My Holiday Bonus Was a $5 Million IOU! I Quit and Their Company Collapsed novel · Chapter 21 of 24

Chapter 21: Luther

The first live episode of the new Sunday Table was shot in the basement kitchen of a church on Willy Street, because it had six burners and a pastor who didn't ask questions.

"Eight minutes," the intern said, adjusting a light.

She had a headset on, a salary, and a contract with her name in it.

The security guard who could cook was stirring a pot of chili with an enormous spoon.

Brynn was at the sink in an apron, scrubbing a skillet.

Every time she looked at me she smiled and then looked away to wipe her eyes.

She had torn her debt page into eight pieces on Hattie's table and put them in the compost.

"I'm not paying her a penny," she'd said. "And I'm not letting you pay it either."

"Wouldn't dream of it," I'd said.

My mother's lawsuit had gone the same way.

Sjoberg Creative's last lawyer had quit, and an LLC can't stand in court without one.

The case had been dismissed on a single page.

Ansel stood in the corner with a clipboard, forbidden by Hattie to speak on camera.

"Live in three," the intern said. "Two."

I put my hands on the counter.

"Hi, everybody," I said into the lens. "It's Sunday, it's Mara, and I'm going to make you some soup."

The counter at the bottom of the screen read forty thousand viewers, then sixty, then ninety.

The comments scrolled so fast I couldn't read them.

"We missed you!!"

"Is that Brynn?"

"Welcome back, Mara."

I was chopping onions and telling the story of my grandmother's soup pot when the basement door opened at the top of the stairs.

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