Page 200 of Between the Blue
“Not everything you dreamed of?”
I press my lips together. I nod, but don’t answer aloud. Somehow, Natasha still seems to hear me.
“Well, maybe I can help you with that,” she says.
“What do you mean by that?” I ask.
“To make a long story short, we have a new junior editor position opening. It’s a highly sought after role that will have hundreds of applications within the hour if we post it. I think you would be a great fit for it. So I wanted to offer it to you first.”
I have to grip my kitchen counter for support, my pulse pounding in my skull.
“A junior editor position?” I repeat, my voice quiet.
“Yes,” Natasha confirms. “You could start two weeks from today if you want to.”
“That’s when playoffs begin,” I find myself thinking aloud.
“Well,” Natasha chuckles, “it turns out I have a decent relationship with your boss. So I think we’ll be able to find someone to relieve you of your duties with the Texas Storm.”
“Oh…right,” I mutter.
My head feels like it’s spinning at a million miles an hour. How are you supposed to react when everything you’ve ever dreamed of is suddenly being offered to you on a silver platter?
Life doesn’t work like that.
I woke up just a few short minutes ago dreading the idea of having to be around Ben, wondering how I would continue to manage it, and now, I’m being given an opportunity to not have to. I’m being given an out.
So why does it feel so difficult for me to take it?
“There is one other small detail I haven’t mentioned yet,” Natasha says, pulling me from my thoughts.
“What’s that?”
“The position is at our Paris office.”
This time, I have to find a chair. I stumble over to my living room, collapsing onto my couch. “I’m going to assume you don’t mean Paris, Texas?”
“You’d be assuming correctly,” Natasha confirms.
Now it’s my turn to be silent. To process.
Me.
A job with COBO.
InParis?
One ofthefashion capitals of the world.
The room suddenly feels very small. Like a vacuum has sucked all of the air out of it. And, all at once, without my consent, my life over the last six months starts flashing before my eyes at full speed.
I remember it all.
I rememberhim.
I picture the two of us right here on this couch.
The very first time.
