33
Heidi
Shock hit me with the force of a tidal wave.
I was knocked back, hurtling into oblivion, drowning in my own disbelief. I couldn’t process the words that Julia had said. They didn’t make sense. They weren’t logical. They weren’t something anyone had ever said to me.
A couple of days ago, I had been promoted, and now…this.
I opened my mouth to ask the most obvious questions. What? Why? How? But they didn’t come out. Nothing came out.
Tears hit me in the backs of my eyes, and I fought with everything not to let them fall. I swallowed them, refusing to submit to such humiliation. I wouldn’t ask. I wouldn’t beg. I wouldn’t grovel. I certainly wouldn’t f*****g cry.
Not here.
Julia was one of my closest friends. I knew this was killing her to have to be the one to tell me. But, a
