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She hadn’t yet had the opportunity to send out résumés. She would have plenty of time, though, because she had plenty of savings to allow her to take several months off if she needed to. Fortune Investments had paid well enough and she had saved diligently to afford her this privilege. This was the rainy day for which she had been saving. She spent the morning cleaning out her desk, and as each minute ticked away the hours of her last day, her heart grew heavier and heavier.
She was really doing this.
This was it. When she walked out the door tonight, it would likely be the last time she entered this building that had been her home away from home for nearly half a decade.
Ever since she’d given her notice, Austin had made himself scarce. The first week he’d been legitimately out of town on a business trip to New York City that had been on the books long before they’d known Felicity would be working out her notice. This week, he’d just been spotty.
So far, her last day was no different. Austin had not been around much today, except to meet with George for a few minutes in the morning, presumably to go over next week’s schedule. Felicity had left them to meet by themselves. Aside from the fact that she hadn’t been invited to sit in, it was for the best. After today, she wouldn’t be around to interpret for George or clarify matters for Austin.
After she carried the last box down to her car and she had returned to her desk, her intercom buzzed. It was Carla from the front desk.
“Hey, baby girl, are you ready to party?” she asked. “We have cake.” She sang the words and then lowered her voice. “God, you’re so lucky you’re getting out of this place. Take me with you.”
“I’ll see you in the conference room,” Felicity said, and she hung up the phone.
She glanced at Austin’s dark, empty office and felt the tears well in her eyes. She blinked them away. If he wasn’t even going to show up to say goodbye, she wasn’t going to waste her tears on him.
She turned off her computer for the last time, stood up from her desk, pushed in her chair, hitched her purse strap up onto her shoulder and walked toward the conference room without looking back.
The conference room was crowded with what looked like all of her Fortune Investments coworkers. Even Miles and Georgia were there. When she walked in, everyone clapped. Felicity’s eyes scanned the room, but she didn’t see Austin.
She hated herself for it, but her heart twisted and sank. A stinging, salty, burning sense of sorrow stung the back of her throat. She could barely swallow past the lump that had lodged there. Which made it all the more important for her to keep in place the smile she’d carefully affixed on her lips. If it slipped, the rest of the facade might, too, and fall like an avalanche. That was the last thing she needed right now. At least she still had her dignity the respect of her coworkers.
Since it hadn’t been a secret that she’d given Austin her notice at the beginning of the month, no one had questioned her final date of resignation. Since none of Fortune Investments’ rank and file had attended the foundation charity gala, none had been the wiser to her dances with Austin and hadn’t put two and two together.
So, here she was, leaving with her reputation as Ms. Together and Efficient firmly intact.
Ha! Little did they know.
She was a hot mess on the inside.
Because despite how hard she was trying not to, all she could think about now was how fast her time with Austin had run out. She’d kissed him because she loved him and she wanted to believe that maybe, as in all the fairy tales she’d read as a child, true love would break the spell. That love would last. Like in Beauty and the Beast.
Did that mean he was doomed to remain a beast for the rest of his life? Probably not. He’d find love eventually.
What if she hadn’t kissed him...
No. She couldn’t change what was already done. She had arrived at this juncture in her life for a reason. Even if she hadn’t kissed him after the gala, it would’ve happened eventually. And it would’ve ended up like this. It was time she moved on.
Carla shoved a plate of cake in Felicity’s hands. It was chocolate with white icing, her favorite. Was that a coincidence or had someone known?
