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“Also, congratulations on your first flight with us, Ms. Atwood,” the flight attendant says with a wide smile. “The cake is a gift from all of us here in first class.”
Derek doesn’t even look in my direction as she walks away. He doesn’t need to. My smirk has a 50-foot radius. I have a gloating aura that permeates the air between us. While I wait for my delicacy to be served to me on a gilded tray, I crack open my paperback. He types on his laptop. When they arrive with the cake, he has no choice but to help hand it over to me. When our eyes lock, I can tell he’s fighting amusement. With every lick of that chocolate torte lathered with mousse and dripping with whipped cream, he tries hard to focus on his work.
I only let him have two bites.
The rest is mine. I earned it.
When we land, Derek tells me Cal wants us to meet him for a late lunch.
“Are you up for it or do you want me to drop you off?” he asks.
“No, let’s go.”
I have things to discuss with the two of them.
I was productive on the flight home. After I finished my cake, I used a cocktail napkin slightly smeared with whipped cream to map out my five-year plan. The one Derek is waiting for.
It reads as follows:
Have a kickass job
Married ??
Start a family ?!
Save lots of $$$ for retirement (okay…at least one $)
On that ^ note…learn the difference between a 401k and a SEP-IRA. Same thing??“No, they aren’t,” Derek said casually during the flight.
“What?! Stop! This is private.” I turned my shoulder to block him from reading the rest of the list.
Floss regularly!
Build a better relationship with my parents
Learn how to change a tireAt lunch, I decide it’s best not to show Derek and Cal the actual list, but Derek insists on seeing it.
“Hand it over.”
I hold it just out of his reach. “No. Really, it’s—”
Yank.
My face floods with color as he scans it.
“You scratched out ‘married’ and ‘start a family’. Did you change your mind about those things? If so, you better take that ring off.”
I clutch my pretend diamond to my chest.
“No. I just didn’t want you to freak out.”
Cal sits quietly at the head of the table, wearing a little smirk as he watches us.
“I’m more concerned with the fact that you don’t know to change a tire,” Derek says. Typical dude.
I snatch the napkin back out of his hand. “Right, well, I don’t even have a car, so it doesn’t really matter. Anyway, let’s stay on task.”
Ava lays out a lunch spread of chicken salad sandwiches and fruit then excuses herself even though we all insist she stay. I wanted to use her as a buffer between me and these two Knightley men keen on holding me to my promise of radical change.
“I told Whitney about Thomas’ promotion to Head of Entertainment,” Cal says. “I think she should replace him.”
They both look at me. I shake my head.
“I’ve thought it over and I’m grateful for the opportunity, but I don’t think I want his job. I want to—”
“There’s an associate manager position open in Food and Beverage,” Derek says, cutting me off.
“Or what about something in Costuming?” Cal chimes in, and they volley back and forth as if I’m no longer at the table. I eat my chicken salad sandwich, chewing lazily.
“Guest relations,” Cal suggests.
“Casting.”
“Training. We need to overhaul that system anyway. Whitney could help with that.”
“Ahem.” I clear my throat.
I go unheard. They continue listing off departments and open positions.
“We could shift personnel over in the Enchanted Forest. The team over there could use some organization—”
I stand then, leaning over the table and waving my hands like a referee calling a foul. “Excuse me! Hi! It’s me, Whitney, the person you two are discussing. I just thought you’d both like to know that I already know where I’d like to work.”
“Well then, speak up,” Cal insists.
I crumple my five-year-plan napkin and throw it at him.Chapter Twenty-SixWhitneyOne month laterIn my new job, I no longer wear a huge ball gown. Instead, I wake up and don the sort of clothes you’d find at a tech startup: smart casual jeans and sweaters from J.Crew, a blazer if I’m feeling fancy. It no longer takes me an hour to do my hair and makeup in the morning. My duties no longer include posing next to toddlers and politely declining the advances of weird uncles.
I am the Associate Director of Mentorship within the Knightley College Program. I help facilitate and foster mentor relationships for incoming freshmen, which is a pretentious way of saying I bully my friends until they agree to be mentors and then I pair them with freshmen who have similar interests.
I like my job. I’m good at it. I have my own office on the second floor of a bakery on Castle Drive. There’s a placard outside my door that has my name on it. I didn’t even have to hang it up there myself. My desk is made of some kind of thick wood and I got to pick my chair from a catalog. I’m an adult now.
