her staff. It was clear she was never coming back.
Mr. Laatz had asked me to go home. In fact, he’d ordered me to go home, saying I had embarrassed the firm and single-handedly lost the account. It was obviously in the heat of the moment, but I’d never seen him lash out at a lawyer before. I didn’t know if he’d calm down.
Cecily had tried to call me while I was on the subway, but I couldn’t bring myself to answer. There wasn’t anything she could say to make me feel better, and I really didn’t want to feel worse.
Finally home, I let my apartment door swing shut behind me.
My phone rang again, but I declined the call without even looking at the screen. Instead, I flopped down on the sofa, telling myself to stop reliving the disastrous meeting over and over and over again inside my head.
I’d seen the dessert tray fall a hundred times already, followed by the champagne flood and the expression on Annalisa’s face as she flounced out the door.
“Aaarrrggghhh!” I grabbed for the remote control. I desperately needed a distraction, something, anything. I turned the TV on, and the shopping channel came up. Good enough.
I focused on the two women on the screen and tried to follow the announcer’s chatter. But it quickly became a meaningless drone of random words. The call-in number blurred in front of my eyes. Not that I needed anything made of tanzanite anyway, especially since I might not be getting my next paycheck.
Dog-sitting wasn’t part of my job description. But respecting clients and maintaining the dignity and reputation of the firm at all times were in our code of conduct. If I’d been able to keep a grip on Bangle, we might have won the LeFroy account.
After a while, the TV pitch switched to nonstick bakeware. I focused more successfully on the copper-coated cookie sheets. I didn’t do much baking, but that didn’t mean I didn’t like baked goods. If someone had set a plate of chocolate chip cookies in front of me right now, I’d have eaten them all.
Ice cream would work too. In fact, I liked the idea of ice cream even better than cookies. Or maybe I’d mix the two together, add a little hot fudge sauce and really go to town—hot fudge chocolate chip cookie sundae. Now that was a good anesthetic for your brain.
I wondered what we had in the freezer.
As the shopping program switched to a zero-gravity chair, I pushed myself up and kicked off the high heels I’d worn all the way home. My feet thanked me as they settled into the carpet. Those shoes had definitely not been made for the walk to and from the subway station.
Behind me, a key turned in the lock on the front door and it cracked open.
“Laila?” It was Cecily. “You here?”
“I’m in here,” I answered. I made it to the kitchen and pulled the freezer door open.
“Thank goodness.” She threw her keys down with a clatter.
I was relieved to have her home. I’d thought I wanted to be alone. But being alone was making me feel worse, not better. Maybe I wanted to talk it out.
The door creaked then clicked shut as she entered the small kitchen nook. “Why didn’t you answer your phone? Are you all right?”
“No.” I kept looking in the freezer. I was the furthest thing from all right.
“What the heck happened up there?”
“I didn’t wow them, that’s for sure.”
“I heard.”
“What did you hear?” I could only imagine how fast the gossip had spread through the office. They were probably all taking odds on me being fired. I wondered what they were: fifty-fifty, five to one, a hundred to one—and not in my favor.
“Thad said Annalisa’s little dog got loose.”
I moved two cans of orange juice concentrate from the front, much more interested in something sweet. “It got loose, all right.”
“Thad said you dropped it.”
“I didn’t drop it.” I was sensitive to that accusation. “It jumped, okay?”
“O . . . kay.” There was a ring of skepticism in her tone.
I looked over my shoulder, feeling insulted. “You’re going to take Thad’s word over mine?”
“I know you’re not crazy about dogs.”
“Well this one jumped. I mean . . .” Maybe I was willing to take a little bit of the blame. “I did squeal. And maybe that scared him. But that was only because he tried to nip my ear.” I pointed to the spot.
Cecily leaned forward to look. “I don’t see a