Page 119 of September
“Okay. And, honey?”
“Yeah?”
“I love you. You know that, right?”
Gwen’s eyes welled with tears, and she said, “I do now.”
CHAPTER 33
Juliet stood in line, waiting to order her favorite drink. As she did, she thought about how to approach things with her boss today. First, she would find a spot on his calendar to book a meeting. Then, she would spend the time before that working out what she would say and, if she could, typing up the initial plan. She could always play off its incompleteness by telling him that she didn’t want to spend too much time on it if he didn’t go for the concept. Yeah, that was a good plan.
As she stepped up in line, she thought about how this would mean she’d either get to keep her current role without travel or she’d have to demote herself because she didn’t want to do this for months, possibly years, before being promoted again, assuming that happened at all. She liked her new salary, and even though she hadn’t gotten that many paychecks with the new amount on them yet, she’d have a hard time going back down to what she was making before. She would do it, though, if it meant she’d be happy because happiness was all that mattered.
When she took another step, she considered that statement again. It was true; she knew that. Money wasn’t everything. But if her boss demoted her, she’d go back to her old role, one where she wasn’t doing the manager and leadership classes and only had the new hires to teach, which she had been doing foryears already. That wasn’t exactly happiness, either. Juliet had to make it so that he didn’t have an option: she should be in this role, but with no travel.
“It’s the right thing to do.”
Juliet heard someone say that from behind her, but she didn’t turn, assuming the person was either on the phone or talking to someone else.
“What you’re thinking about that job is the right thing,” the female voice added.
Juliet turned her head a bit to see an old woman standing behind her. She had a kind smile on her face, and her eyes were looking right at her.
“Were you talking to me?” she asked, still assuming the answer would be no.
“Yes, I was,” the old woman replied. “And you should do it, what you’re thinking.”
“Sorry?Whatam I thinking, exactly?”
“You’re trying to decide about a job. I deal with this a lot in my line of work.”
“You deal with–” Juliet shook her head before turning around to face the woman. “How do you know I’m trying to make a decision about a job?”
“The same way I knew about the van,” the woman said.
Juliet’s eyes went wide, and her mouth formed a little O.
“What did you just say?”
“And I deal withthata lot, too.” The woman laughed. “I’ll give you the short version since I know you need to get your coffee and run, but I’m what many people would call a psychic around here. I don’t necessarily consider myself that. I don’t know the future. I interpret the information I receive from wherever it comes from, and when I see someone the information is supposed to get to, I make sure to pass it along.What they do with it is up to them, but since I didn’t see the van on my walk this morning, I’ll assume that she bought it.”
“Next,” the man behind the counter said to the woman in front of Juliet, meaning Juliet was next after her.
“How do you know this stuff? How did you even know that I knew Gwen?”
“I didn’t even know her name was Gwen. I only knew that she needed to buy that van because if she did, it would lead to good things, like maybe you making this decision. I didn’t know it was also about you when I first knew about the van. Now, it’s all clear, though. She buys the van. You get the courage you need to make your moves at work.”
“Moves? Hardly,” Juliet said with a little laugh.
“All I know is that it’s right. I can’t get anything else on it right now, but you should do it.”
“I should do what? Ask for them to demote me?”
“No, and you know that already. Tell me this: what are you so afraid of? If you tell them you want to make a change, what happens?”
“I know they won’t fire me. They can’t. I’m good at my job, but they also can’t be without another trainer,” she said. “I guess I’m worried that they’ll think I can’t handle the promotion, the increase in responsibility.”
“But is that the case?”
