The message showed as delivered. Then read.
No response.
Riley tried again.
Riley: Grant, please. I know you're upset. I tried everything to get away. I'll be on the next train. I'll explain when I get there.
Still nothing.
Riley sat at her desk, staring at her phone, and felt something inside her crack.
This was it. The pattern Sandra had just praised her for. The thing that made her "successful." Sacrificing everything that mattered for a job that would never care about her the way the people in Pine Valley did.
The way Grant did.
Sandra appeared at her desk again. "Riley, I need you to?—"
"No."
Sandra blinked. "Excuse me?"
Riley stood, her hands surprisingly steady. "No. I'm done."
"We're not finished with the revisions. The client is waiting?—"
"The client is not waiting. They saidrepeatedlythat all of this could wait until after the new year. You can handle it." Riley opened her email, fingers moving across the keyboard before she could talk herself out of it. "I'm resigning. Effective immediately. "
"You're what?"
Riley kept typing, her heart pounding but her resolve hardening with every word.
To: Sandra Mitchell
Subject: Resignation
Sandra,
I am resigning from my position at Mitchell & Associates, effective immediately. I will send transition notes for my accounts by end of day tomorrow.
Thank you for the opportunities I've had here.
Riley Monroe
She hit send and heard the whoosh of the email leaving her outbox.
“You have my resignation in your inbox.”
Sandra's face had gone white. "Riley, you're being rash. You're upset because of one difficult day?—"
"This wasn’t a difficult day and I'm not upset. I'm done." Riley started packing her desk—her favorite mug, the framed photo of her and Hannah from college, the little succulent that had somehow survived three years of fluorescent lighting. "I'm done sacrificing my life for a company that doesn't care if I have one."
"You're throwing away your career. Seven years of work?—"
"Seven years of missed holidays. Missed birthdays. Missed dinners with people I care about." Riley pulled open her drawer, grabbing the emergency granola bars and phone charger she kept stashed. "Seven years of being told that my personal life doesn't matter as much as client needs. I'm not throwing anything away. I'm choosing something better."
"You won't find another position like this. Not after walking out with no notice. I'll make sure of that."
Riley stopped, meeting Sandra's eyes. "You know what? I don't want another position like this. I don't want a job that calls me onChristmas. I don't want a boss who thinks holidays don't matter. I don't want to spend another seven years being told that success means having no life outside these walls."
