Here at Last (40 page)

As his
breathing returned to normal
, h
e rolled off of m
e and
onto his
side, taking me into his arms.
W
e lay there for a few minutes,
and
I realized that I
would have to leave soon, or I would be too tired to drive home.

"Stay with me tonight," Nicholas
whispered
, stroking my cheek.

“But what about Hannah?" I asked.

He smiled. "It's a slumber party."





The following morning, we both got up early
, and
I
retrieved
my gym bag
from my car
where I kept a
set
of yoga clothes. I walked back into the house and showered and changed
while
Nicholas began the business of starting breakfast. When the girls emerged from
Hannah’s
room a little while later, he started the
pancakes
, and Nicholas
made
them in
to special shapes upon request.

About an hour later, the parents of Hannah’s friends began
arriving
to pick up their daughters.
Hannah
had enjoyed her birthday immensely and announced that she wanted a sleepover for her seventh birthday, too
.
After we cleaned up, I knew that Nicholas needed to help her
with her
homework
, and I
needed to
get some work done
at home
before
going
into the office
the next day. I
said goodbye and
went home
knowing that I would see them the following evening for dinner.

Little did I know that Monday would change everything.

Chapter
3
6

On Monday morning, I showed up at work early as I usually did.
On the way to my office, I passed the office of my
boss Jackie
and noticed that
she looked unusually dour.
I stepped into my office and put
my purse
down, sat at my desk, and turned on the computer. Jackie appeared
in my doorway
a moment later
and closed
the door behind her. Sitting down, she said, "I have some bad news."

"What is it?"
I asked.

Resting
back
in her
chair, she looked at me
directly
before saying, "Hastings has been bought out by ECM
International
. The
y’re
closing this office."

I
’d
spent much of my career with Hastings, and the news came as a blow. I leaned forward
.
"Are you serious?"

She nodded before looking at her watch. "I'm not supposed to say anything
,
yet, but you've been here longer than I have…” Her voice trailed off. “Listen, I need to get back to my office. I have a few things to do before the mandatory staff meeting at nine.”

I glanced at my watch. The meeting was in
an hour
, and Ja
ckie stood up to leave. “Jackie?
” I asked,
and she paused at the door.
“
W
hat are you going to do?”

She shook her head. "I have no idea," she said
grimly
before walking out my office.





I tried calling Nicholas, but
I knew that he was teaching an
eight o'clock class
and wouldn't be available until around lunchtime. I left a message asking him to call me back. Then,
I
reach
ed
for my purse and opened my wallet. It only took a moment for me to find his business card, and I picked up
my cell
phone and called Jack Morton. Jack hadn't arrived at
his
office, yet, so I left a brief message for him simply asking if they had filled the New York position.

I checked my e-mail and
read
one requiring all staff to attend
the
nine o’clock
meeting. It didn't say what it was about, but I already knew.
Still in the midst of the recession
, I knew that there weren't a lot of jobs in my field at my level of experience. If I was able find anything at all, it would likely be a step down from where I was now. Although I had my doctorate, I wasn't particularly interested in teaching
and
knew that there weren’t many un
iversity jobs available
anyway
.
My options were likely quite limited.

The meeting went about as well as could be expected.
There was a lot of anger in that room and quite a few tears as people learned the news.
Apparently, negotiations had been going on for months,
but
even the senior managers hadn’t learned about
the merger
until the weekend. Every person in that room was about to have to rethink
his or
her life and, for
many
, lifestyle.
The company would provide a severance package to all full-time employees, and those who had been in the highest positions and made the most would receive the most
generous
packages
.
Many left feeling dispirited and fearful for their families and their futures.

When I returned to my office, I felt a strong need to talk with Nicholas.
I
saw the light flashing on my
cell
phone
and
discovered that
Jack Morton
had called
. He’d explained that they hadn’t filled the
New York
position
because there had been a delay in finalizing
the
client’s contract.
However, they were in final negotiations this week, and he would know by Friday if it was a go
.
Jack made it clear that he was interested in hiring me and asked me to forward an updated copy of my resume directly to him.
Although I didn’t mention the Hastings merger to Jack,
I
was certain
that he
was aware of it
and wondered if that was why he’d made me the job offer a few months before – as a final gift to JT
.

When Nicholas called at noon,
he could tell that something was
wrong
. Knowing that he was
always
busy at work, I often texted him but rarely called.

“Hi,” I answered
dolefully
.

“Hi,” he said. “What’s
wrong
?”

Closing my eyes,
I took a deep breath
and let it out slowly
.
“Hastings is closing its Chicago office.”

There was silence on the other end of the phone.

“They’re merging with ECM.”

“When?”
he asked, his voice serious.

“We’ll all be out at the end of the week.”

There was a long silence.
“Is New York back in play?” he finally asked.

I hesitated for a moment
.
“Yes.”

“Are you still coming tonight?” he asked.
Being Monday, it was my night to have dinner with Nicholas and Hannah.

“Absolutely.”

I could tell that this had taken him by surprise as much as it had me. “
We’ll talk about it then.
”

After we hung up,
I
put on my coat
and
walked out of the office
, which had become like a morgue with hushed conversations and desks being packed.
I left the building and walked to
Sinbad’s Restaurant on
West Belmont Avenue
. It was
one of my
favorite falafel places
,
but
it turned out
that I
didn’t have much of an appetite
.





That afternoon, I called a headhunter
that had contacted me about jobs a few times over the past several years
. She told me what I already knew –
few people were hiring in my field
especially at my level of experience
. My job was so specialized that it would take an act of God to find
something similar
in Chicago or anywhere else. Given the state of the economy, she wasn’t exactly encouraging, “Oh,
Sophia, if you get the offer in New York, take it. It might be the last one you
’ll
see for a while – unless you like flipping burgers.”

I could live off of
the severance package and
my savings for a little while.
I didn’t think that
Nicholas was in
much of a
position to help as he was solely responsible for the living expenses that he and Rachael had once shared. It seemed that the New York position might be my only plausible option.

When I returned to my apartment later that
day
, I changed out of my clothes and showered.
Standing under the p
elt
ing water, I recalled being in the shower with Nicholas on the anniversary of JT’s death.
He’d loved and supported and given his heart to me, and I dreaded the idea of leaving him
and
Hannah. That precious child had
accepted me as part of
her life, and I didn’t wa
nt to
abandon her and make her feel
as though
she’d lost another woman
whom she loved
.

Feeling increasingly depressed at my prospects
, I
went into my bedroom and
dressed
before returning to the living room to sit
down on the
sofa
.
I wasn’t due to leave for Nicholas’
s for another forty minutes
so I closed my eyes and tried
to collect my thoughts.
When the buzzer rang, I was sure that someone had rung mine by mistake. I went to the door and called down via the intercom.

“Yes?”

“Sophia,” Nicholas said. “It’s me.”

I pressed the buzzer, and he was at the door a moment later.
He could see my surprise w
hen he walked in.

“I thought I was…” I began.

He shook his head.
"I dropped Hannah off with Lydia.
S
ophia, we
need
t
o talk.
”

We walked over to the sofa and sat down
together
.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything," he said.

"No, I was just thinking,
"
I said sullenly.

He moved closer to me and
stretched
his arm across my shoulders
, and
I leaned my
body into his
. “Are you okay?" he asked
softly
.

"This all feels so surreal."

We sat quietly for a few minutes.

"What do you want to do?" he asked.

I shook my head. "I don't know."

“Do you thi
nk you could find another job?”

I turned to look at him
.
"I talked to
a
headhunter today. She thinks I should take the New York job if it opens up.” I reached over and put my hand on his knee. “I called Jack Morton after I tried you this morning.
He said they have
n’t filled the New York position
yet
– s
omething about
negotiations with the client being delayed
." I shrugged. "He'll know by the end of the week whether the position will
even
be available.
M
y job is so specialized that there
just doesn’t
seem to be anything else around. Nobody's hiring right now."

Nicholas nodded and leaned his head against mine. “You know
that
I’ll support whatever you want to do,” he said
tenderly
.