a P
. My body moved, but my mind was stuck in
nto the small adjoining bathroom. I gripped the sides of the
It was a purge of grief, of anger, of a l
ace was ghostly pale, my eyes red-rimmed and hollow. A stranger st
n my cheeks. I let them fal
again. The woman in the mirror was still broken, b
away and let them destroy me.
t just about
by was innocent. This baby was the
I had to bring this child into the w
needed money. I
would endure the humiliation
out dignity. It was a
cold mask. I opened my laptop and began methodically archiving all the f
. I started drafting a new campaign strategy, one tailored to her.
ll came from a numbe
waiting once too often and had decided it was everyone else's fault. "This is Veron
hav
c photographer. A specific studio. A specific brand of mineral water in the dressing room.
te button, set the phone down, and breathed thro
ll have a revised brief t
not argued. I had not pushed back. Veronic
you do." She hung up
stant found me there a few minutes later, one hand braced on
and a packet of saltines on the coun
t's just a s
d better go s
The salt helped. The cold water helped. Nothing really helped, but I had lea
e, steady and quiet, until I straigh
rew, the caterers. I sent Kyla's contract to legal and followed up twice when they didn't respond. I drafted the campaign deck, page by page
laint. Without error. Withou
ped up on my screen, I stared at it for a long time. Kyla Landry Campaign Kickoff.
d his mistress, presenting a marketing
/1/124279/coverbig.jpg?v=8fb74353f03a30bb65d39b1e2dd27e6e&imageMogr2/format/webp)