I’m a lucky girl.

It sure didn’t seem that way two months ago when I found out Cole had been lying to me the entire time, ever since before we had even officially met each other.

But now, as I take my second flight in as many months, it strikes me how lucky I am. Sure, I’m just flying coach this time, but the view from my window seat is just as beautiful.

It’s not like I need extra leg room anyway. See — there’s a bright side to everything, even to being average height. Alice would probably have to contort her body in various unnatural ways just to fit her tall frame into one of these seats.

Alice cried when we hugged each other at the airport, before I joined the line for the security checkpoint. I told her I’m going to visit as often as I can, but we both know it won’t be the same.

She’s happy for me, though. She’s always so supportive. God, I’m going to miss her stupid messages asking me what time I was coming home from work or what I wanted to eat for dinner. But we both know this is just something I need to do to move forward.

Besides, it’s not like I’m going to be alone in Seattle. Marco has generously offered to let me stay with him and his girlfriend at their downtown apartment for as long as I need while I get myself settled.

When Marco sent me that first email a couple of days after I quit from Foster Hotels, it was just a nice distraction. He told me InstaRoomies, the company he works for that helps owners and renters of private vacation rentals meet one another, is expanding into the luxury market.

Since I made a very convincing case for a new strategy in targeting the luxury traveler during my presentation at the conference, he wanted to ask me a few quick questions.

I didn’t mind answering his questions. In fact, they made me start to feel useful again. Honestly, the way everything went down with Cole and my job at Foster Hotels made me feel like a failure.

Well, a few quick questions turned into more and more questions. Marco’s boss, Harry, eventually got wind of where Marco’s ideas came from. When Marco told him about me and how I was between jobs at the time, Harry called me on the phone and offered me a job at the new luxury branch of InstaRoomies to help with the expansion.

I was apprehensive about leaving the city I’d lived in my whole life, but Harry made me a really good offer. I’m going to earn more than I did at Foster Hotels, I’m going to have a more senior position, and Harry’s even giving me some extra cash upfront to cover my moving costs.

He sounds like a great boss. Marco has been telling me how much I’m going to love working there.

I look out the window at the fluffy clouds hanging in the blue sky. There’s no denying it. My life is pretty awesome right now.

I’m so lucky I didn’t need to apply for jobs to get one. I never even used the recommendation letter that Lily sent me.

Later in the same week after my heated argument with Cole at the cemetery, Lily emailed me to ask for my address. She said she wanted to send me something. I thought she meant the stuff that I’d left at the office. It turned out the thing she wanted to send was a recommendation letter that had been personally signed by Cole.

When I called Lily to ask about the letter, she said, “I don’t know what to tell you, Emily. It’s all super weird and I have no idea what’s happening either. It’s like Twilight Zone over here.”

“What do you mean?” I asked. She wasn’t making any sense to me.

“Cole left and nobody knows where he is. One day, out of the blue, he called to ask me to meet him in front of the office building and he gave me this letter. He asked me to mail it to you and then left without an explanation,” she said.

“What do you mean he left? He’s not working there anymore? But he still owns the company, doesn’t he?”

“Exactly. Those are the exact same questions that I have,” Lily said. “But he hasn’t come into the office all week and nobody knows why. Mary from accounting told me he moved a large sum of money out of the company bank account and into his personal account. It really seems like he’s left. But there’s no official word yet from any of the higher-ups.”

“Yeah. You’d be the first to know if there’s any reasonable explanation,” I said. “You didn’t ask Cole?”

“No, it just seems too personal, you know?” She paused before she hesitantly continued, “To be honest, I was hoping you’d have the answers. People have been speculating because you and Cole disappeared at about the same time. Neither one of you gave notice and neither one of you even cleared your desk. I really thought you’d know what’s happening.”

“It’s just a coincidence,” I said. I really didn’t want the entire office finding out about the whole sordid affair between me and Cole. After some obligatory small talk, I hung up the phone.

I’ve been wondering about Cole, especially after that phone call. But I haven’t talked to him. Haven’t even tried. I don’t know how I’m going to face him.

It took me a while, but I’ve forgiven him now. Like Alice said, it wasn’t his fault the accident happened. Cole meant well, although it did feel like a huge betrayal when I found out what he’d been hiding from me.

And Alice was right. The job he gave me did lead to new opportunities, even if he kept me in the dark with regards to his motives. With my lack of formal education, I never would’ve gotten this new job in Seattle if it weren’t for my stint at Foster Hotels.

“What would you like to drink, Miss?” The pretty flight attendant says as she stops the drinks cart by my row.

“Diet Coke, please.”

She asks the same question to the middle-aged woman sitting beside me, then pours our drinks into little plastic cups. She hands me the cup with the black fizzy drink and smiles, moving on to the next row.

I’m going to be on my own in Seattle. That makes me nervous, but I’m also excited.

For the longest time, I’ve relied on people around me. Alice, in particular, has been my biggest supporter. When Scott was still around, I depended on him, too.

One of the things that tortured me after his death was how helpless I’d been, how dependent on the people around me. It became painfully clear when I almost got evicted and had to move to Alice’s apartment. I felt like a parasite, like I had to use other people to survive.

When I started working at Foster Hotels, I thought I was finally standing on my own two feet. I was making money and I was well on my way to be independent. And then I found out it was all an illusion created by Cole. He turned out to be just another person I had to depend on.

So I’ve made a decision. I’m going to build a life for myself in Seattle and I’m going to stop depending on other people so much. After I move out of Marco’s place, I’ll be a completely independent woman. I’ll work hard and I’ll build up my savings. I’ll even stop shopping so much now that I already have a solid wardrobe for work.

That way, if anything should turn my life upside down again, I won’t have to rely on Alice to get me back on my feet. She has done enough for me, my poor sister. She deserves to have her apartment back, not to mention the use of all the money she’s worked so hard for.

Maybe someday I’ll be able to provide the same kind of support for Alice, although I hope she won’t ever need it. But just like she’s all I have, I’m also all she has. I need to be stronger if I want to take care of Alice the way she has always taken such good care of me.

And everything’s going to fall into place when this plane lands in Seattle. I can’t wait.