“Are you okay?” Kiki asks.
“Sure.” I drop my phone into my bag. I don’t want to rain on her parade. Linking my arm through hers I guide us toward the elevator. “Let’s go celebrate.”
We’re about to step into the lift when Carlan’s door opens and he steps out. “Lily, can I see you in my office?”
“Now?” I glance at Kiki and telepathically postpone our lunch celebration as I stride toward my boss. “Yes. Of course.”
Carlan’s office is huge. It takes up one entire corner of our floor. There’s the usual desk and tech. A full bar. A loveseat and two arm chairs balanced on a rug from Carlan’s own range. I love his style.
“Sorry, I’ve been so busy since you came back from L.A.” He gestures for me to sit in one of the chairs while he moves to the bar. “It feels like a champagne lunch kind of day. Would you like one, Lily?”
“Yes, thank you.” He’s ready to offer me the promotion. That’s what this is, right? My heart rate kicks up a notch. It must be. Otherwise there’d be no need for celebratory bubbles.
He uncorks a small bottle and pours the contents into two flutes before joining me. Handing me one, he takes a seat on the small sofa and crosses his long, slender legs. “Gentry Gladstone gushed about you,” he says. “Not something I expected from him, do you understand?”
My hand shakes as I cradle my glass. “I just gave them what they wanted.”
“You brought their vision to life.” He smiles. “I’ve known you were the one to watch since you first showed up in our New York office.”
“Thank you,” I say. It’s nice to have my work acknowledged. “You’re such an inspiration to me.”
“Well, that’s kind of you to say, but we’re here to celebrate you.” He lifts his glass. “Congratulations on a fantastic job.”
“Thank you.” I drink when he drinks.
“So we need to talk about your promotion,” he says.
“I’m pumped about having my own office and client list,” I tell him. My nerves are fluttering. I’ve worked my ass off for this promotion, and it’s finally happening.
“Good.” He stands and moves to his desk. “But I think we can do better than any old office, don’t you?”
“Sorry?” My heart skips a beat.
“I want to make you a partner, Lily.” He puts down his glasses and picks up a few stapled pages from his desk.
“That’s… wow… everything I’ve wanted since I started here.”
“Great.” He hands me the papers as he sits back down. “I need you to head up a new branch in L.A. The Gladstone Group wants you handling all their hotels and offices, starting with their California locations. I’ve wanted to expand out that way for a while. This is the perfect opportunity.”
“This is unexpected.” I rifle through the salary package he’s offering me. The office space he’s considering renting. The client list from the West Coast.
“We’d want you relocated in a month. Of course we’ll have to hire staff before then, but that would give you time to find a place to live.”
“What about Kiki and Lewis? They were integral to the Gladstone project.”
“If they’re amenable to it, we can consider transferring them out there.”
“I…” I shake my head and drain my glass. “I don’t know what to say. It’s a lot.” I thought I was getting promoted here, in Chicago. I’ll be away from Hud and Jane and the twins. And Vale.
“Think it over,” he says. “Take some time. Come back to me.”
“I-I’ll do that.”
“Now go celebrate with your colleague. You deserve a long lunch.”
My knees are wobbly and my hands are shaky as I stand and leave his office.
“What happened?” Kiki pounces as soon as I shut the door.
“He formally offered me a promotion.” I hurry into the elevator.
“Now we really do have to celebrate.” She jumps up and down as the box descends, then slows to a bounce as she finally realizes I’m not as excited as she is. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s in L.A. Carlan wants me to head up an office there.”
“Oh wow…” And then it dawns on her. “Oh boy. So you won’t be here. We won’t be working together.”
I shake my head. “Not unless you want to move to L.A.”
“I can’t,” she says as we hit the pavement. “There’s Dal. And my dad’s here.”
“I don’t even know if I’m going to take it.”
“Your brother would hate it,” she says as we line up to order our burgers.
My stomach growls at the thick aroma of juicy beef patties and caramelized onion rings, but I’m no longer hungry. I’ve never lived that far away from the big oaf. The furthest away I’ve lived is New York, and we both knew that was temporary. It would probably drive him insane, not being able to check up on me all the time. Although sometimes he checks in at the bar in L.A. so it’s not like I wouldn’t see him at all.
“That might actually be a pro,” I joke. “I’d miss watching my nephews grow though. I won’t be able to spoil them as often or teach them how to sass their dad.”
“What about Vale?” she asks as we take our food to a table.
“He hates L.A.” I pick the poppy seeds off my bun.
“He did spend almost a month and a half in a place he supposedly hates, for you.” She squirts ketchup and mayonnaise on her fries.
“But that was different. He was worried about my brother finding out what was happening between us.”
“Is that really the case?” she asks.
“Okay, he also wanted to get in my pants.”
“So maybe he’d consider moving,” she suggests. “For what’s in your pants.”
“No. He was adamant that he would never contemplate moving to L.A. for anyone.” I shrug, but I’m feeling anything but nonchalant. Who would have thought we were talking about our future at the time? “It has something to do with his family, but he hasn’t really opened up to me about it.”
“So if you move to L.A., what happens between you two?” She bites the end of a fry before dropping the rest of it back in the basket. She seems to have as much appetite as I do.
I didn’t expect when I finally got to my goal that it would feel like being run over by a Mack Truck. I don’t want to think about what following my dream means for my personal life. “I don’t know. Maybe moving to L.A. right now isn’t the best idea. I thought I was getting promoted here. Maybe I should hold out and see if Carlan is willing to offer me something else. In Chicago.”
“Because of Vale,” she says. “Because if you take this job and put your career first, you’ll break up?” She picks up one of her fries and studies it like it’s a clue from a murder scene. Drops it back in the basket. “If Lewis were here this would be so much easier.”
“Why?” The minute I say it my belly flip-flops. “Because he’d be Team L.A.?”
She folds her arms on the table and leans nearer. “Because he’d ask the hard questions so I don’t have to. Like, do you really believe an opportunity like L.A. is going to come up again? Are you and Vale even exclusive? Is he your boyfriend? Have you talked about what this relationship is?”