Mid Life Love (Mid Life Love #1)(116)

Last week, I received a call from Signature Advertising—the premier advertising agency on the West Coast. They’d saved my application from four years ago, keeping it in an “Over Budget” folder since they thought my salary request would be too high. But now, they were “willing to spend whatever [they] needed to,” so they offered me the job over the phone—no interview necessary.

I was thrilled, but I told them I needed forty eight hours to think about it.

I was actually going to turn it down. I was going to tell them that I was enjoying my work at Statham Industries and would keep their offer in mind for the future. Yet, but right before I could make that phone call, one of my associates brought the top idea for the sPhone red into my office: “First it was blue, like the skies above your head...Now it’s full of love that will never go dead...Coming soon, the new sPhone red.”

I’m done with this shit,

Claire

Chapter 26

Claire

One month later...

I dabbed the corners of my eyes with my sleeves and swiped another pile of crumpled Kleenex into the trash can. I was sitting in my expansive corner office at Signature Advertising, bored out of my mind.

As the regional chair, all I had to do was make sure the directors were getting their jobs done and host a weekly mentoring session with a few associates. I’d thought that I would at least get a good laugh from those sessions, but the associates here were completely different from the ones at Statham Industries: They actually knew what they were doing.

Their ideas were amazing—way beyond their years. They could write ad copy within minutes, something that took my old associates hours to do. They hardly ever knocked on my door for assistance, and when they did, it was only to show me another remarkable idea that they’d come up with.

In fact, they were so perfect that I spent all last week in my office with the door closed and watched movies.

So much for having more responsibility and fulfillment...

Since I had so much free time, all I could think about was Jonathan, and I couldn’t help but cry. I was missing him. Terribly.

Each time my phone rang, each time my doorbell sounded, and each time there was a knock on my door, I hoped that it was him—telling me to come away with him, telling me that he wasn’t going to let me walk out of his life so easily.

I even woke up this morning reaching out for him, thinking we’d fallen asleep together.

It was for the best, Claire...It was for the best...

“Miss Gracen?” My secretary called my line.

“Yes?”

“There’s someone here demanding to see you. I said that you don’t have any appointments scheduled for the day, but—”

Jonathan?! “Send him in please.” I wiped my eyes and stood up, straightening my dress. I prepared myself to say “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean any of it. Let’s just pick up where we left off” as soon as he walked through the door.

The door opened; in walked Sandra and Helen.

Oh...

“Well, it’s good to see you too!” Helen laughed. “Could you try not to look so disappointed to see your two best friends?”

“I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to.” I sighed. “What are you doing here?”

“We’re making sure you don’t bomb within your first ninety days.” Helen set down a cake that read ‘Sixty more days to go!’ on my desk. “Looks like you’ve been crying—again.”

“No, I haven’t...I just have—”

“Allergies?” Sandra rolled her eyes. “Please. Have you called him yet?”

I shook my head and the two of them exchanged glances.

“You know, I’m not a huge fan of the monogamous relationship thing,” Helen said as she sat on the edge of my desk. “That aside, I really think you should call him and tell him everything his mother was doing to you...I honestly think you two were made for each other—age gap and all. I’ve never seen sparks like that fly between people—and that’s saying a lot coming from me. I mean, I could literally feel the electricity whenever you were in the same room together, so you need to rectify this ASAP. Oh and random, who is the guy that sits at the side desk in the downstairs lobby?”

“Ashton?”

“Dark brown hair, green eyes?”

I nodded. “That’s him.”

“Is he single?”

“He’s nineteen...”

“Then he’s perfectly legal.” She eased off my desk and walked towards the door. “I’ll be right back.”

Sandra shook her head. “Why do we put up with her again?” She walked over to my side of the desk and patted my back. “I agree with everything she said about you and Jonathan...I’d never seen you that happy until you started dating him. You need to tell him about his mom.”

“What would be the point? She was wrong for handling it the way she did, but her main message was right. It would never work out. I’m too old for him, and I knew that from the beginning.”

“Okay, you really need to stop—”

“She knew exactly what to say to get to me...She knew throwing my age in my face would break me down. She knew that would make me leave him...”

“And you shouldn’t have let her do that...You should have told him as soon as it started.”