I open up my inbox and skim through it, picking out the most important messages to deal with first. My eyes fall to one from HR and I roll my eyes. No doubt another pointless memo about another pointless thing that no one cares about. I debate just deleting it, but I know they keep tabs on who opens their emails and who doesn’t, and they will keep resending it to those who don’t, until they know everyone has seen the message. It might even require a signature to say I’ve seen it. I might as well get that out of the way first so I can concentrate on the important messages properly.
I open it and instantly my heart starts to race. This is no random memo. It’s addressed directly to me and the line beneath my name makes me feel sick. I read it all twice before I calm down enough to really take it in.
Sierra Lowe,
RE: Transfer to London branch
We would like to offer you our sincere congratulations on your promotion and transfer. While we will be sorry to see you leaving our branch, we know you will do great things in our London office and we wish you all the best in your new role.
We will be faxing the paperwork through to you later today and we just need a signature from you.
If you have any questions or concerns about your transfer, please don’t hesitate to reach out,
Kind regards,
Katie Sawyer,
Head of HR
I read it a third time as understanding begins to flood me. I have questions. Plenty of the fucking things. This email reads like I should know what’s going on and I have no idea. Except I do. This is Chance’s solution to our fling. He wants to send me away. Well, fuck that. I am not going to be tossed aside like a toy he’s finished playing with. I can’t understand how he thinks it’s okay to do this to me. Especially after Friday when he kissed me and let me think there was hope for us.
I get to my feet, my happy mood from only moments ago long gone, replaced with a mixture of anger and sadness that sits heavily on me. I don’t quite know what to do with myself; I only know I can’t just sit here staring at that offending email any longer. I should go back outside, get some air and calm down, but I don’t. I head straight to Chance’s office.
I don’t care if it is unprofessional to storm in there and go off on him. What is unprofessional would be to transfer someone to the other end of the fucking country because you can’t help but feel attracted to them. I mean what sort of playground bullshit is this? So much for us being a team. So much for us being able to communicate effectively with each other.
As I storm down the hallway, part of me is hoping this is all just a terrible misunderstanding. That I’ll burst into Chance’s office and he won’t know what I’m talking about. That he’ll fix it all and then we’ll laugh about it.
As I push his office door open without knocking, I know that’s not the case. His guilt is written all over his face.
“What the hell is going on?” I demand.
“You’re the one storming in here with some axe to grind, so why don’t you tell me?” Chance says calmly.
His calmness only makes me angrier. How dare he sit there playing like he doesn’t know what’s going on here? “Don’t play games with me, Chance. You know exactly what I’m talking about. A transfer to the London office? Are you insane?”
“Sit down, Sierra,” he says gently. “I can see that you’re upset.”
His gentle tone only serves to anger me further. “I’m not upset, I’m angry,” I say, not sitting down. “After everything we talked about, everything we said about keeping ourselves professional, you decide to ship me off to London without even consulting me. That’s—that’s crazy, Chance. Surely, you see that.”
“It’s a good move for you. Professionally speaking, it’s a promotion that will come with a nice pay rise and a lot of prestige. In two or three years’ time, you could be a director. You said you wanted to be successful for Hayley. This is your chance.”
“Don’t you dare bring Hayley into this!” I snap. “This isn’t about her. It’s about you. You can’t just mess with my life like this.”
“It’s in your contract that you can be transferred to any branch your services are needed in. You knew that when you took the job.”
I am so angry I could burst, but I’m trying my best to rein it in a little. I need him to see that we can move on, that we don’t need to be at opposite ends of the country, and ranting and raving is only showing him this is personal.
I finally sit down and I look at Chance until he meets my eyes. The fact I can see regret in his only makes this harder. He isn’t sending me away because he hates me; he’s sending me away because he likes me and he can’t face that.
I take a deep breath and dive in, “I did know that. And at that time, I was willing to travel anywhere I was needed. But things have changed. You can’t expect me to pack up and move Hayley to the other end of the world, do you? Away from her grandparents, her school, her friends. She’s lost so much, please don’t make her lose everything she knows and loves.”
“It’s out of my hands now,” he says.
His voice is calm but I can see the turmoil in his eyes. I have to find a way to make him see he doesn’t have to do this. “If you don’t want me to be your assistant anymore, I get it. Transfer me to somewhere else in the
