Read So Much for My Happy Ending for Free Online Page B

in less than twenty-four hours. I bet this didn’t happen to museum directors. I tried to imagine myself in an elaborately furnished office at the Whitney with two curators in front of me.
    â€œApril, this is unacceptable. Everyone knows that the Monets I bought are far superior to the crap this bimbo picked up, so obviously it’s my purchases that should be on the first floor.”
    â€œExcuse me, but my Picassos kick your Monets’ ass.”
    No, I was sure museum directors weren’t subjected to this.
    â€œApril…April, are you listening to me?” Marilyn was standing in front of a display table, her stocky but fashionably dressed frame becoming dangerously rigid.
    â€œHmm? Yes, of course. I was just…” I faltered for a moment. “I was just thinking how those jeans are going to blow out now that the customers can really see the cut. Putting them on the mannequin was really a stroke of genius.” I had begun to use the term genius way too liberally.
    â€œThank you.” She turned to admire her handiwork. “So you’ll coach your team on the FAB for the jeans and the leathers?”
    I knew that in this case FAB stood for the “feature advantages and benefits” of the merchandise because God knows there was nothing fabulous about it. “I’ll coach them.”
    â€œGood.” She glanced at the salespeople who were busily clearing the empty fixtures and racks off the floor before the doors opened in five minutes. She then took in my own faded jeans and T-shirt. “I take it you’re not working today.”
    â€œI just came in for the floor change.”
    â€œI’ll go up in the elevator with you.” Of course there was no “Wow, April, it was so great of you to come in on your day off.” It was only natural that Dawson’s would expect me to give up my life since they had already purchased my soul for the low-low price of forty-five thousand a year.
    I gathered my things and we walked across to the elevator. “So what’s new with you these days?” Outside of “hello” these were the first nonbusiness words Marilyn had spoken all morning.
    â€œA lot actually.” We stepped into the elevator and went up toward the sixth floor, where the security check and buyers offices were located. “Tad proposed a few days ago.”
    â€œDid you know that Don hasn’t even mentioned marriage and we’ve been dating six friggin’ years?”
    Definitely not the response I was prepared for. I toyed with the band of my wristwatch. “Well, he obviously loves you otherwise he wouldn’t still be around…” We stepped off the elevator and paused by the doors. “I’m sure he’s just waiting for the perfect moment.”
    â€œBull. He’s a little chickenshit who doesn’t have the guts to make a commitment.”
    I heard the musical notes of my Nokia floating up from my purse and I plunged my hand in for it with unprecedented enthusiasm. “Really important call,” I explained before looking to see what number was on the screen. “Got to take it.”
    â€œWhatever.”
    I watched her stomp down the hall toward her office. I clicked Talk and held the phone to my ear. “Hello, darling, missing me already?”
    â€œThe Ritz had a cancellation,” Tad said.
    I remained silent for a beat.
    â€œApril, did you hear me?”
    â€œI heard you, I’m just trying to decode your message. Just answer yes or no—are the kidnappers there with you?”
    Tad laughed. “The small ballroom at the Ritz, April. It’s available for the Sunday of Martin Luther King’s birthday.”
    â€œAnd you wanted to throw him a birthday party? That’s sweet, but you do realize he’s dead, right? I’m just saying ’cause getting him there might be a problem.”
    â€œVery cute. I think I want to book it. What do you say? Are