“Yeah, I’m fine. Thanks for asking.” She suddenly realized how hard this was going to be. She didn’t know how Remi would feel about the sudden announcement that she was leaving, even though Remi had expressed a desire to quit the company as well.
“Sit down,” Remi said. She had a pen in her hand and the end of it had clearly been chewed. Remi was a stress case, Nicole knew. She worked so hard, and a lot of the work was thankless. Today, the middle-aged woman was wearing a black button-down shirt, the top couple of buttons had been left open. As usual, she had a masculine, severe look to her—but Nicole saw past that now, to the sweet, sensitive woman underneath.
Nicole sat down and took a breath to prepare for the awkwardness to come. “So…I’ve been doing some thinking.”
“Uh-oh.” Remi’s eyes gained a new intensity. “That’s never a good start to open a conversation.”
“Yeah. I—you know how close I was—how close I still am—to Red.”
Remi nodded. “You two are still together? I didn’t want to pry.”
“We are. We’re very happy together.” She tried to muster a smile.
“You’ve grown up a lot since you first started here. It’s been a real rollercoaster ride for you.”
“It has. And unfortunately, I think the ride has come to an end. I need to get off now.”
“You’re quitting?”
Nicole dug into her purse and took the resignation letter out, handed it across the desk to her boss. “This is my letter of resignation. Sorry for not giving you more of a head’s up, but I’m definitely willing to stay on another few weeks if it would help.”
Remi read the letter. She sat back in her chair, stunned. “Wow. I did not see this one coming. I mean, I should have, but I guess I was too caught up in my own problems to realize that you had plenty of your own to contend with. I’m sorry if I’ve been insensitive to what you’ve been going through.”
“It’s got nothing to do with you. You’re an awesome boss. It’s just everything else that’s gone on. I don’t feel comfortable working for Kane Wright.”
Oh, and by the way—my husband and I are going to start a new company specifically designed to destroy this one.
“So.” Remi tapped her chewed up pen against the desk. “What’s next for you?”
“I’m still not sure,” she lied. “Red and I are going to be planning our wedding—“
“I hope there’s an invite for your coolest boss?”
“Definitely,” Nicole told her.
Remi smiled, and Nicole could see the wheels turning as she processed everything. “Listen, this might not be my place, Nicole,” Remi said, sitting forward now. “And I support your decision. No matter what, I really hope you and I will continue to be…well I think we’re friends.”
“I do too.”
“Good.” Remi sighed. “So, as a friend…I just hope you’ve given a long, hard thought to being unemployed with your husband for any extended period of time. I’d imagine it’s a very new experience for Red, and now you’ll both be home and out of work temporarily. That could be stressful for you guys.”
“Red is working on something new,” Nicole said carefully.
“Oh.” Her boss nodded as if that piece of information explained everything. “Well, what the hell do I know?” She laughed and stood up, extending her hand.
Nicole stood up too and they shook hands firmly.
“Thanks for being so understanding, and for being a great boss,” Nicole said.
“It was easy working with someone like you. And you’ve always got a reference from me.” Remi smiled but the smile was short lived this time. “Unfortunately, because of who you are and your relationship to the former CEO—I’d imagine word will come down that they want today to be your last day, Nicole. I just don’t want you to be surprised if that’s what happens.”
“It’s fine. I totally understand.”
They said their goodbyes and Nicole went back to her desk and began packing up the few things she’d accumulated over the time she’d been at Jameson International. She put most of it in her purse and then she threw out anything she could get rid of.
A moment later her cell was buzzing. She figured it was probably Red checking to see how they’d reacted to her quitting, but when she took her phone out of her purse, the caller ID said: Mom.
“Oh jeez,” she sighed. She debated the pros and cons of answering versus not answering and decided to just be a big girl and deal with her mother.
Nicole left the cubicles and went into the hallway near the bathrooms to talk without disturbing anyone. “Hi Mom,” she said, feigning enthusiasm.
Her mother didn’t even try to fake it. Her voice was cold and distant. “Hello, Nicole. I was wondering why we hadn’t been hearing from you the last few days, but then one of my friends was kind enough to forward me a link to the new article about you and Red.”
“Huh? I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Maybe you haven’t seen it. But apparently, the entire world—except for your father and I—knows that the two of you are back together.”