The Neighbor Favor(70)
“So that kiss—” she started.
Lily laughed, and Nick did too.
“I’m sorry again,” he said. “The way I handled the situation was weak. It was cowardly to leave without saying goodbye to you.”
She glanced down, smoothing out her dress. “I think we should just focus on being friends. I’d like for us to be able to do that.” She looked up at him. “Would you?”
“Yes,” he said quickly. “I would.”
“Okay. And no more wedding-date stuff either. I can take care of that on my own.”
He nodded. On one hand, he was proud of her for taking control of this situation. She was still so determined for her sisters to stay out of her love life. But on the other hand, he felt shitty because he was supposed to help her find someone else, to help her find happiness, and instead he’d only screwed things up and gotten in the way.
“Of course you can do it on your own. I’m sorry I wasn’t much help.”
“It’s okay.” She shifted so that she was facing him. “I actually had a date tonight. But I had to cancel, obviously, because of Tomcat.”
Nick froze. His stomach clenched. Casually, he said, “Oh yeah, with who?”
“My new coworker. It’s kind of weird, actually. Physically, he looks how I pictured that guy I was emailing with last year might look. I think I told you about him? The guy who ghosted me.”
Nick gulped. “I remember.”
“Yeah, he’s British too, and the guy I had been emailing with was British.” She brushed her hair behind her ear. “Anyway, Oliver—that’s my coworker’s name—had tickets to a comedy show, and I feel really bad about not being able to make it.”
Fuck.
Fuck shit fuck.
Who the fuck was this Oliver dude?
But why did Nick care? This was none of his business! It was a good thing that Lily met someone else. Someone better than him. That way he couldn’t hurt her, and she’d never have to find out that he was the one she’d been emailing.
He should be happy.
He was miserable.
He forced a smile anyway.
“Are you going to reschedule your date?” he asked.
“I don’t see why not.” She shrugged and tilted her head, looking at him. “But back to you and me. Are we cool?”
It took all of Nick’s willpower to nod in agreement. “We’re cool.”
He was determined to do right by her.
Even if that meant breaking his own heart in the process.
16
Lily should have known that bad news was coming her way, given how Edith stormed into the office that morning after her monthly breakfast with Christian Wexler. Edith didn’t spare Lily a glance or even ask her for a cup of coffee. She simply slammed her door, and for an entire hour and a half, she could be heard banging things around inside of her office. Lily didn’t want to get involved. She was due to meet Dani and Oliver in the lobby at noon for lunch, which was a miracle in and of itself, because Dani rarely followed through on plans. Lily suspected it might have more to do with Dani’s wanting to get to know Oliver, but she was glad to have a reason to spend an hour away from her desk, and if she called attention to herself, Edith might make the prospect of Lily leaving for lunch impossible. But she was anxious to know what Christian might have said to make Edith more upset than usual.
At eleven forty-five a.m., she knocked on Edith’s door and poked her head inside her office. She was stunned to find Edith sitting at her desk with red puffy eyes, staring off into space.
Lily stepped inside and closed the door behind her. “Edith, what’s wrong?”
“Hello, Lily,” Edith said, sitting up straighter. “Come sit down. We have some things to discuss.”
Lily’s stomach tumbled in anxiety as she took the seat across from Edith. Was Edith being fired? Was Lily being fired? Her palms were already drenched in sweat.
“Christian is hiring a new copublisher to help me run the imprint,” Edith said. “Her name is Bernice Gilman, and she’s currently the editor in chief of lifestyle and nonfiction at Welford Press. Christian will make the announcement next week and Bernice will begin working with us in September.”
“Oh.” Lily blinked. She wasn’t familiar with Bernice Gilman, but Welford Press was one of M&M’s biggest competitors. It most likely meant that Christian had poached her.
“Yes. At breakfast he told me that Bernice will bring a ‘fresh perspective’ to the imprint, as if we needed a new perspective in the first place! How insulting. It’s as if he’s hired a babysitter to keep me in check.” Edith took a deep breath and released it with a shudder. “We’ll be doubling the number of books we publish each season, now that Bernice is joining us.”
Lily stared. “Is Bernice bringing an assistant with her?”
“No.” Edith gave her a look like that was the silliest question she could have asked. “You’ll be assisting both of us.”
“What?”
The dull pain of a tension headache began to spread across Lily’s forehead.
“Now my imprint will publish books about yoga and smoothies, and whatever else your generation is obsessed with. It’s ridiculous! And Christian wants me to sign up books about technology and . . . and carbon footprints or some such nonsense. You’ll have to work on those. I won’t touch them, I swear. My poor father is probably turning over in his grave!”