The Christmas Inn

Chapter Forty-Six

CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

Jack called New Year’s Day around eleven and invited Riley to go to brunch with him.

“I’m starving and thought we could go to one of those places that has a big brunch buffet. What do you say? I can pick you up in twenty minutes?” He was full of energy and assumed she would want to go. But she didn’t. Riley was still a bit annoyed with Jack.

“I just ate breakfast. I think I’m going to relax and putter around here. I need to do laundry and figure out what I’m going to wear on Tuesday.” She paused for a moment then couldn’t resist asking, “What time did you stay at Eric’s until?”

Jack laughed. “I think it was almost three by the time I rolled out of there. They brought tons of food out around two, French toast, omelets, hash browns. And pizza and burgers if you didn’t want breakfast stuff. Speaking of breakfast, I’m going to go find some food. Don’t worry about Tuesday. I’m sure whatever you decide to wear will be fine. I’ll see you at work.” Jack ended the call and Riley just shook her head. She had no regrets about leaving when she did. It was disappointing, though, that Jack was happy to stay behind, on New Year’s Eve, instead of leaving with her. She realized that she had some thinking to do about this relationship and what she wanted out of it.

She threw a load of laundry in and did some cleaning around the apartment. Her neighbor Phoebe came over later that afternoon and they decided to share a pizza and catch up. Riley filled her in on the highlights of her time in Chatham and the party the night before. Phoebe was quiet as she listened. And she didn’t say anything until Riley specifically asked what she thought of Jack staying when she left at midnight.

“I wouldn’t have liked it,” Phoebe said. “If you’d been spending a lot of time with him, then maybe not as big of a deal. But it wasn’t just any night, and you had barely seen him over the past month or so. You would think he’d want to spend time with you.”

Riley nodded. “He called to see if I wanted to go to brunch this morning. But I wasn’t in the mood.”

“Has he always been like this?” Phoebe asked.

Riley thought for a moment. “He was more attentive when we first started going out. I think he was trying to impress me then. He sent flowers, we went to fancy restaurants. We still do that but there are weeks where I hardly see him at all. And I’m starting to see that it will only get worse, not better, when he makes partner.”

“It seems exhausting. All those hours he works. Not a good work-life balance,” Phoebe said.

Riley laughed. “That’s an understatement.” Her phone pinged with a text message and she smiled when she saw it was from Aidan. Just wanted to wish you a happy New Year and good luck for Tuesday.

She texted back, Thanks! Same to you and Luke!

“You’re smiling. Was that Jack?” Phoebe asked.

“No. That was Aidan. He just wanted to wish me a happy New Year and good luck on the new job.”

Heather had a funny look on her face, but said nothing.

“What is it?” Riley asked.

“Well, just that you didn’t smile like that even once when you were talking about Jack. It’s kind of interesting.”

“Aidan is an old friend. We used to date in high school, and it was great to spend time with him and his son, Luke. But Aidan knows about Jack. He met him actually.”

“Just saying. Aidan sounds like a great guy.”

“He is.”

They changed the subject and watched TV for a while before Phoebe left. Riley thought about what Phoebe had said and she couldn’t help but compare Jack and Aidan. And she’d thought about both Aidan and Luke since she’d come home. She missed them and she wondered what Aidan had done for New Year’s Eve. She guessed that he probably spent it with Luke. He was a great guy and it would just be a matter of time before he found someone. She also remembered what he’d said in Chatham, how if the timing was different he’d love to try again.

Riley felt restless as she drifted off to sleep. She couldn’t help but wonder if she was making a huge mistake by starting this new job. But she’d already accepted it and she didn’t want to make Jack look bad by pulling out at the last minute. Plus, she had nothing else lined up. She’d been looking at the online listings for the past few weeks and there was really nothing else out there.

So she would start the job and she’d see where it went. Maybe it would help her and Jack’s relationship as they might see each other more often. Though she had her doubts about that, too. She had a lot to think about.

On Monday, while reading a book online, Riley got an email from a friend of Donna’s in Chatham. Morgan owned a mortgage company and said that Donna had told her about the content marketing work that Riley and done and she won dered if Riley might be interested in working on a project for her company. She left her number and said she was available that day if Riley was around, or they could talk later that week.

Riley welcomed the offer to talk as she had the entire day free. They spoke for about a half hour on the phone, agreed to the terms of the project, and Riley dove into the assignment. She spent the rest of the day and well into the evening working on creating blog content and a lead magnet short ebook as a giveaway in exchange for an email address. This would help her client build an email list of potential leads for mortgages.

She finished two-thirds of the work that day and intended to finish the rest in the evenings after work that week. It got the wheels turning and Riley wondered if she might be able to drum up even more of this kind of consulting work if she made some efforts on her own. She decided to hold off and see how things went at the job first. She wanted to really give it a fair chance.

For the first day at the new job, Riley wore her best navy suit and put on a string of pearls. She’d never felt so corporate before. When she arrived at the law offices, she had to fill out a stack of paperwork with human resources and then was directed to the marketing department. Everyone was friendly but busy and focused on their own work. Riley was shown to her cubicle. Only the lawyers at the firm had private offices. Riley didn’t care about that, though. She was used to an open environment and preferred it. With marketing especially it usually helped when they could hear each other and easily communicate and collaborate. The other departments she’d worked in had always been high energy, chaotic at times, and often loud. And she’d loved it.

Here you could hear a pin drop. But maybe they were just tired after the long weekend and settling in to their workweek. It took Riley a while to get access to her computer. Most of her morning was spent waiting for IT to configure her laptop so she could access email and the company network. It was a long, very quiet morning. But finally, a little before noon, she was up and running.

She’d brought a sandwich for lunch as she didn’t know what people usually did at the law firm, if they actually took a lunch break or not. At most of the places she’d worked people rarely took a set lunch break, they usually ate at their desks and continued to work unless they were going for a rare lunch out. Riley had never minded that, preferred it even as she’d rather get more work done and leave a little after five.

So she wasn’t surprised to see that no one in the marketing department took an actual lunch break. Most either brought something or ran out and then brought it back and ate at their desk. Riley filled a water bottle in the kitchen and unwrapped her peanut butter sandwich at her desk and read through her emails. She had quite a few already. Her boss had sent a bunch of files to bring her up to speed on what they were working on and she had plenty of work to keep her busy.

She dove in and began working and the afternoon went by quickly. Before she knew it her watch dinged that it was five o’clock and time for her to get up and move around. It did that every hour and it was a good thing, otherwise she could get so into her work that she’d spend hours glued to her computer, which wasn’t good.

She got up and filled her water bottle again and noticed that everyone was still hard at work. She thought that HR had mentioned the hours of the company were generally nine to five. But she also knew that Jack went in earlier and always stayed later. She was curious what time people in her department arrived. She’d spent about an hour with HR in the morning, so when she’d reached the department of course everyone was in by then.

She continued working, not wanting to be the first person to leave. Her stomach started rumbling when six o’clock rolled around and there was still no movement. It wasn’t until six thirty that the first person got up to leave. Another followed ten minutes later and Riley packed up and left as well. She wondered if they were maybe just working under some tight deadlines. That must be it. Surely they didn’t work that late all the time?

When she got home, she fed Lily, and then dived into her side project for Morgan’s mortgage company until her eyes grew heavy. Jack had called around eight to ask how her first day had gone and she’d said it was fine. She did have a question for him, though.

“Do you have any idea how late the people in marketing usually work?” She’d assumed they worked normal hours because they weren’t billable, like the attorneys.

“I really don’t know. I’m sure they just work as late as they need to, to get the work done. Like we all do. The rest of this week is going to be all late nights. But I’m just working in the morning on Saturday. Do you want to try and grab dinner around seven?”

“Sure.” Riley was almost done with her side project and should be able to finish it up the following night—assuming she left earlier than she had today.

The next night, when everyone was still there at six, Riley was done with her project and didn’t want to stay a minute longer. She shut her laptop down, stood up, and glanced around the room. Everyone was still at their desks. A few looked up and seemed surprised to see her heading out. But she didn’t care. She was done for the day and she had work to do at home.

She finished her project later that evening and emailed it off to Morgan. And it’s a good thing because when she came in the next day her boss asked her to come to his office.

“I see you finished the project I gave you.” He smiled. “Now that I have a better understanding of what you can handle, I’m ready to assign you to a few more projects. These have some tight deadlines, but I’m sure you’ll manage. If you check your email, you’ll see that everything is there. Let me know if you have any questions.”

When Riley went back to her desk and checked her email she felt a sense of dread when she saw the amount of work he’d just sent her way. It would be fine, if the deadlines were reasonable. But they were not. She’d need to work late the rest of the week to have a chance of getting it all done on time. And now she understood why everyone stayed late and why the room was so quiet. No one had time to talk as there was work to be done.

She didn’t leave work until almost eight and she still wasn’t the last to leave. She was tired and hungry when she walked into her apartment and Lily wasn’t too happy about the situation either. Her mother called as she was feeding Lily. Riley answered the call and grabbed herself a banana for dinner.

“Hi, honey, how’s the new job going?”

Riley almost started crying but she didn’t have the energy. “It’s pretty awful,” she admitted. Since she’d been home it just felt so empty in her apartment and the new job left her feeling even lonelier.

“I’m sorry, honey.” Her mother already knew about her disappointing New Year’s Eve. They’d talked the next day. Riley was thrilled for her mother that she’d had such a great night with Sean. She told her about the project that Donna had referred to her.

“I can hear the excitement in your voice when you talk about that. Do you think you might be able to get more projects like that if you tried?”

“I was actually wondering the same thing. It’s tempting,” Riley admitted.

“And what will you do about Jack?” her mother asked gently. “I just want you to be happy, Riley.”

“I know and I appreciate it. I have some decisions to make. I actually miss working at the inn. And I miss everyone in Chatham.” Riley never thought she’d say that. There was one particular person she missed the most, but she didn’t want to talk about that with her mother just yet.

“You know you’re always welcome here, honey. You and Lily. I miss you both. Aidan asked what you were doing for New Year’s. I forgot to tell you that the other day.”

“He did? Did he say what he and Luke did?”

“They did some of the First Night stuff during the day and stayed in that night. They moved back home on Monday. And Franny closes on her house this Friday, so she’ll be moving out soon, once she gets it furnished. It’s going to be quiet around here.”

“Well, I’ll plan to at least come for a visit soon. I want to see Franny’s place and I told her I’d come and see it.”

“Good. Sleep well, honey. You have a lot to think about.”

Riley slept horribly that night. She tossed and turned, and woke up at four and couldn’t get back to sleep. She decided to head into the office early and see if she could make a dent in the pile of work she’d been given. She didn’t want to be there until eight o’clock or later every night.

She arrived at the office a little after six and expected to be the first one in the office but was surprised to see her boss there already, as well as one other person. He looked up and smiled his approval as she walked in. Riley dove into her work and didn’t take a real break until almost two. Her stomach was screaming by then so she unwrapped her tuna sandwich and went to the kitchen to fill her water bottle. She stopped short when she saw Brittany and Jack by the coffee machine smiling at each other. Brittany was lightly touching his arm while he laughed at something she’d said. They both looked up when they saw her and Jack turned his big smile her way.

“Hey there, how’s your day going?” he asked.

“Very busy,” she said shortly. The sight of the two of them had irritated her. There was clearly an attraction there—even if Jack didn’t realize it just yet. Brittany clearly adored him and probably worked the same insane hours so she wouldn’t mind that he did. Riley was feeling very over it all. She filled her water and went back to her desk. She noticed they also went back to their department a moment later. She turned her attention back to her work and focused on getting it done.

She stayed until eight again because she wanted to get as much done as possible and unlike Jack, she had no intention of going into the office on a Saturday.

Riley slept better that night and when she woke she felt calm and at peace now that she’d made two big decisions.

The next day she and Jack went to the Italian place that they liked. They had a nice dinner and Jack talked nonstop about the cases he was working on and also mentioned more than once what a great help Brittany was.

Riley waited until the tiramisu landed in front of them before she said what she needed to say.

“Jack, what we have isn’t working for me anymore. I think you’re a great guy but I don’t think we want the same things. I thought I could deal with the hours that you work if I knew it wasn’t going to last, but I don’t see it changing anytime soon. Work isn’t enough for me. I want to spend more time with the people that are important to me.”

She paused to let her words sink in. Jack looked shocked at first but then he finally just nodded.

“I get it Riley, I do. I’m sorry that this didn’t work out. I think you’re amazing. But you’re right—my hours aren’t going to change anytime soon.”

She paused for a moment then said, “I think you should date Brittany. She clearly adores you and you’re around each other all the time.”

He looked taken aback at the suggestion. “Brittany? I couldn’t do that. She works for me. That would be frowned on,” he protested.

“It was just a thought. Maybe she could support someone else?”

Jack ignored what she’d said, and asked, “Are you sure about this?”

She nodded. “I am. I think it’s for the best.”

He sighed heavily. “All right. I’m not happy about it, but I understand.” His eyes clouded. “What about the job? How is that working out?”

“It’s not a good fit for me. I’m sorry if it reflects badly on you if I leave but I never wanted to work these kinds of hours. They didn’t make it clear in the interviews that it was expected.”

“That’s fine. They’ll understand, especially when word gets out that we broke up. What will you do though? Maybe you should stay until you line something else up.”

She shook her head. “No, I think it’s best if I leave ASAP. I’ll give notice, of course.”

Jack chuckled. “They’ll have you leave the same day. They never have people stay once they give notice. Most law firms are the same way.”

Riley was surprised but also relieved. She didn’t want to work there for two more weeks.

Jack walked her out and gave her a sad goodbye hug. “Goodbye, Riley. Be well.”

“Thanks, Jack. Same to you.”

They walked in different directions and she couldn’t help thinking it was the most civilized breakup she’d ever had. She sensed that Jack was disappointed but ultimately knew that Riley was right. If theirs had been a great love, things would have been different between them. Work was his passion and would be for the coming years. Riley needed more of a balance. And since she’d been back in the city, her life here felt so empty compared to the warmth she’d known in Chatham over the holidays.

She gave notice first thing Monday morning and her boss was surprised and dismayed. “Are you sure? You’ve done wonderful work for us so far.”

But Riley told him she was sure. “It just isn’t the right cultural fit. I didn’t realize the expectation for the long hours.”

He nodded. “I assumed that you worked similar hours since you came from a software company. I thought all start-ups were like that.”

Riley shook her head. “No, they actually had a great work-life balance there.”

“Okay, well, our policy here is once you give notice, we escort you out of the building.”

It was Riley’s turn to be surprised. “You don’t want me to finish out the day even?”

“No. I’ll notify HR and they’ll send someone right up.”

Twenty minutes later, Riley stepped outside. It was a quarter past eight and the whole day stretched before her. And she knew exactly what she wanted to do.

She booked a rental car on her phone, stopped by her apartment, and packed two big suitcases. Two hours later, she and Lily were on their way to Chatham. She called her mother on the way and she was excited. “I’ll get your room ready for you. Drive safely.” Riley felt just as excited. She couldn’t wait to get to Chatham and settle in.

Lily meowed loudly from her cat carrier next to Riley in the front of the car. At the next stoplight, she reached her hand inside and scratched under her chin to calm her. “Just a few more hours, Lily, and then we’ll be home for good.”