“Oh, right,” he says. “Well, we can just add a hood to the hole part.”
Perfect. So now the hole in the hammock under one’s butt has a mysterious bowl of fabric beneath it. No one will ever mistake this for a toilet…
I glance up at the clock on the wall, both surprised and relieved to find that it’s just past noon, which means that Pitch Fest is over for the day.
“I’ve got to head out to a lunch meeting,” I say, standing up and grabbing my phone and notepad off the conference room table. “But see what you can do about adding a hood then come see me again.”
Sid nods enthusiastically.
Rule number one of Pitch Fest: never turn down anyone’s idea. It may seem like the worst idea on the planet, but sometimes it just needs a little tweaking to become something great. Plus, maybe I’m wrong about some of them. Maybe there’s a big untapped market for glow-in-the-dark camouflage pants, even if I wouldn’t be caught dead in them.
I take the stairs back to the tenth floor and round the corner to my office. When I see Rachel and Sophia sitting across from Margot at her desk, I stop dead in my tracks.
It shouldn’t be this jarring to see the two women talking, but my stomach gives an uneasy tilt. My hand automatically lifts to loosen the collar of my dress shirt, only to find the top button already undone, like always. I clear my throat, accidentally drawing their attention to me while I’m still standing there, looking very caught off guard.
Rachel and I made lunch plans for noon, but I didn’t expect her to show up early, or to find her chatting with Margot like old friends.
“Uncle Ethan!” Sophia declares, little legs dangling frantically as she scoots off her chair and rushes over to me.
I bend to give her a hug but can’t stop my eyes from shifting back to the two women sitting at the desk. Rachel flashes the same tight, slightly awkward smile that I always get from her, but it’s Margot’s expression that keeps me on edge. The subtle tilt of her head and narrowing of her eyes. Was it somethingRachel said, or does Margot just sense my unease? Our gaze stays locked on each other for a few long beats then falls away when Sophia starts giving me an enthusiastic update on Gumball.
“She’s obsessed with that hamster,” Rachel turns to say to Margot with a quiet laugh.
Margot smiles back, finally tearing her gaze away from me. “Well, it’s a very cute hamster.”
Rachel’s brow creases. “You met Gumball?”
The question isn’t really whether Margot met Gumball, it’swhereMargot met Gumball. Margot senses it as much as I do. She sits up a little straighter, her calm, even smile never faltering, even as she throws me under the bus.
“Ethan brought Gumball to work.”
Rachel’s head swings towards me. “You did?”
“Long story,” I say. Honestly, it’s a story I was hoping not to tell. I don’t need the entire world to know that I failed at caring for a creature smaller than a travel-sized deodorant. “I’ll tell you over lunch. Let me grab my keys.”
As I head towards my office, I hear Margot excuse herself. A moment later, she arrives at my desk right behind me, watching as I swap my notepad for my car keys in the top drawer of my desk.
“Everything okay?” she asks.
“Yeah, I’m just worn out from Pitch Fest.”
“That bad?” Margot scrunches up her face.
“Remind me to tell you about the toilet hammock when I get back.”
Margot laughs, easy, casual. The weight on my chest lifts a little. If Rachel had just spilled my deepest, darkest secret to her, Margot wouldn’t be in my office laughing over a toilet hammock. No, she’d be slamming the door behind her and laying intome. Margot may be quiet, but she isn’t someone who tolerates bullshit.
Which is why I need to tell her the truth about Rachel and Sophia. She deserves the truth, even if it’s difficult to talk about.
I’ll tell her soon… just not right now.
23
Margot
On Thursday afternoon, I’m pulled inside a small supply closet on the way back to my desk after a meeting.
“What the—” is all I manage to squeak out before the door closes behind me, leaving me blind and flailing in a cramped room that smells vaguely of crisp paper and lemon disinfectant.