by Tina Martin
He felt panicky all of a sudden as he made his way up the elevator and back to his room. Sitting on the bed, he tried to make sense of it.
“Why would you leave without saying goodbye?” he asked out loud. He rubbed his mustache, dialed her number once more and when the voicemail picked up, he left a message:
Hey, Tamera. I was looking forward to having breakfast with you this morning. Where’d you run off to? Call me back.
Preston put the phone on the nightstand, connected it to the charger, then looked across the room at his laptop. Figuring he’d burn a few minutes waiting for her call, he sat down at the table in front of the computer, wiggled the mouse to activate the screen and that’s when he saw his sister’s email.
“Oh, no,” he said out loud, his heart falling to the floor. He was working on his article yesterday and was sure he hadn’t clicked over to Serenity’s email, which meant that someone had.
Tamera.
For the first time since Serenity sent it, he took the time to read the email in its entirety and when he was done, he blew an irritated breath. Now he knew why Tamera left early. He slammed the laptop closed and stood up, interlocking his hands behind his head. He told Tamera he didn’t care about the review, but this email implied that he did. He had to explain himself to her and soon.
Chapter 21
Tamera unpacked her clothes, taking them straight to the washer, along with the other clothes in her hamper that needed to be washed. On the plane, she fought back tears thinking about how she had been played and lied to by Preston. She couldn’t trust her own judgment when it came to men. She had a tendency to pick the charmers – the ones with good looks but bad hearts. Was she so desperate for a man that she fell for one whose sole agenda was to take her own, destroy her career? Her life? All because of a review?
Looked that way.
She poured some detergent in the washing machine then closed the lid. As backward as it sounded, she was too tired to sleep. Besides, she needed to get to work on her article.
Sitting in front of her laptop, she flipped her notebook to the festival notes, but instead of reading them, she zoned out, thinking about Preston. She could feel the moment he threw his arm around her when some guy was being too aggressive. Nerves jolted her hand when she recalled how he’d held it, interlaced their fingers and strolled together. Sampling food together. His smile remained plastered vividly in her mind as she replayed the weekend she spent with him – the way they lay together on the beach, kissing until their lips were tired. And then there was the time she spent with him just last night – their bodies intertwined in bed creating heat beneath the covers. It was all a lie. He’d lied to her, and yet again, she was a man’s fool.
Tears fell from her eyes. She wiped them away, but more replaced those. If only she’d listened to her brother…
* * *
Later, after she was able to get a handle on herself and her emotions, she called Damien, her manager at Charlotte Magazine.
“This is Damien,” he answered, sounding official.
“Hey, Damien. It’s Tamera.”
“Hey. How was the trip?”
She forced herself to smile – an attempt at making her voice sound cheerful. “It was nice. I got a lot of content and pictures for the article.”
“Excellent. I knew you would.”
“But I need to talk to you about something else.”
“Shoot.”
“I wrote an article a few weeks ago about Central Grub House.”
“Yes, I remember. Certainly made me not want to eat there,” he joked.
“Well, I need you to take it down.”
“Say what, now?”
“I need you to take it down.”
“You know that requires approval from the higher ups.”
“Yes, I’m aware of the policy, Damien.”
“It also requires a valid reason. Do you have one?”
No, she didn’t have one, but she had to make up something if she was going to get this article taken down. And, having the article removed would get her off of Preston’s radar. After all, that’s what he wanted.
So, pulling in a breath, knowing what she was about to say would cost her the writing job she loved so much, she said, “I made the whole thing up.”
“You did what!”
“I made it up, Damien.”
After a few moments of silence, Damien said, “Do you realize the damage this could do to the magazine. My God, Tamera. Companies get sued over stuff like this!”
“I know.”
Damien released a deep breath. “I hate to do this to you, but I’m going to have to let you go, Tamera.”
“I understand,” she said, though it was a tough pill to swallow. A job she loved and held down for nearly four years was gone because of Preston.
Chapter 22
On a dreary Tuesday morning, Preston stood next to Tamera’s car with his hands relaxed inside of his pockets, waiting for her to come out of the building. He’d flown home last night just for this purpose – to see her, talk to her. Explain things to her.
Right on schedule, she came walking out, wearing a black pantsuit. From everything he thought she might be thinking, she looked irritated as her heels struck the pavement.
“Hi, Tamera,” he said as she approached.
Tamera remained speechless, taking a few more steps towards her car. Standing near him, she unlocked the door.
“Tamera—”
“There is absolutely nothing we have to talk about,” she said clearly.
“There is. That’s why I’m here. I know you saw that email from my sister, and—”
She held up her hand. “Save it.”
When she reached for the door handle, he touched her forearm. “Just give me a minute to explain.”
“There’s nothing to explain,” she said snatching her arm away from his grasp. “You wanted the article gone, right?”
“That’s not—”
“It’s gone,” she said, cutting him off. “I don’t need to hear any explanation from you. You can keep all your lies to yourself.”
He frowned. “I never lied to you, Tamera. If—”
“I don’t care! Just leave me alone.”
“So the time we spent together meant nothing to you?” he asked, raising his voice a little.
“It didn’t mean a thing to you. Why should it mean something to me?” She shook her head. “I’m so tired of this. I—I can’t believe how stupid I was to actually believe you liked me,” she said, batting tears away. “But I’m done. Don’t come here anymore,” she sniffled, “And don’t bother me again.” She got inside of her car and locked the doors.
Preston’s frown matured. He was more frustrated at himself than he was at her. After all, he was the connection between Tamera and Central Grub House. It didn’t matter that his sister sent the email. He needed to take responsibility to correct matters.
Walking back to his car, he got in and sat there for a moment teeming with frustration. He intended on going back to work, but knew he wouldn’t be able to get any work done today. All he could think about were the tears in Tamera’s eyes and the betrayal she must’ve felt in her heart.
Chapter 23
At home, Preston slipped into a pair of loose workout shorts and laid back on the bench in his in-home gym. With each press, he expelled angry breaths, hoping the events of the day would somehow become a distant memory. Exercise, lifting weights, helped him with job stress. However, it wasn’t proving to provide any relief when it came to matters of the heart.
He sat up, sweaty and still irritated. All he could think about was Tamera. He could see her mouth open wide as she took a bite of the fish taco they tried at the festival. He enjoyed holding her hand, eating corn with her, talking to her. She felt comfortable enough to open up to him about something terrible that had happened to her in a past relationship – how she was abused. Her ex-husband had hurt her. Was he any better?
While he didn’t
abuse her physically, he had hurt her, evidenced by the tears he saw in her eyes earlier. Tears that brought him pain. Tears that he could still see. Tears that had him too weak to pump iron right now. All he wanted to do was make things right with her.
The ringing of the doorbell took him out of his thoughts. He grabbed a towel, walked there and opened the door to a huge smile on his sister’s face.
“Oh my gosh, Preston,” she said as she invited herself in. “I would hug you but you’re all sweaty and stuff. Ew.”
Preston closed the door, then wiped his face with the towel. “Why are you so excited, Serenity?”
“It’s gone! The stupid review that Tamera girl wrote is gone. And guess what?”
“What’s that?” he said unenthusiastically.
“Her boss from Charlotte Magazine called me personally to apologize. He said Tamera admitted to making the whole thing up and they fired her!”
Preston rubbed his chin, then crossed his arms over his chest.
“I don’t know what you did, Preston, but thank you, thank you, thank you!”
Preston glared at his sister. Was she really celebrating? “Tamera didn’t make it up,” he said.
“What?” Serenity asked, looking puzzled.
“I said, she didn’t make it up. Tamera was at your restaurant and, in her opinion, the chicken sucked. She didn’t make it up.”
“But—”
“By the way, I told you to try the chicken. Did you try it?”
“Yeah. Of course,” Serenity replied.
“And how was it?”
“Um…it…um…it wasn’t that good, but it wasn’t awful,” Serenity said. “Either way it goes, Tamera didn’t try it at all. Her boss said—”
“I don’t care what her boss said, Serenity,” Preston said with a hard-edged jawline and narrowed eyes. “She didn’t make it up. It was a legitimate review and because you couldn’t handle it, you got a good woman fired from her job. And you’re celebrating because of it? You’re actually standing in my living room celebrating?”
“I don’t understand. You said you would handle it. Didn’t you do this?”
“No. I didn’t, and the only reason she lied about faking the review is because she saw the email you sent me.”
“How did she see my email?”
“Because she was with me all weekend in the Outer Banks, and I actually enjoyed every moment I spent with her. I was looking forward to continuing whatever it was we had when we were both back here, in Charlotte, but now, she wants nothing to do with me because of this silly review nonsense you got me involved in. I had my laptop open at the hotel, working on an article and somehow, she saw your email.” Preston took a breath to temper his anger. “Do me a favor, Serenity? The next time someone writes a review you don’t like, suck it up like an adult and keep it moving like everybody else does. I don’t want to hear anything about it.”
“But—”
“People have a right to their opinion. Even the best of restaurants gets bad reviews. Like, maybe it was an off night for the cook, or a waitress had a bad attitude. Or maybe the person writing the review is just a jerk. It’s out of your control. If you want to own a restaurant, this is something you have to put up with. If you want to do anything in life, you have to put up with people’s opinions. I don’t care how perfect you are, how good your business is, how much time and effort you put into something—somebody, somewhere isn’t going to like it. But are you going to let that stop you?”
“No.”
“Then stop reading the reviews and do what you love.”
“My gosh, Preston. You—you really like her, don’t you?”
“I do, but that doesn’t matter anymore now that she blames me for everything.”
“Preston, I’m sorry.”
“Is there anything else you needed? I was just about to take a shower.” He wiped sweat from his face again.
“I’m really sorry, Preston.” Serenity headed for the door, leaving with a different attitude than the cheerful one she had upon entering.
Chapter 24
She couldn’t remember the last time she went for an actual jog that didn’t involve the treadmill, but today after work, she put on her running shoes and started off with a power walk that quickly turned into a jog. For her, exercise was therapy. It helped to clear her mind of the day, especially after the inspection she performed at a new Mexican restaurant on Harris Boulevard. New restaurants were usually clean, but sometimes when you’re new and getting into the swing of things, you don’t take the time to store food properly. That was the case with Fiesta Cantina. Unfortunately, she had to give the restaurant a ‘C’ grade and if changes weren’t made in thirty days, the health department would close the restaurant down.
And she’d get the blame for it…
Having a job where people’s livelihood fell on you wasn’t the kind of job she wanted. Had she known it would be so taxing, she’d pursued writing for Charlotte Magazine full-time. Now, she didn’t have that option since she’d just got fired.
Sweat ran down her chest. She huffed, breathed heavily, but didn’t stop running. Even when she thought about the pink roses Preston had delivered to her job with a note that said, I’m sorry, she didn’t stop running.
I’m sorry…
If he didn’t feel guilty, why was he sending roses? An innocent person didn’t have anything to apologize for, did they?
She stopped jogging since she had to wait for the walk symbol at an intersection. She didn’t like this place she found herself all of a sudden – twenty-nine years old with no idea what she wanted to do with her life. For years, Tyson had wanted her to move back to the Outer Banks to be near family, and, right about now, that didn’t sound like a bad idea. She could pursue her dreams for a change instead of working full time at a job she’d grown to despise just to be able to pay bills. Life was more than paying bills and she didn’t want to be one of those people who lost themselves in striving, going overboard and breaking their backs for companies and corporations, but never taking the time to do what it was they were put on this earth to do. Her time had come.
Chapter 25
He had other business to attend to before going to the office today. Preston parked his white Tesla in front of Charlotte Magazine’s headquarters. He had to admit, their operation was much larger than his, but he wasn’t here to compare companies or see who was better than who. He was here for something a bit unconventional.
“Hi,” he said walking up to the receptionist desk.
“Good morning. How can I help you?”
“I need to speak with Tamera Alexander’s manager.”
“Oh, sir, I was just informed that Tamera Alexander no longer works for the magazine.”
“I’m aware of that,” Preston said. “Who was her manager? Was it Damien or Holly?”
The receptionist looked at him, wondering how he knew Damien and Holly.
As if reading her thoughts, Preston said, “I’m Preston Michaels. I own Charlotte Recreational. I actually know Damien and Holly. What I need to know from you is which one of them was Tamera’s immediate manager and I would need to speak with that person.”
“Okay, well, that would be Damien, and he’s…um…he’s not in yet.”
“Yo…I thought that was your car parked out front,” Damien said toting a briefcase walking up to Preston.
Preston turned towards the familiar voice, then reached to shake Damien’s hand.
“It’s not every day that the competition strolls in,” Damien said. “What brings you by? Ready to close up shop and join us?”
Preston smirked. “I was going to ask you the same thing, man.”
The men chuckled.
“But, on a more serious note, I do need to talk to you about something.”
“Okay. Follow me on back,” Damien said, walking towards his office. “So, how are things over at Charlotte Recreational?”
“It’s good. Business is great. I know we’re competitors, b
ut there’s plenty of pie to go around.”
“Yes, indeed there is.”
Once they were inside of Damien’s office, Damien said, “So, what brings you by?”
Preston sat down and said, “You recently fired Tamera Alexander.”
“I did, and since you bring it up, I’m sure you know why.”
“I do. She wrote a review on my sister’s restaurant. Central Grub House. She told you she made it up, and you fired her.”
“You know we can’t tolerate that kind of behavior, Preston. You’re in this business.”
“I understand that, Damien, but you didn’t have just cause to fire her.”
“Sure I did. She lied about a review.”
“No, she didn’t. The review was real. Everything she said about the meal and the restaurant was her honest opinion.”
“Then why did she tell me she made it up?”
“Because she knew that was the only way you would take the article down.”
Damien frowned, confused.
“My sister nearly had a stroke over Tamera’s review,” Preston explained. “She wanted me to figure out a way to get her to remove it. So, I approached Tamera about taking the article down and she informed me it couldn’t be done.”
“You’re telling me that Tamera gave up her job and discredited herself so we could remove a review?”
Preston nodded.
“Why would she do that? Do you know how many writers I have in line for that job? Why would she give it up?”
“As a way of washing her hands clean of me and my sister.”
Damien scratched his head.
“I want you to give her the job back,” Preston said.
“I don’t know if I can do that, man. Even though you’re telling me she did nothing wrong, this whole situation stinks. Holly will never go for it.”
