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As long as she kept telling herself that, she had a chance of believing it. But before she did anything, she had a bill to pay that morning. Ava logged onto her tablet and opened her banking app. She stared at the balance. The balance that was a whole paycheque less than it should be. Surely there must have been a mistake.
Ava’s thoughts were cut off when a voice cleared, signifying the beginning of their meeting. Maybe the meeting was because there was an error with their wages. She hoped so.
She cursed out her empty coffee cup as a stranger took the lead.
One hour and the trajectory of her career had been flipped on its arse. It was ironic how two life-changing events could happen less than a month apart and have polar-opposite outcomes. An overwhelming weight now rested on her shoulders, the path before her shrouded in darkness.
What would happen now?
When Ava had graduated, the administrative position she’d scored at the company was like gold. A foot in the door and every opportunity laid out before her. Her first promotion to assistant development manager cemented the path she wanted to take. She wanted to be in charge of her own developments. Ava hadn’t thought it was possible to achieve her goal anywhere near as fast as she did, but she’d wanted this job more than anything. She’d worked hard for it. She deserved it.
And now it was gone.
Her dream career had been snatched from within her grasp. Defeat stolen from the hands of victory, dissipating like smoke on the water.
She’d had one week. That was it. It hadn’t been easy. There was a steep learning curve, made more difficult by the former project manager’s incompetence. But Ava would have persisted. She would have mastered it. She would have fixed every one of the problems with that project until she’d completely turned it around. There was no doubting that it would still have been over budget, and certainly over time. But she could have delivered something the company was proud of.
Something she was proud of.
If only she had the time. If only the company had the money.
Instead, she was out on her arse. The redundancy package she was owed was unlikely to ever be paid. Her outstanding entitlements—including her wages for the last week—were pretty much a write off too. The company owed millions, and the assets it had were nowhere near enough to pay them. Administrators had been appointed and the company was being liquidated. Ava and every one of her colleagues were now officially unemployed.
Her only job now was to pack up her office and leave.
Low murmurs and shocked whispers sounded outside her office. Her boss’s secretary was crying. Ava was on the verge too, her eyes burning with unshed tears. She wanted to demand answers. Why them? What had gone so wrong? But deep down she knew. It was mismanagement multiplied over whole portfolios. She’d seen it in the person she’d taken over from. The company lacked control over the projects that were being carried out. There were too many layers of management, and there wasn’t enough accountability. Add in volatile economic conditions, rising material costs, and longer lead times for the few tradies they could get to work for them, and they discovered the company’s bedrock foundation was actually quicksand.
Ava wiped the stray tear tracking down her cheek and sucked in a shuddery breath. Twenty-twenty hindsight was a bitch. She opened her desk drawer—the same one she’d opened for the first time a week ago—and rifled through the bundles of post-it notes and highlighters to find the lone USB stick in there. After she transferred her private files off her company laptop, she had to hand it to the administrators. Then she packed the only other personal items in her office—Cole’s and Bryce’s gifts.
The knowledge that this was the last time she would be standing in this very spot, the last time she would work with these people hit her like a ten-tonne wrecking ball. She gasped, holding her chest as it sank in. Tears tracked down her cheeks, and her hands shook. Everything she’d worked for, all the long hours she’d put in and the cloud of stress Ava lived under most of the time had been for nothing. She had to start all over again with another company.
Goodbyes were short. She needed to get out of there and get some air. Then she needed to start looking for another job. But before that, she had some news to break. Ava closed her eyes. Bryce and Cole, her parents too. She knew they’d be there to help her—her parents always were—but she hated needing them to. They’d already done so much. This was supposed to be her time to take over and do it on her own.
Twelve
Cole
C
ole groaned and flopped forward, landing face first on his bed. It was going to be the week from hell. Two apprentices had called in sick after a weekend partying, and custom-made oak doors were stolen during a break-in on site. Cole was responsible to fix all of it. Why was he doing this to himself? Oh, right, because he was an idiot for accepting the promotion and now he was stuck peopling.
He just wanted to have a few beers, relax on the couch with Bryce and Ava, and switch off from the world. He couldn’t handle having to talk to anyone, but his phone was ringing non-stop.
Pulling it out of his back pocket, he pursed his lips at the dusty mess encasing it and swiped to answer. “Hey, you,” he greeted Bryce. “Have a good day?”
“Hi.” Bryce’s voice was warm, and Cole could just picture the shy grin and pink tinge to his man’s cheeks when he answered. Cole didn’t expect him to sigh, and he furrowed his brow pulling the phone away from his ear as he looked at it, waiting for an epiphany. “It was good up until a few minutes ago. But I think you’d better get over here. Ava was waiting for me when I got home and is pretty upset, but she won’t tell me what happened.”
Adrenaline pumped through his veins in an instant, all the worst-case scenarios darting to the forefront of his mind. Before he could even finish asking whether she was okay physically, Cole had stripped off his dusty work clothes and was reaching for a pair of well-worn jeans and a T-shirt.
“She looks completely put together for work but has barely said a word to me. When I walked up the hallway, she grabbed onto me like a koala and hasn’t done much except cry. I’m freakin’ out, Cole. I dunno what to do.”
“I’m coming. Give me twenty and I’ll be at your place.” Cole didn’t even bother with shoes, instead dashing out the front door of his apartment and down to the basement for his ute. At this time of afternoon, there wasn’t much traffic on the road—it was still too early for peak hour—and Cole made it in fifteen minutes.
Tearing up the first flight of stairs to Bryce’s shoebox apartment, Cole’s heart thudded in his chest. His palms were sweaty, a crazy mix of fear and nervousness fighting for dominance in his mind. Three students carrying heavy backpacks laughed and joked around in the stairwell, one shoving the other on the landing. They were too slow, and he needed to hurry the hell up.
“Move,” he ordered, his voice a sharp bark as he shouldered his way past them and dashed up another flight. Cole didn’t care. He didn’t have time to deal with them getting their panties in a bunch. Their protests were silenced when Cole shoved through the door to Bryce’s level, and it slammed behind him.
Bryce’s door was propped open with a shoe and Cole pushed through, kicking it out of the way. Right there before him, Ava sat curled up on Bryce’s lap, his guy threading his fingers through her hair as he held her tightly and rocked them gently.
