Monday, November 19
Karma sat across from Lisa in her office, the door closed.
“I thought you had decided to stay?” Lisa set aside Karma’s resignation letter.
“Me, too.” Karma had come in on her vacation to turn in her notice.
“What made you change your mind?”
She told Lisa about Friday night and how Mark still hadn’t contacted her.
“I can’t do it, Lisa.” She shook her head. “I thought I could. I thought being with him would be enough, but then he did this. I feel like he’s left me all over again, and I don’t want to live like that, wondering when he’ll leave for good. He obviously already regrets what happened. Even if we get past it, something else will just spook him later and he’ll be gone.”
“What about Brad?”
“It’s over. I’m going to his house next. To give him back the ring.” Honestly, she hadn’t liked the ring all that much. She’d hoped the square diamond would grow on her. It hadn’t. Just like Jade. Just like the monotonous sex and rain checks. None of it had grown on Karma, and it was time she set herself free. Not just from Brad, but from Mark, too.
“I don’t want you to go.” Lisa was genuinely sad.
“I don’t want to, either, but it’s time.”
“Do you have another offer?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“A publication in St. Louis. One of my college professors found me the gig. He lives there now. I’ll also be helping him with research part-time.”
“Have you already accepted?”
“Not officially.”
“How about unofficially?”
Karma lowered her gaze. “I told him I was excited to get started, but that I wanted to discuss it with my family over the holiday before making it official.”
When she met Lisa’s gaze again, reluctant understanding mixed with sadness painted Lisa’s expression.
“So, basically, you’re already gone. The decision’s been made.”
Karma nodded, twisting her fingers together. “Yes. I can’t stay here, Lisa. Not under these circumstances.”
Lisa turned toward her computer. “You do realize the e-mail will go out today.”
“What e-mail?”
“The personnel update. All the executives and upper management receive a personnel update when an employee terminates.”
Now that she thought about it, Karma did remember hearing Don talk about the personnel report occasionally. She’d even seen the data in presentations he’d put together for team updates, but she’d never seen the actual e-mail.
Then her heart spasmed as realization dawned. “Wait a minute. Mark’s going to receive it? Today?”
Lisa nodded. “While he’s at his friend’s wedding in Chicago. Are you sure you still want to do this?”
Good timing had never been Karma’s friend, and now was no different. Sighing, she resigned herself that this was just how things needed to be. “Yes. Just do it. Get it over with.”
“I’ll hold it until the end of the day, but then I’ve gotta send it.” Lisa stood and came around her desk, arms outstretched.
Karma stood and hugged her. “I’ll miss you, Leese.”
“Me, too. But that’s what phones and e-mail are for, right? And weekend getaways.” Lisa pulled away. “Daniel’s going to be devastated, you know.”
“I know. Let me tell him, okay?”
Lisa promised she would, then Karma left and drove to Brad’s house.
“Hey, I wasn’t expecting you,” he said, opening the door. He was on vacation this week, too. Unfortunately—or fortunately, as the case may be—he hadn’t planned to spend time with her. Jade was staying the week with him. Why would he possibly want to spend time with Karma when his daughter wouldn’t approve?
“Yeah, this is kind of an impromptu thing.” She followed him to the kitchen.
Jade was in the living room, sitting in a giant, purple beanbag chair, playing video games.
“Hi, Jade.” A welcome wash of delight rushed through her just knowing she wouldn’t have to deal with her, anymore.
Jade grumbled under her breath, rolling her eyes before turning her attention back toward the flat screen.
Brad gestured toward the fridge. “Can I get you a drink?” Even though they’d been dating for months, he still seemed so formal with her.
“Sure. I mean, no. No, thank you.” She sat at the bar, still wearing her coat. “I just came by to return this.” She pulled the ring out of her pocket.
Brad froze. Then frowned. Then cleared his throat and looked away. “Why?”
“Brad, it’s just not working. We’re too different.”
“Is this about Friday? About your cat?”
“No, it’s—”
“Jesus, it was just a cat, Karma. It’s not like it was a person.”
“Brad, no, that’s not—”
“You’re ending our relationship over a goddamn cat? It was just an animal.”
Karma shot off the barstool. “Will you shut up and listen to me!”
Jade’s head shot around at the commotion. “Don’t you yell at my dad, you bitch!”
Karma spun on Jade and lashed her index finger at her. “I am so done with you disrespecting me. I’m through. I’m finished trying to make you like me. I really don’t care anymore, because you’re no longer my problem. So go ahead and hate my guts. No sweat off my back.” She turned toward Brad and gave him a look. One that expressed she could no longer compete with his daughter when he wouldn’t even catch her back.
All he could do was stand there, frowning as if he were stuck between warring factions.
She crossed her arms and took a step back, her glance flitting to the ring before meeting Brad’s gaze again. With the peanut gallery silent once more, she returned to breaking off the engagement.
“First of all, Spookie was not just some cat…not some piece of furniture that broke and can be replaced. She was my baby. She was special to me. To me, she was just as human as you and I are. You have Jade. I had Spookie. She was my daughter. My best friend. So how dare you make light of my feelings for her, because I already know you would never allow anyone to say such things about your daughter.” She waved toward the living room. “Second of all, that’s not why I’m ending our relationship, but now that you’ve made your feelings known, it certainly confirms that I’ve made the right choice.” She huffed and pushed the ring across the counter. “You’re a good man, Brad, but you’re not my good man. We just don’t click. You don’t get me. You don’t understand what I need and what I want. You never stand up for me when your daughter starts in on me and calls me names. Don’t you think I deserve at least that much?” She huffed when Brad didn’t say anything. “And I don’t get you, okay? If you think about it, you’ll see I’m right. I’m not trying to lay blame here. We just don’t work together. We don’t. I’ll always be third place to both Jade and your job, and I deserve to be first occasionally.” She paused. “Okay, maybe more than occasionally. I want to be first once in a while, and right now, I’m never first.”
“Yippee,” Jade said, her voice uninspired. “Ba-bye.” She gave a little finger wave. “Don’t let the door hit your ass on the way out, be-yotch.”
Karma offered Brad an exasperated grin as she gestured toward the living room. “Perfect example. She says things like that, and you don’t say a word.”
“Screw you, skank!”
“Be quiet, Jade!” Brad turned angry eyes on his daughter for the first time Karma had ever seen. “I’ve had enough! You don’t talk to people that way.”
Jade appeared stunned, eyes wide, mouth open. Then she threw down her controller, flung herself out of the beanbag chair, and stormed down the hall. “I hate you!”
A moment later, a door slammed.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I shouldn’t have let her talk to you that way. From now on, I won’t. I’ll make sure she’s nicer to you. I promise to be better.”
Karma raised her hands, palms up. “It’s too late, Brad. I’m tapped out. And Jade was only part of the problem. I just seem like an afterthought with you. That’s not what I want.”
“I can try harder.” Brad moved toward her, his eyes filling with the realization she was really leaving him. That she was really walking away.
“No, Brad. You can’t try harder. Because if you do, you’ll resent me the way I’ve started resenting you. If it’s not your daughter, it’s your job. Or something else.” She didn’t want to hit him with how dull the sex was. She wasn’t that cruel.
His face hardened. “It’s your boss, isn’t it?” The fury flamed back to life in Brad’s gaze. “You’re attracted to him, aren’t you?”
Karma took a step toward the door. “Leave Mark out of this. This has nothing to do with him.” She would have ended their relationship regardless of whether Mark had returned or not. It probably just would have taken longer for her to realize she and Brad weren’t a good fit.
“I don’t want you to go,” he said as she started for the door.
“I can’t stay.” She opened the door. “Good-bye, Brad.”
For the first time in months, she was free. No entanglements. No burdens.
No Jade.
Breaking up with Brad had been the easy part, though. Now came the hard part. Now she had to start a new life in a new city, on her own.
Without Mark.
Talk about setting herself up for an uphill climb.