Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 86515 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 433(@200wpm)___ 346(@250wpm)___ 288(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86515 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 433(@200wpm)___ 346(@250wpm)___ 288(@300wpm)
Now, I have one more thing to do to set my life straight. I stand up from my chair. “I really appreciate it—”
“Need you to sit back down,” Patrick says, eyes drifting to the chair.
I lower myself until I’m sitting and begrudgingly settle back because I don’t like the tone of his voice. He sounds far more serious than when we were talking about the possibility his team could implode because of Cherry.
“Juno tendered her resignation today,” he says.
No warning. Throws it out there, and it’s like I got hammered by a wrecking ball. “What?” I ask, my throat nearly closed off, the word barely eking out.
“She’s stepped away from the project,” he says. “At least temporarily. It’s why I called you up here, because as I’m sure you can guess, she’s leaving because of you.”
Guilt nearly swallows me whole and then I feel like I’m drowning under a wave of panic. Did I fuck things up irrevocably with her?
I look around wildly, grasping for anything. My eyes land back on Patrick as I sit up straight in the chair. “Like… she quit and she’s gone? I don’t understand.”
Patrick holds up a hand, his voice calming. “Need you to relax for a second. I wouldn’t let her quit and instead talked her into taking a bit of time to consider things. You do understand why she wants to step back, don’t you?”
My gaze lowers to my lap and I consider it. The initial gut check says it’s because I accused her of turning on me, but I know Juno. She’s not going to back away because her feelings get hurt. She’s too tough for that.
I lift my eyes to find Patrick watching me thoughtfully. “She doesn’t want to jeopardize the film. Probably thinks she can’t be objective.”
“Something like that,” Patrick murmurs. “At any rate—”
I bolt up from the chair. “Look… I have to go find her right now. I’ll fix this.”
“I don’t think she’s here,” Patrick says, standing up to face me.
“Where would she go?”
“I’m not sure exactly, but she said she had to take care of a family matter.”
My pulse spikes as my stomach bottoms out.
Her mom.
“I have to go,” I say.
Patrick raises a hand. “Crosby—”
“I’m sorry, but I have to catch up to her. She can’t go handle that family matter without me. She’s probably on her way to the airport, so I need to hurry—”
“But we have a game tomorrow,” Patrick points out.
“I’m sorry,” I say, knowing I might be digging my own grave. “But it’s going to be more important for me to go with Juno while she handles things than the road trip. I hope you understand.”
He exhales. “Not sure that I do, but I’ll trust that it’s the right thing you’re doing.”
“It is,” I say, already halfway to the door. “I’ll keep you posted.”
I’m pulling out my phone as I walk through the executive suite, fingers moving fast, dialing her number. I’m halfway down the staircase to the lobby when her voicemail starts.
Hi, you’ve reached Juno. Leave a message and I’ll call back soon.
I impatiently wait for the beep. “Juno,” I say the second the tone hits, breath tight, words spilling. “Patrick told me that you’re going to see your mom. I don’t know where you are—airport, car, wherever—but you do not get on that plane without me.” I breeze past Walter at the front desk and push through the door. “I know I said some shitty things yesterday and I was sincerely going to apologize today—fully, properly—but then Patrick told me you quit and that you’re going to see your mom, and—”
“I’m not going to see my mom.”
I stop dead and turn back toward the doors, where Juno stands ten feet away. I lower the phone from my ear.
She jabs her thumb over her shoulder. “I saw you walking through the lobby and caught up to you. Overheard your message.”
My eyes roam over her, focusing on her face. She looks tired but not fragile. Never fragile.
“You’re not going to see your mom?” I ask, dumbly. “Patrick said…”
“I was going to,” she says, taking a few steps toward me. “I mean… I probably still will at some point, but it doesn’t seem now is the right time. Not after hearing that little speech you left on my voicemail.”
There’s a small smile on her face, as if she finds me amusing. But I’m not finding anything funny about this. “Patrick said you tendered your resignation on the project.”
She huffs out a breath and looks off across the parking lot. “Yeah… I mean… it seemed like the right thing to do.”
“For who?” I ask.
“I don’t know,” she says truthfully, her eyes filled with pain that hurts my heart. I reach out to take her hand in mine and she doesn’t pull away. “There’s the fact I’m not sure I can be objective. There’s no way I’m ever going to put this crap with Cherry and Miller in the film. I can’t do that to you, and when I realized I couldn’t do that, I realized I couldn’t continue this project anymore.”