Page 116 of Your Biggest Downfall
Of course. I should’ve realized she was here instead of at Austin’s apartment. It should have clicked earlier, but my brain was too slow, and putting those pieces together was about as difficult as motivating myself to shower.
“Yeah, I guess I did.” I put my hands in my lap, picking at my nail beds.
“You asked him for a divorce?”
My heart sank. I shouldn’t be surprised Austin was talking about it at work.
I wasn’t planning on telling him I wanted a divorce, but walking in on him drunk on the day my mother died was something out of a horror movie. It was like everything finally clicked. Everything Luna warned me about collided with me at once and finally made sense. Austin never went to rehab to get better. He went to appease me.
In the end, Austin was sober for a time being, but I think we’d become addicted to each other. I leaned on him because my life was falling apart at the seams, and he temporarily replaced alcohol with me.
“I did.” I hadn’t said the words aloud yet. I hadn’t even told Aunt Mae, but confirming it felt freeing.
Iris nodded, then opened up her purse and dug out papers. “I had Peter draw up a contract for you to start in two and a half weeks.”
I shook my head. I couldn’t go. I couldn’t leave Aunt Mae and travel halfway across the world. “I can barely get to the shower, Iris. I can’t fathom going to London right now.”
She shrugged. “I’m firing you, Nova.”
I wasn’t even shocked, because when it rained it fucking poured. “Y—You’re firing me?”
Mami had some savings left, enough to keep me afloat for a few months, but I was going to need a new job.
“Yes, but only because you deserve so much more than what I can give you.” She set the paper on the table next to me, and there was a knock at the door. Iris stood, and I followed suit. “Think about it, really think about it.”
Tears clouded my vision, and I closed the distance between us, giving her a hug. “Thank you,” I whispered. “I’m sorry for hating you.”
She laughed and then wrapped her arms around me. “This will be so good for you, Nova. You will do amazing things.”
She squeezed my arms and pulled away, and I walked her to the front door. Luna was on the other side, and when she saw Iris, she politely said hello before pushing past her and coming inside.
“What did she want?” Luna asked before I turned to her and dropped to my knees.
Luna dropped down, matching my stance. “What’s wrong?” she asked frantically.
“She fired me.”
“What a fucking bit?—”
“And then offered me a full-time job.”
Luna seemed to ponder this. “Oh?”
“In London.”
Luna’s face softened, and she wrapped me up in her arms. “Oh, baby. That’s amazing. What’s the job for?”
“It’s my dream job, managing the social media for a rugby club out there.”
She held onto me tightly as we looked around the house, both of us taking in the memories it held. Footsteps echoed down the hallway, and Aunt Mae appeared, joining us on the floor.
I glanced over at her, and she had that familiar, knowing smile. “I’m so proud of you,” she whispered, her voice trembling. “You’re going to take that job and make your Mami proud.”
Tears streamed down my cheeks as I shook my head. “I—I can’t leave you.”
Aunt Mae wrapped her arms around me, her embrace warm and reassuring. “You absolutely can, and you will,” she said softly, her voice steady.
I found myself nestled between the two people I loved most in the world—Aunt Mae and Luna.
