I was saying no, wasn’t I?
I mean, four weeks! That was a long time to never come up for air. There would be no way to do any of my usual work stuff in that scenario. I’d just have to wear girlfriend clothes and do girlfriend things and be … trapped behind that facade. I couldn’t be that passive. I’d been stuck in limbo for so long. I needed to work, and I needed to do my job, and then I needed to be done and get out of here. With each coping mechanism this situation took away, I was dying a little more.
I could feel my shark gills gasping.
I needed to make my world bigger, not smaller. I needed to go far away, not get further trapped in this same spot. I needed to resuscitate my real life, not double down on a fake one.
Time to shut this conversation down.
“We can talk to Glenn,” I said, “but it’s still a no.”
* * *
“IT’S A YES,” Glenn said, even after I vociferously, passionately, and very articulately objected to Connie Stapleton’s wishes.
We met in the security HQ in Jack’s garage. The whole team showed up—including Robby now—except for Taylor.
Who I hadn’t seen since I’d watched her smooching my ex-boyfriend. And who I would happily never see again, if I could swing it.
But that was something to obsess over later.
Right now I was busy fighting a losing battle.
It wasn’t that my opinion didn’t matter. It just didn’t matter more than anybody else’s.
“Think of it like a paid vacation,” Glenn said.
“You say that like it’s a good thing.”
“I don’t see that there’s a decision to be made here,” Amadi said. “She took the job. The situation has evolved. But that doesn’t change our responsibility toward the principal.”
“I didn’t take the job on purpose,” I said.
“That’s a lot of negativity right there,” Doghouse said.
“I signed up to protect him, not live with him,” I said.
Kelly was positively offended by my hesitation. “Do you know how many people would sell their souls to live in that gorgeous ranch house for a month with Jack Stapleton? It was featured in House Beautiful.”
“What am I supposed to do for four weeks if I have to stay in character twenty-four seven?”
“Umm…” Kelly said. “Enjoy it?”
I argued and argued, but I couldn’t convince them how suffocating this would be for me. Everybody, without exception, thought it sounded fun.
The consensus really did solidify pretty fast: I was being ridiculous. I needed to appreciate my good fortune. And suck it up. And stop whining.
In the face of all that unanimousness, there really wasn’t much I could say.
Glenn was loving it, too. “This is your chance to show me your stuff for London,” he said.
But it wasn’t funny. This was my life. “What stuff?” I demanded. “Nothing about this will show anybody any stuff! It’s just forced seclusion with—”
“The Sexiest Man Alive,” Kelly finished.
Glenn thought it was all endlessly funny. “Strategy, flexibility, innovation,” he said then, to answer my question. “Plus, maybe most crucial: that all-important leadership quality of being willing to take one for the team.”
“Fine,” I said. But I let myself pout a little.
“Be nice to poor Jack,” Glenn finally said. “He can’t help it that he’s handsome.”
* * *
AFTER FINALLY LOSING the argument spectacularly in a vote of everybody-else-to-one, I decided to step out for some air.
I needed a minute.
And that’s when, out in the circular drive, I ran into Taylor—arriving late.
She slowed to a stop when she saw me. Now that I knew the situation, her body language was unmistakable: The downcast eyes of guilt. The tight shoulders of shame. The shallow breaths of betrayal.
How had I missed it before?
I’d been blinded by warmth and trust and affection. By the idea of what a friend should be.
It’s so easy to see what you expect to see.
I narrowed my eyes into a glare, but it was too dark for her to notice.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
“Uh. Coming to work?”
“You’re late.”
“Yeah. Traffic.”
“Is that a lie?”
“A lie? No. There was traffic.”
I could hear it in her voice now. She knew something was up.
“Everybody’s inside,” I said, tipping my head toward the garage. “In the surveillance room. The room where we monitor all the surveillance footage.”