Page 8 of Wife By Accident

“We also have a few other people coming…” He named several more names, and Olivia’s blood ran cold. Four out of the five potential clients they planned to woo had been brought in by Olivia.

"This is unacceptable,” Olivia said. “I worked hard and made those connections. I need to be at that dinner.”

“Sorry,” Marley shrugged, “maybe next time.” He turned, but Olivia stepped in front of him.

“No. I need to be there this time. You can’t just close me out.”

“Yes, I can.” Marley crossed his arms. “I don’t think you want to argue with me on this one, Olivia. Get this table cleaned up. Now.”

“No.” Olivia couldn’t let this go on any longer. She’d let Marley use her as an underpaid lackey for far too long, hoping to win his respect or find a better opportunity. She couldn’t do that for another moment, no matter the consequences. “I quit.”

“Olivia?” Gabe sounded surprised. “What are you doing?”

“The only thing I can do.” Olivia turned back to Marley. “Consider this my last day. Given all you’ve talked about is how I can’t do anything right, I’m sure I won’t be hard to replace.”

With that, she turned on her heel and stalked away, leaving Marley and her colleagues standing by the table. She didn’t look back, but she could imagine the confused, fish-like look that must be on Marley’s face at her sudden departure.

The wonderful, soaring feeling of having left a bad situation lasted until Olivia got back to her room. Then she sank onto her bed, her heart pounding. It had felt so good to quit, but now, reality slammed back in. She was suddenly unemployed. She didn’t have much in the way of savings — she’d always been underpaid. And she didn’t have any leads about a new job.

What had she been thinking?

Olivia forced herself to take a deep, slow breath. Then she stood and went into the bathroom, where she met her own green eyes in the mirror. She tucked her black curls behind her ears and nodded.

The situation was dire. There was no arguing with that. But it wouldn’t help to panic, and applying for new jobs could wait until tomorrow. She pulled out her phone and quickly changed her flight back to Seattle to the soonest one, which left tomorrow morning. She booked it, paying the change fees with the company card before Marley had a chance to cancel it.

Since her flight was early, she could be home by the afternoon and spend the rest of the day panic-applying for as many jobs as she could find.

Tonight, though, Olivia was going to celebrate being free of Mr. Meany and his condescension. After all, she had a free hotel room in Vegas for the night, and she would be a fool to waste that. Maybe a night in the casinos would distract her from the mess her life had become.

Giving herself a quick smile in the mirror, Olivia pulled a red lipstick out of her makeup bag and applied it. Then she went to her small suitcase and pulled out the best outfit she could find — a red dress that was just on the edge between professional and sexy. She slipped it on.

Tonight, she would celebrate. And she would let herself forget everything that had gone wrong in her life lately. Tomorrow, she would figure out her next steps.

Her back still felt pretty good — the meds she’d taken were strong and kept her feeling okay. She’d probably be in pain tomorrow, but that, too, was tomorrow’s problem.

Olivia left her hotel room, crossed to the elevators, and descended to the casino floor. Then, on second thought, she exited onto the strip and walked a few doors down to another casino. She didn’t want to run into her boss or coworkers that night. She never wanted to see Marley again.

The air outside was warm, especially compared to rainy Seattle, and the sky was still bright and blue. Olivia admired it for a few seconds before entering the second casino. She was immediately overtaken by flashing lights, the beeps and pings of machines in action, and the sound of happy chatter. Olivia had never gambled before, and she didn’t really have enough money to gamble today. But at least she could order a few overpriced drinks at the bar and enjoy the Vegas ambience.

She crossed towards the bar, passing people playing slots and squinting at hands of cards. She no longer cared that her heels hurt her feet or that she was out of a job. She only cared about having a fun and forgetful evening.

CHAPTER 5

LEO

“I’ll take number thirteen,” Leo said, setting down a couple of chips. The croupier gave him a funny look, and Leo grinned. He had lost a lot of money today — at least a few thousand dollars. For him, it was a drop in the bucket, but he was still annoyed about the losing streak. He’d come to Vegas to forget, not to give away his hard-earned money.

At least the drinks he’d downed had helped take the edge off the sting of losing. And they’d started him on his way to forgetting how difficult today had been.

“Thirteen?” the croupier asked.

“It’s my lucky number,” Leo joked.

The croupier spun the wheel, and the ball rolled well past thirteen and onto another number. Leo shook his head as another few hundred bucks slipped away.

“Bad luck tonight,” the gentleman sitting next to him said sympathetically.

“Maybe it’ll change,” Leo said. He took a sip of his whiskey and scanned the numbers again. He had no idea how long he’d been in the casino already — he only knew that he’d lost at several different games and had three whiskeys. “Let’s do twenty-seven.”