“I’ve always stayed the course,” she murmured, lightly tapping at Autumn’s neat handwriting. “Ever since Imadethe course, in high school, I’ve never strayed. There were moments, like when I’d been with Sutton back in the day. Moments that I nearly changed direction. But I never did.”
“And… did the course go the way you expected it to?”
A wry smile played on Charlotte’s lips as she lifted her gaze to Autumn’s and nodded. “Yes, actually. Thiswasthe course. Steady and direct.” She lifted her arm and held it out straight in front of her. “No wavering. Hold to the strength of my convictions. I’m exactly where I always thought I would be when I came up with the plan.”
Funny, really. How she was just where she’d always thought she’d want to be, but looking at it laid out for her in this MASH game didn’t make her feel any pride.
“Charlotte, can I speak to you as we’ve been speaking today? As… friends?” Autumn asked.
Charlotte met her gaze again, giving her permission, though it came with an inquisitive look.
“From what I’ve heard today, you’re unsure of what to do without your career in politics. That seems pretty clear,” Autumn said. “Clearly, it’s all you’d ever planned for yourself.”
Thus far, Autumn was only summarizing Charlotte’s own words, so this couldn’t be thepointAutumn was trying to make. She waited.
Autumn paused, though, looking more and more unsure about saying exactly what was on her mind. “I really just don’t want to overstep. Because I know today has been—er, personal bonding.”
Charlotte snorted.
“But I also know that tomorrow we will be back to business as usual, and I don’t want to speak out of turn,” she finished.
“Understood,” Charlotte validated her. “But short of some sort of assault or heinously disrespectful comments, I want you to tell me what’s on your mind. I assure you, Autumn, I have heard a lot of remarks thrown my way over the years in this profession. I have a fairly tough skin.”
Autumn nodded, toying with her necklace briefly before she stated, “So when it comes to a future without your career, you’re—uncertain. Maybe a little scared.”
More than a little, but Charlotte appreciated Autumn splitting the difference.
“But… whenever we’ve talked about the possibility of things going the other way? The possibility of you keeping your career andstaying the course? You seem—lost.” Autumn’s voice dipped to a whisper, but Charlotte felt the impact of that single word, landing in her stomach like a fucking stone.
She inhaled sharply.
Autumn continued. “When we played that game of Life, the second one, where we had you bypass having a partner as you drove through life, you weren’t engagedat allin the hypotheticals. Not the same way you were when you had the fake Sutton next to you. And when you talked about her earlier? About how you two met and then you lost her, it’s…” She rolled her lips before delivering the true assessment. “You seemdevastatedat the idea of letting her go again.”
Yes. God, Charlotte hated it, but yes. Autumn’s observation struck such a chord inside of her because it was the honest truth. It reflected the way Charlotte felt, even if she hadn’t voiced it in so many words.
Autumn shrugged then, finally dropping her hand from her necklace. “I just think that, in the grand scheme of things, that aimlessness and devastation is worse than the uncertainty.
“You’re gifted with a dedication and ambition and intelligence that so many people woulddiefor,” she stated, a passion blazing through her words. A passion so strong, frankly, it was surprising to Charlotte to hear from her typically very controlled assistant.
“But you also seem to have found yourself in love with someone who knows all of you and loves all of you. Who couldn’t help but fall back into feelings with you even after you broke her heart. Whom you’ve spent more than a decade never getting over. So, to be entirely honest, who cares? Whocareswhat you’ll do after this?” She gestured at Charlotte’s work laptop on the table. “Youarebrilliant and ambitious and dedicated; you don’t have to do thisone career—this one-in-a-billioncareer—to utilize that. You will figure it out.”
Autumn caught herself then, demurely coughing before she fixed her posture the way she usually sat at her desk. “All I mean is… it doesn’t actually seem as difficult of a choice as you’re making it. Sutton is understandably scared. It’s scary to trust people that hurt you so badly. But if she is what you want, then it’s time to stray from the course and put your ambition and dedication into making her see what you’ve letmesee today.”
Charlotte could only stare for several moments before she realized why. Before she realized the role reversal she’d found herself in, with a woman ten years her junior, who worked for her.
Butdamn itif everything Autumn had said wasn’t exactly what Charlotte had needed to hear. If those words didn’t make Charlotte’s heart pound faster in her chest. If she didn’t feel that sense of purpose inside of her, something she’d been missing in the last few days.
“Autumn, you are a very intelligent person yourself. I’ve never regretted hiring you, not for a single moment, but right now, I think it might have been one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.”
A breathless hour later,Charlotte found herself knocking on Sutton’s front door.
She shifted restlessly from foot to foot, her stomach alight with butterflies. With hope, with nerves. She hoped that whatever words she managed when Sutton opened the door were the right ones.
Her nerves settled—bafflingly so—when Sutton opened the door.
Those blue eyes widened in clear surprise. “Charlotte? Hi. What are you doing here?”
“I called out of work today,” she found herself stating, startling both of them.What?
