Chapter 14: Disgruntled

By dinner, Hearthlight had posted a video called "Our Truth."

Cecelia and Cormac sat on the loft couch with their shoulders touching.

Her eyes were red, and she hadn't used the concealer.

"We want to say something with a heavy heart," Cormac began.

He talked for four minutes about a talented editor who had been like family to them.

He said the editor had been under pressure and had left at the worst possible time.

He said they wished him well and would not be taking legal action.

He said the last part twice.

"He's good," the cameraman said from the couch, with his bowl on his knee. "I almost feel sorry for him."

"Do not feel sorry for him," Sunna said.

"I'm not. I'm saying he's good."

I sat on the floor with my back against the sofa and watched the comments scroll by.

Half of them said Hearthlight was brave for being so honest.

The other half said, "Where's the writer?"

Then my phone started in on its own work.

An email from a tea company that had offered to sponsor my next video said they were "pausing the offer while the situation clarifies."

A second one came from a camera brand.

A third came from a man at a talent agency, who wrote to say he was very concerned about my "brand safety."

"A week ago nobody knew my name," I said.

"A week ago nobody could cancel you," Sunna said.

She took the phone from me, set it on the table face down, and put a bowl of soup in my hands.

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