If you love someone, set them free. If they come back, they’re yours forever. If they don’t, they never were.
-Author unknown
“I wish Karma could be here to say good-bye, Mark,” Don said, shaking his hand. “I know she hates missing your last day.”
Mark didn’t blame Karma for calling in sick. He would have done the same in her shoes.
It was better this way. Seeing her here would have made it that much harder to leave, and he wasn’t sure either one of them would have been able to hide their disappointment.
“Yes, I hate not getting a chance to say good-bye to her,” he said truthfully, even though he had said his good-byes last night. “Tell her I wish her well in her new role.”
“I will.” Don gave his shoulder a reassuring pat. “Thank you for all you’ve done for us, Mark. You’ve left us in better shape than you found us, and I think all of us are grateful.”
There was one person in particular who had been left in better shape than all the others, as well as worse.
Karma.
She was no longer the shy, timid woman he had met in Chicago, trying to be someone she wasn’t. She was well on her way to being the woman she was born to be, but because of the time they had spent with one another to help her achieve that status, she was now worse. Hurting the same way he was.
“Just doing my job, Don. And I’m happy I could help.” He shook his hand again. “Make sure to contact me if you need anything else. I’m just a phone call away.”
“That goes both ways,” Don said. “My door is open any time you’re in town, so don’t be a stranger.”
Mark made his rounds then ventured down to the lobby.
“Good-bye, Nancy.” He waved to the receptionist.
“Bye, Mark.” She flashed him her best sexy eyes, and he smiled.
“If only it could have worked between us, Nancy,” he teased.
Nancy had made no secret about how attracted she was to him during his stay.
“Story of my life.” She rolled her eyes and laughed. “Will we see you again?
He shook his head. “Not if you play your cards right.”
“Well then!” She got a glint in her eyes. “I’d better get started screwing things up.”
He laughed at her. “Be careful, or they might send someone else next time.”
She sighed. “It was worth a try.”
He waved and walked out the door.
As soon as he got in his car, he pulled out his phone and typed out a message. Missed you at the office. I hope you’re okay.
He refused to go until she replied. He didn’t want to be driving when her message came through. He needed to be ready.
So he waited. And waited.
And waited some more.
Karma?
Was she okay? Why wasn’t she answering? He tried again.
If you don’t reply, I’ll be forced to stop by your apartment to make sure you’re okay. In a way, he hoped she wouldn’t reply, because that would give him an excuse to see her one last time. But if he saw her, he wasn’t sure he could leave. But maybe that was what needed to happen. Maybe this was a sign. Maybe God or the powers that controlled the universe—or however Rob had described it on Fourth of July weekend—were trying to tell him something. That he couldn’t go. Not without her.
He closed his eyes. “Please, please, God,” he muttered under his breath, suddenly desperate. “If this is a sign, let me know before I make the biggest mistake of my life.” Maybe he could try a long-distance relationship. He could come down one weekend a month, and she could go to Chicago once a month, and then they could figure things out later. But first, he needed a sign. And if she didn’t answer him and he had to go see her, that would be it. That would be the sign he needed to know that God wanted him to take a chance again on love.
He was about to put the car in gear and drive to her apartment when his phone chimed with a message. All hope dissipated in a blink.
Good-bye, Mark.
The finality of her text kicked him in the gut and brought him back down to earth. Even though they hadn’t been spoken, the words drove like a dagger into his heart, and the message was clear. She was moving on, and this was her way of telling him to do the same.
He had gotten his sign. So then why was he so disappointed?
Clearing the emotion from his throat, he typed out a final text.
Good-bye, Karma. I wish you well. Stay in touch.
As much as he hoped she would, he knew she wouldn’t. He tucked his phone away and pulled out of Solar’s parking lot for the last time. And even though every instinct screamed at him to turn into Karma’s apartment complex as he drove past, he set his jaw and drove on.
She needed to move on without him, and he needed to do the same without her.
Their chapter was over.
* * *
Karma sat in the parking lot across the street and watched him leave. Tears flowed like twin rivers down her face and dropped off her chin. One even splattered on the screen of her phone as she lifted it and re-read his last message for what felt like the tenth time.
After twenty minutes, with tears still streaming her face and blurring her vision, she finally dropped her phone in her purse, backed out of the parking space, and drove home.
Her apartment felt empty. She felt empty.
She would hurt for a while. Maybe even get depressed now that he was gone. But in time, she hoped the edges of the pain he left behind would dull, and she could move on.
But as she lay on her couch, the morning turned to afternoon, then to evening, and she began to fear the worst. She would never get over Mark. She would never forget his kisses, or the way his fingertips felt on her face, or the way he turned to mush at the sight of her black high heels as she slipped her feet into them.
Maybe she shouldn’t have responded to his text. The one in which he threatened to come to her apartment if she didn’t reply. She could have raced home and seen him one last time, because she knew he would have followed through on his threat. But that would have just made his leaving that much more unbearable. She needed to rip off the Band-Aid and let the wound heal, and seeing him again would have only delayed the healing process.
The longer she lay on the couch, though, the more she knew that no other man would ever fill his shoes—because no other man was Mark. No matter how many men she dated or slept with for the rest of her life, none would ever truly make her happy.
Why?
Because she was in love with him.
She had fallen in love with Mark Strong.
And now he was gone. She had let him leave without so much as a fight.
Now it was too late.
At seven o’clock, her phone chimed. She jumped up and grabbed it off the table, eager to see his message. She deflated in an instant. It was a message from Lisa.
Daniel and I are on our way.
She texted back. K.
A few minutes later, Karma opened the door. Daniel held a pizza and a bag of Ben & Jerry’s. Lisa held a box of Kleenex, flowers, and a DVD.
Karma broke down in uncontrollable sobs and fell into Lisa’s arms.
“Sshh, sweetie. It’ll be okay. We’ll get you through this.”
Daniel ushered them inside, set down the pizza and ice cream, took the flowers and Kleenex from Lisa, and the three of them made a hug circle, with Karma in the middle.
She needed her best friends now more than ever…because the best thing that had ever happened to her was gone.