AllFreeNovel
Share Us
A ripple rolled through her stomach. Surprisingly, it was relief. She smiled. “Terrance, my decision is final. It’s time for me to move on.”
She rose and left his office.
Eduardo was stricken when she told him. “You can’t leave me! I’ll probably end up with some horrible boss who knows nothing. Then I’ll have to do his job and mine, and I’ll have a heart attack and die. Do you want all that on your conscience?”
“Oh, stop being such a drama queen.” Hope laughed before giving him an appraising glance. “Maybe you’ll get my job. You want me to put in a word for you?”
He reared back in horror, his brown eyes flashing. “God, no! The last thing I want is all that responsibility. I only want to punch my time clock and go home at the end of the day. I’m going to miss you, though.” His eyes misted, and he gave her a hug.
Hope went back to her office. She placed her hands over her keyboard, but they were shaking so badly she couldn’t type. Hope closed her eyes.
You’ve survived worse than this. You’ll make this work. You always do.
* * *
She made herself dinner when she got home from work and was adding the croutons to her salad when her phone rang. It was Sara’s ringtone.
“Well?” Based on her tone, Sara was practically jumping up and down. “Did you give your notice?”
“Yes, I did. In two weeks, I’ll be a free woman.”
“Ha! I can’t believe you actually did it. I thought for sure you’d back out. Did you find another job over the weekend?”
Hope ignored the lurch in her stomach. “No. I don’t know what the hell I want to do. I’m terrified.”
Sara paused and sucked in a large breath. “Maybe I can help you with that. I have a birthday surprise for you.”
“In case you forgot, my birthday was last week, back when the world was still somewhat normal.”
Sara giggled. “Well, you did say you needed a change in your life.”
Then she took another deep breath, and Hope’s stomach dropped.
What is she up to now?
“Ok, here’s the thing,” Sara said. “When we were talking about that raffle for the dive resort in St. Croix, you seemed so sad that night.” It came out niiiigghttt. This was never a good sign. “And that was on top of your breakup with Kyle. So, I thought I would be a great little sister and buy you a couple of tickets for it. As a birthday present, Hope! Well . . . I bought three. Happy Birthday!”
“Uh, thanks, Sara.”
“Oh, you’re very welcome. Have I told you lately how smart and beautiful you are? Um, well, here’s the thing . . . uh . . .”
“Sara, what did you do?”
Hope was familiar with the tone of her voice, and it always meant trouble.
“Congratulations, Hope! You won the raffle for the resort. Isn’t that amazing? Aren’t you super happy about it?”
“WHAT?”
“I used my email address but entered in your name. I just got the email from the resort a couple of hours ago announcing Hope Collins as the winner. Isn’t that great? Isn’t it the best? Please?”
Hope snapped her open mouth shut as she paced between the living room and the kitchen. “Sara! I told you I wasn’t interested, and you entered me anyway?”
“Yes! Don’t you see? It’s fate! I told you things have a way of working out. This is the change you’ve been looking for.”
“You have completely lost your—”
“I looked it up online. It’s called Half Moon Bay Resort, and it’s in St. Croix, in the Virgin Islands. It’s really cute, not too big, and on a gorgeous white sand beach. It’s an amazing opportunity—you’re very lucky. You should be extremely grateful to me, Hope.”
