Page 104 of Our Chaotic Love Affair

I shrugged, doing my best to sound nonchalant. “Either way, I can’t sit around waiting for him to decide I’m worth the risk. I have to move on.”

“Are you? Moving on?”

I thought about the business plan sitting on my laptop. The one I’d been refining for three weeks, adding to it every night when I couldn’t sleep because my brain insisted on replaying every moment with Cash. The one that was starting to feel real, tangible, possible.

“Actually,” I said slowly. “I wanted to talk to you about something.”

Melody sat up straighter. “Oh?”

“I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what I want. For my life. My career. My future.” I took a breath. “And I think it’s time for me to start my own thing.”

Her eyes went wide. “Really?”

“Really.” Now that I’d started talking, I couldn’t stop. “I want to help women find their purpose. Help them figure out what they’re passionate about and how to build businesses around that. Life coaching, maybe. Or career coaching. I’m still working out the details, but I’m ready to go out on my own.”

“Cleo, that’s amazing.”

“I’m not leaving right away,” I rushed to add. “I know you’re pregnant and getting married and you need me right now. I’m not going to bail on you. But next year, once the baby’s here and things settle down, I’m going to transition out of being your assistant and start building my own brand.”

Silence. I watched Melody’s face, trying to read her expression. Was she hurt? Angry? Relieved? She burst into tears and I felt like the worst person in the world. The worst friend. The worst maid of honor.

“Melody, I’m sorry. I don’t want to stress you out.”

“I’m so proud of you.” She was crying and laughing at the same time. “God, I’m so proud of you I could explode.”

Relief flooded through me. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.” She wiped her eyes. “You’re going to be incredible at this. Those women are going to be so lucky to have you.”

“You’re not upset?”

“Upset? Cleo, I’ve been waiting for you to do this for years.” She grabbed my hand. “You’re too talented to be anyone’s assistant. Even mine. Especially mine.”

“But we won’t be working together anymore.”

“So? We’ll still be best friends. We’ll still see each other constantly. The only difference is you’ll be building your own empire instead of helping me build mine.” She squeezed my hand. “This is good. This is right. I can feel it.”

“I’m scared,” I admitted.

“Good. That means it matters.”

We sat there for a moment, holding hands, both of us crying for completely different reasons.

“When do you start?” Melody asked.

“I’m thinking January. After the holidays. After the baby comes and you’re settled.” I wiped my eyes. “I want to make sure you have everything you need first.”

“I’ll have Austin. And a baby. And a whole army of Bancroft in-laws who won’t leave me alone.” She smiled. “I’ll be fine. Better than fine.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.” She pulled me into a hug. “I’m so excited for you.”

We cried some more. Happy tears this time. The kind that came when something big was shifting, when you could feel your life changing shape and you didn’t know exactly what it would look like but you knew it would be good.

When we finally pulled apart, Melody was grinning. “We should celebrate. With cheese. Oh wait, I can’t have cheese.”

“I’ll have extra on your behalf.”