BooksBarbecue
Back First Comes Love
Chapters (92)
  1. First
  2. Love Connection
  3. Zero
  4. One
  5. Two
  6. Three
  7. Four
  8. Five
  9. Six
  10. Seven
  11. Eight
  12. Nine
  13. Ten
  14. Eleven
  15. One Month Later
  16. Twelve
  17. Thirteen
  18. Fourteen
  19. Fifteen
  20. Six Months Later
  21. Sixteen
  22. Seventeen
  23. Eighteen
  24. Nineteen
  25. Twenty
  26. Twenty-one
  27. Twenty-two
  28. Twenty-three
  29. Twenty-four
  30. Six Months Later
  31. Twenty-five
  32. Twenty-six
  33. Twenty-seven
  34. Twenty-eight
  35. Twenty-nine
  36. Thirty
  37. Thirty-one
  38. Thirty-two
  39. Thirty-three
  40. I Have Never
  41. One
  42. Two
  43. Three
  44. Four
  45. Five
  46. Six
  47. Seven
  48. Eight
  49. Nine
  50. Ten
  51. Eleven
  52. Twelve
  53. Thirteen
  54. Fourteen
  55. Fifteen
  56. Sixteen
  57. Seventeen
  58. Eighteen
  59. Nineteen
  60. Twenty
  61. Twenty-one
  62. Twenty-two
  63. A Christmas Date
  64. One
  65. Two
  66. Three
  67. Four
  68. Five
  69. Six
  70. Seven
  71. Eight
  72. Nine
  73. Ten
  74. Eleven
  75. Twelve
  76. Thirteen
  77. Fourteen
  78. Fifteen
  79. Sixteen
  80. Seventeen
  81. Eighteen
  82. Nineteen
  83. Twenty
  84. Twenty-one
  85. Twenty-two
  86. Note from the Author
  87. Sneak Peek – To the Stars and Back
  88. Two
  89. Three
  90. Four
  91. Also by Camilla Isley
  92. About the Author

“I honestly don’t see what you’re trying to accomplish with this sterile polemic.”

“I’m trying to say that this company doesn’t encourage people to bring forward ideas, it forces them to kill stories to keep easy advertising money flowing in.”

“Blair, let me be perfectly clear. This is a unique opportunity. You blew your first chance at a serious career and were lucky enough to get a second, which doesn’t happen very often and wasn’t the wisest idea in the first place if you ask me… You won’t get a third.”

Oh, she’s just confirmed my worst fears. Someone higher up forced Emilia’s hand, but she never wanted to offer me the job. The Talent Manager Coordinator hates me. Which means she’d try to make my head roll every chance she got. Another good reason not to come back.

I stand up. “No, Emilia. I’d like to be perfectly clear. You screwed up your first chance by promoting the wrong person for the wrong reasons. This was your second chance, and you blew it. Sorry, you won’t get a third. Goodbye.”

I don’t wait for a reply, I simply show myself out of the witch’s office. Humph, goodbye. There should be a better word. I don’t want to wish her goodbye, I want to say bad-bye. In the long elevator ride down, I envision a whole article on the topic.

Title: The Power of Bad-Bye

Subtitle: When Enough Is Enough

In the lobby, I give back my pass, hardly paying attention, already typing the first paragraph of the article in my head. With no regrets, I walk out of Évoque for the last time.

***

That afternoon I knock on Richard’s door as soon as I get into the office.

Richard lifts his eyes from a document, and a deep frown appears as he spots me standing behind the glass. He waves me in with a dismissive flick of his fingers.

Uh-oh.

This is the first time I’ve approached him since our fight on Sunday and he gives me attitude? I thought we could defuse the situation and at least try to be civil to each other. After this morning, I have a deeper appreciation of the trust Richard has put in me. Sadly, only professionally. I’ve also realized I love the work I’m doing here and that I want to keep doing it regardless of my personal feelings for the boss. But if he wants to give me attitude, I can give attitude right back.

“What do you want?” Richard fires at me.

“Hello, good afternoon to you, too,” I snap back.

“Yeah, exactly. Afternoon. Glad you finally decided to show up.”

“I texted you to say I needed the morning off.”

He pierces me with an angry look. “And why was that?”

I stare at him, frozen.

Does he know about the job interview? How could he?