Good Karma (61 page)

-Author Unknown

The next morning, after applying ice packs to her
dry, swollen eyes, which felt hot to the touch, and willing herself
not to cry anymore, Karma gathered herself, got ready for work, and
headed in to the office.

She had to act unaffected when Don told her.
Talk about a poker face. She’d never been good at poker. And that
made her think about blackjack, which made her think about Mark,
and she was crying again.

She pulled over, dried her eyes, and touched
up her makeup, but who was she kidding. She looked awful. Maybe no
one would notice. Then again, what if she couldn’t hide how upset
the news made her that Mark’s assignment with Solar was up?
Somehow, the idea of dropping to her knees and praying that he
wouldn’t go seemed like it would give things away.

Just a tad.

Inevitably, her short drive to work came to
an end, and she faced the longest walk of her life. Steeling
herself, she got out, threw Mark’s BMW a mournful glance, and
headed up the sidewalk.

As she walked in, Nancy was already situated
at the front desk and caught her eye. “I think something big is
happening today,” she said in a hushed voice.

Karma forced a perplexed,
I-wouldn’t-know-a-thing-about-it look on her face. “What do you
mean?”

Nancy waved her over. “Mark was in early.
Don’s already with him. And HR has been in and printing off
documents since seven o’clock.”

Nancy looked at her as if she was fishing for
information.

“I guess we’ll find out what’s going on soon
enough,” Karma said, trying to act clueless.

If only Nancy knew, what was about to go down
today was nothing compared to what had gone down last night. Call
her selfish, but Karma wasn’t feeling too sympathetic or
compassionate to the plights of those who may or may not be losing
their jobs today. Maybe under better circumstances, or maybe
pre-Mark Strong, she would have given a damn about the fate of her
coworkers, but with her own problems to worry about, which felt
like the weight of the Rocky Mountains on her shoulders, there
wasn’t a whole lot of energy left for anyone else. She needed to
save her strength to endure the natural disaster about to occur in
a week when Hurricane Mark finally moved back out to sea and left
her in a state of emergency.

Karma left Nancy at the reception desk and
headed upstairs. Mark and Don were already in the conference room
poring over a stack of papers. Mark already had his coffee.

Disappointment throttled her. Apparently, she
couldn’t even get his coffee, anymore. The transition back to being
Mark-less had begun.

Silly girl. It had begun last night when he
left her apartment instead of staying. Screw that. It had begun the
moment she wore that brooch to work back in May. She had known then
that this day was coming.

She set down her bags, resisting the urge to
stare at Mark’s perfect profile. And failing. He looked tired, his
shoulders rounded instead of squared.

“Karma. Ah, there you are. Could you step in,
please?” Don said, turning to see her sitting there.

Mark didn’t even flinch.

“Uh, sure.” She got up and hurried in. At
least, she hurried as much as she could, being that she felt like a
giant ball of lead.

Mark finally turned and met her gaze as she
entered. His eyes were bloodshot, and when he spoke, his voice was
full of gravel, as if his throat was irritated. “Don and I will
need your assistance today,” he said. Then he cleared his throat as
he glanced down at his paperwork and lifted his mug of coffee for a
sip. “We’ll be talking to some of the employees and will need you
to call them in for us.”

“Yes, of course.” She frowned. “You sound
like you’re catching a cold.”

He kept his eyes averted. “Allergies. Seems
the dry summer finally caught up to me.”

Hmm. He had seemed fine last night. Better
than fine, actually. Not a hint of the sniffles.

A moment later, Kathy, the HR director,
walked in with a file folder in her hand.

Don gestured for Karma to have a seat then
shut the door. “We thought we would start with you,” he said. “Get
it out of the way, so to speak, so you wouldn’t sit and worry all
day.”

She wanted to ask, “Get what out of the way?”
But given her conversation with Nancy, she was pretty sure what.
And based on Don’s proud smile, she was one getting good news
today.

If only he knew that all the good news in the
world wouldn’t make up for the one bit of bad news she had received
last night.

She sat down and laid one hand over the other
on the polished wood.

“Karma,” Don began, “Mark and I have
discussed your future with Solar quite extensively in the past few
weeks.”

Her gaze flicked to Mark, who met her eyes
for only a second before he looked back down at the piece of paper
in front of him.

“Mark seems to think you’ve got a tremendous
amount of potential,” Don said. “He advises that your talents
extend far beyond what even I was aware of.”

The tops of Mark’s cheeks reddened, and he
cleared his throat again.

Was he thinking the same thing she was? That
if Don knew about the personal time they had spent together, he
would rethink his phrasing? Because knowing what she knew, Don’s
comment was almost comical. Or would have been under less
depressing circumstances.

Don continued. “We’re creating a new position
for you. One in which you will not only function as my assistant,
but also take on more responsibility from the sales team, among
others. We’ve worked up a new job description for you.” He slid a
piece of paper in front of her.

She read her new title:
Coordinator of
Administrative Services and Logistics
.

As Don went down the list of responsibilities
and highlighted a few of the key changes to her role, all she could
think was that this had been Mark’s doing. He had given her this
new title. He had seen something in her beyond their personal time
together and had recommended her for this new position.

“Of course, we’re prepared to offer you a
salary increase,” Don said. “We consider this a promotion.”

Kathy passed another piece of paper to Don,
which he placed in front of her. He rattled off some percentages
and numbers, but all Karma saw was the bold number at the bottom of
the page. Her new salary nearly made her choke on her own saliva.
This was no chump change. And there was an option for quarterly
bonuses based on company performance.

She remembered something Mark had told her
early on. He had been given carte blanche where the personnel was
concerned. His human resources recommendations were sacrosanct.

Suddenly, those private conversations between
Mark and Don seemed more important than anything else. He had
spoken of her. To her boss. And his words had helped decide her
fate. And all this time, she had thought their relationship went no
further than their time outside the office.

But that wasn’t the case. He had taken care
of her. Mark had seen fit to leave her better than he had found her
in more ways than one.

Maybe this was his way of showing her how
much he cared. He couldn’t give her his heart, but he could give
her this gift to let her know that, while he couldn’t stay in body,
he could at least stay in her thoughts as the one who had set her
up for success and a future she hadn’t dreamed possible. One in
which she made more money than she ever had, and which stuffed her
resume with experience that could take her even further if she ever
chose to leave Solar and pursue her writing career. Yes, she still
wanted to be a journalist, but in the meantime, she didn’t have to
scrape to get by. This was his way of letting her know she was
special. That’s what she chose to believe, whether it was true or
not. Because believing that made his leaving just a little bit
easier to stomach.

Don went on about how they wanted to
cross-train her in all operational tasks, including project
management, as a means of furthering her potential and possibly
allowing her another departmental move into an even more
encompassing position if she wanted, and then they were
finished.

She signed the appropriate documents and
returned to her desk with a list of all the other employees
scheduled for a visit with the three of them this morning. It was
Karma’s job to call each person in and keep the door revolving.
Some of those employees would be like her and keep their jobs, but
she was certain that some would come out of the conference room not
wearing such happy faces.

Jolene was one of the names on the list, and
as the door closed behind her after she went in, Karma was certain
that she wouldn’t come out happy, and she was right. A few minutes
later, she exited with tears in her eyes and glared at Karma as she
passed her desk, Kathy beside her.

“She should be the one being let go!” Jo
pointed at her. “Not me. She’s—”

“Enough, Jolene,” Kathy said sharply. “Don’t
make this any harder on yourself.”

Whatever Kathy held over Jo’s head was enough
to shut her mouth, and they disappeared around the corner as Jolene
let out a quiet sob.

After their falling out over Memorial Day
weekend and during the weeks before, Karma really wasn’t surprised
by the show of aggression. If anything, Jo should have seen this
coming. All the signs had been there, and even Johnny had said
anyone in administration should be looking for new work. But oh
well. Jo wasn’t Karma’s problem, anymore.

Jo had tried to stir up trouble for her and
Mark, and who knew what she would do now. She could still make
waves if she wanted to, but it didn’t really matter. Mark was
leaving.

Today was going to be unsettling for
everyone, and come Monday, the landscape would look a lot different
around Solar.

* * *

Mark had barely slept last night. He had been
too sick with misery, which felt like it might be translating to
actual sickness. He could see his weekend with Karma slipping away,
but he would fight through it. He didn’t want anything to ruin
their last weekend together.

“How are you feeling?” Don asked during the
short break between employees. “You sound worse.”

“I’ll be fine.” It was a lie, of course. He
was so far from being fine that he wasn’t even in the same zip
code. If only things could be different. If only he could take her
with him instead of leave her behind. If only Carol hadn’t torn his
emotions to shreds. If only. Because then everything would be
different, and he wouldn’t be so wary—no, terrified—of letting
himself fall in love again.

He needed to stop considering alternative
options.

It. Was. Over.

Period.

Karma was a sweet, wonderful, magnificent
woman, but she would have to be someone else’s perfect match,
because there were simply too many things that stood in the way
between them.

One more weekend together, and then next
week, he would start packing up and make the necessary arrangements
to leave.

Kathy returned to the conference room and
dropped into the chair beside him.

“
That
was fun,” she said
sarcastically.

“I didn’t think Jolene would take her
dismissal well,” Don chimed in.

“I’m not surprised. I pegged her early on as
one who would cause trouble.” Mark riffled through the last four
letters in his stack. “Let’s bring in the next one.”

Don glanced out the door. “Karma, we’re ready
for the next one on the list.”

* * *

By the end of the day, long after the last
terminated employee had been escorted from the building, Mark was
feeling slightly better. His throat wasn’t as raw, and at last
check, his eyes weren’t quite so bloodshot.

He picked up his phone and typed out a text.
You’re still coming to Chicago with me this weekend?

A moment later came Karma’s reply.
Yes. If
you still want me to.

Yes, I do.

The screen on his phone lit with another
message from her.
In that case, count me in, Mr. Sicky.

He looked up and caught her eye as she
grinned secretly without meeting his gaze. Even now, with the end
looming, he found such joy in the simple act of texting her.

He looked back down and typed out a response.
I’m not sick, but you can still feed me chicken soup and herbal
tea…play nurse with me.

Do I get to take your temperature?

He chuckled.
That depends
, he
typed.

Are you worried about where I’ll stick the
thermometer?

Now he laughed.
You must be
psychic.

Nah. Just very good at my job.

That you are, Miss Mason. You’re good at ALL
your jobs.

He looked up and met her gaze. Then she
glanced down, and he could tell she was typing out a response. His
phone dinged with her message a moment later.

Thank you. And thank you for whatever you
said to Don. Today was such a surprise.

A welcome one, I hope. That was the
intent.

Yes. Very. It means a lot to me. I can’t
thank you enough.

You already have, Karma. Believe me. You’ve
given me more than I ever imagined. So much so that I feel I should
be thanking you. And you deserved that raise.

*hug*

Mark smiled at the simple message, and
quickly tapped out his answer.
*hug and kiss* I’ll pick you up
at 6:00. Bring your dancing shoes and a nice dress.
He would
take her dancing this weekend. It had been years since he had taken
a woman dancing, but it just felt right with her.

He began to pack up his things but stopped as
another message came through.

And a thermometer.

He heard her stifle a giggle, surely because
she had just seen the goofy, amused look on his face. His fingers
danced over his phone’s touch screen.