Grace

I chose a sleeveless, black jumpsuit that hits my calves, to wear to work today. I thought I’d be meeting with the restaurant guy, but Matt had other plans. He and Miles met with the man by themselves, and also the female employee who betrayed me. I don’t like being left out, but they’re the bosses. They promised to give me a full report after my meeting with Miles and Keir, so there’s that, at least.

I’m looking forward to getting this meeting over with. I’ve already chosen the pics, so this is just a short timeline planning session. Once again, when I get to Miles office, Keir is already there, and they are looking over pictures without me.

“This is becoming a pattern.”

“Keir was just going over some of the other photos with me.”

“I chose the best ones.”

“What you think are the best ones. You know I disagree,” Keir tells me.

“I’m the head of this project, and what I chose fits the vision I have.”

“I don’t want to contradict you, Grace, but some of the pictures Keir showed me are much better for the campaign.”

“Really? This is how it’s going to be? Cut out the woman, because the men know best?”

“No, Grace. You know better.”

“I thought I did. I thought this company was different, but it’s not. The men stick together, and then stick it to you when you give your opinion.”

“Grace, please sit down, and we’ll discuss this. It’s just some pictures.”

“No, it’s more than that. It’s too much more. It’s all too much. I trusted you, Miles. I thought you believed in me.”

“I do.”

“You wouldn’t have been in here before me today, or meeting alone last time, if you did. I can’t work for someone who doesn’t trust me to do the job.”

“Grace?” Miles says, standing and moving towards me as I back up.

“I quit.”

“No!”

I turn, and practically run from the room. I know Miles is following me, and I know the whole floor is watching, but I don’t care. I push open my door, and hear Ethan try to stop Miles before it closes.

“You can’t quit.”

“I just did.”

“Be reasonable, Grace. You know his pictures are better. You’re letting your personal feelings interfere with your professional job.”

“I will give you two weeks, but I’d like to spend them in New York. Give me an empty office in the C&C building there, and I’ll work remotely.”

“You can’t leave.”

“Yes, I can. Either today, or after two weeks in New York. You choose.”

“Look at me. Please.”

“I can’t. I can’t look at you, Miles.”

“Alex is due in a month. Don’t do this to us.”

“I will work my ass off, and get everything done, so nothing will fall on you. Two weeks should be enough time to find someone else.”

“I don’t want someone else.”

“It doesn’t feel that way.”

“You know those pictures are better. Maybe I shouldn’t have met with him without you, but you know it’s true.”

“Please leave me alone.”

“I’ll arrange an office for you, and a jet will be ready when you get to the airport.”

I’m barely holding on right now, so I don’t say anything else. He stays for another minute, before leaving on a sigh. I hear Ethan tell Keir he can’t see me as the door closes. I wanted this life for so long, but now I want it to be over. I want to go home.

Before I can, I have to get everything set up for my move. I call Ethan in, and explain that I’m quitting, but want him to help me from here for the next two weeks. I know he’ll be okay, but I’ll miss the kid. I call my housekeeper, and let her know I’m going out of town, and stop my mail. I should go home and pack, but I don’t, because I can get what I need in New York. Taking one last look around my office later in the day, I turn off the lights, and walk out.

I’ve ignored the texts coming from Alex and Keir all day. I’m too raw right now to talk to my friend about leaving, or my ex-lover about how he’s still hurting me. I just want to leave this city I pinned my hopes and dreams on, and go back to the place that shaped me, and the people who love me.

Keir

I’ve never felt this panicked before. Grace just quit her job because of me, and she’s leaving. Leaving C&C, and leaving Las Vegas. I fought for my pictures instead of her, and now it’s really and truly over. All of it.

“What did you do?” Ainsley asks, walking into my house with Sierra hot on her heels.

“Is Daddy in trouble?” Connor asks, his eyes wide.

“So much trouble. Auntie Si is going to hang out with you while I talk to your daddy, okay?”

“Okay,” Trevor answers.

I stand and follow Ainsley into my bedroom, shutting the door. I don’t want the boys to know Grace is gone yet, so the living room is out.

“She and I disagreed on what pictures to use for the hotel marketing, and Miles took my side.”

“There’s got to be more to it than that.”

“I didn’t handle the situation well, and neither did Miles. We discussed it without her…twice. She lost it the second time, and quit.”

“Were the photos you wanted to use that much better than the ones she chose?”

“Yes, and no. Hers would work perfectly well in the campaign she created, but I know mine would make it exceptional.”

“You should’ve all met together to discuss it. Cutting her out of the discussion is bullshit.”

“We know.”

“It’s not fair to anyone for her to quit. She deserves her job, and also the respect the two of you didn’t give her.”

“I already said we know we were wrong.”

“You say it, but you don’t mean it. You still think you did the right thing.”

“This is my chance, Sis. My chance to prove myself, and have my job with Corrigan extended. Why is it so wrong for me to have done everything I could to keep it?”

“It’s wrong because you aren’t some cutthroat asshole who throws a woman under a moving bus to further his career. I expect you to fight for what you think is best, but not by cutting out your direct boss. That’s a ducking misogynistic asshole move.”

“I’m not misogynistic.”

“In this, you were.”

“Maybe.”

“Yes, not maybe.”

“Fine, okay? I already told you Miles and I know we screwed up. Me more than him, because I lost her in all aspects of my life. Have you thought about how hard it is for me to take a look at what I did, and still be able to live with myself? Not just at work, but at Con’s party?”

“I’m glad you’re finally admitting it, and making it better will go a long way to make you feel better too.”

“You were right. About me holding on to anger, and the feelings Jacky left me with. There’s no love there, but there’s still hurt. Or there was. When Grace said she was quitting, and Miles told me she’s leaving for New York, I let it go. I felt it almost like it was a weight I was pushing off my soul.

“I love Grace like I never loved Jacky, and yet I judged her on how I felt when Jacky left. No matter that Grace is nothing like her, and was there for the boys even after I hurt her, I still held her to the mistakes of my past. I wish it didn’t take losing her to make it happen, because fuck if I know how to get her back now.”

“I’ll help you.”

“Not this time. I love you, but this time, I need to do it alone. She has to see that I’m willing to struggle and fight for her. For us.”

“Yeah, I think she does.”

Grace

“Go home, Grace,” my mom says, pushing the bread basket towards me. We’re at our favorite neighborhood place, and I was hoping for some motherly advice, but I didn’t expect what I’m getting.

“Wow. You know most mothers would want their child to stay with them.”

“Not when she’s making a mistake.”

“I told you everything, and you only get that I’m to blame?”

“No. I believe the men in your life are 99% to blame, but I also believe you won’t find a better job than the one you’re leaving. You know how to work among men who don’t value you, and while I don’t think that’s exactly the case here, you’ll survive. Your father and I raised you to survive.”

“I quit.”

“We didn’t raise a quitter, either.”

“I came home for support.”

“That’s what you’re getting.”

“I wanted a hug, not tough love.”

“You got a hug when you walked in.”

“I’m not going to beg for my job back.”

“Maybe you won’t have to. All I’m saying is that if you’re given the offer to keep it, don’t turn it down.”

“I’ll think about it.”

“Good. Now, tell me more about these little boys.”

Keir

“You’re not really going to let her go, are you?” I ask Miles when I enter his office the next day.

“I can’t make her stay.”

“I know, but we can’t just do nothing.”

“I have a baby on the way, and several other divisions to run, so excuse me if I wish you’d done something before she left.”

“This isn’t all on me.”

He rubs a hand over his hair. “No, it’s not, and I’m sorry for saying that. We’ve already know we fucked up, and I’m pretty sure having her name dragged through the mud by the media didn’t help things, but all I can control now is her work environment. The rest is up to you.”

“I know. There has to be a way to get her back to Vegas. If she’s here, I can grovel more effectively."

"As can I."

"So, what do we do?"

"Nothing yet, but only because Matt says I can't reach out to her until he talks to her."

"Matt's talking to her?"

"He's on a plane as we speak. Keep your fingers crossed, because if he can't get through to her, and let her know how important she is to this company, I don't know who can."

Grace

I'm standing at the windows in my borrowed office, staring out at the Manhattan skyline. The lights glitter like diamonds, but it's different lights I wish I was seeing right now. Colored lights, a pyramid whose light can be seen from space, and a mini Eiffel Tower.

"I had a feeling I'd find you here."

I turn at the sound of Matt's voice, knowing this day was coming, but not wanting it here yet. "You're here with my exit paperwork?"

"No."

"No?"

"I was going to tell you that if you say you're quitting, you need to mean it."

"But now you know I meant it."

"The question is whether you still mean it."

"That's a complicated question to answer."

"Good. I'm not looking for a yes. Talk to me, Grace."

I look back at the window, gaining courage from the lights out there, while knowing Matt's watching my reflection. "Over the years, I've missed family vacations, family celebrations, and even my grandmother's funeral, because I knew I couldn't look weak. I couldn't take time off, I couldn't cry when I got devastating news, and I couldn't ever let the men around me have any reason to take a shot at me."

"That would never happen at my company."

"I thought so too, and I was so happy to job there. I felt valued, and respected, until I didn't anymore."

"I've seen all the photos, and we both know Keir's choices are better."

"It wasn't about the photos," I admit.

"It was about them meeting without you, and my brother taking his side over yours without hearing you out. He would've still chosen those pictures, because every project needs to be our best, but you deserved to be treated better. He knows it, and it's killing him."

"The first time I saw them looking over the pictures without me, I was hurt. The second time was worse, because of everything that happened the day before. All the accusations I know some people still believe, even though it’s blown over in the media, and how raw I was over being put through that. Not being allowed to face the man who tried to destroy me, and then walking in on two men I once trusted working against me...it was too much, Matt."

"I apologize, because I was trying to protect you by not having you in the meeting with that asshole. I have a wife who is strong and independent, so I do know better, and I have no excuse other than wanting to spare you more ugliness."

"Apology accepted. I appreciate your concern, even if it wasn't needed."

"Come back, and let Miles apologize."

"It's not just Miles I'll have to face. How do I tell Keir I was being petty?"

"You just tell him. From what I can tell, he's been more of an ass to you than you've been to him."

"He has, but it hasn't messed with my job."

"Really? I seem to remember his ex-wife coming after you publicly."

"Yeah, and since we're having this little therapy session, I'm going to tell you I wanted him to stand up for me."

"I can't speak for him, so I don't know what he's thinking. He looks like shit, if that's any consolation."

"It might be if I knew it was because of me."

"You're going to make me bring out the big guns, huh?"

"A raise?"

"You can have a raise, but I have something better."

"Better than a raise?"

He reaches into his suit jacket, and pulls out two handmade cards. Before I even see the words or pictures, I know who they're from. He wasn't kidding about bringing something big enough to make me go back. I would face a dragon for Trevor and Connor Martin, so facing two men who hurt me doesn't seem so daunting right now.

"Tomorrow is Family Celebration Night for the daycare center. We have them every quarter, celebrating every kind of family who uses the center. The boys are sharing a table for their family, and they would really appreciate you taking the last seat."

"This is low, Matt."

He throws his hands up in the air, like he's innocent in all of this. "Don't blame me, because you made those boys fall in love with you."

I take the cards from him, running my hand over the fronts, where Connor has drawn me a Wonder Woman and lots of hearts, and Trevor has carefully printed my name along with "X"s and "O"s. Inside each is a printed invitation to the dinner, glitter, Wonder Woman symbols, and more love. So much love, and there's no way I'm going to ignore it.

"Take me to your plane, Boss."