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And cried like a fucking baby.
“Awww, Ri,” Hollis laughed, bending to scoop me into a half-hug, half-heft kinda move that ended with him awkwardly getting me back onto my feet. “It’s okay, my baby, we got it fixed.”
Still a mess of tears, I nodded. “Yes, yes we did. Somebody please deploy it, so we can stop getting eviscerated in reviews.”
“Already done,” Shan spoke up, from her seat a few feet away. “And I’ve already got a press release written up for you to look at.”
Another wave of tears rushed to my face, and it must’ve been obvious. Immediately, Hollis started fanning me, shaking his head. “No, none of that. Your face will be all puffy when you record this press release video, and that’s the last thing you need after?—”
“Hollis.”
Shan’s rebuke was sharp, and effective, ’cause he stopped talking and just rolled his eyes, confusing as well.
“What’s going on?” I asked, looking between them. “Did somebody get weird?”
“Yes,” Hollis answered, at the same time Shan replied, “It doesn’t matter!”
I pushed out a groan. “Just tell me. Who was it, and what did they say?”
Shan shot another glare at Hollis, rolling her eyes before she turned to me. “Monty’s whor—friend.”
“Yams?!” I exclaimed, tears immediately drying in favor of anger. “What the hell could she?—”
“Her weird ass posted a video from the hospital,” Hollis chimed in, stepping between me and Shan for my full attention. “Talking about how she’d just downloaded the app and it was already messed up, and had just stressed her out soooo bad she had to go get her baby checked on. The internet is eating it up.”
“And eating her up,” Shan added, pushing him aside a bit. “Not everybody is on her side. It’s like an even split.”
“It shouldn’t be a split at all. That bitch is dramatic and weird. Did I already say she was weird?”
“Yes,” I confirmed, nodding. “I’ll be right back. Let me clean my face and then I can do the video?”
“Uh… yeah, sure,” Shan agreed, but I was already walking off. “I told you not to tell her that bullshit right now!” she hissed behind me, at Hollis, who immediately countered.
“Keeping it from her doesn’t help anything!”
Honestly?
I saw both sides.
Mostly?
I was seeing… orange.
Not quite red, but I was definitely outside my preferred sunny yellow mood, the one I’d been in before all this started.
In my office with the door closed, I found my phone. Before I unlocked it, I took a deep breath, really considering my next actions before I took them.
I didn’t need a repeat of that birthday picture.
There were all kinds of social media notifications on my phone. I ignored them all in favor of going to my dialer app to put in a number I wasn’t sure I could forget if I tried.
He answered on the first ring.
“Rori, hey! I saw all the news about?—”
“Are you at the hospital?” I interrupted.
“Oh. Uh… nah, we’re back home. Everything is fine.”