He just had to let it out.

“There’s going to be a story coming out soon—Kara just got a call about it—about your arrest as a teenager. We’re saying ‘No comment’, and you should do that, too, or just don’t say anything at all, but Olivia, I’m so sorry.”

“Sorry” seemed like such an inadequate word.

“I see. Okay. That’s …” She was quiet for a moment. “Okay. I thought the worst was over, that’s all. And this timing couldn’t be worse, our big pitch to Clementine is tomorrow.” She sighed. “Damn it. I wish you were here.”

She sounded so stunned. He’d never heard her like this before.

“I wish I was there, too. This is all my fault. I hate that you’re going to have to deal with this because of me.”

He really should have thought of this. Why did he have to do it all so fast? This was what he had staff for, damn it.

“It’s not your fault,” she said. “I should have assumed someone would be nosy and dig this up. I guess I just wasn’t thinking.”

Fuck, he had to tell her this part, too.

“I have to apologize: I never told my staff about this, and I should have. They would have prepped you—us—for all of this.”

There was a long silence on the phone. So long he wasn’t sure if she was still there.

“Olivia?”

“Yeah, I’m here,” she said. “I’m just … kind of stunned. You didn’t tell them? I thought you talked to your staff before the Hollywood Bowl? Didn’t you think they should know this? My God, I would have told Kara if I knew you hadn’t!”

He had nothing to say. Well, nothing good to say, anyway.

“I hoped no one would have to know. I didn’t want you to have to deal with all of this. I did talk to my staff—well, Kara—but … obviously not enough.”

She laughed, but there was no amusement there.

“Yeah, obviously. Okay, well, I guess I’ll just see what this story is, and figure out how to deal with it.”

He hated that it was only Tuesday. He wouldn’t get to see her until Friday night. She was so mad at him, and there was nothing he could do, and he felt like if he was there and they could talk about it and maybe she could yell at him some, they could resolve this a lot faster.

“Can Kara call you? She’s as mad at me as you are, but she’ll be able to give you good advice on how to deal with everything.”

Olivia sighed.

“Yeah, that’s a good idea. Have her call me.”