by Ali Parker
She had been extremely upset, and I didn’t even see her leave the day before. I assumed she needed a day off to cool down, clear her head, and really think about things. I wasn’t going to bother her. I had done the same thing, and it was really needed. Hopefully, she would be able to clear her mind and figure out what was important to her. Even though I hoped that, personally, I was part of that equation, Marcus had made me see there were even bigger things in my life to worry about, and no matter how much I wanted her, I had to keep my eyes forward, looking out for the future of my company. I could only hope that, at some point, Amanda and my company intersected in my life.
Chapter 45
Amanda
I sat in my car of the parking lot at Diamond Marketing looking through my resumé one more time. I had gotten there early, wanting to give myself plenty of time to get rid of my nerves and be completely ready to sit down and talk to them. They already seemed ready to get me going, but I didn’t want to screw anything up on the way. On top of that, I had received several texts and calls from Elon, and it was making me feel even worse for deciding to move companies. The fact of the matter was, I couldn’t face him. I literally couldn’t imagine going in there and working beside him after everything had happened. My life had changed in the blink of an eye, and no matter how much I cared about Elon, I had to think about my son and my mother.
I got out of the car and straightened my skirt, taking in a deep breath and slowly letting it out. I grabbed my briefcase and shut the door, turning and walking toward the front doors. The place was busy, much busier than Truitt, and there was a security desk at the front. I walked up and smiled sweetly, catching his attention.
“Good morning, ma’am. Welcome to Diamond Enterprises. What can I do for you today?”
“I have an appointment with Evan and the head of Human Resources.” I smiled, handing him my ID.
“Yes,” he said, typing in the computer. “An appointment with Evan and Marie. Very good. Here is your temporary badge, and if you would just go through the detector and then take the elevator to the ninth floor. There will be someone there who can help you.”
“Thank you,” I replied, clipping the badge to my shirt and putting my ID back in my wallet.
I walked through the metal detector, feeling slightly out of sorts. This was a seriously big company, and my experience didn’t seem like it warranted a job offer of that magnitude. Still, I wasn’t going to question it. The opportunity was there, and this time, I wasn’t backing down. When I got to the ninth floor, there was a man waiting by the receptionist desk, young with slicked-back black hair and a car salesman smile.
“Amanda?” he said.
“Yes,” I replied.
“Nice to finally meet you in person. I’m Evan,” he said.
“Oh, great to meet you as well,” I said, shaking his hand.
“I’m glad you decided to reconsider the offer,” he said. “And I’m glad the other applicants didn’t work out. It’s kind of like fate.”
“Yeah.” I laughed, walking beside him
“We’re going to go back here to the conference room and talk with Marie from Human Resources for a few minutes if that’s okay.”
“That sounds great,” I said.
“Good.” He opened the conference room doors. “Right in here.”
“Amanda,” a middle-aged woman in a deep purple skirt said. “I’m Marie. It’s so nice to meet you.”
“You too.” I smiled, shaking her hand.
“Please, have a seat.” She indicated a chair across from her. “No need to be nervous. We are already excited to get you in here and make you a part of the team.”
“Great,” I said. “I brought a copy of my resumé.”
“Wonderful,” she said, taking it from me. “I’m really glad you reached out to Evan. We were struggling to find anyone with the qualifications to do the job. We thought we might be out of luck until you called back.”
“I’m sorry for turning it down the first time,” I said.
“It’s perfectly okay. Change can be a scary thing, but that’s how we grow,” she said. “Okay, so you’ve pretty much only worked for Truitt besides your college internship.”
“Yes,” I said. “I found a home and worked my way up and didn’t see any reason to change that until now.”
“Well, we already knew all about your background,” she said. “And you made a good move with your career.”
“Thank you,” I replied.
“Have you told Truitt that you’re looking to move over here?”
“Not yet,” I said. “But I think the move will be good for everyone. The structure there has changed drastically, and I no longer feel like it’s a good fit for my talents.”
I was lying, but what was I supposed to say? That I have been fucking the boss and that we had a fight, and I couldn’t go back and face him? I didn’t think that would fly too well with the human resources department. So, I did what anyone else would do and lied through my teeth. The truth was, I didn’t want to leave Truitt, but I had to, and right then was not the time to start second-guessing myself.
“So, everything is right in order with what we thought, and meeting you made it even better,” she said.
“Thank you,” I replied. “I was really hoping you would feel that way.”
“We want to offer you the job. We already have the contract typed up, and we’re willing to double your salary as long as you can start first thing on Monday,” she said.
“That sounds great,” I replied, shaking her hand.
“Good,” she said. “Evan will go over all of that with you, and I will see you Monday morning. You’ll be able to pick up your permanent badge by Friday. Just come in and tell security you’re there to pick it up. They’ll have it ready for you.”
“Excellent, thank you so much,” I said, smiling.
“You are more than welcome,” she said.
Evan and I spent the next couple of hours going over the different things in the contract, but it was pretty generic. They didn’t even have a noncompete clause, which was unusual when offering someone a job for such a huge company. I didn’t question it, though, and by the time we were done, I was tired of smiling. I left my guest badge at the security counter and headed out to my car. When I got inside, I let out a deep breath, turning on the car and starting the air conditioning. I hadn’t known if I was going to make it through that interview, but I had, and I had made a choice that I had struggled with since they first called.
I knew it was the only option I had. Elon had left me with very few choices. I couldn’t go back to Truitt, not with things the way they were, and I had no other way around it. Diamond had offered me a hell of a deal, and I would be stupid to throw it all away for a man I didn’t even know if I could be with anymore. Doubling my salary was what had pulled me in the most, something that was going to completely change our lives. With that kind of money, I could afford to find private care for my mother, someone who could take care of her better than any hospital could. I could afford all the bills that came in with no problem, and Mikey would no longer need for anything. He would have shoes that fit him, new clothes for school, and he would be able to do the extracurricular activities I had told him no on because they cost so much.
I hated that everything came down to money. It wasn’t how I wanted to live my life, that was for damn sure, but unfortunately, I had to focus on the dollar because that was what it would take to get my family where I wanted them to be. Mikey was the best thing that ever happened to me, and it wasn’t his fault I was a single mom or that his grandmother had been injured that badly. I wouldn’t allow him to continue to feel the repercussions of that. I always told Dalton, and Elon, too, for that matter, that I wanted to make a better life for my son and my mother. Diamond Marketing was giving me the chance to do that and long before Truitt could ever grow back to what it used to be. I didn’t like shirking my responsibilities or walking out on my team, but at some point, I had to do
what was best for me and my son and not what was best for everyone else.
There were only two times in my life I had depended on a man for anything. The first was with my father, and I knew if he was still there, I would feel the same way, but he wasn’t, and there was nothing I could do to change that fact. The other had been Mikey’s father, and though he had never done a thing for us Mikey’s entire life, there was a moment, with a big round pregnant belly, I had allowed myself to depend on him. He had shown me very quickly that it was the wrong choice, and I was left a single mother, broken, and unable to bring myself to understand why. At least not until I was older and had built my life up all on my own. That had told me something that I carried with me all of the time. I hadn’t had anyone, not a man or woman, help me get where I had gotten, and I wasn’t about to let Elon in and depend on him for anything.
He showed me very swiftly that I couldn’t trust him to follow my wishes, that he was going to make decisions on what he thought was best and not what we talked about. That, on its own, was the very reason I couldn’t put my and Mikey’s survival on the line and put our fate in his hands. I was going to have to keep doing things the way I knew was best and hope I was making the right choices for me, for Mikey, and for my mother along the way. It was the only way I knew how to do things.
I put the car in drive and pulled out of the parking lot, heading back to the apartment. I wanted to have some alone time to take a shower and de-stress before Mikey got home from school. I wasn’t going back to Truitt. Instead, I was going to take the rest of the week as a vacation of sorts, spending time with my son, getting my finances in order, and trying to move on from the mess I had made at the company. I needed to get Elon out of my mind and forget that anything ever happened between us.
When I got home, I drew a bath, lighting a few candles and turning on some music. I climbed into the bubbly water and relaxed my shoulders, laying my neck against the edge. The warm water felt so good, and the smell of lavender and jasmine floated around me. I shifted my arm, knocking something off the ledge into the water. I reached down and pulled it up, staring at the bar of soap Elon had brought me during Mikey’s birthday party. He had thought he was so cute and clever, showing me he listened to what I was saying about liking bubble baths when we were joking the day before.
I sighed and leaned my head back again, closing my eyes. No matter how hard I tried, no matter what I told myself, I couldn’t get him off of my mind. I felt almost heartbroken for losing something I’d thought was going to be really good for me. It was amazing how quickly things changed, and I was stuck alone again, only this time it ached in my chest. I was just going to have to get over it.
Chapter 46
Elon
It was Wednesday morning, and I had woken up with a renewed purpose. Marcus had given me some really good advice, but in order for it to work, I would need to make sure Amanda was back and strong, ready to kick ass with the client. Making up for the things that had gone wrong in our relationship would take longer. I knew that, but I was ready to at least make the first step. Moping around, feeling sorry for myself, wasn’t going to change the situation. This was not one of those things I could sit back and let it work itself out, nor did I want to take the chance of losing her. She was a vital part of the team and a vital part of my life as well.
On the way to work, I stopped off at my favorite coffee shop, getting both me and Amanda a coffee with soy and sugar and a couple of croissants for breakfast. I figured if we were going to have to sit down and talk, I might as well earn some extra points by bringing good coffee and food to the mix. It would also give me something to do with my nervous hands as I rode to work that morning. It was a peace offering, something that said I came to talk, not fight.
I climbed back into the car and sat there, holding the coffee and looking out the window. This was not going to be one of those meetings where I could just wing it, nor could I use my charm to make her happy with me again. She had seen my charm. She knew how it worked, and by that point, I was assuming she had built up an immunity to it. No, what I was going to have to do is be transparent like I had been with the client. I had to lay everything out for her to see, showing her how much I needed her back on the mark with Truitt Marketing and how good of a team that we made. If I could get her to that point, eventually, we could work out the issues between us just like last time. The hardest part was going to be getting her talking in the first place. She was a stubborn woman and usually did things on her own timetable, not mine.
I played the possible conversation over and over again in my head, trying to make sure I had down what I wanted to say. The last thing I wanted to happen was to get in there and go completely blank. That’s when I tended to say stupid shit, the kind of things that would make her irritated or angry, and that was what I wanted to stay as far away from as possible. I wanted to see that smile again, that excitement for life and work. I was done with the drama, and I wanted her to be as well.
I carried the food and coffee into my office and set everything up just like I wanted it. I had asked my secretary to grab Amanda for me, so I sat in my chair and leaned back, running over my words again and again. I had to make sure I was ready for her and not let the nerves bubbling over in my stomach get the best of me. When there was a knock on the door, I sprang forward, clearing my throat and sitting up straight.
“Come in,” I said, ready to see Amanda walk through the door.
“Hey, boss,” Dalton said, peaking around the corner.
“Dalton,” I said, “I was expecting Amanda.”
“I know,” he said. “May I come in?”
“Sure, please have a seat,” I said, thinking maybe it was good he was there as a buffer between the two of us, at least until she calmed down.
“I love that coffee shop,” he said, smiling nervously. “They have the best almond croissants in the world.”
“Yeah” I chuckled. “What can I do for you, Dalton?”
“Did you see how beautiful it is outside? I would kill to be out on the water today,” he said. “I heard you can rent yachts for the day and have a captain drive you out on the water. Seriously, it would be an excellent vacation. When was the last time you took a vacation?”
He was breathing nervously, and his words were exploding like word vomit. I squinted my eyes at him and tilted my head trying to figure out what was going on. He looked like he was going to have a panic attack in the middle of the office.
“Dalton, slow down,” I said. “What do you need?”
“Um, I heard you were looking for Amanda, and I thought I would poke my head in and see how you were doing, where your mindset was, and so on,” he said, looking around.
“Why?” I asked.
“Well, um, Amanda isn’t coming in today,” he said nervously.
“We have a project to get going, and I had planned on talking to her and setting things straight between us,” I said, feeling disappointed. “When is she coming back to work?”
“See, that’s the thing,” he said, putting up his finger. “Sometimes, things get really complicated in life, and we have to really sit down and weigh out what’s important to us and where those things fall in line. Amanda’s an independent person, and she really cares about her family and their well-being.”
“Dalton, you’re rambling,” I said. “What’s going on? When is Amanda coming back?”
“She’s not,” he said seriously.
“That’s ridiculous.” I chuckled. “Is this some kind of joke? She needs this job, and we need her. She’s been the leader of this team for years now, and there’s no way she would just up and leave her team.”
He swallowed hard and pulled a note out of his pocket. He slid it across my desk and sat there staring at me. I looked at him and then down at the sheet, neatly folded on pink stationary, the same pink stationary Amanda used for everything. I reached down and picked up the note, carefully unfolding it and staring down at the words on the page.
“
Elon,
I have worked faithfully for Truitt Marketing for years, and I have enjoyed the entire stay with your company. The team has made working there more than a pleasure. The skills that I learned working for the company are priceless and invaluable. It is with a heavy heart that I say I will not be returning to Truitt Marketing. I have accepted a position with another company and am looking forward to growing and moving toward the future. I wish the team all my best. Please send them my regards.
Sincerely,
Amanda”
“I’m sorry I had to bring you this news,” Dalton said with a sigh. “She gave it to me this morning on my way out the door.”
“Thank you, Dalton,” I said. “I need to be alone. Please, get the team on track and keep them moving toward their goals. I’ll handle announcing it to them later during a team meeting. For now, continue on as usual.”
“Yes, sir,” he said, getting up and walking out of the office.
I jumped slightly as the door shut, my heart dropping into my stomach. All of that pep talk, all of the planning, all of the realization that I had to look to the future of my company had not prepared me for that letter. I sincerely thought she was taking a couple of days to get things right in her head, and she would be back to lead the team onward. I thought I would have the chance to sit in front of her and show her I was the kind of man who cared about her, who wanted to see her grow and thrive. I wanted to show her I could see when I had done something that affected her and I would do what I could to make that up to her. There wasn’t going to be a coffee or croissant meeting, no late-night work sessions, no laughing over stupid things. She was gone, and all I had as a parting gift was a damn broken heart and a letter written on pink stationary.
I stared down at my coffee, wondering what I had done in that life to deserve the kind of fate that had been handed to me. For the first time in my life, I had met a woman who made me want to be a better man. I had met a woman with the same drive to make this company better as I did. I growled, slamming my fists down on the table and throwing the letter to the floor. I stood up and walked over to the window, breathing heavily. I looked out over the cityscape, spying the large Diamond Marketing building in the background. That’s where she had gone, to the job that offered her a double salary. It had to be.