“That was how it happened, at 2:18 on the day after our tenth anniversary. It was two days before I noticed that the hands of my watch were frozen. I must have hit it on something when I fell. I’ve taken it to three different jewelers and none of them were able to fix it.
“When Jamie gave it to me, I told him I’d never take it off and I never have. I never will. I don’t ever want to forget him.”
Luke was quiet, looking at me. Probably wondering why I wasn’t crying. I was wondering myself. But instead of asking about that, Luke said, “Is that what you’re afraid of? That you’ll forget him?”
His question took me by surprise. “I’m not afraid,” I said, my voice sounding a little defensive even to my own ears. “I could never—”
Before I could finish the sentence, the door of the coffee shop opened and Ava stepped inside, her eyes searching.
“There you are,” she said, crossing the room to our table. “Denise said I could probably find you down here.”
“Coffee break,” I said, feeling like I’d been caught doing something wrong. “I thought the off-site meeting was going to last all day. Is everybody back?” I asked, though I was really only concerned about Gavin.
“Just me. When you’re done, could you come up to my office? I need to—” For the first time, she glanced at my coffee companion and pulled up short. “Luke,” she said, sounding as surprised as she looked. “I didn’t realize that you two—”
“Ava, nice to see you.”
Luke started to get to his feet, but Ava waved him off.
“No, no. I didn’t mean to interrupt.” She looked at me. “As soon as you’re done.”
“I’ll be right up,” I said, and reached for my purse.
“No, it’s fine,” she said, sounding more flustered than I’d ever heard her. “Take your time. I’ll be in my office. Nice to see you, Luke.”
She left quickly.
“I should go.” I reached into my wallet, took out a twenty-dollar bill, and handed it to Luke.
“Grace, I was just teasing before. You don’t need to pay me back.”
“I insist.”
“I don’t have any change,” he said, folding the bill and putting it into his shirt pocket. “Guess that means that next time I’ll buy the coffee.”
I told him to keep the change, but what I really meant was, I didn’t plan on seeing him again. Luke was a nice man, there was no doubt about it, but nothing had changed. Jamie was gone, but he had my heart. Luke got the message. When I got up from my chair, he did the same, and reached out to shake my hand.
“I’m glad you’re okay, Grace. Good luck to you.”
“Thanks for the flowers,” I said, picking them up from the table. “Say, I forgot to ask, how do you know Ava? Are you friends?”
“Not friends,” Luke said, shaking his head. “But we were married for five years.”
* * *
To say that was one of the more awkward exits in my life would be an understatement. Luke had been married to Ava? I didn’t know either of them all that well, but they just didn’t seem like they went together. But obviously, since the marriage had only lasted five years, they didn’t.
I said goodbye, thanked him again for everything, and left. When I got to the office, Ava was waiting for me. She got right to the point.
“Grace, I hope you know how sorry I am about your loss, but we’re going to have to make a change.”
“A change?” I asked, not entirely sure I understood. “Do you mean that you’re . . .”
“Letting you go, yes.”
My jaw went slack. “You can’t be serious. Ava, I . . . If this is about Luke, there’s nothing going on between us. I barely know him.”
Ava rolled her eyes. “Grace, the amount of time that’s passed since I’ve seen or thought about Luke is longer than our marriage. I was surprised to see the two of you together, but that’s not why I’m firing you. I’m just the messenger; Gavin’s the one who wants you gone.” She heaved a sigh. “I tried to tell you, Grace. The only way you could keep this job was to make yourself indispensable.”
“But I did! I worked sixty- and seventy-hour weeks. I came in on weekends. I took his car to the shop. I picked up his dry cleaning, for heaven’s sake. I made the slides for his stupid presentation at the sales conference. I stayed up all night teaching myself PowerPoint—”
“And then you disappeared for two weeks.”
“My husband was dying! What did you expect me to do?”
“Nothing,” she said, her expression softer than I’d ever seen it. “You did exactly what you should have done, went exactly where you were needed. Because you were indispensable, Grace, to Jamie. That’s how it should have been.”
“But, Ava, I need this job. Let me talk to Gavin—”
She cut me off with a shake of her head. “I already tried. It’s no use. I did get you two months of severance, but that’s the best I could do. Gavin wants you to clean out your desk today. Your replacement starts tomorrow.”
Today? They wanted me gone that day? The confusion and anxiety I was feeling must have shown because Ava got up from her chair and walked to the front of her desk, then sat down on the desktop and touched me on the shoulder.
“Listen to me, Grace. You don’t need this job, not anymore. You never liked working here. Now you don’t have to. The timing seems pretty awful, I know, but maybe it’s for the best. You need to give yourself some time. Think of this as a chance to assess your strengths and weaknesses, and figure out what you
