Authors: Rachel Astor
Calla nodded and smiled half heartedly. “Okay,” she said. “Goodnight.”
“Night.”
# # #
The next morning I stayed in bed for as long as I could possibly get away with. It was so comfortable, and even though I had been sleeping for more than eight hours, I still felt tired. I think I could have stayed there for days. But eventually I dragged myself out of bed and into the shower.
By the time I got out, I was officially running late. And of all days, I certainly didn’t want to arrive late and piss off my boss yet again.
I was getting pretty used to all the looks and stares that followed me down the street, but that day seemed even worse than usual.
That’s weird, I thought. I haven’t even been in town.
Inside my building, stares and the accompanying whispers and points loomed after me. That was also not unusual ever since the day my name had been announced on TV, but something about the looks today were different. I just couldn’t put my finger on what it was.
Inside my cubicle, which I now referred to as the safe haven, I was surprised that Mattie didn’t immediately come rushing in. Maybe he was running a little late too.
I checked my messages.
“Josie, this is Don. Please report to my office as soon as you get this,” the only message said.
That’s weird, I thought. My boss hasn’t called me into his office in ages. I wonder what he wants? Don’s office was on the top floor, which was actually nice since, he rarely lowered himself to coming down to our floor to spy on us.
I knocked lightly on his door.
“Come in!” he yelled.
“Hey boss,” I said. “You wanted to see me?”
“Yes,” he said looking at me disapprovingly. “Come in, and close the door behind you.”
I started to worry. He had never, ever asked me to close the door like that before.
“Have a seat,” he said.
I sat.
“I’m going to get straight to the point. I’ve had complaints from our client, Christian Toys. They’ve seen you all over the news and the paper, and they are not happy.”
My mouth dropped open. I thought I had been doing a good job on my campaigns.
“It’s not your work that they are concerned about. It’s all the bad press you’ve been in lately.”
“Bad press?”
He nodded. “Apparently they can’t risk being associated with someone with your reputation.”
Reputation? I thought. I hadn’t had a reputation my whole life, not even in high school. Not a scandalous one, anyway.
“I don’t understand. The press hasn’t been that bad. The worst thing was a kiss.”
Don pulled a newspaper out of his desk drawer and tossed it onto the desk in front of me.
HALL AND BRIDESMAIDS CAUGHT IN THE ACT
Jake Hall frolics in the sun with two of the Lotto Bridesmaids. Hotel staff members confirm that Jake spent not one, but two nights alone with the two Bridesmaids in their hotel room.
The article went on to explain how we had flown back to New York on Jake’s private jet and made many references hinting at a scandalous relationship between Jake, me, and Jennifer.
“As you can see, the press has not been too kind this time around. And with our client’s primary customers being churches and schools, you can see their concern.”
“But this is ridiculous, nothing was going on,” I said.
“I’m sure you can also imagine how disappointed I am that you called in sick yesterday when you were obviously away on vacation. I would have thought you’d be more careful, and I might have been able to overlook that, but unfortunately the client phoned in looking for you yesterday and were told you were out sick. And this,” he said waving towards the newspaper article, “proves that you lied about that.”
“I can’t believe this,” I whispered.
Oh my God. Is this really happening? Is Don about to… fire me?
“I’m sorry Josie, I really don’t want to have to do this, but, like I said, my hands are tied.”
The tears started to well up in my eyes.
“We’re going to have to let you go,” he said, handing me a box of Kleenex.
“This is ridiculous,” I said. “Nothing happened on that island, and I’ve been working really hard on this account.”
“I know Josie,” Don said, sounding sincere. “I wish there was some other way. We are offering you a one-month severance package and a letter of recommendation. You understand of course that if someone calls and asks us directly, we will have to disclose the full story.”
I nodded, totally in shock. The full story? What was that supposed to mean? Rumors about affairs and clients that demand that I be fired? Yeah, that’s a wonderful recommendation.
“Take a moment to compose yourself. You are free to leave the building at any time.”
Well isn’t that a nice way of saying ‘clear out as fast as you can,’ I thought.
I wiped my tears, shook my head a little to try to clear it and walked out of Don’s office, trying to hold my head high. I made my way to the elevator, my mind still racing. I’d worked for the company for five years. Now what the hell was I going to do?
My eyes were dangerously welling up again so I pushed all thoughts out of my head and concentrated only on getting my stuff together and getting out of the building without breaking down. I hoped that I wouldn’t run in to Mattie. Not that I didn’t want to see him, but I knew one look from him, and I would break down completely.
The elevator dinged. I was back on my floor. I rushed to my cubicle without making eye contact with anyone, but I could feel people staring. I just didn’t know if they were staring because they already knew I’d been fired, or if they were staring because of the horrible article from this morning. I couldn’t believe I’d let myself run so late that morning, if only I had stopped to take a quick look at the paper.
How humiliating. And now I could just see the headline for tomorrow.
Bridesmaid Gets Fired After Rumors of Three Way.
I wondered how many messages my mother had left so far. Oh God, she’d better not take away my vacation. That was the only thing in my life that was worth getting up for. Except for Jake. Unless, of course, Jake saw the article and started freaking out too.
~ 16 ~
“Oh my God Josie! What are you going to do?” Calla asked when she came home from work and found out about my day.
“I don’t know. I have a little money left from my trip. And I got a month’s severance. That can get me by for a couple of months, I think. The wedding is only a week away. I’m thinking maybe I’ll just get that over with and then worry about finding another job.”
Calla nodded.
“I don’t think I’d do so hot in a job interview right now anyway.”
“Yeah, but you worked so hard to save all that money,” she said.
“I know, but I’m hoping I’ll still get to go on the trip.”
Calla looked worried, or maybe it was doubtful. “I’m guessing your mother’s a little pissed right now?”
“I’m sure she is, but on top of all of it, I’ve been avoiding her. She doesn’t know I’ve lost my job yet. I’m guessing the paper will be kind enough to announce that tomorrow though. Well, unless ‘Entertainment News’ gets to it first.”
She just nodded again.
I’d been walking around all day with that feeling that I’d done something horrendously wrong, even though I couldn’t figure out what I could have done differently. It might have been nice to have had some encouraging words from my best friend, but instead I just got that horrible pity look that I hated so much.
“Well, this calls for some Häagen Dazs,” she said pulling her coat on. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
As soon as she shut the door behind her, the phone rang. Of course. I decided I had to stop hiding from the world at some point and answered it.
I didn’t even get to say ‘Hello.’
“Josie.” I recognized my mother’s voice, but had never heard that particular tone before. “What are you doing to me?” She sounded lost and depressed.
“Mom,” I said, not sure how to handle her in this state. “I swear, the newspaper article is complete bullshit.” I normally didn’t swear around my mother, but I thought now was a good time for as much impact as possible.
“Of course I know that dear,” she said. “But the rest of the world doesn’t know you like I do. And now, I don’t know what to do.”
“Believe me Mom, I don’t either.” My eyes began to tear again. Her compassion was taking me by surprise.
“Have you talked to Jake Hall about all this?” she asked.
“No, he’s out of town right now.”
“Good. It’s probably best not to see him again before the wedding,” she said.
“Mom, there’s something else,” I said.
“Oh God.”
“I was fired today.”
“What! Why?”
“Basically because of the article,” I said.
“Well that’s nonsense,” she said, finding a bit of her spunk. “They can’t fire you for lies like that!”
“I’ve been doing a lot of work for this Christian account, and they threatened to pull their account from our firm if the company didn’t let me go.”
“So? Doesn’t your company stand by their employees?” she said.
“Apparently not. It’s a really big account, the biggest one the company has I think.”
“Well, they can’t do this to my daughter,” she said.
“Mom, just leave it alone. I don’t want you doing anything. All the advertising companies are connected in one way or another. If I’m going to have any chance at all of finding another job in this city, I need to lay low for a while. Maybe do some work on my portfolio.”
“But…”
“Mom, I’m serious. I’m a big girl, you don’t have to fight my battles for me.”
“But I can pay for your trip and you don’t care?” she said.
Ouch. She certainly knew how to hit me where it hurt.
“You’re the one who wanted me to do this wedding thing. I didn’t ask you to pay for that trip, you offered.”
“Fine,” she said. “But could you please be a little more careful. I can only imagine what headline’s going to pop up next with my daughter’s face plastered below it.”
“I know Mom. I didn’t realize that the press were such sensationalist liars.”
“Really? You didn’t?”
“Well, maybe I did, but I’ve never had to worry about it before. Believe me, I have a new-found respect for people who have to go through this all the time.”
“Me too,” she said. “Just be alert every time you leave the house. I really don’t think I can take anything else.”
“I will mother,” I said rolling my eyes.
Like
I
could take anything else. What is it about parents and having to point out the obvious to their kids no matter how old they are?
“I’ll speak to you later,” she said and hung up.
A few minutes later, Calla was back. We dug in to the ice cream.
“You realize we were doing this exact same thing when the announcement was first made,” I said.
“Oooh, yeah. Maybe we should change the station away from ‘Entertainment News.’”
“Eh, I’m actually kind of curious if they’re going to break the news of me being fired,” I said.
“You sure are taking all of this fairly well,” Calla said.
“Only on the outside, Cal. Only on the outside.”
The truth was that I was actually calmer than I should have been considering the situation. Until that day, I couldn’t even imagine being fired.
Maybe I was still in shock.
Then just when I thought my day couldn’t get any worse…
“Tonight on ‘Entertainment News,’ does he want a Bridesmaid or an old maid?” the reporter began. “Jake Hall seen partying with the forty-one year old costar of his new movie ‘A Dangerous Affair.’”
The video had captured Jake dancing very close to his very famous costar who certainly did not look all her forty-one years. Mitzi Golden was notorious for having affairs with her costars and it had been rumored months ago that her and Jake had a fling. On the footage they were looking very cozy.
Calla’s gaze was bouncing back and forth from the TV to me.
“Well, isn’t that just a fabulous end to a fabulous day,” I finally said.
“You know, it actually doesn’t look that bad. I mean, look at how crowded that club is. I’m sure they had to dance that close together.”
I nodded, but wasn’t sure if I totally agreed. It looked like there might be an inch or two behind Mitzi that she could have stepped into.
“And besides, she could have been trying to come on to him and the cameras just happened to catch it. Doesn’t mean he was interested. I mean, they always put the most scandalous footage they can get.”
“That’s true,” I said thinking back to the photo on this morning’s paper.