My Hot New Year Read Free

wind, but that's hardly my concern at the moment.
    "Good morning Mike," I say sheepishly.
    "Are you ready for the big meeting?  Wonder what they are going to announce?"
    "Yeah," I say, taken aback.  I mean, not that I'm the most connected person, but I thought even the dust mop knew that it was getting a new janitor.  Changes are coming.  Just look at this huge conference room.  There are at least a hundred chairs facing the podium.  
    "I think this is going to be an interesting meeting," I say nervously, as I follow Mike to the corner seat and wait for the gorgeous man who I licked from head to toe to walk through the door.  He seems like a stranger now, but he sure wasn't the other night. I think of his tongue on my ummmmm....wow, could he make me squirm.  I wonder when he learned to do that.  I mean, good God!  Okay, now I'm starting to flush, and I can feel the blood surging into places it shouldn't right now.  Dammit!
    And then, the moment of truth.  OH MY DEAR GOD!  The vision before my eyes hits me right in the stomach like a punch.  That horrible plunge is viler than I even remember.
    SCOTT!!!
    Jackass!!!  Bastard!!!  Cocky son of a you know what!!!!
    SCOTT!!!!  Why is my ex standing directly in front of me and the rest of my coworkers, smiling, and acting chummy with my boss?  What could this possibly mean?  Why is HE here?  Yes, he's a successful managing editor, but he works for Harold’s Publishing.  We haven't worked for the same company since 2010, when we divorced.  So, why is he here with…?
    Oh, no!  I can't do this.  I can't even look at him.  It's bad enough when we exchange the kids, but he doesn't belong in MY office.
    For a while I stare straight ahead in angry silence.  Then it becomes clear to me exactly what's happening here.  Scott is the new Managing Editor for this new company, and I'm being farmed out to New York City, so it's not "messy."
    “Thank you all for being here today," Jim says, and lifts his hand to welcome everyone.
    I can see Scott nervously scanning the crowd, and his body freezes when he sees me.  I make a pleasant face and act as reassuring as I can.  If Scott had any idea of my reality right now, he'd be trying to have me committed to a psych ward.
    "I would like to welcome Scott Goldberg to our team."
    Applause breaks out among my co-workers, yet I feel like a crane should move into the conference room to pick up my hands and make them clap.  That’s not going to happen.  The gut-wrenching memory which I successfully suppressed for three full days begins to resurface.  I see Scott walking in from a business trip, setting his luggage down, and asking me to have a seat at the kitchen table.  He came in to tell me “big news.”  He said he was taking a job with Harold’s Publishing, so we could begin our new lives.
    Well, what I supposed to think?  There he was, smiling and telling me he got a new job and we could begin our new lives?  I jumped up with a squeal, and leaped into his lap with visions of luxurious vacations with our kids.  When he pushed me off of him and told me to settle down, I thought he was just being modest about this big promotion.  I began carrying on even more enthusiastically.  I was a supportive wife after all.
    Looking back, I suppose it took me longer than it should have to comprehend what he was trying to tell me.  In fact, he had to shake me, although he did apologize for that afterward.  Yes, there were a lot of missed dinners and many, many, MANY months without sex, but I just thought every marriage went through its ups and downs.  Apparently there were a lot of UPS and DOWNS for Scott too, but they had more to do with his inflatable Barbie doll girlfriend than our marriage.
    "Scott is coming to us at a very critical time for our company.  We'd like to announce today that he, along with his publishing partner Jake Sterns, are the new owners of Wilshire Publishing," Jim says excitedly.  He begins