Camera Shy (Lessons in Love, #1)(114)

“Maybe just throw a crop top on over it. Like take a T-shirt and just put it over your bra and tie the ends.” She demonstrates a knot with her hands like it’s a foreign concept to me. “You’ll feel even more comfortable.”

“Thanks, Palmer. Real supportive,” I mutter bitterly and pick up a makeup brush and passive-aggressively stab the bristles into the glitter pot too hard. Pink and silver shimmer goes flying all over the bathroom countertop and the bottom of my phone that’s propped against the container of cotton swabs.

“Come on. I’m not saying you look bad. It’s just…”

I exhale and meet her eyes on the screen. “It’s what?”

“You’re changing, a lot.”

“And?” I’m not doing a good job hiding the irritation in my voice.

Palmer rolls her eyes at my tone. “I mean, I know you, Aves. You’ve been my best friend for twenty years, so I can say with full confidence that you, the real you, is pretty incredible. I don’t want you to change your entire identity because Mason wasn’t the one. You are perfect for someone. And I just don’t think that someone is going to want you to dress up like a mermaid slut and party at a strip club.”

I deadpan. “Slut?”

She holds up her hands in surrender. “Sorry! Poor word choice. You get what I’m trying to say. You’re just not Vegas, you’re not going out, you’re Avery. You’re cuddles on the couch, and ranch and chips for dinner, and the most intelligent, kind human being I know. You deserve everything, Aves.”

As per usual, Palmer’s loving and supportive message is wrapped in her candy coating of sass and judgment, but the core is sweet at least.

I gesture to my cleavage on display. “This isn’t the norm. I’m the one who wanted to go to this party. Finn… I don’t know, Palmer, there’s something between us and I think it’s real.”

She turns up her lip like she smells something rancid. “Real? You and the strip club owner? Come on.”

“He’s a photographer—a really good photographer,” I say, grabbing the aerosol hairspray and spraying it into my palm. I dab the liquid by the sides of my eyes before using the makeup brush to deposit a healthy coat of glitter where my eyeliner ends. I’ll be damned. It actually works; the glitter is glued in place. All courtesy of Lennox’s genius. “He wants me to move here to be with him and give our relationship a real chance.”

“Stop. What the fuck?” Palmer asks, her eyes popping into wide circles. “You’re not—”

“I am. If I get the Legacy Resorts job, I’m moving to Vegas.”

The job is almost guaranteed.

My hunch was more than spot-on. Once I dug into the board members’ financials, it was very clear what Legacy’s main issue is…

They have a rat.

The member most adamant about selling the company and getting everyone to rally behind him happens to be a major investor in Legacy’s direct competition. My big presentation transformed from a pitch to a witch hunt. Once I tell the executive team and other board members what Mr. Wallace Frank has been up to, he’ll be voted off the board and Legacy can start fresh with a supportive team and a solid new branding vision.

My vision.

I bite the inside of my cheek and brace myself, preparing for the snarky remark that’s about to come out of Palmer’s mouth, but instead, there are only tears.

“Palmer?” I ask.

She shakes her head and sniffles.

“Palmer…what’s wrong?” My tone softens as I watch her eyes fill and her cheeks turn blotchy red.

“It’s just great to know that I’m losing my job, my home, and my best friend all at the same time.”

“What? That assistant actually got you fired? Because that’s not—”

Palmer shakes her head again. “No. The show didn’t end up getting picked up. The network changed its mind last minute. They’ll have my final check tomorrow and then we’re done. I was going to tell you this weekend.”

The way her head is hung makes my stomach twist. I hate seeing Palmer like this. Her sass and snark are a wall she’s built up after years of rejection in an industry based on luck and endless ladders. An industry that’s been rejecting her for a decade now.

“Palmer… I’m so sorry, friend. What do you need from me?”

“Anything? Even if it’s much too much to ask?”

I nod assuredly. “Absolutely.”

“Will you come get me? I don’t want to make the drive back alone. I know you have connections in the airline industry. Could you get a last-minute flight—”

“Yes. I’ll get on a flight tomorrow night. You can come to Cancun with me, okay? They booked me a couple’s suite, but there’s no way in hell I’m sharing that with Mason. Do you want to be my date?”

Hunter with Legacy Resorts made the incorrect assumption that Mason and I are still a couple, so he had his assistant arrange a honeymoon suite at Legacy’s Cancun resort. I politely told Mason I was keeping the luxury suite, and he needed to find elsewhere to bunk for the presentation. I actually was going to surprise Finn with a last-minute invitation, but Palmer clearly needs the distraction. She can get tan and drunk in Mexico while I secure Arrow Consulting’s future.