Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 147128 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 736(@200wpm)___ 589(@250wpm)___ 490(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 147128 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 736(@200wpm)___ 589(@250wpm)___ 490(@300wpm)
‘Get out, Charlie. You’re done for the day. And I’m taking you off William’s team.’ He turned back to a slack-faced Wilma, dismissing me.
‘Charlie,’ Gayle whispered behind me, putting her hand on my back. ‘Maybe you…’
My dad was already back to business as if I’d been a speck of inconvenience in his day. ‘Wilma, let me know when…’
‘I quit,’ I announced into the silence and, clearly annoyed, he slowly looked at me over his shoulder.
‘Charlie…’
I raised my chin, standing straighter. ‘I took a job in California. I leave at the end of the month.’
Now he faced me fully once again, his brows knitting. ‘What job? What are you talking about?’
‘I quit, it’s that simple. I love you because you’re my dad, but I don’t like how you’ve been treating me or other people. I love that you took care of us after Mom left. But I can’t work with you. I can’t stay around this family and be the punching bag anymore. You have no idea how wrong you are with some things. Hell, you don’t even know your own daughter. You just think your way is right and nobody else’s opinion matters. You never listen to me. You never take me seriously enough. And I’m done. I can’t do it anymore. I won’t do it anymore.’
He opened his mouth to speak, but then stopped. His tongue pushed against his cheek, his expression hardening. ‘I won’t help you.’
‘Please don’t. I didn’t ask for your help. I was going to give you my two weeks’ notice soon, but I think you’d rather have me out of here now, and to be honest nothing would make me more happy. I’ll pack my stuff.’ I turned around to leave and Gayle quickly stood to the side, her eyes wide in shock. Considering not much could shock Gayle, I thought I’d done rather well, even though I wished the entire thing hadn’t happened in front of everyone at the office.
I paused and glanced over my shoulder. ‘Oh, I’ll leave the apartment first thing tomorrow morning and stay with a friend till I leave.’
‘Who’s gonna take you with that dog of yours?’
I raised a brow. ‘Don’t worry, I have friends. I won’t knock on your door. And I’ll leave my laptop and office phone on the desk just now.’
Without waiting for another word, I walked away.
I met Kimberly’s eyes as she watched me from the entrance of her office. I couldn’t tell what she was thinking, but I realized that I genuinely didn’t care anymore.
I walked past her and away from them.
It felt as if I was walking on air.
* * *
I was walking out with a small cardboard box in my arms when Gayle and Rick came running after me.
‘I didn’t know you were trying to find another job,’ Rick started. ‘And in California of all places.’
I gave him a quick glance. ‘Sorry for not sharing before, I thought maybe it would fall through or something. That’s a lie.’ I shifted on my feet and focused on Gayle. ‘I was a little scared to tell. Obviously this wasn’t how I wanted you guys to hear it.’
‘When did you find it?’ Gayle asked, and I couldn’t tell if she was angry at me or not.
‘A week or two ago.’
She sighed, and I felt bad all over again for not finding the courage to tell her the second Nora had said they wanted me there. We made it to the curb where I’d wait for my Uber. I turned to them. ‘I’m sorry. A lot of things were happening and I just kept pushing it back. I also didn’t imagine I would quit today and look where we are.’
Gayle looked away. ‘It’s fine. I knew you wanted to leave, that’s not the surprise. It just caught me off guard.’ She met my gaze and gave me a small smile. ‘I’m happy for you. I’ll miss working with you, sure, but I know this is better. And I’ll visit you plenty of times, it’s not like you can get rid of me that easily.’
I turned to Rick, feeling my eyes start to water, just a tiny little bit. ‘You’ll come too? With Linda and everyone?’
‘We will.’
‘Hold this.’ I pushed the fairly light cardboard box into Rick’s arms before he could protest and hugged Gayle and she hugged me back.
‘I know I’m still here, it’s not like I’m leaving tomorrow, but thank you for being one of my best friends,’ I whispered, feeling choked up. ‘For everything.’
‘Oh shut up. I’ll pick you up tomorrow morning and you’ll stay at our place till you’re leaving.’ She pulled back. ‘That is, of course, if you were serious up there when you said you’ll leave the apartment too.’
I grabbed my box from Rick and gave him a tight half-hug – as tight as I could hug him with one arm.