Ava laughed a little, but the misery cluttering her chest quickly closed in and stole all humor. She flipped a page in the magazine, wondering how long it would be before she could end this façade and crawl back into bed. She only had one more day to indulge in the unrelenting hurt.
“I was thinking,” Katie said. “Maybe I’ll come meet you when you travel. You know, to places I haven’t been yet. I’ll fly in your last day of work, we’ll celebrate that night, and then hit the sightseeing trail the next day.”
“Y’all count me in on that,” Mandy murmured.
“Where haven’t you been?” Ava asked.
“I know France inside out. I’ve been to Paris more times than I can count, Marseille, Lyon, Toulouse, Strasbourg, Montpellier.” Then she added in a singsong “But never Nice.” She sighed and dropped her head against the chair. “Oh, how amazing would it be to spend a week in the south of France?”
“Scratch that,” Mandy said. “You ladies are way out of my league.”
Ava’s mind veered toward the new job waiting for her. The Quantum Group had her travel schedule inked in for the next two years, and she would be spending half her time in very metropolitan and exotic locations with an expense account her father would choke on. She’d been offered double her salary at Jennings St
eel and double quarterly bonuses. And the idea of being on the other side of the world from her family was appealing at the moment.
The job gratified and vindicated her in one way and left her utterly empty in another. She’d never pursued the education or the job for the money. She’d done it for her family. Without the underlying goal of furthering her family’s business, the job lost all its spark. Ava found herself adrift in a field that didn’t interest her with no qualifications to do anything else.
She also found herself wanting to pick up the phone and talk to Isaac about it. Over the last few weeks, she’d had plenty of time to research him. He’d taken the same path as Ava—following in his father’s footsteps, working together to build a family legacy. But he’d left their engineering firm after Jeremy’s death. She was jealous of the relationship he’d maintained with his parents in the wake of the tragedy. Jealous of his love for his newfound career. Jealous of his independence.
“Okay,” Katie said, “so Nice doesn’t thrill you. What about Madrid? You’ve always wanted to see Spain, and I’ve never been there either.”
Ava’s mind immediately veered toward Isaac and his story about running with the bulls in Pamplona. The memory hit her like a knife in the gut.
“Oh-kay,” Katie said, her voice dropping in pitch. “Maybe not.”
“I’m sorry.” Ava closed the magazine and slumped into her chair. “It’s just a huge transition. I’m still getting my head around it.” She forced a smile for Katie. “I’d love to travel with you. Let me get started and get my feet under me, then we’ll plan something.”
“Or, you could open up that magazine again and see if you find a cure for your screwed-up state of mind.”
Ava frowned down at the magazine and found she’d been looking through Psychology Today. She tossed the magazine aside and gave Katie a dry “You’re hilarious.”
“And you’re pathetic.”
“Hey, I don’t need you reminding me. I’m doing enough of it for both of us.”
“If you were doing it enough, you’d have made a change in your life by now.”
Ava tossed her hands in the air. “What happened to celebrating my sexy new job you’ve been thrilled about?”
“It’s pretty tough to be thrilled when you’re moping.”
“I’m not—” She caught Mandy’s sideways glance and gave herself a quick mental slap. “Okay, I’ve been moping. I’m sorry. I think the job is amazing, and I’m grateful for the opportunity—”
“Shut up,” Katie said. “This isn’t a fuckin’ job interview.”
“Now don’t be too hard on her,” Mandy said. “When a girl’s heart’s broke, it’s hard to be excited about much.”
“My heart’s not broken,” she told Mandy. “It was just…just…a thing.”
“Tell yourself whatever you gotta, hon.”
Exasperated, she turned back to Katie. “What are my options, here?” she asked. “Really? Even if I wanted to repair things with him—which I’m not sure I do—we live two hours apart. That, on top of this job, virtually kills any reason to even think about starting things up again.”
Though it didn’t eliminate her need or her obligation to apologize for the way she’d acted at the event. For how abruptly and brutally she’d ended their relationship.
“You don’t have to take the job.”
“Of course I have to take the job. I have rent, a car payment. I have everyday bills that add up faster than I can blink—dry cleaning, cell phone, internet. Not to mention all the travels you’ve been talking about. I’ve already drained my savings.”