38. Rosie
38
ROSIE
A dina walks into my office. “Hey, Ivy would like to see you, if you have a moment.”
My stomach sinks, today has been a shitty Monday by Monday standards, because all I can think about is Daniel and how amazing he was all weekend, the heartfelt confessions, the fact that a man like him might have fallen for a girl like me, he’s the man of many woman’s dreams, but is he mine?
“Sure, I’m on my way,” I say, jumping up out of my chair and shaking off my anxiety. I head on over to Ivy’s office and her assistant sends me in. “Hi,” I say, trying to mask my nervousness as I take a seat.
“Hey, how are you feeling? I’m still so dusty.” She groans, shaking her head.
“I’m all good. Thanks again for being there for the tow truck, I’m sorry it inconvenienced your weekend.”
She waves my apology away. “How were the markets? Did you love them?”
“Oh my god, yes. That village is the cutest. There were so many things I would have grabbed but I have no room in my flat.”
“Same. Did Daniel enjoy it?” She smirks.
“I think he did. There wasn’t any complaining, but to be fair, the free food samples kept him busy.”
Ivy smiles. “It usually works for Alex, too.” She chuckles before her face turns serious, and the nervousness that had disappeared returns. “I wanted to talk to you about Dubai,” Oh. Has she changed her mind? Does she not want me to go anymore? “You’re still interested in going, right?” I nod. “Good, because I wanted to talk to you about something, and I’m not sure if you will be interested. I wanted to offer you the position of manager of the Dubai office.” What! “You would have a say in how the business is run. I want you to be my right-hand woman regarding this project.” I stare in disbelief at her. “I trust you, Rosie, and I believe you are the right person to make the Dubai office one of the best in the world.” My heart is pounding loudly in my chest, I can’t believe it. Then Ivy’s phone rings, and she looks down and silences it. “It’s just Alex, I’ll call him back,” she says with a smile. “So, what do you think? I’m planning the girls trip not next week but the one after. It works for all our schedules so if you could check and let me know.” This is happening so quickly. “You don’t have to give me an answer just yet, Rosie. If you want to wait till you get back from Dubai …”
“Yes,” I blurt out without even thinking. “Yes, I accept.” I would be mad to turn this down. I would be the manager of the Dubai office, me. This is a dream come true and the first person I want to call is Daniel to tell him about it, then my stomach sinks.
“I am so excited. This is a huge step in your career,” Ivy tells me excitedly.
“I know. I won’t let you down. I can’t thank you enough for thinking that I would be the right person for the job.”
Ivy gives me a wide smile as I leave. I can’t believe this as I skip back to my office shutting the door and excitedly dancing before grabbing my phone.
Rosie: OMG. I’m going to be the boss of the Dubai office.
Georgia: What?
Rosie: I know right? Me. This is going to be so huge for my career. We leave in a couple of weeks to check it out.
Georgia: I’m so fricken proud of you, babe.
Georgia: What about Daniel?
Rosie: I can’t say anything yet. I guess I will tell him when I get back from Dubai. I might hate it there.
Georgia: True. So exciting. We can celebrate in secret this weekend?
Rosie: Yes. Can’t wait.
My phone buzzes. I look down and I see it’s from Daniel, and my stomach flutters, I’m excited to hear from him.
Daniel: Hey. A work thing popped up and I must head out of town. I’m going to have to cancel the weekend.
Rosie: Oh okay, that’s totally understandable.
Rosie: Everything is looking good for Wednesday. I’m sorry you’ll miss it.
Daniel: Yeah. You can either give the key to Ivy or courier it back to my office.
Huh.
Rosie: I’m happy to give it to you when you get back.
Daniel: I don’t know how long I’ll be.
Oh.
Rosie: Is everything okay?
Daniel: Yeah, just busy.
Something has changed. Usually, there would be something flirty in the text, or he would want to catch up before leaving. What the hell has happened in twenty-four hours?
Rosie: Okay, then I won’t keep you. Good luck.
And he never texted back.
“This is so much better than heading to the country,” Georgia says, arriving at my flat. She leaves tomorrow with Emily and Louis who are hitching a ride back to Paris, too. Emily is running late, which is code for trying to leave Louis’ bed. Ew.
“Thanks,” I say sadly as we clink our champagne glasses together.
“And you still haven’t heard from him?” Georgia asks.
I tried to do a FaceTime call with him once the project was over, but he declined it. I sent him videos of the finished project and it looked stunning. I could see that he’d seen them, but he never responded. For months I’d been working on this project, and he didn’t have the decency to reply. In a blind rage, I texted that thought to him.
Nothing.
I don’t understand how he’s done a complete one-eighty on me. I’m sad because I didn’t think he would be like that. How can he go from declaring he loves me, and wanting a future together to ghosting me? As if I never existed.
“No. It’s like he’s vanished.”
“Have you checked his socials?” she asks.
“Of course, there’s been nothing.”
Georgia frowns and asks me for his handle. I give it to her, then she looks it up and gasps. “I can see plenty, I think he’s blocked you.” Huh. She turns her phone around, and I scroll down through the photos of him on a yacht in Greece, he has all these beautiful women around him. There’s a picture where a woman is wrapped around him as he is pouring tequila into her mouth from the bottle. I feel sick. “I’m so sorry, Rosie,” she says, reaching out and giving my hand a squeeze and that’s the moment I realize tears are falling.
“Why is he doing this to me? What did I do?”
“Babe, men suck. I’m so sorry. I thought he was one of the good ones.” I thought he was, too.
“Sorry I’m late,” Emily says, then notices me crying. “What happened?”
“Your future brother-in-law is a fucking asshole, that’s what happened.” Georgia sneers at Emily who is taken aback by her anger.
Then I tell Emily everything.