Chapter 52

I’m about to be fired? There’s no way that could be true. Hugo wouldn’t call the whole office to a meeting room just to humiliate me like that. I might not know him all that well, but I couldn’t imagine, with what I do know of him, that he would fire people in that way.

More likely, Amber’s just trying to rattle me again. I seem to be her favorite target.

When I don’t give her the upset reaction she wants, she darts forward to catch Lila leaving her office.

“I told Esther the meeting is happening because they are both about to be fired,” Amber says.

Lila rolls her eyes and snickers. Esther, finally validated, laughs and laughs.

I lock my computer screen, tuck most of my paperwork into the file cabinet beside my desk, and then start to follow them down the hall to meeting room A. The rest of the office soon joins us until we become like a flood entering the meeting room.

Once we arrive, I notice that they’ve opened the partition between the two meeting rooms, allowing for enough space for everyone to enter and stand inside.

Hugo is already there at the front of the room. He’s talking with a woman who is vigorously taking notes. The rest of us gather around standing, facing them.

As the room fills up, Hugo turns to us. “Attention, please! Everyone.”

We quiet down to listen to him talk.

Beside me, Amber snickers in my direction, “Enjoy your last few moments as an employee at Harbinger News Company.”

Hugo cleared his throat, settling the last of the crowd.

“I have some big – and surprising – news for you all this morning,” Hugo says.

Big and surprising news doesn’t likely include my firing, so I suspect in this instance, as I expected, Amber doesn’t know what she’s talking about.

“I’ve heard the office gossip,” Hugo continues. “Everyone is speculating who the hotshot young congressman is going to give his first exclusive interview to…”

Wait. This meeting is about Miles? But he’s already rejected us…? I want to cringe just thinking about the way I had hoped, only for that hope to be immediately dashed.

I don’t mix business and pleasure.

“I’ve heard the talk that he had accepted to do an interview with our competitors,” Hugo says. “Well, I am happy to announce that this is untrue.”

Soft mumbling begins in the crowd as people whisper to each other.

“I spoke with Representative Hamilton this morning. He called me personally, to praise how diligent our journalists are,” Hugo says.

People start to glance at each other now.

Beside me, Amber whispers, “Miles called… him? But they hate each other.”

“Because of this,” Hugo continues, “Representative Hamilton has decided to give his first exclusive interview to our team!”

A rousing round of applause strikes through the crowd. A few people cheer. Someone whistles.

“We have to be diligent now,” Hugo says. “I want to see everyone emailing me their most thoughtful questions for the interview. We’ll hit Representative Hamilton with everything we have and conduct an interview that will be the talk of the news cycle for months to come.”

“Hear, hear!” someone shouted.

“But before we break to return to our work, we must celebrate the person whose diligence has made this all possible.”

My heart jumps into my throat. Surely he can’t mean me? After all, Miles rejected me. He also rejected Amber. Is there a third person who has been working behind the scenes to convince Miles to accept Harbinger’s offer?

“Amber, if you’ll come up here with me,” Hugo says.

Amber gasps.

I turn to look at her, but she seems as surprised by the news as I am, her eyes as wide as saucers. She recovers quickly however, in the echo of the applause. When she sees me staring, she catches my eye and smirks.

It’s a look that says, So long, sucker.

Amber pushes her way to the front of the room. She doesn’t get too near Hugo, but he still takes a half a step away from her.

The applause continues for a time, before Hugo raises his hand to stop it. Then he turns to Amber. “You persistence truly won the day, Amber. I know you’ve been diligently pursuing all leads since Representative Hamilton was elected.”

“Just doing my part,” Amber says. “Really, I can’t take all the credit.”

I straighten. Is she actually going to include me in taking the credit? After all, as far as I knew, I was the last one to speak with Miles before his acceptance.

But he’d rejected me too.

“It truly was a team effort,” Amber says. “Without everyone’s support, I never would have been able to so thoroughly convince him.”

Relaxing my posture once more, I can’t bring myself to be disappointed.

For all I know, Amber really did earn this. She could have called Miles after we parted, or she could have doubled back to speak to him again. Truthfully, she had been pursuing this interview for far longer than I have, even if her means of going about it were lackluster.

Miles was always going to need more convincing than batted eyelashes and a pretty please.

“Very good, Amber,” Hugo says.

Lila inches closer to me in Amber’s absence. “There goes your last shot. Up in flames.”

“Representative Hamilton and I have scheduled the interview for Friday,” Hugo says. “So I need all of your questions extra quickly. Return to work now, everyone, please.”

As the crowd begins to depart, everyone wears big smiles and bright expressions. This news seems to have lifted the morale of the entire office. Even Lila has a small spring in her step as she makes her way to the exit.

At the front of the room, Hugo thanks and congratulates Amber once more.

I turn, having seen enough, when Amber calls out to me, “Esther!”

Making her way over to me, Amber sashays her hips, likely feeling very smug.

“What is it?” I ask her.

“I just want to make sure you are okay,” Amber says. “This must have been a hard pill for you to swallow.”

I shake my head. “I don’t know how you managed to convince him in the end. He seemed so against it…”

“Don’t feel bad,” Amber says. “You just don’t have what it takes to make it in this business. Not everyone does, you know. Some of us were born to rise to the top, but not everyone was. The world needs housewives too.”

I bite my tongue. Amber won, so by right, she’s allowed a little gloating. But she’s dangerously close to taking this all too far.

I’m not ashamed of my time as a housewife, however much she wishes I was. Sacrificing to taking care of a home and my children is not something I can even bring myself to regret.

What I regret is that all of my sacrifice was for the wrong person. If I had met someone like Miles when I was younger…

No. Miles would have never asked me to give up my career. We could have risen to the top together.

“Listen, you tried your best,” Amber says. “How about I do you a favor?”

“What kind of favor?” I ask.

“Hugo wants me to be the one to give the interview. Why don’t you come and watch?” Her smirk stretches wider. “You could likely learn a thing or two.”