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“You’re firing me, aren’t you?” I asked, feeling hopelessness wash over me.
I was using the monthly payment plan for Henry’s tuition, and this month might be Henry’s last month of classes.
“I knew Gary Chalk very briefly, but in that time, I realized how useful you were to him. I wish we had a position open thatwould fit your experience, but we don’t. So, unfortunately, we will have to let you go?—”
Why would you praise me then?
I remembered what the man in the coffeehouse had told me. The one with the straight back and broad shoulders. The one whose suit fit him so well that it had probably been tailor-made for him, sheen and all.“You’re in charge of this situation. What do you want to do?”
“Isn’t there any other job I could do?” I began, putting up some fight. “Some other role at Tassater? I looked at the job openings online, and there was an open position available for an administrative assistant.”
Edith pushed her glasses down to look at me clearly. “I remember that position. Unfortunately, that position requires someone with the experience of one year.” She double-checked her notes. “You have eight years of experience, Ms. Nichols.”
Eight? The years had certainly flown by while I was trying to get through the days.
“Which means you will find a job commensurate with your experience very easily?—”
A new job. In a new company. I hated anything to do with the wordnew. Getting used to the idea of Lead Capital Group and Tassater Inc. had been hard enough, but going out into the job market and interviewing? I’d rather go on three blind dates with snake-eating sociopaths.
“In this job market?” I had to suppress my urge to laugh, but I did come across as bitter. “Three newspapers today announced that the US is in an economic slump. I’m not an economist, but that doesn’t look good for executive assistants with experience. Everyone else at my level has moved on to being a program manager or upped their skills somewhere. My brother did ask me to do a Project Management certification to prove I knewproject management, but I thought my money was better spent on his undergrad classes.”
She pushed a folder toward me, not to be swayed. “In this packet, you’ll find a breakdown of your severance package. You’ll notice that Tassater has been very generous with?—”
The door of the small room flung open before she could complete her sentence, and the two of us looked up.
“Mr. Tassater,” Edith exclaimed.
All concerns about Henry or my job fled my mind because the man I saw in front of me—the man who was very clearly looking back at me too—was in fact the man I had met at the café over six weeks ago.
The man I let see me in my tears, in shambles, after the groom ditched me on my wedding day.
The man who held me after I spilled an entire cup of coffee on his shirt.
The man who called Bruce a jackass and an interminable number of names, each one more vehement than the last.
The man who’d told me I deserved better.
The CEO of Tassater Inc.
5
CHLOE
The navy-blue suit Sean wore shone under the overhead lights, and his shoes made a crisp sound, all business and measured footsteps, as he walked up to us, his gaze fixed on me.
I shut my eyes, feeling a flutter in my stomach.Hewas the ghost from the hallway moments ago. A ghost who was—I gulped—very, very real.
With the way he filled out his muscular six-foot frame well, he came across as someone who handled his power with integrity.
With his crisp haircut that showed off his fine jaw, he indicated that he was a man who took care of himself.
With the ease with which he moved, he radiated a surety I rarely felt in life.
And me? Well, I was done for.
Edith’s eyes darted nervously between me and the man while I was too shocked to speak.
“I didn’t expect you here,” Edith breathed out to Sean, her voice sounding shaky as she stood up.