I twisted again to look at them just as Hudson said, “Actually, Alayna, this is perfect timing.” He nodded at me so I stood. “This is Norma’s sister, Gwen. She’s one of the managers at The Eighty-Eighth Floor.”

“Oh.” Alayna’s expression was unreadable. Then her eyes lit up. “Oh!” She crossed to me, her hand out. “Alayna Withers.”

I smiled, genuinely. “Nice to meet you.” She scanned me over the way someone does when they meet someone they are looking to work with. The way I’d scanned her a moment before.

I imagined it then—working with another woman. Managing a club side-by-side. Sharing ideas, building a better business. Becoming friends, even. I’d been too occupied with the need for the job to think about what possibilities could be in store for me in a new place. It was exciting.

“Alayna’s currently the Promotions Manager at The Sky Launch, but as I told you, she’ll become the General Manager once the current manager leaves.” Hudson had actually suggested she was already the General Manager. I sensed he was appeasing her by referring to her as Promotions Manager now. He saw her at her fullest potential.

It made me feel like I could see it too. “Hudson told me you’re looking for an Operations Manager.”

She nodded. “Is that something you might be interested in?”

“Definitely.”

We arranged for me to come into The Sky Launch the next evening for an interview. She’d been concerned about working around my schedule at Eighty-Eighth, but I told her I had the day off to make things easier. I didn’t want to explain that I hadn’t been able to return to my club since I’d had the encounter with my father. It was why I hadn’t argued about finding a new job when Norma suggested it—even thinking about returning to the old one sent me into an embarrassing spiral of fear that I hadn’t felt since growing up.

Based on how frightened she’d seemed when she arrived, I wondered if Alayna might have understood my own fears.

Maybe I’d tell her. One day.

Hudson escorted us to the waiting room where Norma thanked him profusely. I’d thanked him for the opportunity earlier—I thought it was enough, especially considering how he wasn’t the one I needed to thank if I got the job, but Alayna.

When he closed the door to his office, Norma turned to me, obviously relieved. “That went well. You were surprisingly pleasant. I’m impressed.”

Her comment stung. “Yeah, well, she’ll find out soon enough that I’m a cold-hearted bitch.” I started toward the elevator then turned back to Norma. “I’m going through a tough time. It doesn’t mean I’m not going to be professional.”

“That was patronizing, wasn’t it? I’m sorry.” She was motherly now, her business self put away. She walked the few steps to me and put a hand on mine. “I know this is hard. Are you sure this is what you want to do? We could hire security. You could stay at Eighty-Eighth.”

I shook my head. “You know I can’t go back there.”

“I know you don’t want to go back there. I think you can do anything you set your mind to.” She meant it to be supportive and empowering—and it was—but also it made me roll my eyes internally.

I did appreciate her effort. I rewarded her with one of the insights I’d gleaned from our meeting. “Alayna’s totally jealous of you and Hudson, you know.”

“That’s hilarious considering that he’s never given me the time of day. Thank God I’m not hung up on that anymore.” But she couldn’t fool me—she liked hearing what I’d said. “Are you going straight down? I’ll wait for the elevator with you.”

I ran my hands through my hair as we walked. I’d had it cut and dyed only the day before and was still getting used to the shorter length.

“I like it.” Norma gestured to my hair. “It’s a good color on you.”

“You think so?” I pulled a lock out to study the dirty blonde shade that seemed so different from my natural lighter hue.

“I do.” She pushed the down button on the call panel. “Why did you dye it, anyway? To hide from Dad?”

“Nah. I wanted a change. Isn’t that what a girl does when she breaks up with a guy—gets her hair done?”

“You didn’t break up. He’s coming back for you.”

I’d told Norma everything about JC except his last name and the reason he was leaving town. I also didn’t tell her that if I’d married him, I would have disappeared indefinitely. It was impossible to explain without telling her the whole story, and besides, I didn’t want her to realize how close I’d been to leaving her without a word.

She’d listened. She’d nodded. At first she’d been quite upset about his marriage to Tamara, almost madder than I’d been, but she calmed down about it eventually, saying that she understood the crazy things people did because of heartache. Maybe she’d forgiven him entirely, I wasn’t sure, but I suspected that her latest cheerleading and upbeat remarks regarding him and our relationship were meant to cheer me up rather than as a reflection of her true opinion on the man.

Whatever it was meant as, I wanted to believe it. Wanted to believe he was coming back for me. But there was a big obstacle standing in the way of that, that I’d only acknowledged to myself so far. It was the one and only downside to me taking a job with Alayna Withers. It was the only thing that made me hate myself for not being able to go back to my old job.

“What is it?” Norma prodded, reading my distress. “Don’t you think he’s coming?”

“No. I do. Well, just. I don’t know when he’ll come back, for one. And he told me not to wait, which I’m ignoring. But I’ll no longer work at the one place that he knows to look for me. He doesn’t have my full name or my number. How is he supposed to get to me?”

“Hmm.” She thought about it for a moment. “JC strikes me as a very resourceful man. I’m not worried.”

I stopped chewing the inside of my lip and decided it didn’t matter if she was right or not. Fretting about it wouldn’t change anything, and the fear of not being there for JC’s return wasn’t enough for me to stay working someplace that made me uncomfortable. Especially when I had an even better opportunity now at The Sky Launch.

And JC was resourceful. With all the things I didn’t know about him, I did know that. He could make things happen. He could stay committed to a task. He could follow through.