Page 83 of In Love and War
“Milly, good morning. Do you have a minute to talk?” She kept her voice low, almost down to a whisper.
“Uh… yes, of course. What’s going on? Are you okay?”
“Yes, I’m okay. It’s just… I thought you should know… I know you guys have a bit of a complicated relationship but…”
Oh God.I was frozen solid in my seat.
“Zac emailed in his notice this morning.”
My heart stopped.
“I saw it come through fifteen or twenty minutes ago. No one knows yet, and you’re not supposed to either, so just keep it on the down-low for now. I’m only telling you because your father is really upset about it… I’m a little worried. He’s been on the phone with Zac since the second he read it, trying to figure out what happened and convince him to stay.”
“And?”
“I’m not entirely sure… The door is closed, but I don’t think Zac’s giving him a solid answer.”
“Okay. Thank you, Jasmine, for letting me know. Seriously, thank you.”
“You’re welcome. You make sure to take care of yourself, sweetie, okay? And maybe pay your father a little visit soon. I’m sure he’ll want to talk.”
“Okay, I will. I’ll see you soon.”
I hung up and just sat there for ten minutes, letting it sink in.
I’d fucked up. So badly. This was all my fault. But I could fix this. I was going to fix this.
I picked up the phone again and made another call.
26
“Okay, Milly, it sounds like he’s ready to see you now.” Jasmine offered me a friendly, encouraging smile, and we walked in together. She placed a cup of tea on my father’s desk before leaving. Chamomile.
He’d been on the phone when I made my way up to his floor two hours after she’d called me, but I didn’t have to wait very long to see him.
“Jasmine, please make sure my schedule is cleared for the rest of the day. I don’t think I had more than a few things in there for today anyway.”
“Sure thing, Mr. Bloom.”
“Wow, I hope you’re not doing all that for me, Dad. I don’t think I’ll be herethatlong.” I gave him a small smile. It was the only one I had in me.
“No, no. But I do think I’ll need some rest this afternoon. Something tells me you’re not here with good news,” he said once Jasmine was gone.
“How do you know?”
“Oh, you could call it a fatherly hunch, I suppose. Tingling Spidey senses and all of that.” He took off his oversized glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose before putting them back on again. “So, what is it, Milly? Tell me what’s wrong.”
I pulled up the sleeves of my shirt. They kept falling down today.
“I know it might not be a good time for me to do this, and I haven’t discussed it with Margaret yet because I thought you should be the first to know. But… as of this morning, I’ve accepted a management position at Yuval.”
“Is that so?” His eyebrows raised slightly.
“David Bruman called with the offer two weeks ago. I initially turned it down, but he told me to think about it, and I did. I think that… at least for now, it’s better that I go back to New York. Opportunities like this don’t really come around every day.”
And you can tell him too. You can tell Zac that I’m gone. That he can come back.
“I booked my flight an hour ago. I leave in two weeks, but tomorrow will be my last day here. I’ll be happy to do what I can to get my work organized for whoever will be taking over before I leave.”
