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39

Sarah tops of her coffee before retaking her place on the couch in her apartment. The door opens and Tanner lets himself in.

"About time you got here! I'm starving!"

Tanner chuckles. "Sorry, my bad; I completely forgot about restocking your kitchen for when you got back." Tanner sets down a bag and places a container in front of her on the table along with some plastic utensils.

Not waiting for him to join her, she digs right in to the pancakes loaded with slices of bananas, strawberries and drizzled with chocolate syrup, regular syrup and topped with whipped cream and a lonely looking cherry.

Tanner bursts out laughing. "Can you please chew before swallowing; I don't want to have to do the Heimlich on you, if you choke."

Sarah chuckles. "Abby would be giving me shit right about now for eating this, you know? She's been trying to get me to make better choices when it comes to food. Honestly, I can get by with changing things up a bit, but, if she ever wants me to drop chocolate or meat, she might be the one who gets dropped!"

"Remind me to tell your wifey, you said that when she get's back."

"I miss her, Tan."

"It's only been two days."

"Two very long days! And I'm kind of regretting asking her to stay with my Mom instead of coming home with me to hold my hand during these meetings."

Tanner puts his hand on her shoulder, "You and I both know she wouldn't have been allowed in the room with you and I'll hold your hand in her place."

"Thanks, Tan; I don't know what I'd do without you."

"Would you hate me if I left you?"

Sarah turns and looks directly at him. "Start talking."

"I'm conflicted. I love my job and working with you, but I received an offer and it would see me getting closer to my dream of having my own line of clothing and accessories."

"That's huge! Oh my God, Tanner! Why would you even think that I'd hate you for following your dream? I'd be the first person in line to buy your designs. I love you, Tan and as much as I'd hate to lose you as my assistant, your designs are amazing, you're amazing and the world deserves to see you Tanner J."

"You and Abby are like family to me and this feels like Mom and Mom are getting divorced and I'm being forced to choose who I want to live with."

Sarah chuckles. "Tanner, tell me about the offer; we can walk through it together."

"That's the thing, it's complicated; I can't tell you who I'll be working for."

"What?? Why not?"

"I'm sworn to secrecy. I can tell you that I'd be working as someone's personal assistant for a time before being transitioned into another area of their holdings which would allow me to join a team of up-and-coming designers and have my stuff seen worldwide."

"Holdings, plural? As in this person has multiple businesses?"

Tanner nods, "They do. Their pockets are deep, S."

"Tanner?"

"Yeah?"

"I appreciate your loyalty, but, I can't in good conscious deny you the opportunity of a lifetime. I'm going to make it easy for you; you're fired!" Sarah smiles and hugs him. "As my personal assistant, not my friend."

"Are you sure? I mean, I know your life's a mess at the moment and there's still so much that needs to be done. I don't feel right about leaving you."

Sarah chuckles. "Tanner, my life was a mess before you even walked in the door and it's going to continue being messy for awhile longer. I've gotten good at thinking on my feet and standing up for myself, I have Abby now in my corner and she gives me everything I need and then some to continue pushing forward and I'm sure you'll help me navigate my schedule, scheduling and answer the million plus questions I'm going to have for you."