Katiezzz continues, rage making her face purple. ‘I had to use the Find My Phone app to track you, Milo. Are you OK? I was so freaked out when you weren’t answering your phone, and then I find you trapped in here!’ She turns to me,eyes blazing. ‘Have you been fucking holding Milo hostage in a stinking, vomit-covered service lift? Cutting off pieces of him for some kind of fucking tribute or ritual sacrifice? Or – what? – to sell on eBay?’
‘Huh? You did what?’ Milo looks to me in confusion, and I gulp, eyes wider than ever before. Harry takes a step forward out of the lift.
‘Um, look, we can explain all of this—’ he begins, but Katiezzz is having none of it.
‘And who the fuck are you?’ she spits out as he offers a hand to shake – before realizing he’s still holding the gum-hair.
‘Hi, I’m Harry and I’ve—’
‘Harry?’ she narrows her eyes. ‘As in, Harry the managing director and CEO of Celebs R Us?!’
‘Oh! Um…’ Harry shoots me a terrified look and I freeze.
Katiezzz snorts now, but it’s not with any humour at all. It is a furious snort of furied fury. ‘Clara, you are sooo fucking fired,’ she says coldly, grabbing Milo by the arm and literally dragging him away from us.
He glances back as they reach the exit and I offer a sad goodbye wave.
He doesn’t return it.
Chapter ThirtyJEMMA
We wait outside for the taxi in silence.
‘I don’t think I’ll be able to expense this actually,’ Clara says quietly after a few minutes. Harry throws an arm around her shoulders.
‘Don’t worry,’ he says softly. ‘I’ve got it.’
Salma and I move closer, wrapping our warm arms around a sad Clara too, so we’re in a tight huddle, heads touching.
‘It’ll be OK,’ I whisper to her, feeling protective. She tightens her grip on my arm, so I say it again: ‘It’ll be OK.’
A voice behind us interrupts the tender moment.
‘Oh you’ve got to be fucking kidding me!’ We turn to see Mack, throwing up his hands in irritation. ‘I can’t get away from you lot!’
‘I thought you left,’ Salma says with a frown and he shakes his head.
‘I’ve been trying to. My tube line is down, so I came out here to grab a cab.’
‘Do you want to come get a commiseration takeaway with us?’ Harry offers amiably as I shoot him an annoyed look. We donotwant this guy coming with us.
‘God no!’ Mack says, to my immense relief. Then he cocks his head. ‘Wait, why is it acommiserationtakeaway?’
I look at Clara glumly and Salma grabs her hand for another squeeze. ‘Clara got sacked,’ I explain quietly.
‘And really – likereally– told off by a scary pregnant lady with a silly plural name,’ Harry adds helpfully. Clara snorts, looking a bit cheered up.
‘Wait,’ Mack says slowly. ‘You’re not Milo Samuels’ publicist anymore?’
Clara sighs. ‘Nope. Not that I ever really was. It was only a one-time gig. I couldn’t even manage that.’
‘Right,’ he nods, ‘so are you interested in a trial period at the library or what?’
The four of us gape at him. Harry is the first to recover. ‘Huh?’
Mack sighs, irritated, but makes eye contact with Clara. ‘All that stuff you were saying about the library needing a revamp and more fun events, it makes sense. It’s something I’ve wanted to make happen since I started, but there were always other things going on; other stuff on my plate. Anyway, my colleague Anita is just about to go on sabbatical—’
‘She is?’ I ask anxiously. I can’t believe she didn’t tell me! I don’t like change, she knows that.
