Page 5 of Last Resort

Lizzy: With baby steps. You’re not alone. Start with doing one thing for yourself today. Just one thing. Promise me you will.

Me: I promise.

I stare at the screen, at my promise, as my tears subside and my resolve fortifies.

One thing.

I can do that.

Baby steps.

And as I collect myself off the bathroom floor and press cold towels to my cheeks to wipe away the tears, I realize there is something potent in the notion of acceptance. That once you accept the truths you’ve been running from, you begin to have power over them.

“You okay?”

I give a quick glance to my cubicle partner, Melissa, and nod. “Fine. My allergies are acting up.”

“You sure?” She takes a closer look, and I offer her a smile. Hiding my puffy eyes will only serve to further her suspicions.

“Yep. Happens every once in a while.” I shrug as if I wasn’t just bawling my eyes out while questioning my life’s decisions. “What’s up?”

“I was just coming to look for you. Roz wants to see you.”

I do a double take. “Me? Why?”

She never wants to see associate consultants unless they are in trouble or getting fired. Did someone hear me in the bathroom? Did she see me take a personal call on company time? Am I—

“No clue, but I wouldn’t keep her waiting.”

Within minutes, I’m sitting in the glass palace that Resort Transition Consultants’ owner, Roz, calls an office. Its floor-to-ceiling windows claim to look out over Manhattan but actually look at another skyscraper nearby. I rub my clammy hands up and down my slacks and hope to God she doesn’t notice the evidence of my emotional breakdown and mistake the red eyes for drinking while on the job or something random like that.

She sits across from me in her trademark black sweater, black-framed glasses, and matching black pixie cut and studies me.

“We have a last-minute project that’s come on board.”

“That’s great,” I say. Internally I groan because we’re already spread thin as it is.

“It is, especially since this client is next level for us. The commission on this project alone would be worth it, but the notoriety and reputation that we’d achieve from being a part of it is invaluable.” She twists her lips, and I swear if I weren’t sitting in front of her, she’d be rubbing her hands together, already counting the money rolling in. “The only downside is that we’re expected to be up to speed, ready to work, and on-site in five days.”

“Okay,” I say just to simply participate in the conversation because, as much as we all love working for Roz, there is nothing Roz likes more than hearing herself talk.

But five days? What is this insanity?

“Our client recently purchased a property in the Virgin Islands that is floundering. It’s a great location, scenic and gorgeous, but it has issues.”

“As they all do.”

“That’s where we come in.” Her grin beams. “We’ve been hired to come in and assess the issues so the owners can make the resort shine like the beauty it can be.” With five days to prep? Seriously?

A resort in the Virgin Islands, though. What I’d give to have time away from normal life to devote to my work while sorting through my personal problems.

“Sounds like a great opportunity for RTC.”

“You don’t know the half of it.” She waves a hand at me to let me know she does. “Who would turn down working in paradise for a few months? Hell, I’d take on the project if I could, but I can’t leave with everything that’s going on.”

“So . . .” I try and gauge what she’s asking me without verbalizing. “You need me to help Gwen get everything together for it since she’s busy with the Rothschild’s properties, then?” I ask, referring to the senior consultant I’m assigned to on most projects. And by assigned, I mean that I do all the work and she gets all the glory.

“Not this go ’round.”