Page 80 of No Place Like You

He tears his eyes away from his hand, the door frame, the shiny surface of the car, everything to avoid me, and he finally looks at me. He offers a sad smile, something that silently whispers goodbye, and leans away from me.

I turn to get in the cab, and he closes the door behind me. When I look out the window, his eyes are still on me. We wave through the glass, his palm facing me and my hand pressed flat in his direction, and the cabbie drives off, leaving a hollowness in my chest that makes me feel…empty.

My phone buzzes in my purse just as the car turns and Dexter is no longer in sight, and I smile. That’s probably him, calling me or texting me, telling me more about how much he misses me.

But instead of Dexter’s name on my phone screen, I see Ryan’s name.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Lucy,” he calls, his voice distant as if he’s on speaker. “Do you have a minute?”

“Uh, sure. What’s up?”

“I just wanted to give you a heads up,” he answers. “The internship mentioned there would be employment opportunities after it ended. They probably said something about that to you when you applied.”

“Yeah, it was brought up,” I answer when he pauses.

“Right. We want to offer you a position with Elevate.”

Holy shit. “You’re offering me a job?”

“Yeah. Kyle referred you after he went over some of your work,” he explains. “He was really impressed. Now, I know you’re out in Seattle, so we’re taking that into consideration with relocating, since the headquarters offices are in LA.”

“Would I be at the LA offices?”

“Yeah, most likely,” he answers. “But nothing’s set in stone, so don’t go apartment hunting just yet.”

“Yeah,” I say softly. This is actually happening. To me.To me.

“HR will discuss with you all the nitty gritty. And I’ll follow up with an email with the formal offer.”

“Right.”

“But I wanted to let you know so you can think about it.”

“Thank you, Ryan. It’s a huge opportunity. I’m honored Kyle would think of me.”

“You did some of the best work for the whole campaign,” he says, validating something I thought was so far from the truth. I didn’t think a future working for a company like Elevate would happen so soon, if ever. “I know Kyle doesn’t really acknowledge your hard work, but a lot of your photographs were submitted for the final ads that are going to go out. Your pictures are going to be on billboards and magazines.”

“Are you serious?”

He laughs in a way that’s endearing and not condescending at all. “Yeah, Lucy.”

I stay quiet, mulling over this realization. My work is worthy of industry level standards. I’ll be able to find my pictures out in public. I’ll be able to point them out and tell people I’m the one who took them.

“Anyway,” Ryan calls when I stay quiet too long. “I’ll be in touch, but shoot me an email if you have any questions.”

“Thanks, Ryan,” I answer.

“Yep.” He hangs up, and I’m left speechless and somehow full of too many words at the same time.

“I just got a new job,” I say to myself.

When I look up, I catch the eye of the cab driver through the rearview mirror.

“What was that?”

I look at him, and my face brightens with the widest smile. “I just got a job offer with an ad agency. Like a real, grown-up job. Not just as an intern.”

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