Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Cassie

The air was charged with an electric rush, and I stared with my heart in my mouth, looking between Tatiana and Parker.

“Wait,” I said, barely breathing out the word. “Please don’t let me break up the leadership here.”

Parker barely even seemed to react. “You’d give me a whole two weeks’ notice? That’s generous. I always kind of thought you’d just quit on the spot one day.”

“I’m serious, Parker,” Tatiana said. “I’ve put a lot into this company. I can’t stand by and watch you dismantle it.”

“I’m really sorry,” I said, looking down. “It’s okay. We don’t have to do this.”

“Nah, you can quit,” Parker said, pulling a piece off her cinnamon bun and eating it absently, but it sent my heartrate to the moon. Tatiana was going to hate me. Everyone else in the company was going to hate me. And if this didn’t work, Parker would hate me.

“Parker,” I pleaded, turning to her.

“I’m not bluffing.” Tatiana leaned across the table, folding her arms on top.

“Yeah, I know,” Parker said. “Any idea where you’ll go instead? I’ll write you a letter of recommendation if you like, but I’ll warn you it’s going to end with then she left because things were hard and that’s probably not the most glowing recommendation, so maybe just go without?”

Tatiana was quiet for a long time before she dropped her gaze. “I was offered a position somewhere else already.”

This was really happening. I wanted to break down crying on the table. I’d been picturing something fun, me and Parker just having a good time building a social brand together. This was really the note we were starting on?

“If Tatiana’s going to leave over this, I don’t want to do it anymore,” I said, my voice quiet, but it took me by surprise that I was able to will up the strength to even say it—to voice that crushing unease in my stomach. But Parker waved me off, fixing her gaze on Tatiana.

“Nah. You shouldn’t feel guilty. It’s not your fault Tat’s going to ditch us for Gary instead.”

“What?” I looked between them, an anxious flutter in my heart. Tatiana held Parker’s stare for a minute before she dropped her gaze to the table.

“I turned them down on the spot,” Tatiana said. “I told them I wasn’t going to betray my company. But now it feels like my company’s betraying me.”

“Yeah, I see how it is,” Parker said, slurping absentmindedly at her coffee. “You’ve been brooding over this offer and just waiting for a grievance. Then you can finally convince yourself it’s not your fault for going.” She waved Tatiana off. “I don’t think you’ll exactly do the best work for us if you’re looking for an opportunity to join our competition. No need for two weeks’ notice then. That’d really be a conflict of interest.”

“Parker,” I said, but that was all the words I could get out, feeling like I was swirling lost in a vortex, my head spinning.

“Of course you’re not even bothered,” Tatiana sighed. “You’ve never really given a damn about this company. It’s worked out because you’ve never had competition. Now that you do, it’s becoming painfully obvious how much you just don’t give a damn and you think it’s cool that you don’t. Well, for some of us, a job is more than just a way to get… to get spending money to take out girls.” She stood up, pushing her chair out backwards. “Express has been my livelihood. And I’m not about to watch that go down in smoke because you got a cool idea and decided to throw all of us to the wolves for it.”

“Do yourself a favor and take the elevator on the way back down,” Parker said, checking her phone. “Thirty stories is too much for stairs. Sorry. Twenty-nine.”

Tatiana stared at her for the longest time before she shook her head, letting out a heavy sigh, the kind of sigh that said full paragraphs without a word. “I always knew it would end like this,” she said, picking up her coffee. “Well… thanks for the last few years, Parker. Been nice working with you.”

“I’ll hire you back once Morning Magic goes under,” Parker said, waving her off. “At a much lower rate, of course. You’ve been pricey.”

Tatiana didn’t even look at her, just marching out of the café, her footsteps ringing down the halls. I felt like I was the one who’d just lost my top employee, sitting there at the side of the table with my blood pumping in my ears and no other sound in the world. My vision was out of focus, and it felt like I was miles away looking in through a clouded glass window.

“The coffee here isn’t bad,” Parker said, sipping at it again. “It’s overextracted, though.”

“Are you serious?” I said, breathless as I turned to her.

“Yeah. Their machine looked like a lousy riff off the La Marzocco machines, without any real way to dial in. Bet you twenty bucks they just have an arbitrary really specific process to get the coffee vaguely close to dialed in, and nobody knows what’s really going on.”

“That’s—cool and all, but that’s not what I was referring to, Parker,” I said. “You just fired Tatiana over this?”

She scrunched up her face in thought. “Was that a firing? I can’t tell if she was fired or quit just now.”

“Oh my god. Stop missing the point.”

Parker sipped at her drink. “It’s fine. We need to be leaner right now to make quicker, bigger decisions. Tat did us a lot of good, but no point trying to squeeze tighter on her, especially if she’s already looking for an excuse to go to the competitor.”

“But…” I sank back in my seat, willing back the tears. I could feel them burning behind my eyes, but I could not cry right now.

“Hey… Unicorn. Cass.” She set down her drink, turning to me, and she did what she never did—she put her hand on top of mine, and she gave me a sincere expression. “It’s not your fault. Okay? Tatiana was waiting for her chance to go.”

I knew she was doing it to make me feel better, to make me not cry, but all it did was break down the flimsy little wall I’d put up. I sniffled, feeling the tears burn. “I don’t want to screw things up for you.”

“You didn’t. You didn’t do anything wrong.” She paused. “Except making me take the stairs.”

I choked on a sob. “I bought you a cinnamon roll to make up for that.”

“And so it is forgiven, but not forgotten.” She squeezed my hand. “Express is going to do great.”

“How can you say that? I feel like I just killed it all.”

She grinned. “Because whatever happens, it’s going to be a blast.”

I blinked. A tear burned its way hot down my cheek. “Are you serious?”

“Oh yeah. You’ve got to fall in love with the ups and downs in my industry.”

“When do the ups happen?”

She laughed. “Great question.”

I stared at her for the longest time before I shook my head. “Parker… you’re just putting on a nice front to make me feel better, aren’t you?”

She scowled. “Don’t you dare ever accuse me of being nice again.”

I laughed, wiping a tear from my eye. “Oh, of course. I wouldn’t dream of it.”

“Come on.” She squeezed my hand. “We’ll figure out a partnership thing for ourselves, and it’ll be amazing.”

I took a long, shaky breath, steadying myself. “Okay. All right. So… what do we do, then?”

She grinned. “Break shit.”

“That awful saying again.”

“Leave my saying alone.” She went back to her cinnamon roll, taking a bite and chewing it slowly. “Hey, Unicorn. How do you get famous on Instagram?”

“Uh…” I chewed my lip, staring out the window, looking over the sprawling cityscape of Port Andrea below. “Depends. There’s a few options.”

“List me a couple.”

“Thirst-trapping.”

Parker seemed to genuinely think it over for a second. “Am I hot enough?”

I beamed. “Of course, Parker.”

“If you’d said no, I would have done it. Other options.”

I should have said no. I would definitely have followed a Parker Ferris thirst-trap account. “Engage with an active community, I guess. Interact a lot. Give to the community where you can. Develop a memorable and meaningful personal brand.”

She chewed her cheek. “Let’s get famous on Instagram.”

“I never would have pictured you as a clout-chaser.”

“Look, it’s for business,” she said, waving me off. “We’ll turn Express trendy. Even if the very idea makes me want to vomit.”

I stared for a second, feeling a smile blossom over my face. “You… you want to work together on building a social brand and making it trendy?”

“Do not sound so excited. You’re making me regret it already.”

I was excited. Maybe Gary had been right about one thing—I was feeling bored and burned out on my social page. Bringing Parker on board to promote Express would be like rocket fuel for my enthusiasm.

“Well, better start regretting it now,” I laughed, “because I’m excited. I already have so many ideas.”

“Dear lord. Dare I ask what?”

“Oh, you’ll like them. We’ll start on my page and branch out from there. I’ve been a little disconnected from the community lately, so we’ll kickstart that again with both of us, make connections with the Port Andrea food and lifestyle crowd.”

“I regret asking. I regret moving to this city, actually.”

“We’ll really work out a personal brand for us. I’m thinking something like… bold action. Chase your dreams?” I put a finger to my chin. “That works with your god-awful saying.”

“We’re keeping the saying intact.”

I laughed. “I think this is amazing. It’s going to work great. Oh, and tomorrow morning, you’re going to join me for my morning-miracle routine.”

“All right,” she sighed, and she took a bite of my cinnamon roll before she choked on it. “I’m sorry—back up. What is this you think I’m going to do, again?”

I laughed. “The morning-miracle routine.”

“No. I have no idea what it entails, but no.”

“Come on,” I laughed. “It’ll be fun. I’ll make a morning person of you yet.”

“You will not. You absolutely will not. I refuse. I refuse as hard as humanly possible. I will make a running long jump and break through the window and fall to my death before I let you make a morning person of me.”

I hummed to myself. “I think I will.”

“No. I refuse to do it.”

I reached over and squeezed her hand—she’d broken the touch barrier and honestly didn’t seem to mind, and I was touchy-feely, so it was a relief. “It’s for our content, Parker. You’ll be clumsy and awkward, and my followers will fall in love with you. I promise.”

She sighed, rubbing her temples, processing it in her head, before she grumbled, “How many times?”

“Every morning.”

She paused. “For… how long?”

“Well, we can skip weekends, if you like. But I think once you get into it, you’ll want to do it every day.”

“I won’t. For how long?”

I chewed my cheek. “How long does our lease run?”

She rubbed her forehead. “Too long?”

I laughed, nudging her in the side. “You’ll be fine. I think you’ll have a great time. Tomorrow morning, sleepyhead. The more you hate it, the better.”

“It’s going to be fucking amazing, then.”

It was absolutely going to be.