Sullivan stopped and turned, shielding her eyes.
“Put that thing down. We’re not in a mine.”
Kia pocketed the light.
“Did you know I was here?” Sullivan asked.
“Of course not.”
“So you’re doing all this and you didn’t even do your research, did you?” Raindrops and tears streaked Sullivan’s face. “You didn’t google the Bois?”
Gretchen had handled everything. She’d told Kia she would never get a deal like this again, and the investors would only be interested for a minute. The sponsors were clamoring for new content. And Kia had been excited to tell Me’shell she could pack up her life and start the drive to Portland because Kia’s dream of a beautiful food pod where small businesses fed love to the community was coming true.
Except it wasn’t. And she had done something terrible to Alice Sullivan. Sullivan, who had inspired her. Made her laugh. Filled her with lust. Sullivan, who had been the focus of her life the whole time they were in school, some of the happiest days of her life. Kia had made Sullivan cry. She’d never made anyone cry, and now Sullivan looked so broken.
“It happened so fast. I didn’t know you were here.”
“That’s my house.” Sullivan pointed into the darkness. “And that’s my restaurant. And this is the forest I grew up in. And Mega Eats is going to strip every inch. They’ll destroy this place. Birds can migrate because they land in urban green spaces. Rain fills up the water table because it can get into the ground here.Beautiful little creatures live in every part of this forest. And now all that’ll be left will be a burial ground of plastic fucking forks.”
In another context the hyperbole would have been funny. It wasn’t funny now. Sullivan was trying to pull herself together. The streaks of tears on her cheeks and her sudden, brittle arrogance wrenched Kia’s heart.
“Mega Eats should never be allowed to do that,” Kia whispered.
“And before Mega Eats was going to strip this place,youwere.”
“Taste the Love was different.” Suddenly it mattered that Sullivan understood that. “It was going to be a place for people to belong. I’m sorry Mega Eats came in. I’m sorry I live streamed.” She’d ruined everything. “I amsosorry.” Kia remembered all those nights teasing each other in the kitchen, pushing each other to do better, teaching each other. And those kisses. She’d fucked up everything. She couldn’t walk away with Sullivan thinking she was as bad as Mega Eats. She needed Sullivan to see the beautiful thing she’d tried to build.
“I’ve been to thirty-eight states.”I missed you.Kia wanted to grab Sullivan’s hands or throw her arms around her. “Every single place I’ve been, there’s been mom-and-pop restaurants getting run out of business because some developer decides to change everything. I want—”
Sullivan cut her off.
“Fuck, Kia.” Sullivan scrubbed her hands over her face. “What do you thinkyouwere going to do tome?” She gave a little snort as though this confirmed some ugly truth she’d accepted with disgust. “Food trucks.”
“It wasn’t supposed to be like this. I… I didn’t mean… I didn’t know. Please, Sullivan, don’t hate me.” Kia heard how pathetic the words sounded as soon as they left her mouth.
“I don’t hate you.” The way she saidhatesuggested a technicality.Based on the fine print, I don’t exactly hate you.Hate adjacent.“You’re an entrepreneur whose business deal failed.” Sullivan raked her hand through her curls, the bitter version of a gesture Kia had admired so many times. “My life is collateral damage.”
With that, Sullivan stepped off the path, walking without a light, the underbrush parting for her. She kept her head up, although the rain was still coming through the trees. Eventually, Kia saw the spark of a porch light, then a glimmer of a barely visible window. And then the light went out.
Kia stumbled out of the forest. The lights in the parking lot felt like spotlights. Clumps of mud clung to her sparkly boots. Her phone vibrated with texts. It had probably been vibrating the whole time she had talked to Sullivan. She just hadn’t noticed. They’d all be texts from potential sponsors funneled her way by Gretchen. More sponsors. More branded posts. More product placement. Gretchen had already signed her up with Mayonaisia margarine mayonnaise, Solo cups, and American Spirit breakfast sausages. Gretchen would be on her if she didn’t text them back immediately, but how could she think about American Spirit breakfast sausages when she had just ruined Alice Sullivan’s life. She shivered as the cold edged out the adrenaline in her bloodstream. Across the parking lot, Deja stood in front of Kia’s F-150, waving with her whole arm.
“Kia! Over here. That was terrible. Do you want to talk? I’m here for you. I’ll drive you to Old Girl, and then we can go out.”
Deja had been working with Kia for over a year. She wasn’t the first superfan who’d wanted to work with Kia, but she was the first one insistent enough and talented enough—serving as everything from fill-in cook to videographer to crowd control—to get on the payroll. What Kia hadn’t been prepared for was the fact that Deja’s fangirling hadn’t diminished. Kia Gourmazing hadn’t lost her luster in Deja’s eyes. And sometimes, like now, Kia wishedDeja would silently do her job like any other bored employee in America instead of taking passionate interest in Kia’s every move.
“I’ll drive. It’smytruck.” Kia didn’t want to be the kind of influencer who snapped at her assistant, but today was a fail all the way around.
“You can’t drive,” Deja said seriously. “You’re upset.”
“I’m upset. I’m not drunk.” Kia felt around for her keys.
“You left your bag inside.” Deja held up Kia’s sparkling turquoise purse. “The meeting’s gonna let out soon. Let’s go.” She pulled out Kia’s keys and hopped in the driver’s seat.
Kia got in the passenger side. She sighed and touched the truck’s screen, tapped home, which would locate Old Girl in the Riverview RV Park north of Portland. When they stopped in the middle of nowhere, Deja sometimes slept on the pullout couch in the RV. But they weren’t in the middle of nowhere, and Kia couldn’t take too much more Deja cheer.
“You got an Airbnb, right?” Kia asked. “Don’t forget to charge it to my account.”
“Yes, but I can stay with you if you want.”
