tell him you’re using company time to do pro bono work for nonclients.”
Was this jackass blackmailing me? He must’ve seen that I was close to murder, because he put his hands out in front of himself.
“Sophia, it’s too late anyway. Even if you go in there and tell him the whole thing, it won’t matter. He’ll bury your boyfriend’s bar in red tape so that it never even gets to open. I’m sorry, but the damage is done. You’ll just have to come up with a new name.”
I felt a prickling behind my eyes, but I’d be damned if I cried in front of him.
“Fuck you, Jake.” I shouldered past him and hurried to the bathroom, where I locked myself in a stall.
My breathing was erratic as I tried to think about what I was going to do. Drew had already ordered all the promotional materials with The Yard on it. His grand opening was in less than two weeks, and he’d already blown through his budget.
What the hell was I going to do?
If Drew tried to open with that name and Jeff caught wind of it, there was no doubt in my mind what Jeff would do. But there was no way Drew had the time or money to change something as significant as a name this close to launch.
I stood in the bathroom of a place I hated, tears streaking down my face, and contemplated just how thoroughly I’d ruined my boyfriend’s life.
Chapter Seventeen
S O P H I A
“Pick up, pick up, pick up,” I murmured as I hurried out of Margot Nathan as soon as I was able.
“Hi, this is Taylor. I can’t answer my phone right now, but please don’t leave a voicemail. I won’t listen to it. Thanks.”
“Shit,” I said loudly enough to garner me a nasty look from an older lady walking past me. “Sorry,” I muttered.
Unable to resist, I dialed Taylor’s number a second time. Voicemail again, but I wasn’t to be deterred. I immediately pressed her name.
It rang five excruciating times before it finally connected.
“Jesus, where’s the fire?”
“In the dumpster that is my life,” I replied, my voice thick as I tried to keep the tears at bay.
“What’s wrong? Where are you?” Taylor’s voice was instantly alarmed, and it made a warmth spread through me.
I was able to choke back the tears a little as I reminded myself that, no matter what happened, I had Taylor in my corner sounding like she was ready to rip apart the city to get to me.
“I’m leaving work. Today… God, there aren’t words for today. I’m in deep shit.”
“Like, you’re going to jail deep shit, or you’re going to be a mommy deep shit?”
I thought for a second. “I guess neither.”
“Then how bad can it really be?”
I took a deep breath. “I sank my boyfriend’s dreams before they even got to enjoy the open sea.”
“Wow, so it’s bad metaphor kind of deep shit.”
I snorted out a laugh. “It’s not funny. Don’t make me laugh when I’m sad.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it,” she said, though I could hear the smile in her voice. She was probably very pleased with herself that she’d broken through my dramatics. Little did she know I wasn’t close to done whining. “So what’s going on?”
“It’s too much to get into over the phone.”
“Okay, well, hurry home, and I’ll make us some drinks to have by the pool.”
“No!” I yelled, my panic making me feel a bit crazed. “Drew might see us,” I added, considerably quieter this time, as if I thought saying his name would enable him to hear me.
“Hmm, so this is an avoid-Drew problem?”
“Well, no. Yes. Kind of. It’s an avoid-everything-for-now problem.”
“Okay,” she replied, dragging out the opening vowel. “Wanna meet at that weird bar we walked past the other night? The one with the grass growing all over it?”
The thought of the place made me smile. We’d taken selfies in front of it because it was so bizarre looking.
“Yeah, that works.”
“Okay, see you soon.”
“See ya.” I disconnected the call and stuffed my phone into the front pocket of my pants.
The bar Taylor had suggested was about two blocks from our apartment. We’d stumbled across it when we’d gone for a walk, and I was oddly excited to go into the place. As soon as it came into my line of sight, I let my eyes rove over it.
It had a rustic feel, with wood-paneling that was difficult to even see because the whole place was covered in some kind