Never Yours Again novel · Chapter 10 of 24

Chapter 10: Press Breakfast

The photo hit every fashion feed before midnight.

It showed me on Shawna's kitchen counter with my legs around Ellis Flaherty, and my face turned up to his.

The headline said, "Rhett Palgrave's Ex Moves On With His Best Friend Within the Week."

By morning there was a quote under it, from "a Palgrave House spokesperson."

It read, "We are saddened that a former partner has chosen this moment to disrupt our family."

It went on, "Mr. Flaherty has also left the company under difficult circumstances."

I read it on the train, standing, with my fist around the pole.

Ellis had texted at six.

"I'm sorry about the photo. That's on me."

I wrote back, "I'm not sorry. Where are you?"

"Outside your office. I'll stay in the car."

"Don't. I need you in the ballroom at eight."

Our firm was running the Lakeshore Fashion Council breakfast that morning.

The Council wasn't a Palgrave client, and my boss had decided I should work it anyway.

"If they want to talk about you," she'd said, "they can do it while you hand out the coffee."

Two hundred buyers and reporters filled the hotel ballroom by eight.

At the front, behind a podium with a white tablecloth, stood Rhett in a navy suit.

His mother sat beside the stage as his guest.

I stood at the back with a headset around my neck and my hand on the cable box that fed the screens.

Shawna sat at the sound desk three feet away, chewing gum with the focus of a surgeon.

Camille stood against the far wall in a plain black dress.

She'd texted me one line.

"I'm here. Whatever you need."

Rhett gave a good speech.

He always did.

He talked about heritage and tailoring and the difference between a good suit and a necessary one, and the room laughed in the right places.

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