“He does. So do you. It’s time for a full staff meeting.”
“No, Laine, it’s time for me to resign. I thought I could weather this. But I dread coming to work now. I loved working here, and now I dread it.”
“We’ll find a way to fix this, Sonya. You know we value you.”
“I do know, but I don’t want you to fix it. You and Matt? You’ve built such a good company, and I’ll always be grateful to have been part of it. I just can’t work here anymore, so I’m giving you my two weeks’。 Longer if you need it, but Gina Tallo? She’s ready. She could move up. I could work with her for those two weeks. But I need to go, for me, Laine. I need to go.”
Laine sat back. “This sucks. It just sucks.”
“It really does. But, Laine, I’m so unhappy. I don’t want to be unhappy in my work. I don’t want to get up every morning and have a hole in the pit of my stomach because I have to go to work. I have to move on.”
“To a competitor. I’m going to hate that, but Matt and I will give you bright and shiny references. We don’t want you to be unhappy, and I’m furious you’ve been made to feel unhappy.”
“I think this is what’s best for me. But I don’t plan on going to a competitor, at least for now. I’m going to freelance. I need the time, the space. And I need to see what I can do on my own.”
Head back, Laine stared up at the ceiling. “We’re going to lose accounts. I’m going to hate that.”
“I won’t go after By Design accounts.”
“Then you’re stupid. Don’t be stupid. Take the Baby Mine account, they’re going places. It’s a gift,” Laine said before Sonya could think of anything to say. “Not much of a gift, seeing as they came to you—you—on a recommendation of another account you worked on. I’m telling you that’s your account, and Matt will agree with me.”
“Thank you. Really, it’s more than I could ask.”
“You’re right about Gina. We’ve had our eye on her. She needs a little more polish, and we’ll see she gets it. Now, listen to me—on a personal level, as I’ve got a daughter about your age. You’ve got two weeks’ vacation you haven’t used for a honeymoon you can celebrate not going on. Take it. Take today to clear up any projects to the point they can be passed on. Then walk out of here, and be happy.”
“I can’t leave you in the lurch.”
“You won’t be. Or hell, damn right you will be, whether you leave today or in two weeks. You’re a talented woman with a solid work ethic. But Matt and I will handle your projects—we still know how it’s done. And we’ll give Gina the polish she needs. And we’ll miss the hell out of you.”
Laine waved a hand in the air. “No crying. You’ll start me up. Finish out the day. And keep in touch.”
“I will. I owe you and Matt so much.”
“Pay us back. Make us proud.”
When Sonya went out, Laine sat back again, stared at the ceiling again.
And after a long sigh, said, “Fuck.”
Chapter Three
She got through the day. Though she skipped lunch to focus on current projects so she could leave them in good shape for whoever took over, she chatted with coworkers in the break room.
Casual. Situation normal.
As she went through the motions, she realized in her mind, in her heart, she’d already moved on. And because she had, the stress melted away.
At the end of the day, she boxed up her things, her personal tools, her emergency power bars, spare chargers, the fluorite obelisk Cleo had given her, her African violet, and all the little things that had made her office her work home.
A single box, she thought, to sum up seven years—two as an intern—of her professional life at By Design.
The whole, so far, of her professional life.
She took one last look around her office, and Matt stepped to her doorway.
“I wanted to wait until … Laine said your mind’s made up, and for good reasons. I feel I wasn’t supportive enough, that I should’ve found a solution.”
“No. No. It was a bad situation. An impossible one for me. I wouldn’t be able to try freelancing if it wasn’t for you and Laine.”
“I promised Laine I wouldn’t pressure you, so I won’t. I want to, but I won’t. Let me carry that for you.”
Taking the box, he walked her out, past offices, through the Nesting Area.
“You’d better miss us.”