The Boss Project

CHAPTER 5

Evie

On Sunday, despite thinking about it for most of the last forty-eight hours, I still hadn’t decided whether or not to take the job with Kitty’s grandson’s company. My sister thought I was insane to turn down the only offer I’d had after searching for a while, but the idea of taking a job where I wasn’t really wanted didn’t sit right with me. I’d asked the woman from human resources if I could get back to her in a few days, and we’d agreed I’d let her know by Monday morning. I’d figured at some point a moment of clarity would hit me, but now I’d begun to think having any type of clarity in my life would never happen again. Oddly, the person I often talked to when I had doubts was the grandmother of the man who was giving me doubt about accepting the job.

But this was also the day I usually spoke to her, and I felt like that might not be a coincidence. So I picked up the phone and dialed my unlikely friend.

“Hey, Kitty.”

“Hello, sweetheart. How’s the world treating you this week?”

Like that poor ninety-eight-year-old man who died the day after winning the lottery in Alanis Morissette’s song. “Pretty good. How about you?”

“I can’t complain. At my age, you can either see your aches and pains as a burden or see them as a reminder that you’re still alive with plenty left to do. I choose the latter.”

Ten seconds into our call, I already felt better than I had in days. Kitty had such a simple way of looking at things, and I needed the reminder. Things could always be worse. “Talk to any new relatives this week?” I asked.

“I did indeed—a bit of a crazy story actually. A woman who came up as a second cousin got the DNA testing kit for Christmas from her daughter. Her results came back saying her uncle was only a half uncle. She did some digging, and it turned out her grandmother had an affair and got pregnant. She’d passed the kid off as her husband’s her whole life. The grandmother was long gone, but the grandfather was still kicking. They did a little investigating and discovered the grandmother had had an affair with a guy who lived in the same town. When the grandfather found out, he went to his wife’s grave to talk to her about it, only to realize his wife was buried right next to the guy she’d had the affair with. The grandmother had bought the plots and never said a word. Talk about taking a secret to your grave.”

“Oh wow. The dirt you get from genealogy is better than watching a soap opera.”

“And to think, I used to say those shows were too outlandish. Turns out, most people do have a dirty little secret that could turn their world upside down.”

Don’t I know it. “There’s no such thing as a secret these days with the Internet.”

Kitty laughed and then told me all about a trip she was planning to take with the new guy she was seeing. They were going to try ziplining for the first time. It dawned on me how much more exciting this seventy-eight-year-old woman’s life was than mine.

“Are you sure I’m the one who’s twenty-nine?” I asked.

“Age is just a number, my dear. What are you doing for excitement lately?”

“Well, I did cross against the light the other day.”

Kitty tsked. “Child, you need to rejoin the world. I know that moron ex of yours threw you for a loop, but there’s a big world out there just waiting to make you smile. Take what today has to offer. Don’t dwell on what yesterday has taken away.”

I sighed. “I know. You’re right. It’s just… I’m not sure how to start fresh again. It’s like I’m weighed down with so much resentment, I’m struggling to keep my head above water.”

“Well, that’s a problem. But there’s a simple solution.”

“There is?”

“Mmm-hmmm. You need to make a decision to be happy and let it guide your future. Then make a left instead of a right, zig instead of zag. Sometimes that’s the only way to find a new path.”

“How do I do that?”

“You do the opposite of what you would normally do. I don’t mean you say yes to a date with a guy who just got out of prison for murder. Or you dive into a pool without water. Because those are just dumb. But if a handsome, sixty-eight-year-old man asks you to go ziplining? Go for it. Your life course has been changed, and you’re never going to find out where you should go next by sitting home. Believe it can happen, and it will. Take some chances.”

The idea sounded good, though I felt more stuck in place than stuck deliberating over turning one way or the other. But Kitty was trying to help, so I didn’t want her to feel bad. “Thanks, Kitty. You’re right. I’ll give it a try.”

“That’s my girl. Now, what’s new on the job front? Did you get the job with my grandson?”

“I did, actually. Though I haven’t accepted it yet. I’m not sure I’m the right person for the position.”

“Do you have any other prospects?”

I frowned. “No, I don’t.”

“Welp. You do what you want, but I think maybe your first opportunity to zag instead of zig is staring you in the face.”

She had a point... But I still wasn’t sure.

After we hung up, I sat in the living room for a little while. Greer and her husband were out to dinner with some friends, so the apartment was quiet. I pondered what Kitty had said—not so much her suggestion about zigging and zagging, but about what I might tell a patient who was struggling with change. I would tell them to focus on the opportunities, not the loss. And isn’t that what the job at Kitty’s grandson’s firm was? An opportunity? One I believed I could excel at. So why was I struggling to make this decision so much? It all came down to one thing…or one man, that is: Merrick Crawford. He was a challenge. Could I rise to conquer The Boss Project?

I chewed on my lip as I opened my laptop. I had to give Joan Davis an answer one way or another, and staring at the screen wasn’t going to help bring about the clarity I was searching for. Yet I spent another twenty minutes doing it anyway. Then I opened my email, took a deep breath, and decided to zag instead of zig.