Page 38 of Not My Problem

I shook my head so fast my hair whipped me in the face. “No need to think about it. I’ll take the job!”

Julia gave me a big smile.

“That’s great, I was hoping you’d say yes. I’ll have HR contact you with an offer and an official start date.”

Gretchen

Iwas spacing out instead of working when my computer beeped, letting me know that a new email had come up. I glanced at the subject line. Payroll Action for Zoe Boynton. As the Chief Financial Officer, I signed off on any change in salary or FTE. With my heart pumping just from seeing Zoe’s name, I opened the email. Julia Montego was moving Zoe into a full-time position with a swing shift differential.

After verifying that the position was in the budget I added my electronic signature and forwarded it to the executive director. She didn’t usually sign these – I was normally the final signature – but since I’d had a personal relationship with Zoe I asked my boss to review and countersign for me, just to keep things above board.

Things must be going well for Zoe at the shelter if Julia was moving her into a full-time position. Best of all, Zoe would have health insurance for the first time since she was a kid. She’d told me once that the state kicked her off Medicaid when she turned eighteen and she’d never worked a job that offered insurance or benefits.

I’ll have to make sure she goes to the doctor for a complete physical as soon as her benefits kick in, I thought before I stopped myself. This was exactly what Zoe had been upset with me about, I realized. She was a grown woman. She could get a physical or not get a physical, I didn’t need to manage things for her.

I heard someone clearing their throat and looked up to see Rochelle standing outside my office.

“Hey,” she called. “Do you want to get sushi?”

I wasn’t really hungry, but I needed to eat so I said, “Yeah, sure.”

Fifteen minutes later we were sitting on stools at the counter, plates of sushi moving past on the conveyor belt. I reached forward to grab a bowl of cucumber salad, then nearly dropped it when Rochelle said, “Did you get your head out of your ass yet?”

I set down my salad and turned to her as she pried the lid off a small plate of sushi.

“Do you have something you want to say to me?” I asked mildly.

“Yeah, it’s been what? A few weeks since you and Zoe broke up?”

I nodded and she continued, “It’s time to stop moping and do something about it. You’re obviously miserable without her.”

“I told you what happened,” I reminded her.

“Yeah, and as I told you at the time, you were in the wrong and need to apologize.”

“I’m starting to realize that,” I sighed.

“Starting?” She shook her head. “Look it’s none of my business, but I am your friend and I hate to see you unhappy. You seemed happy with Zoe, and it sounded like you had a good thing going. She’s a great gal and obviously doing well at her job. I heard Julia is promoting her to a regular full-time position.”

“I saw the payroll form for that today.”

“She also asked me to write her a reference for college since I could speak to the quality of her work. She does a good job on her case notes, that’s for sure, better than most people.”

“She’s going to college? Good for her.”

I felt a stab of pain that I was hearing this from Rochelle instead of Zoe.

“Obviously, your girl is strong and capable. The question is, can you have a relationship with her where you approach her as an equal? That means she needs to make her own decisions – and her own mistakes.”

I turned to face my friend. “I love her, Rochelle. I miss her, and I miss my friend Jan too. She hasn’t spoken to me since Zoe and I broke up.”

“Are you surprised that Jan took her granddaughter’s side?”

“No, but that doesn’t make it any easier to swallow.”

“Here’s something to swallow: your pride. Go see her. Apologize. Meet her on her own terms and be willing to listen. But don’t wait too long. In a city like Seattle, someone like Zoe won’t be single long. She’s gonna have a line of women waiting to date her.”

I immediately felt angry at the imaginary women who were plotting to steal Zoe away from me. Was Rochelle one of them? She was single. No, my friend wouldn’t do that to me.