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“He just adopted his seventh.”
She had to laugh. “Are you sure there will be space for both of us along with all the cats?”
“Don’t worry about it – he still lives in his family home, even though his sisters moved out a couple of years ago. He has plenty of space.”
“Well, I do like cats. I’m sure I’ll be fine there.”
Liv had always wanted a cat, but her dad was allergic. Thankfully, she hadn’t inherited that trait. Maybe when she was living alone, she could adopt a cat herself if the roommate thing didn’t work out.
“Do you have any idea what the process is in terms of starting a business in Belgium?”
“Not yet, but I’ll find out. Alex will know all the ins and outs. He’ll be able to help us get started.”
Liv knew that Alex had started several successful businesses of his own in Belgium.
“I hope he’s not going to poach you from me.”
Meg laughed. “You don’t need to worry about that. I have no desire to work for him. That would just make things way too complicated. It’s better to keep work and personal lives separate.”
“You’ll have to stop working such long hours, if you want to spend any time with him.”
“Bah, he works even longer hours than I do. We’ll be fine, Liv.”
Meg didn’t ask her about her sudden desire to move to Europe, and Liv was grateful, but a little exasperated. Honestly, did everyone know about her and Juliette? She had thought they were being subtle, but apparently, their subtlety was wasted on everyone except Laura.
Liv supposed that Laura’s ignorance was what mattered. It wasn’t like anyone else in her life would judge them. Laura might have figured it out too if it wasn’t something she really didn’t want to see.
“I suppose I’d better let you go – I’m sure you want to start packing.”
“If it’s going to be a few days anyway, then I should work for now. I’ll pack after work. There’s so much to do – closing things up here, finding a new CEO, getting flights arranged…”
Yeah, bringing Meg was definitely the right decision. Liv would have been completely overwhelmed without her. She could have handled it alone if necessary, but she was glad she didn’t have to.
“Which language do you want to learn?”
“What?”
“Well, the official languages are Dutch, French and German. Alex is bilingual in English and French, so I’ll be learning French.”
“I hadn’t thought of that.”
“I mean, it’s not essential. Most everyone will speak English, at least in the big cities like where we’ll be moving. But we’ll have a better chance of getting citizenship in a few years if we’re fluent in one of their languages.”
“That’s a good point. I hadn’t thought that far ahead, but you’re right. It’ll make our lives a lot easier to know at least one of the languages. I’m not sure I want to give up my US citizenship, though.”
“Me neither – I’m going to look into dual citizenship. I can do the same for you. Should I start arranging lessons for us? Alex can help by speaking French to us at home, but we should go for formal lessons, too, and he won’t have much free time to teach us.”
“That would be perfect. I’ll download some apps in the meantime so that I can get started. I suppose we should start testing each other on vocabulary.”
“Damn right. We’re going to kick this thing in the butt.”
Liv spent the rest of the day making arrangements. She was dreading telling the rest of the staff, who were unlikely to be nearly as enthusiastic as Meg was, but it was better to do it now before they found out by themselves.
So, Liv called an informal meeting at the end of the day, gathering everyone in the main work area.
“Hi, everyone. I have news, but before I give it, let me just assure you that your jobs are safe. Nothing much is going to change for all of you… but I’m leaving.”
Dismayed murmurs filled the room, but Liv soldiered on. “I’m going to Belgium to start a new branch of Aimee Enterprises. My dad will fill in as CEO until we can find a permanent replacement. Meg is coming with me, and if any of you would like to find a fresh start in Europe, I’ll gladly help with your moving expenses. However, I don’t expect any of you to move continents with me, so please don’t feel like you need to in order to keep your jobs. I’ll struggle to replace such an excellent group of people, and your new CEO will be lucky to have you.”
