I'll Be Seeing You

Turn of the Tide

"Do you have a minute for a call?" Bev's named popped up on her screen as Lydia was stepping out of the shower. It was week two of unemployment and she had found a rhythm. Wake up, work out, get dressed by noon. If she accomplished those things it was a good day.

Her phone rang before she could text back.

"Hi guess what." Bev jumped right into it.

"What?"

"I have excellent news. Tim got fired this morning. The info you gave me about him was enough for Tina to file a complaint and get him kicked out. Also, it turns out that this isn't the first time it's happened. Apparently HR had an entire file on him for the past five years. He's been accused of a lot of shit but they've never been able to prove it until now."

"Oh wow." Lydia sat down on her bed and breathed a sigh of relief. He was finally being held accountable.

"Seriously thank you Lydia. You have no idea how satisfying it was to watch him pack up his desk."

"Wait I thought you guys got along? I mean you never indicated that you didn't like him. If anything, you seemed like you liked each other."

"Yea I could see how you would think that. I had to be nice to Tim. His dad is Barry Kenny, the K in C.K. advertising. If I pissed him off he would have made my life a living hell."

"Shit. I had no idea. I didn't even know Jamie's dad was the C."

"Yea they like to keep it under wraps over here. But anyway, speaking of Jamie – now that Tim's gone Jamie's been promoted. He's the managing director of our division now."

Lydia heart swelled with pride. He may not have earned the position but he'd been good at it. Certainly a better boss than Tim ever was.

"He asked me to ask you if you wanted a job." Bev paused and Lydia's heart stopped.

"What?" She wasn't sure what Bev was saying.

"Jamie asked me this morning; you know after Tim had stormed out of the office with his box of stuff and security needed to be called. He asked me if I thought you might want to come back to C.K. and I told him it couldn't hurt to ask.

"Oh" Lydia had misunderstood. She originally thought Jamie was asking for her to come back. It seemed like he was just inquiring more than anything else.

"Think about it okay? The job is here if you want it. I know you weren't thrilled with it the first time but if you want to come back, we can figure something out with Columbia. I'm sure Jamie will be more amenable than Tim.

Lydia promised to think about it then said her goodbyes. Going back to C.K. was never in the cards. Then again, neither was leaving it. She hadn't gotten another job and still had no plan for her survival. She may not have another option.

---

Lydia took a deep breath. She couldn't avoid it anymore. She'd had countless moments of wanting to talk to him about how she was feeling but it never seemed like the right time. She had picked up her phone twenty times in the last two days to text him about the job offer but she could bring herself to do it. Why did it always seem like he had the upper hand? He decided if they dated. He decided what they did about Tim. He decided her job outcome.

She had consulted with her friends and her family and everyone agreed that it was best to leave well enough alone. Better not to say anything, just fade into oblivion, they advised. The job offer was a nice gesture but did she really want to go back to an environment she hated? The only person who had been encouraging was her mom. She had kindly reminded Lydia that despite her support of chasing her dreams, those dreams required funding and perhaps it was a good idea to hear Jamie's offer out.