Chapter 43
Nova
Monday morning finds me in my badass-babe thigh-high boots and slim-fitting dark wash jeans, knocking on Lori’s office door. My heart is in my throat but I stand tall. I may have unwittingly given up my dignity when I accepted this pity job but I’m going to gather what’s left of my pride and walk out of here with my head held high.
I’m still Nova Chester.
I don’t have a backup plan. I barely even have two pennies to rub together. But I did a lot of soul-searching over the weekend and I decided that I won’t allow myself to be a pawn in some rich woman’s seduction scheme.
She looks up at me in the doorway and her elegant brow arches on her face. “Norrine! Come in.”
Gritting my teeth, I step up to her imposing glass desk. My fingers are clenched tight around the resignation letter in my hand. A part of me is still screaming that there’s time to back out of this. That I can make up some silly excuse for the interruption and turn around, tuck my tail and head back to my desk.
But that would be dishonorable and if I don’t honor myself who will?
I know, I know. I’m giving up a fantastic opportunity, one I’ve waited for years for. But some things are more important than career or money.
“It’s Nova, actually.”
She blinks as if confused.
I repeat myself. “My name is Nova.”
She sets down the expensive ballpoint in her hand and her gaze sweeps over me head to toe, sizing me up. “Well, you look nice,” she says in a demeaning tone. “Motorcycle club princess meets Park Avenue, I guess.” She smiles that fake smile. It takes a certain type of bitch to smile as she stabs you. Lori has got the blood splatter all over her white leather pencil skirt and she doesn’t seem to mind. “How can I help you…Nova?”
I cut straight to the chase. “Actually, I’m here to give you my resignation letter.”
Her mask slips for a second and genuine shock plays on her meticulously constructed features. “You’re quitting?”
I throw my shoulders back and hold my head higher. “Yes. I’m quitting.” I’m proud of myself. My tone is respectful, yet firm.
She leans back in her plush office chair and observes me again from top to bottom, her expression downright hostile now. “You do realize that I practically moved heaven and earth to get you to come and work for me, right?”
“And that’s part of the problem,” I tell her. “I need to work in a place that hired me on merit and not as a means to manipulate the lives of other people.”
The expression that flashes across Lori’s features tells me that she’s clearly offended. But that’s not my problem. I’m just telling it like it is.
She stands gracefully and rounds her desk. “Nova, let me make something crystal clear…I don’t know what the hell it is you think is going on here—”
Fearlessly, I interrupt her. “I think you hired me to get me away from Charlie. But I love him and he loves me.” My heart goes crazy when I finally hear myself say the words out loud. “He loves me. Charlie loves me. And I don’t care if I have to spend the rest of my life balancing trays of overly-meaty meatballs in a small town Italian restaurant and singing at weddings where I get dairy products thrown at my head, I won’t let anything or anybody get in the way of my being with him. Especially not you.”
She freezes for a long beat.
And then she throws her head back and laughs the throatiest laugh I’ve ever heard. “You think I hired you to keep you away from your one true love, Charlie?” She bends over and braces her knee. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen her slip out of her carefully-manicured persona.
When she finally she stops laughing, she manages to string together a sentence. “I hired you after spending hours pouring over your online portfolio with trusted members of my team. That’s how I hire all my recruits. Doesn’t matter if I find them on Craigslist or if I find them flipping through a sketchpad in some hot guy’s truck.” Her expression is serious now, her eyes narrow.
I’m still trying to figure out whether to believe her. “So you didn’t hire me to separate me from Charlie?”
Lori gives me an incredulous look, “Bitch—I’m running a business. I have shareholders to account to. Do you honestly think I make multi-million dollar business decisions using my vulva?”
“But you slept with Charlie…Right?”
She rolls her eyes. “Who hasn’t? It’s his thing.” She eyes me again. “Or at least it was before he got mixed up with you. Last time I saw him, I couldn’t even get the guy to scope out my tits. I was wearing a four-hundred dollar handcrafted bra flown in from Italy. For nothing.” She shakes her head in frustration. “Charlie has a past, it’s true, but it’s clear that he wants a future is with you.” She waggles her brows. “It’s just as well because I’ve got a blind date with George Clooney’s cousin on Thursday night. Fingers crossed that those good looks run in the family.”
I’m so confused. “But you always give me that fake-ass smile. I was sure you hated me.”
“Honey, I’ve had so much plastic surgery that I don’t even think my brain recognizes my facial muscles anymore.”
Dropping my head, I snicker against my chest.
She leans on the edge of her desk. “Look, you’re a strong woman, a smart woman. You have a bright future within this organization, if you want it. So, I’m willing to just put this episode of insecure, emotional diarrhea behind us. As they say, keep calm and carry on. You probably have the good sense to be deeply embarrassed. I think that’s retribution enough. What do you say?” She folds her arms across her chest and waits for my response.
I’m so tempted to say ‘yes’. I kind of like my new job and I don’t want to go back to the way I was living before. Unfulfilled and miserable about my career prospects, living every day in a state of near-physical pain because no one would take a chance on me and my dream. But I’d never be able to live with myself if I didn’t put my heart on the line and take a risk for Charlie.
“Can I ask you a question?” I speak in a slow, hesitant voice.
She tilts her chin, motioning for me to go ahead. “What’s on your mind, Nova? Quick, quick, quick. Spit it out. You’ve got to have confidence to make it in New York City. Even the cockroaches here have got it. Those fuckers are bigger, badder and bolder than any other cockroaches you’ll ever meet. “
I smile. “You asked me to move to New York for this job. Was that just to get me away from Charlie?”
She gives me an exasperated eyeroll. “No, child. I’m not trying to separate you from your Romeo. If you can collar that wild animal, more power to you. Besides, you don’t have to work from here in New York. This is the 21st century. We have a little invention called the internet, it allows you to get your work done from any corner of the universe. In fact, half of our team is in India. I’ve never seen their faces outside of a computer screen.”
“Are you saying that I can go back to Copper Heights and keep my job?”
“You can go to Timbuktu, for all I care. At this point, I actually want you out of my sight.” She shoos me away with her hand. “Go. Go make arrangements with Jessie. Tell her you’ll be working remotely now.” Her falls back into her plush seat.
The relief I feel is overwhelming, all-encompassing. “Thank you, Lori. So much.”
“Yeah, yeah,” she mutters under her breath as I turn to leave. “Damn twenty-something hipster types. You Millennials really need to give yourselves a break with all the narcissistic, self-righteous grandstanding bullshit.” With dainty fingers, she stretches the skin on her cheeks up to her ears. “No wonder you’re all aging so poorly.”
I just chuckle as I hurry out of the room with a flicker in my heart and a bounce in my step.