelled us into a new level of work, and the client inquiries have been rolling in.”
Olivia nodded and flipped open her date book as Corrine continued to address the group. Since she had gotten back from Chicago things had been sort of a blur. There were interviews to be given, consults to complete, and the projects that had been running while they were away needed to be tidied up and finished. Work started piling up and the decision was made that new hires should be sought out to manage the influx. When Olivia wasn’t working with the team, she was scheduling late night interviews with Corrine to expand their workforce. It had been sort of a marathon these past six weeks. She was grateful for the distraction, eager to put New Horizons and Savannah Quinn far behind her.
“Okay, so, Olivia, are you ready?” Corrine brought her back to focus.
“Yes.” Olivia leaned forward and pulled out a few papers from her bag. “As you guys know, we’ve been busy interviewing some new talent to help lighten up the load around here.” Her statement was met by cheers and a few groans. “Listen, I know some of you are excited and some of you aren’t, but we’re too busy to keep up this feverish pace without some sort of burnout.”
She handed a few papers to the group and pointed at them. “We’ve narrowed it down to three candidates, but we only have space for two at the moment. I want you guys to read over some of our notes from the interviews and scan their résumés to tell me what you think.”
“Wait—no head shots?” Reagan asked.
“Reagan. No.” Olivia glared at her.
“I’m just saying—”
“Anyway,” Corrine interrupted, “the important thing here is that we want to make sure the people we choose will be a good fit with this team. Initially, they will be trained by the other groups on the basics, but I really want them to join your team in the future. So we care about your input.”
They chattered amongst themselves before coming to agreement on two candidates. Farrah made the recommendation that the third candidate, who was the youngest and least experienced of the final choices, be offered an internship for the time being. They expected to have a third position to fill eventually, and this way they could train this person for the job. Olivia smiled and remembered her position here as an assistant to Albie, so many years before. How things had changed in that time.
“Great, so that concludes our meeting for today.” Corrine clapped, her pixie haircut bouncing as she hopped out of her chair. “Any exciting plans for the weekend?”
“Birthday party and sleepover at my house for the twins. Kill me now,” Farrah said.
“Date with a cute boy from Soho. If I’m late Monday, it’s because I’m recovering,” Devon said with a sly smile.
Reagan smirked. “I plan on crashing your gay boy rave—where’s this date?” She laughed as Devon shoved her.
The rest of the team filed out chatting and laughing, leaving Corrine and Olivia.
“Anything good happening with you, Liv?” Corrine closed the door and checked to make sure it was locked.
“Yeah, Christine and my niece got here a few days ago and we’re going to do some touristy stuff before they leave tomorrow.”
“Well, there is no place like New York City in the fall. Have fun.”
“Thanks.” Olivia gave her a genuine smile. Although work had been busy, she had been ecstatic when Christine had offered to come by and hang out. She had spent the better part of two weeks crying into the phone to Christine about not securing the long-term New Horizons project, but if she was being honest, it was mostly about Savannah. At the end of the day she really just wanted a hug from her big sister and a chance to spoil her niece. That made everything feel right in the world.
* * *
“Olivia! Your phone is ringing!” Christine called from the kitchen.
Olivia let out a playful groan to make Mackenzie laugh. “All right, Mom!”
Mackenzie giggled and whispered, “Maybe if we ignore her she won’t bother us.”
Olivia nodded conspiratorially. “It’s our only chance to avoid her wrath when she sees that we got paint on your shirt.”
Mackenzie nodded and then looked confused. “What’s wrath, Auntie?”
“It’s what befalls your aunt in about two seconds when I get ahold of her for getting your nice new shirt dirty,” Christine supplied from behind the couch with her hand on her hip and a frown on her face.
Olivia gave her an innocent grin. “Her I Heart NY shirt wouldn’t be complete without a little stain here or there. It adds character.”
Christine raised her eyebrow and pointed the sauce spoon in Olivia’s direction. “You, kitchen, now. And bring the shirt so I can try to get the stain out before it sets.” She turned to Mackenzie. “Go wash up for dinner and put on your pj’s, please.”
Mackenzie scampered off and Olivia let out a contented sigh. She had needed this. “Oh. My. God. This all smells so good.”
“Olivia, I know you don’t like to cook for one, but your pantry was like a bachelor’s sad discarded leftovers. I left the Fresh Direct bill on the fridge for you,” Christine said.
“You are too kind.” Olivia was grateful someone else was in charge of the decision making. She had never quite embraced cooking like Christine had. Her nights were usually filled with takeout or popcorn and wine on the couch watching Friends reruns. Christine had been impressed she even had place settings for four. Olivia had scoffed. She wasn’t a total savage, after all.
Olivia walked Mackenzie’s shirt to the sink and turned on the warm water. “It’s water-based paint, so it should come out.”
“Not if you plan on washing it like that.” Christine bumped her out of the way and took over, handing the spoon to Olivia. “Stir the sauce while I try to work a miracle over here.”
“God. You’re more like Mom every day,” Olivia teased and did as she was told.
“So, are we going to talk about her or what?” Christine asked, her eyes still on the stained shirt.
“Talk about who?” Olivia blew on the spoon to cool its contents before tasting the sauce.
“Whom,” Christine corrected. “Savannah.”
Olivia looked over at her sister as she shrugged and put the spoon in her mouth and mumbled a response.
Christine took the spoon from Olivia’s hand and pulled it out of her mouth. “Let’s try that again with less mumbling and talking with your mouth full.”
“I take it back—you are becoming more like Grandma than Mom.” Olivia pouted and leaned against the counter as Christine resumed cooking and laid Mackenzie’s shirt out to dry.
Christine ignored the jab. “She was calling your phone w
hen you were in the other room. Unless you know someone else with the contact Savannah don’t answer she sucks, which is very mature, by the way.”
“What do you want to talk about?” Olivia examined her manicure.
“I take it she’s still calling and trying to reach you?” Christine turned off the burners and faced her sister.
“Apparently.”
“Olivia, less with the vague, more with the sisterly sharing, please.” Christine reached out and took Olivia’s hands in hers. “What’s up?”
Olivia’s shoulders sagged. “She really hurt me, Chris. I mean it, like bulldozed my feelings. I don’t have anything to say to her.”
Christine frowned and pulled Olivia into a hug. After a moment or two she leaned back and brushed her sister’s wild curls from her forehead. “It sounds like the situation sucked for everyone involved, Liv. I’m not saying she made the best choices, but from the way you described her and spoke about her so brightly during better times, I can tell she was important to you. If she’s trying to reach you after all these weeks, maybe you should give her a chance.”
Olivia leaned forward and rested her head on her sister’s shoulder. “I don’t know, Chris. Maybe it’s best I just count this as a life lesson and move on.”
Christine rubbed along her sister’s back. “When you love someone, it’s not always so easy to just give up and walk away, Liv.”
Olivia squeezed her eyes closed and let out a heavy sigh. “I know. Love sucks.”
The vibration of Christine’s chuckle shook Olivia’s head as the sound of little footsteps came into the room.
“Ready for dinner, Mommy!”
Christine replied. “Grab your cup and have a seat. We’ll bring dinner over.”
Olivia smiled as Mackenzie made her way to the almost too high chair and struggled to get on it before settling in comfortably. She had missed this so much.
“All I’m saying is, maybe think about what you had and if you think it’s possible to have it again.” Christine set the serving platter on the table. “You deserve to be happy, Liv. Savannah made you happy. Just think about it.”
