CHAPTER THREE

HER LAST DAY

PART ONE

On Friday, Mia came back to Vale International in her own clothes, carrying nothing but a heavy white binder.

She had told Alexander she would finish what she owed him, and she was not a person who left things half done. The binder was the result of four nights at her kitchen table: color-coded tabs for his schedule, his contacts, his standing orders, the three clients he would never take a call from, and an envelope of passwords sealed with tape. She had even written a page of notes for whoever sat at her desk next. He skips lunch unless it's put in front of him. Don't schedule anything difficult before nine.

The desk outside his office now belonged to a temp, a young woman with a nervous smile and a monitor still wrapped in plastic. Mia set the binder down and gave her a smaller one, with the essentials.

"Coffee," she said. "Black. No sugar. He won't thank you for it, but he'll notice if it's wrong."

The temp wrote it down.

Alexander's door opened. He stopped when he saw her, one hand still on the frame.

"You came."

"I said Friday."

"I thought," He cut himself off.

She waited. "What?"

"Nothing."

She carried the binder past him into his office and set it on the desk, squarely, next to the place where a coffee cup used to sit. He followed her in and shut the door. It was the first time the two of them had been alone in a room since the lounge.

"Two weeks of schedules are finished," she said, opening to the first tab. "The rest is in the contacts section. You'll want to call Mr. Brandt before the end of the month. He'll pretend he isn't offended."

Alexander turned the pages slowly. She had added a note beside nearly every meeting. He stopped on one of them and read it twice.

"You didn't have to do all this."

"I know."

"Then why?"

"Because I don't leave a mess behind."

"No," he said. "You never did."

She hadn't expected that. He wasn't looking at her. His thumb had found the edge of his watch.

"You always made sure everything was taken care of," he said. "You were very good at it."

"Thank you." It came out polite and even. She was proud of that.

He closed the binder. "Where will you go?"

"I don't know yet."

"You don't have another job?"

"No."

"You built your whole career here."

A small, tired smile touched her mouth. "No. I built yours."

His eyes narrowed. "What does that mean?"

"You had meetings because I arranged them. You remembered people because I reminded you. You had what you needed because I made sure it was there." She said it without heat. "I'm not complaining. I just want you to understand that leaving doesn't mean I have nothing."

He was silent for a long moment. Then, quietly, "Are you angry with me?"

She considered it honestly. "Yes."

He flinched, barely.

"But I'm not going to punish you for it," she said. "You hurt me. I'll be all right."

"I know I did." He looked up. "I wasn't trying to,"

"You called me a nobody."

His jaw tightened. "I know."

She stood, and so did he. At the door she turned, and he said, abruptly, "You'll be missed."

She went still. "By whom?"

He didn't answer at once, and when he did the word came out rough, as if he were surprised to find it there. "By me."

Mia looked down at the floor, because she didn't trust her face. She didn't want those words to give her hope. "You'll find another assistant."

"That's not what I meant."

"Alexander."

"I was angry." He was talking quickly now, like a man trying to get something out before it closed. "But not at you. I was told something. I believed," He stopped. His hand went flat against the desk. "It doesn't matter."

She waited for him to finish. He didn't.

"I'm not ready to forgive you," she said at last, gently, because it was true. "Maybe someday. But I'm not ready."

He nodded once.

"Goodbye, Alexander."

He didn't say it back. She heard his silence follow her all the way across the room.

On her way out, the woman from accounting caught her arm beside the elevator. "Is it true? You're really leaving?"

"It's time for something different."

"Did something happen?"

"Nothing that matters now."

The woman squeezed her hand. "You were the best assistant this place ever had."

Mia's throat tightened. "That means a lot."

The elevator took a long time to come, and she pressed the button twice anyway.