“Anyway.” I stretched out the word long enough to turn it into a verbal eye roll. “I’d do whatever I had to if it meant I could go after my dreams, and it’s not like the Ganas brand couldn’t use some goodwill.” That last bit I would’ve never uttered had I not been planning to peace out in the next couple of weeks. “The show does a lot of renos for deserving families or for nonprofits,” I said pointedly. Theo was a very conscientious businessman, but his dad had been kind of a weasel landlord for a while. Only in the last decade, since Theo and Cecilia had taken on more of the day-to-day, had they managed to clean up the man’s bad reputation. “It could help with the family image.”

A raised eyebrow was all I got back.

“What do I have this morning?” he asked, clearly done with my hot takes. I smothered the nasty comment begging to come out and dove into my boss’s very complex schedule. Twenty minutes later we were done and the last item on my to-do list for the morning was still glaring at me like a beacon on the screen.

I quit.

My breath started coming a little short as I prepared myself to say the words. Tremors coursing through my body as they did when I was stuck somewhere too cold without a jacket. I clenched my teeth to keep them from chattering, tapped on the Instagram icon on the home screen and glanced at my latest Bookish Boudoir post in an effort to bolster myself.

“Anything else?” The undisguised impatience in his voice made me look up.

“Mr. Ga—” The constriction in my chest was hard to speak through, but I managed. “Theo, I have something to tell you.”

He shifted his body so that he was not fully facing away from me, which I took as his way of saying go ahead.

I opened my mouth and a cough came out. My body still trying its best to sabotage me.

“I...um. I...” I scrambled, my brain suddenly foggy. I was nauseous from nerves.

“You?” he asked impatiently, turning his hand around in a wheel, which honestly did nothing to help me focus.

You’re ready for this, I told myself as I tried to conjure up the sketches I’d done for my upcoming makeover, a bedroom inspired by Bridgerton. I was already in business, I just needed to own it. And even if I was throwing up in my mouth a little this was the right decision. Yeah, he would be pissed, but he could find someone else to make him his copies and handle his biscotti order.

“I wanted to let you know that I have decided to...” I clamped my mouth shut, reconsidering how much information to divulge. “After I come back from my vacation...”