Carly let herself into her office, her favorite place to sit and learn her lines. Well, back when she had lines to learn. In place of the work she wished she was doing, she spent the next hour watching the trees rustle back and forth. She felt unimportant and embarrassed.

“You okay in here?” Lauren asked from the doorway sometime later. She’d changed into pants, a black pullover, and short boots with a low heel. She looked fantastic, like she was ready to take on the world, which likely meant she was meeting with someone or had papers to sign on the Hennessy deal. God. Was this Carly’s life now? She’d watch Lauren head out into the world, landing one new job after another, while she sat home and remembered when that used to be her? Her soul ached, and she took a moment to answer.

“I’m okay. Really. You look nice.”

“You don’t look it, Carly. Will you talk to me?”

How in the world was she supposed to explain that she was devastated but felt like a complete ass for it? That she wished Lauren the best but not if it came at a price like this one? That wasn’t okay. As selfish as Carly had been in the past, even she knew that much. “I’m happy for you, I am. But I think the timing of all your success up against my complete and utter failure is not the most ideal, you know?”

Lauren nodded solemnly. “I get it. I hate it.” She looked around, surely feeling helpless and guilty about what should have only been fantastic news. What a pair they were. “Do you want me to go? Leave you alone?”

Carly looked up at Lauren, feeling vulnerable as hell. Why did it have to play out this way? Lauren felt a million miles away, and Carly had no fucking clue how to fix that. She needed to be big and mature and an adult about this, but as hard as she tried, she couldn’t muster the ingredients. “Don’t you have somewhere to be?” She blinked at Lauren, and inclined her head toward the new outfit.

“Oh. Um, Rick has requested a meeting to talk through some character stuff. I can’t imagine it will go too long.”

Carly nodded. She knew production would start soon, and Rick was likely dotting his i’s and crossing his t’s. “Go. Enjoy yourself. I’m being an idiot, and you definitely don’t deserve to sit in on it.”

“Maybe I want to.”

“Well, you can’t have everything you want, Lauren.” She hated the sentence the second it left her lips. This wasn’t who Carly wanted to be, and yet, it was who she was becoming. “I’m sorry. See? You should go before it gets worse. None of this is your fault.”