Where Do Broken Hearts Go?

19. A Lana Lies

It isn't rocket science to know that I would find Marcel in Timmy's the following morning. After the outburst from yesterday, he left without another word. I don't know what it is with him. You think he's just testy over small things. Instead, it's something you had no idea about, but it's been brewing inside of him for a while. Bottling emotion isn't good and it's not okay to explode on people. Marcel was fine with the thrill of sneaking around in Amsterdam. Why is he so upset now? Maybe he wasn't cool with it from the jump, Angel.

You and I know Marcel's no stranger to the silent treatment. He also knows the avoid game all too well. Considering he's in the shop, I'm assuming he wants to talk to me. However, in view of his company, that's not going to happen on this invasive morning.

After spying Lana and Ella sitting in my seat, my soul flows straight out of my mouth. Over my shoulder, I see my parked jeep. If I were petty, I would get in my car and make their asses walk to work, but I don't want them to know I was here.

AT THE OFFICE

"I thought they went over this."

"They should have," I say.

As I cross my legs and lean into the couch, I flip through my notes. The rest of my colleagues are lounging on the couch – some with their feet pulled up and others sunk into bean bags. It's such a comfortable environment. I love it.

"Okay, Poppy. I'm going to have you go through this one final time." Eddie assigns as he writes in a notebook to keep track.

Looking over to Poppy, she's running both hands through her black hair. From her distressed expression, I wait for her fingers to pull away globs. Nope. None. Poppy holds the screen of her laptop with one hand and scrolls with the other.

Back over to Eddie, he's tapping his pen against his lips, looking over to me. Shaking his head, he reveals his displeasure in this setback. 

"Poppy." For a moment, I grab her brown eyes away from her screen. "If you need help, I have some older notes to see when they stopped editing." I offer.

"Lifesaver." Her posture deflates as she sighs. It's kind of her thing.

"Thank you, Angel." Eddie nods, but is evidently stressed by the coming deadlines. I give a hopeful thumbs-up.

"It's not okay, because we have timeframes like everyone else." Halci's bottom row of teeth show as she nearly snaps her neck.

"Yes, Halci. We all understand, but these things happen. We have to make sure our asses are covered. That's why I pulled you all in." Eddie scans the room as he speaks. "It's an all hands on deck situation. We have until the end of the month." He looks over his shoulder to check the huge calendar.

"All hands on deck." I clap my hands together one time. "There's more than enough of us to tackle this. There's more than enough time to get this done efficiently." I survey the room as I speak. "We don't want to rush, because this book WILL be on shelves soon. Our names are on it. Take your time. Read it through. Try not to see it so much as work or else you'll get flustered." I give pointed looks to Halci and Poppy. "We're just reading and correcting." 

Given the expressions around the room, I seem to have caught everyone off-guard. Even though, I'm rewarded with nods and a bright smile as I come to Eddie.

"Well, good morning, Angel. Thank you for joining us." He teases behind his circle lenses. 

I chuckle, "Everyone seems overly distressed. I'm just trying to ease the mood."

"Thank you." He looks around the room. "Mrs. Hardin is correct. We have plenty of time to get this and the other 3 books finished by the end of this month. I'll leave you to it." Eddie rolls off his bean bag as he closes the meeting.