Chapter 31 #3
Shaking her head fast, her hair rumpled, Kylie’s sister choked out the words, “Johann dumped me.”
“Oh, no!”
“He–he–he did it by text! Then he ghosted me. And I stupidly slept with him–I never sleep with guys that fast!”
“Honey, I’m sorry.” Distance made Kylie’s only comfort-giving ability a verbal one, the words feeling empty and futile, but she said them anyway.
“I don’t know why I’m crying so hard. We were barely together. I just can’t. Can’t. Stop. Crying.”
“It’s probably culture shock, sweetie. Remember how the au pair coordinator said that could happen? Three to four weeks in, right?”
“Yeah?”
“You’re there. You made a cross-Atlantic flight.
You jumped immediately into working with two strange-to-you kids, forty hours a week.
You live in someone else’s home and have a job you can’t leave.
Then you met a hot German and of course you slept with him fast. You wanted a connection.
Adventure. Fun! And you’re also just depleted, so you’re crying. ”
“You mean I’m not an insecure weirdo who is being melodramatic?”
If Wendy were back home, Kylie would have made a joke, but she could see how fragile her baby sister was.
“Absolutely not. You’re a strong, independent woman who is tasting life in every way possible. Johann is the one who screwed up, dumping you. He was lucky to sleep with you.”
Wendy sniffed. “Right.”
“I mean it! When did he dump you?”
“An hour ago. We were at a nightclub. He asked me to go into a back room with him and have an orgy. I said no. He disappeared, then I got the text.”
“WHAT A JERK!!”
“I know. He’s worse than Perry. But at least I still have a job.”
“Huh?”
“When Perry dumped you, you lost your job, too. You know all that crap Mom says about always being independent, and never depending on a man for anything, not money, not a social life–nothing? I used to think she was so bitter.” A sour laugh came out of Wendy. “Now I understand better.”
Ouch.
Trying hard not to personalize this, Kylie just said, “I’m so sorry. You did the right thing if being in an orgy wasn’t what you wanted.”
Wendy laughed through her nose, then quickly grabbed a tissue, honking hard as she blew into it. “No judgment for people who are into it, but that was definitely not my thing. I thought he was joking at first. Then he got mad at me.”
“Mad? Mad!” Kylie’s outrage meter ticked up a bit.
“Yeah. Yelled at me. Said I was repressed.”
“Whatever. There are other guys out there. He was obviously not for you.”
“Nope. The sex was amazing, but the lack of respect is a dealbreaker.”
“No kidding. You deserve someone who delivers huge doses of both, Wendy.”
“I know. Thanks.” She squared her shoulders. “It’s late. I’m surprised you’re up. Don’t you normally go to bed earlier?”
“I was on a date with Luke.” She cringed. “Sorry.”
“For what?”
“Mentioning my fabulous date when you’re suffering.”
“I love that you went on a date with Luke! Did you sleep with him?”
“Not yet.”
“Ooooh! So there’s a future here?”
“Well…”
“What’s up?”
“I had an interview with KidzdocTV.”
“SERIOUSLY?”
“Yeah.”
“In New York?”
“No. Not yet. I mean, it was a Zoom interview. A weeder interview. You know. They said they’ll tell me soon if I get an in-person interview as a finalist.”
“What does ‘soon’ mean?”
“Like… I don’t know. Haven’t checked email since around four.”
“Are you going to take it if you get a job offer? Sounds like things are getting deeper with Luke.”
“I don’t know! I realize I screwed up here. Luke is my boss. My job and my relationship are intertwined!”
“Oh,” Wendy groaned. “I never thought of it that way. Damn, Kylie. That’s deep.”
“Deep?”
“You did it again. With Perry, and now with Luke.”
“They are nothing alike!”
“I mean the situation. You’re right. Whoa.”
“I know! And if I stay here, there are no jobs in children’s programming.
Nordicbeth is the closest thing. I might be able to dust off my teaching credentials and go back to the classroom, or work seasonally at a camp, but western Maine isn’t exactly a hotbed of creative media content development for kids. ”
“Hah. No.” Wendy sniffed, then stuffed what looked like a chunk of chocolate in her mouth. “You’d be better off starting a fairy camp from scratch.”
“With what money?”
“If you wish hard enough, a fairy can give you some!” Wendy said, laughing.
“Funny.”
“I think you need to keep your options open,” Wendy said slowly. “Like Mom always says. After what just happened to me with Johann, I am not trusting anyone easily. I’m sure Luke’s great and all, but… go slowly. This has all happened really fast. Like me and Johann.”
“No offense, Wendy, but Luke’s nothing like him.”
“No. He’s not. But you are the one who needs to look out for you. What you want. What you need. And most important, what makes you safe. Independent. Secure.”
“What happened to Wild Wendy, going out in the world to take a big bite out of life?”
“She got a mouthful of rejection.”
“Oh, honey.”
“Look at us, Ky. Aren’t we a pair?” Wendy yawned. “It’s four in the morning. The shock of my night is wearing off. I have to work at eight. I love you, Kylie. Thanks for talking me down.”
“Any time. Love you, too.”
The call ended.
Kylie’s mind was a cloud of glitter on fire.
As she set the phone down, she saw she had three new emails. Tapping the glass, she opened the app to find an email from Roberta at KidzdocTV.
Heart slamming hard, she opened it, halfway hoping for a standard rejection letter.
But no…
Dear Kylie, the email began. Congratulations! You’re one of four finalists we’d like to invite to our New York office for an interview on December 28…
December 28? That was just over a week away.
Her calendar, embedded in her email program, said it was one of her days off.
Details about travel logistics were a blur as she read the email, overwhelmed.
At the end, it said, Please reply ASAP, as our timeline is condensed. We want to finalize our hiring before Q4 ends.
Oh, boy.
Now she was in a pickle.
Celebrating her successes was always a bit hard; she knew she should be cheering for herself, but instead, she just felt the agony of being pulled in two directions.
With Luke’s taste still on her tongue.
Go to New York, or stay?
The career she always wanted, or the sweet boy she kissed on a pier, who turned into a man she admired and–
Loved?
With both faces in her mind, boy and man, she took the easy way out.
At least, it felt that way in the moment.
“Dear Roberta,” she wrote, nerves getting the better of her. “Thank you so much. I would be delighted to...”
And besides, she was still exploring. This was about being open to possibility. No commitment was needed. This wasn't about picking a path.
She hadn’t gotten the job.
Yet.
Guilt filled her, the fact that she hadn’t said a word about the Zoom interview to Luke now an indictment of sorts. When he found out about the in-person interview, he would be crushed.
He would also, she knew, try to convince her to stay.
Colleen warned her, back at Mountain Dragon, not to toy with Luke’s affections. Firm in her belief that she wasn’t, Kylie nevertheless knew that this balancing act had her on a very shaky wire.
With no safety net.
“Haven’t fallen yet. Haven’t decided on a direction, either,” she reminded herself as she slowly undressed, hanging the elegant garment in the closet, a whiff of Luke’s aftershave wafting up from the neckline.
Luke, or New York?
Interdependence, or Independence?
Possible love, or possible career success?
As she climbed into sweats, a text came in.
Luke.
Tonight was wonderful. Our next date will be longer, more private, and dinner will be followed by breakfast in bed.
A shiver ran through her as she grabbed a pillow and threw it across the room.
Why did all the good stuff have to come at once? And put her in a double bind?
As she wandered into the bathroom and began scrubbing off her makeup, she remembered Wendy’s mascara-streaked face, and her words:
“You did it again. With Perry, and now with Luke.”
Accepting the interview still wasn’t a commitment.
Sleeping with Luke, though? That would be.
Time was what she needed most.
Time, sleep, and some magic fairy intervention that would make all this easier.