Eliza’s mind raced ahead as she hung up the telephone after Louise Kendall’s call informing her that the contracts were all signed and she had bought herself a house. They would close just before Labor Day.
Though Louise had assured her that she was arranging for the home inspection and would take care of all the calls to the real-estate attorneys and the jockeying of papers back and forth that inevitably came with buying a house, especially so quickly, Eliza felt overwhelmed. The thought of the actual move itself was nerve-wracking. All the packing up. The new house, while wonderful, did need some cosmetic changes to make it more to Eliza’s liking, and she would have preferred to have all the painting and wallpapering done before they moved in. But she wanted Janie to start at the new school on the first day, so they would move in and then have the redecorating done around them. Great.
Stay calm, she told herself. You have the money now. It can all be arranged. Paige can call the movers and they’ll do all the packing up at the apartment. You don’t have to do it.
She did, however, have to make sure that Janie had the birthday party on Saturday that she had been promising her all summer. Fifteen four- and five-year-olds, her preschool buddies, were coming on Saturday afternoon. Eliza had been looking forward to it too. But she hadn’t realized that she would be in the midst of this house purchase and heartsick about the fact that Mack was going to London.
As if on cue, she heard a tap on her opened office door.
Wordlessly they looked at each other and Eliza did everything she could to keep from bursting into tears. In the five years since John had died, she hadn’t been ready to open her heart to anyone else. Now, when she finally had, Mack, too, was going away.
Mack walked over to her desk and stood before it.
“I’ve made up my mind. I’m not going.”
Eliza wanted to leap with joy, so much did she want him to stay here, with her, with Janie. She wanted them to let things take their course and see if they found that they wanted to spend the rest of their lives together. But she knew deep down he couldn’t stay. Mack had to take this job.
“Nice try, Mack. You have to go and we both know it.” She bit her lower lip.
“No. We both don’t know it. The job isn’t all that important to me.” Mack was trying hard to be determined.
Eliza laughed in spite of herself. “Yeah, right. ‘Chief European Correspondent’ isn’t all that important to you. Who are you kidding? If you turn this down—a chance to do a job you’ve dreamed about—you’ll wonder about it for the rest of your life, Mack. And you will, eventually and inevitably, begin to resent me because I kept you here. You’ll watch me anchoring the broadcast each night, getting all the acclaim and awards that go with it, and you’ll resent the fact that you held yourself back, that you didn’t go for the whole enchilada. Not to mention that the Front Row would write you off.”
“I don’t give a damn about the Front Row! What the executives think or don’t think about me doesn’t matter. I’m in love with you, Eliza. And I don’t want to leave you.”
That did it. The tears welled in Eliza’s eyes and she felt sorry for poor Doris, who would really have her work cut out for her tonight. She began to sob, and as Mack took her in his arms and held her, it took all of her strength to say what came next.
“Well, I’m not sure I’m in love with you. You shouldn’t stay in New York on my account.”
She was lying and they both knew it.