I was still staring at the screen when Sam returned, my blue capris in hand. In my peripheral vision, I could see them hovering, and reached out and blindly felt around until I found them.
“What’s wrong? You’re super pale.” I felt his hand on my forehead. “Temperature feels normal.”
“I was just fired.”
“What?” He sat next to me and I listed to the left until I hit his shoulder. He put his arm around me and pulled me against his side.
Twenty-two years. Two decades. I’d been with the newspaper longer than I’d been with Mike. It felt like everything in my life was splintering apart. I let out a groan.
“Hey, it’s okay.” Sam smoothed a hand over my hair, then wiped a tear from my cheek.
No, it wasn’t. I was a happily married wife; then I wasn’t. I was a respectfully employed writer; now I wasn’t. What did my life look like without my job? What didIlook like?
“You can get another job.” Sam pressed a kiss on the side of my head. “Lillian. Hey. Stop crying.”
Oh God. Iwascrying. I clamped my lips to stop the small mewing sounds that were bubbling out. I hadn’t been this emotional over Mike’s cheating, and what did that say about my mental state? Sam went to stand and I clung to his shirt, my cheek pressed against his scratchy linen top.
“Just let me call Mike. He’ll come and pick you up.”
“No.” I surfaced from the grief long enough to find my voice. “Don’ttell Mike.”
“Why not?”
“Just, promise me you won’t.” The thought of Mike knowing about this failure ... Talk about a deep knife in the wound of my already damaged ego. First, I couldn’t keep a husband; now I couldn’t keep a job. “I’ll tell him later, when I’m ready. I need to talk to Fran first. See what’s going on. Maybe she’ll hire me back.” Even part-time, even as a freelancer. Hell, I’d grovel and beg and do sales calls if I had to.
Well ... maybe not sales calls.
“You have to be honest with him, Lill. This is a big deal.”
No, Sam was wrong about that. Mike hadn’t been honest with me for months, maybe a year. He’d always wanted separate finances, so we had them. He’d wanted separate lives, so we lived them. I had enough in my savings account to cover my half of the bills for a year, which was plenty of time for me to find another job. So why did Mike need to know what had happened? “Sam, I swear on my child’s life, if you tell him, I will strangle you with that stupid necklace you’re wearing.” I glared at him.
He laughed. “It’s a bolo tie.”
“It’s ugly.”
He ignored the insult. “Mike’s not stupid. And look, I hate to say it, but we’ve got to leave if I’m going to make my appointment.”
Right. Because he had a job.Stillhad a job. Unlike me, who should have spent the day writing the Clark and Dentlinson obituaries, which were due by two. Who would write them? Janice? Screw her. I let out a sob and Sam’s shoulders sank.
“Come on, Lillian. You have to pull yourself together.”
“I’m fine,” I protested hotly, even as my voice cracked and broke on the words. “Just give me my purse and we’ll go.”
He rose. “I’m sorry. I would cancel my meeting, but it’s with the pier project.”
The pier project? A good friend would have some idea of what he was talking about, but I was blank. I worked one foot, then the other, into my pants.
Okay, I could do this. I just needed to get to my car and get to Fran and find out what was going on.
That brilliant plan stalled out in less than fifteen minutes, in the parking lot of Perch. I sat in the passenger seat of Sam’s car and went through my purse contents for a second time.Shit. My keys—a giant round ring packed with tools and mementos—weren’t there.
“This is crazy,” I mumbled, my anxiety rising. “My keys are missing.”
Sam looked toward the bar, which was closed until dinner. “Think you left them in there last night?”
“I doubt it.” I groaned. While Mike always considered me to be absentminded, the truth was, I was fanatical about my keys and my purse and had never lost either. “Do you have time to take me home? I have a spare set there, and I can get a taxi to take me back here.”
“Sure, it’s on the way.” He shifted into drive and waited for me to fasten my seat belt. “By the way, I told Mike you were staying at my place. Last night, I mean. I called him after I picked you up.”