Message them to end this interview immediately.
Yet I continue to stare at the screen.
She’s changed.
She answers the questions with an aloof coldness about her. The warmth I used to see in her eyes has been replaced with reserved strength. The longer I watch, the more I realize that she is exactly the type of person I would hire for this company.
Her answers are brilliant. Informative, sharp-minded, and direct.
I’m captivated by her.
Do not hire her!
The position she is interviewing for is one working directly at my side. It is a risk I cannot take, a move so irresponsible it would destroy the last five years of agony I went through to avoid her.
She shines throughout the interview. By the end of it, I am struggling not to message them and tell them to hire her immediately.
The interviewer smiles at her. “Well, Miss Ford, thank you for coming in today. We will—”
“If you don’t mind, I have a few questions?”
“Oh, yes, of course.”
“I wanted to know what benefits the company offers for single mothers. I have a list of requirements that are not unreasonable, and I just need to know if you’d be willing to consider them, or if the company prefers not to hire single parents?”
Single parent? She’s a mother? When did this happen?
“That is something I would need to discuss with the rest of the team when we go over your interview notes. Can you provide me with your requests?”
“Of course, I have them printed here,” she says, handing him a sheet of paper. He takes it and slides it into her folder.
I’ve been keeping my distance from her, but I have certain alerts linked to her name. I would have immediately been notified if she married or had a child. How is it possible that she's sitting here in my building asking about benefits for single parents?
My head is spinning again. Anxiety is racing through me, and my jaw is clenched so tightly it’s starting to ache.
Kayla Ford.
I have to walk away from this. I cannot allow her back into my life.
Yet, something inside me is already shifting, and I know I can’t let this go.
Chapter 2 - Kayla
Walking out of the interview room, my heart is racing, but my head is held high. I think I aced it. I think I answered every question with precision and efficiency, and I didn’t drag out answers to try and make it sound like I was embellishing.
I don’t need to embellish. I’m damn good at what I do, and if they can’t see that, it’s their loss.
Except it isn’t their loss, it’s mine. This firm is the biggest, best opportunity this city has to offer, and Iwant to work here.
Leaving California and coming back to Chicago was a massive move for me.
In many ways, it was my way of taking my power back.
What happened in this city around five years ago tore me apart. It reduced me to a shell of who I used to be. It broke me in the darkest ways.
I believed in love right up until it was made clear to me that no such thing exists. Not the fairytale bullshit I thought I had found. How naive and pathetic I used to be.
But life—no, not life, thatexperiencechanged me.
