Chapter 3 A Farewell in Frosting

Emily's POV

I loved my office, I really did. It was the one thing about New York that I truly adored. Sure, my apartment was okay and the city was nice enough, but it was really my office that did it for me.

It made me feel like I'd made it. It was a whole room to myself – one with massive, floor-to-ceiling windows that allowed me to enjoy the huge expanse of world stretched out in front of me. I could look out of that window and see the hundreds of people walking below. I often lost myself in wondering what their lives were like, and that was something that I hadn't ever wanted to give up.

When I moved to the city in a hurry, I hadn't expected to land on my feet quite so quickly. But much to my surprise, the first job I applied for as a speech therapist turned out to be the one for me. I was hired on the spot at the interview, and that was where I'd stayed ever since.

To be honest, I thought I would always work at the same job for the rest of my life, but because of circumstances out of my control, I was having to leave it all behind – the job, the apartment, New York... But it was my office that I was going to miss the most. That and the friends I'd made working in it.

"Come with me," my friend Susan grinned at me, shrugging lightly. "Come on, you knew that it was going to happen. You knew the guys weren't going to just let you leave without doing something for you; just act surprised, okay?"

I followed behind her with an odd fluttering occurring in my heart. No one knew the reason why I was leaving except for my boss, and I was certain that I'd have a million and one questions flying my way about it – questions I would have to keep batting off if I didn't want to break down. There was no way I could tell these people what was going on with my life and still hold it together; it just wouldn't happen.

To be fair, I'd managed to keep it to myself ever since I'd handed my notice in a few weeks before, so a couple more hours shouldn't be too hard. People just couldn't understand why I was leaving behind a life that I seemed so happy in, and to be honest, I was struggling with it myself.

"Surprise!" they all yelled, bursting out from odd places in the canteen, and although I was expecting it, it did make me jump, so at least my reaction was somewhat real.

"Oh my God, guys," I was already tearing up; this wasn't going well. "This is so nice."

"We baked you a cake, too," someone told me excitedly, and I made my way over to the table to spot a suspicious-looking cake that had clearly been created by someone who didn't do it all the time and laughed loudly at the words written across it.

'Gud luck! Wheel miss you!'

They were obviously making fun of our job, and that made me feel very happy. I was glad I'd made close enough friendships that they felt like they could tease me... I was just sad to have to leave it all behind.

"That's great. Thank you so much, everyone."

As I looked at all their faces in turn, I had to really force myself to remain strong. This didn't have to be forever. I might have been moving back to Bayrow, but that didn't mean I couldn't come back and visit. I could come and see these people whenever I wanted, and it would be even better because we would all make an effort to really hang out and have a good time.

But even as I tried to convince myself of that, I knew it wouldn't be the case.

I wasn't naive enough to not understand how things worked. People were always friends with their colleagues during the time that they worked together, but once that was over, the friendship would slowly die. You would quickly find that you never had anything in common with them except for your job, and over time, things would simply fizzle out...and that was when you remained in the same city. I was going to a whole new state. This really was the end of an era.

I did my best to enjoy the small talk of the next hour, but I was already starting to feel a segregation, a sense that I no longer belonged. It wasn't purposeful, not by anyone, but things were already becoming different.

My mind wandered as some of the girls discussed a new patient coming their way in the following weeks, and I started to think about all that I still needed to do. I knew I wouldn't be able to pack while I was still working; I spent far too long burning the candle at both ends to even attempt it, which was why I'd agreed to leave a few days earlier. I figured that having some time to do nothing but get organized would be good for me, but now that it was time, the prospect was almost overwhelming.

How the hell was I supposed to just up and move my entire life? I had everything there, all my belongings, and that was going to be a bitch to get right all the way across the country.