Life had become much different after all the craziness had passed. Now that everyone had accepted that Jane was leaving, there was a weird feeling, knowing that things were never going to be the same.
They would no longer have their favorite intern around. There was no more waiting to see what would happen next. She was moving on to Sunshine Industries and they would have to keep track of her from afar.
A week had gone by, and it was Jane's last day at the office. She decided to spend some time back home with her family, before permanently moving out to New York. Everyone had moved past the excitement of her new career and were now just sad that that her time at the office was coming to an end.
The one person that was having the most difficult time, of course, was Veronica. She was never excited about Jane moving on. She just decided that she needed to sacrifice her own happiness to push Jane towards a better life.
She knew this was her last time seeing Jane at the office. Even worse, it might be the last time she ever saw Jane. She wanted to give her a final goodbye, but she was too nervous to face her. She spent the day contemplating whether she would say anything at all.
All the women wanted to say their final goodbyes. Just like Veronica, they knew it might be their final time seeing Jane.
Towards the end of the day, Maria stepped out of her office and looked for the intern. "Jane," she called out. "Make sure you come see me in my office before you leave, okay?"
"Of course," Jane replied. There was no way she was going to leave without saying goodbye to Maria.
Ashley got up from her seat and began collecting her things. She was leaving first, because she had a meeting scheduled that afternoon. She figured it would be a good opportunity to say goodbye to Jane before she left for her meeting.
"Hey Maria," she called out. "Is it okay if I leave for my 4:00 p.m. meeting, right now?"
"That's fine with me. See you on Monday!"
"Thanks," she said to her supervisor. Then she looked over at Jane. "Can I speak with you outside?"
"Of course, Ashley."
Jane walked with her outside as the two began to talk. Ashley had a few things she wanted to say before Jane left for good.
"I am going to miss you, Jane."
"I am going to miss you too, Ashley."
"I just really wanted to get something off my chest before you leave."
"What is it?"
"I just wanted to apologize for the way I treated you when you first got here. It was wrong with me to act like such a bitch to you."
Jane obviously knew that Ashley had a change of heart for her. But it was still very refreshing to hear the apology, after everything they had been through.
"I was very skeptical when Veronica started hanging out with you. But she was right. You are an amazing person. And am so glad that I got to know you."
"Thanks, Ashley," Jane responded. "That means a lot to me. I'll be honest. I didn't really like you at first, either. But the more I got to know you, the more I appreciated you as person. And I watched you turn into a mature and responsible woman."
"I've watched you grow as well," Ashley responded. "You're so young, but I still look up to you."
They gave each other one final embrace, and Ashley kissed her on the cheek before they waved goodbye for the final time.
Later, just before Jane was about to finish the workday, Monica approached her and asked if they could speak in the break room.
"Of course," Jane said, with a deep breath. After such an emotional goodbye with Ashley, she expected a very similar conversation with Monica.
As they stepped into the break room, Monica immediately opened up. "I am really going to miss you, Jane."
"I'm going to miss you so much, Monica."
"I wish we could have been friends earlier. It took too long for me to actually get to know you. You were so shy and so quiet at first. I should have taken the opportunity to really get to know you because you ended up being one of the most amazing people I've ever met in my life."
"That's very sweet of you, Monica. You're so bubbly and fun to be around. You're one of my favorite people I've ever met in my life."
"Aww!" Monica reacted, as she blushed. "Do you really mean that?"
"Of course, I do," Jane assured. "If I could have ever built someone with all the qualities I would wish for in a best friend, you would perfectly encompass all of those qualities."
"That's so incredible!" said Monica, as her eyes began to water.
"Please don't cry," Jane said, as she began to hug her. "I can't take much more."
"I wish I could stop myself from crying," Monica said. "But it's going to be really sad not seeing you every day."
"I'm going to be sad not seeing you every day, as well. But I'll think about you every day, in New York."
They had one final goodbye hug, as Monica gave her a kiss on the cheek before leaving for the day.
Jane walked back into the main room where she started towards Maria's office. As she walked through, she noticed that Veronica's desk was empty, and her seat was pushed in.
Jane became a little bit upset, thinking that Veronica left without saying goodbye. "Of course," Jane thought to herself. "She didn't even have the decency to say goodbye."
She tried to not carry that anger with her as she walked into her supervisor's office. As she walked in, Maria immediately stood up to give her a big embrace.
"Come here, you!" Maria said, as she wrapped her arms around her. As she held Jane, she looked in her eyes and said, "I can't even begin to explain how proud I am."
"Thank you so much for everything!" Jane said. "I can't even begin to tell you how grateful I am to have such a wonderful supervisor."
"You know, when Jennifer told me I needed to hire an intern, I wasn't very excited about it. I actually hired you because of all the people I interviewed, I thought you were the quietest and least likely to get in my way. But as time went on, you turned out to be the most valuable and talented employee I could have ever hoped for."
"You really think so?" Jane asked, completely flattered.
"I really do," said Maria, looking at her with more pride than she could have ever imagined.
"How can I ever repay you for all you've done for me?"
"Just go out there and kick ass like you always do, and I will never stop being proud of you."
"I will, Maria!" Jane responded happily. "Hey Maria, if I don't like it up there can I come back and be an intern for you again?"
"Oh, Jane," Maria said, with a chuckle. "I think it's more likely that I'll be working for you someday than you coming back and working for me."
They hugged again and Maria gave Jane a kiss on the cheek. They smiled at each other one last time before Jane walked out the door for her last goodbye.
"What a day," Jane said to herself, as she walked to her car. "I knew it was going to be emotional, but I didn't think it would be this hard."
As she got close, she noticed something that made her heart jump.
"Veronica?" Jane said, surprised.
"I waited for you," Veronica responded. She wanted to be the last one to say goodbye to Jane, so she waited by her car.
"Well, that's nice of you. And here I thought you were just going to avoid me on my last day." Jane wanted to still be upset at Veronica, but there was something about that moment that wouldn't let her.
Veronica was surprised because Jane was right. She originally planned on just avoiding her on the last day. But no matter how hard she tried, her heart wouldn't let her go without seeing Jane one last time. "I am really sorry we ended on a bad note, but I just couldn't watch you leave and not say anything to you."
Jane had a lot of anger in her heart, but she wanted to end things on a good note. After everything they had been through, she didn't want her last encounter with Veronica to be so sour. She hugged Veronica and rubbed her shoulders as she looked her in the face and tried to comfort her. "I appreciate everything you did for me, Veronica. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have the confidence I needed to get the Sunshine job."
"Thank you for everything you've done for me too," Veronica responded. "I am just glad I got to be in your life and watch you accomplish such amazing things."
"I am glad too," Jane said, trying to appreciate the moment.
As Jane was about to pull away, Veronica suddenly pulled her in and kissed her on the lips. It only lasted a few seconds, but in that moment, both women felt as if all the drama between them had disappeared and nothing else mattered. There was a weird sense of fulfilment that both women felt but did not understand.
Jane opened her eyes and looked at Veronica for a moment, almost wondering if she should say something. She ultimately decided against it and just smiled before slowly walking away and getting into her car.
Just like last time, there were a million things that Veronica wanted to say to Jane, but she could not bring herself to say any of it.
Veronica had touched a special spot in Jane's heart that made her want to open up. But she had to maintain her straight forward demeanor and just move on.
Veronica held back the tears as she waved goodbye. She kept all the feelings she had to herself, not expressing them to the one who truly needed to hear them.
She went home and remembered the time she saw Jane at the bar with a notebook. She wondered what was in that notebook when Jane was writing down her thoughts and plans. She drew inspiration from that idea and decided to write her own feelings in a letter.
"Dear Jane,
I wish I could have told you how I truly felt. But making this decision was the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. If only I could have shared my true emotions with you and let you know how I truly felt. I cried so many nights thinking about the day you would leave me. This started way before others noticed how special you are. I knew early on the you were much too talented to stay here forever. And I knew you were much too amazing to be stuck with someone like me.
I never told you what was truly in my heart. At the time, I thought I was being strong by keeping it to myself. But now, I don't know if it was strength or weakness that prevented me from telling you how I really felt.
I was telling the truth when I said I wasn't a lesbian, but I was lying when I said we were just having fun. The truth is, I really do have feelings for you. And just because I am not a lesbian doesn't mean I don't have love for you.
I hope you find somebody special. Somebody much better than me. I hope you can find someone deserving of you. But I don't know if that's even possible. Just know that whoever ends up with you is the luckiest person in the world, and I hope they never take it for granted.
Please, just forget about me and leave me in the past. You don't need me holding you back. Just go and achieve all the things that you deserve in this world. I will always be rooting for you from far away.
Goodbye,
Veronica
P.S. I love you."
Veronica then crumpled the paper up, with the intention of never letting anyone see it, especially Jane. She hoped that writing down her feelings would make her feel better. Unfortunately for her, she would never feel the closure she was hoping for.
If only Veronica could have read what Jane wrote in her notebook.
