of the world isn’t that broad-minded,” she grumbled. “You should read the scathing messages I got on social media until I closed all my accounts.”
“People can be cruel, especially when they’re hiding behind a computer. Forget those bastards.”
Shrugging it off sounded good in theory. But she couldn’t do it. She was too sensitive to the criticism, too embarrassed to be caught in such an indelicate situation and too hurt that Heidi and the rest of the management team at KQLA chose to keep Ethan and not her, even though she felt she was the better anchor.
Maybe it was that they could pay the woman they hired to replace her a little less than they’d been paying her, since her replacement would be starting at the bottom of the pay scale.
Emery’s blood boiled when she thought that the station itself would benefit from what Ethan had done to her. “He wrote me.”
“Who?”
“Ethan.”
“What?”
“He did,” she said as they were coming up to the house. “He texted me last night.”
Dallas stopped walking. “What’d he say?”
She got her phone out to show him. “Can you believe it?”
He shook his head as he read Ethan’s text. “No, I don’t believe it. What a prick! What’re you going to say to him?”
“I’m dying to let him have it, but maybe there’s a smarter way to handle this.”
“I don’t know how you’ve held back,” he admitted as he started walking again.
She hurried to keep up with him. “It hasn’t been easy, but if I can set my emotions aside and...I don’t know...draw him in somehow, maybe I can turn the tables.”
“How?”
“That’s what I wanted to ask you. If he’ll admit that he posted that video and that he did it because he was angry with me, I can prove it was all about revenge. And if I can prove it was all about revenge, I might not be able to get my job back, but at least the station will have to compensate me for the loss. Then maybe I’ll have the means to hang on long enough to put my topsy-turvy world back together again.”
“Would he trust you?”
“I think so. Based on this message.” She lifted her phone again, which she hadn’t yet slipped back into her purse. “I get the impression he regrets going so far and is testing the water to see if maybe it’s not too late to get me back.”
“After what he’s done? That dude’s got some nerve.”
“He has such a high opinion of himself that he can’t imagine being rejected. That’s why he flipped out when I broke up with him. Because he’s handsome and popular from being on TV, he gets a lot of attention. He acted as though I should feel grateful to be the woman he’d chosen.”
A muscle moved in Dallas’s cheek. “Like I said, what a prick.”
“I can see him for what he is now that it’s too late. I wish I’d seen it sooner. But this text suggests I might be able to use his conceit against him—to at least walk away from the train wreck of my professional career with some kind of settlement.”
Dallas sighed as they reached the house. “It’s so hard not to drive to LA and kick his ass.”
“I admit, part of me would love to see you do that. But I’d rather outsmart him. Then you won’t get in trouble.”
He held the door while she walked in but didn’t follow. “Then tell him you miss him, too.”
She turned to face him and took over holding the door. “That’s it? I was thinking about telling him that my life hasn’t been the same without him and seeing if maybe we could meet up.”
“No. That’s too fast. Make him work for it, or he might suspect something’s up. Besides, I hate the idea of you meeting him in person.”
“He’s never been physically abusive—”
“I don’t trust anyone who’s done what he’s done and neither should you.”
She tucked some loose strands of hair behind her ears. “True. I was just thinking I might be able to video him, for a change. Be able to show the judge, or whoever decides my case, what a jerk he really is.”
“You can record the conversation when he calls—while maintaining a safe distance.”
She blinked in surprise. “How do you know he’ll call?”
He winked at her. “Because he’s thrown out a hook, and you’re going to make him think you’re biting on it. Of course he’ll try to reel you in.”
7
Every once in a while Dallas thought he saw Jenny.