Yeah, I felt stupid admitting all this to her. Even though I knew she understood me more than anyone else in this world, it still sucked saying it all out loud.
“It’s not stupid at all,” Cassie said loyally. “You love this team. And it’s like you just got told they don’t love you the same way back. They broke up with you.”
I snorted. “I got dumped.”
Then she looked up at me with those big f**king green eyes and said, “I’ll never dump you.”
My heart full of love for her, I reached for her left hand and kissed the diamond I’d bought her. “I wouldn’t let you.”
She laughed, her body shaking against mine. “Yeah, I know. Been there, done that.”
“And look how well that turned out,” I teased playfully, knowing damn well she was the best thing to ever happen to me.
“I’d say it turned out better than well, Mr. Carter.”
“For me, maybe. I don’t know about your end of the deal.”
Slightly Emotional
Jack got the news he’d been traded to Anaheim two days later. The Mets were in St. Louis and just like he said, he had to fly straight from there to Texas to meet up with his new team, the Anaheim Angels. Of course they went by some other name now, but growing up in Southern California, they’d always be the Anaheim Angels to me.
We really lucked out that the Angels were one of the teams fighting for Jack. That meant we got to move home, and it also meant that Jack didn’t have to try to find a place to live in his downtime. Grateful we had family in the area, he moved straight in with Gran and Gramps until I got there.
If he had been traded to Toronto, the team would have put him in a hotel for the first home stand only. It would only be for a few nights, then he would have had to find permanent accommodations on his own. That was just another harsh reality of playing professional baseball. No one helped you when you needed help the most. If Jack didn’t have me, I couldn’t imagine what he’d do. The players didn’t have time to find places to live, and deal with other necessary issues like that, when their entire days were spent at the ball field trying to maintain their position.
Of course I hated the idea of leaving work and the home we’d created in New York, but I hated being away from Jack’s home base even more. So I knocked on Nora’s door the morning after the trade.
“Hmph. I know why you’re in my office,” she said, momentarily pretending to be offended with me. Then real indignation took over. “I can’t believe they traded him!”
Taken aback, I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “I feel the same way.”
“I’m really going to miss you,” she said, her face solemn. Nora was a smart woman; she’d obviously put two and two together to figure out why I’d come to meet with her unannounced.
“And I can’t believe I have to move back to California. Don’t get me wrong, I love my home, but I’m not ready to say good-bye to New York yet. Is that bad?”
“Of course not. New York’s in your blood, Cassie. Plus, I have a proposition for you.” She rubbed her hands together and a devious smile appeared.
My mood immediately lifted. “What is it? Please let it be something that means I can still work here but not physically be here,” I practically begged.
She huffed and glared at me, shaking her head. “You ruin every surprise.”
“Tell me!”
“As long as you can deal with being an independent contractor instead of an employee, I can hire you on a project-by-project basis. And darling, your work more than speaks for itself, so I have no problem in doing just that.”
I stood up from my chair and ran to the other side of Nora’s desk, then reached down and squeezed her hard. “Thank you so much, Nora! Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!” I exclaimed into her hair. “This means everything to me.”
“Honey, we’re lucky to have you.”
“No, I’m lucky to have you,” I practically shouted. “When should I do the switch? And how will it work?”
“I assume you need to move as soon as possible, am I right?” she asked and I shrugged. “I can’t promise you work all the time, but I will get you whatever I can. It won’t be like it is now, but it’s better than nothing. And since you’ll be an independent contractor, you can charge me per hour or a flat fee, that’s something you’ll need to figure out on your own. But the money can potentially turn out to be the same for less work, technically speaking.”
“I seriously love you.”
“Great. Now, go type up your letter of resignation and hand it in so I can let you go.”
“You’re going to make me cry,” I said, wiping at the tears threatening to fall.
“I’m trying to make your life easier, Cassie, not make you cry.” She tormented me with a knowing glance.
“You’re right. And I love you for it. I can never thank you enough, Nora. You’ve been the best boss in the world.”
She nodded and admitted with no shame, “I am pretty amazing.”
I burst out laughing. “I had no idea what I was going to do, or how I was going to leave. Thank you for making this so easy for us.”
Nora let out a little huff. “It’s your own fault for being so damn talented. Now go,” she said with a dismissive wave, “before you mess up my mascara.”
I gave Nora another hug, kissed the side of her cheek, and turned to walk out of her office for the last time in the foreseeable future.