Veronica came into work the next day, still shattered from her conversation with Jane. She felt terrible after not being able to get any sleep the previous night. She spent the entire time replaying their conversation, thinking about the way Jane broke down in front of her. The only thing that she could take comfort in was that she was making a sacrifice so Jane could have a better future.
She stared at Jane's empty seat, wondering if she was even going to come in to work that day. She knew that the intern had her third interview that day with the corporate office. But normally, Jane came in for the first half of the day before leaving.
Maria entered the room where she announced that Jane would not be coming in that day. "Everyone, Jane isn't coming in today. She called me earlier to let me know she's not going to make it."
"Is she okay?" Monica asked.
"I don't know," Maria answered. "I am guessing she wants to focus on her interview. I told her it was a good idea to take the day off."
"That's very nice of you," said Ashley. "Can I also take the day off?"
"No", Maria answered. "But nice try."
"It was worth a shot," said Ashley, before turning her gaze upon Veronica. She could tell that Veronica was going through some sort of emotional drama. "Do you know if Jane is okay?"
"She isn't okay, but she will be."
"What do you mean?" Maria asked.
"I told her to take the job in New York."
"You did?" the supervisor asked, surprised.
"I did."
"And was she responsive?"
"She was pretty upset, actually. She seemed like she wanted me to convince her to stay."
"Why didn't you try to convince her to stay?" Ashley asked.
"I don't know," Veronica responded, as she started shaking her head in frustration. "It's just better that she goes to New York."
"But don't you want her to stay?"
"I don't want to talk about this anymore, Ashley."
Maria could see the frustration growing in Veronica's face and quickly interrupted the conversation. "Veronica, will you talk to me in my office?"
"Okay," Veronica said, as she stood up and immediately followed her supervisor.
The Latina was happy to get away from the conversation with Ashley. She wanted to avoid it and move on from last night. She wanted to get over everything, including Jane. Unfortunately, that was exactly what Maria wanted to talk about.
"So...you told her to take the job in New York?"
"Yes, I did."
"Why did you do that?"
"After we had our talk yesterday...that's what I decided was best for her. Isn't that what you wanted?"
"There wasn't anything specific that I wanted," Maria answered. "I just wanted you to be part of the decision."
"Well, that is my decision."
"What do YOU want?"
"I want what's best for her and her future."
"Does that make you happy?"
"I will be happy."
Veronica couldn't take much more of the conversation. She was holding back tears with every word that came out of her mouth. She stood up to walk out before being stopped by Maria.
"Veronica, wait." Maria approached her loyal employee and gave her a tight embrace. This time, Veronica couldn't hold back her years. She immediately started to cry on her supervisor's shoulder, letting out all the emotions she had been trying to keep to herself. Maria rubbed her back as she whispered, "Everything is going to be okay."
"Maria...I am not happy," Veronica sadly admitted. She knew deep down inside her heart that she may never be happy again. But she was willing to put her happiness aside for Jane.
"I'm very proud of you, Veronica. That was very mature of you to put her future ahead of your own happiness."
She gave Veronica kiss on the forehead as she continued to hold the crying woman in her arms.
.....
Jennifer was inside her office, finishing her work on the computer. She had a long day ahead of her, including the interview with Jane. She intended on making progress on the financial negotiations, but Mark was really holding her back.
Suddenly, she received a call from the receptionist, notifying her that there was a call waiting for her.
"Tell them I'm busy, and I will call back, later."
"Jennifer, you might want to take this call. It's Jane, from your meeting."
"Jane?" she asked, curiously. "I wonder what she wants. Put her through to me."
The receptionist immediately put her through, realizing it was an important call.
"Hello, Jane?"
"Hello Jennifer."
"What's going on?"
"I am not going to make it to the meeting this afternoon."
"What?! Why not?"
"I'm going to take the offer from Sunshine Industries."
"Jane! Wait! You haven't even given us a chance to make you a better offer. At least come in for the interview today."
"I don't feel like driving up there anymore," Jane responded. "I think it's kind of ridiculous that you guys have made me drive up there three different times in one week. I'm tired of driving two hours there, and two hours back home, to get nothing accomplished."
"Look, Jane..." Jennifer started, in a panic. She wasn't even sure what to say yet, but she knew she needed to think of something.
"We are going to offer you a better position and a lot more money. Just give a chance!"
A moment of silence went by before Jane finally responded. "I'm not driving up there, again."
"Okay, okay, okay," Maria responded. Jane could hear her flipping through papers. "If you just give us a chance to clear up our meetings, Mark and I can drive out there to see you, tomorrow. What do you think about that?"
"I think it's kind of funny that you guys are all of a sudden so accommodating, once I told you about Sunshine."
"No, no, no! It's not like that," Jennifer quickly tried to refute. "It's just that..."
"I figured out what you were trying to do," Jane interrupted.
"And what do you mean by that?" Jennifer asked, daring her to make an accusation.
"You and Mark wanted to keep me as an intern. The entire interview was about how much initiative I took upon myself to take on responsibilities that I wasn't even being paid for. You figured there was a good chance I would do the same thing at Mark's office."
"You wanted me to do a bunch of work that I wasn't going to be paid for. Mark wanted me to be a low paid intern for him, instead of working for Maria."
Jennifer went into dead silence. She couldn't believe that Jane figured all of that out. It was something that she didn't admit to herself, but secretly that's what she and Mark were hoping for.
"You created this image that I was going to be learning directly from Mark, but you never had a real plan for me to learn from him. You even admitted that I would just be working in his office, not actually getting any guidance.
Jennifer began to backtrack. "Jane...no... I am sorry!"
"I figured it out. You took a gamble and unfortunately, you lost. And now, I am no longer considering working for you."
"No, Jane! Please, just hear me out!"
The rest of the meeting went very poorly for Jennifer. She realized that the damage had become irreversible. When the phone call was finally over, Jennifer was left with little hope of retaining the coveted worker.
...
Back at the old office, the women were wrapping things up for the day. Just like the previous times Jane was absent for an interview, there was a weird tension in the air.
Suddenly, Maria received a phone call from Jennifer. She started to smile, anticipating that Jennifer was going to admit she caved in to Jane's demands.
"Hello, Jennifer?"
"Hey Maria."
"How did the third interview go?"
"She didn't show up."
"Wait, what?" Maria frantically responded. "What do you mean she didn't show up?"
"She called to let me know that she wasn't coming."
"Really?" Maria asked, confused and concerned. "That's not like her."
"Well, she was in rare form today. She told me she was tired of driving up here. And she said she was just going to take the job with Sunshine."
"Oh, my God!"
"I tried everything to get her to hear me out. I even offered to drive down there to interview her. But she seemed pretty set on her decision."
Maria started to become upset as she thought everything over. "So, you guys took a risk and now you lost her. You tried to save some money by not immediately giving her the offer that you should have given her."
"She seems to have figured that out herself," Jennifer responded, as she thought about the way Jane slipped through her fingertips. "This is all Marks fault."
"I don't think it's fair to blame the entire thing on Mark," Maria responded. "I'm sure he deserves most of the blame, but you can't deny that you went along with it and tried to give her a lesser deal than she deserved."
"Maybe so, but who knows if she would have accepted it anyways, with that offer from Sunshine."
"Unfortunately, we will never know. Now, we might have to watch one of our best employees work for another company."
"It's not just that," Jennifer said. "It creates a really bad image. What if she goes on to do amazing things at Sunshine? It might send the message that you can be incredibly successful if you leave our company. It might turn us into a stepping-stone."
"Oh, my God..." Maria responded, as she thought about it. "That's a great point. I didn't even think about that."
"I never thought about that either," Jennifer said. "She was the one that said that."
"What?!" Jane said that to you?!"
"Yes!" That woman is a real savage."
"Holy shit!" Maria thought to herself. "What have we created?"
...
The next day at the office, everyone made sure to arrive bright and early. Maria had everyone come in thirty minutes early to set up a small surprise party.
This would normally be something that Veronica would love to do for Jane. Unfortunately, they had not spoken since the previous emotional conversation. She felt a sense of awkwardness, like one would feel after a bad breakup. She didn't know how she could face Jane after breaking her heart.
Jane walked in, completely not expecting anything. She was immediately caught off guard as she realized the lights were already on, since she was usually the first one to arrive.
"Congratulations!" everyone yelled, as they watched the accomplished intern walk into the room.
"What's going on?" she asked, with a surprised laugh.
"We just wanted to congratulate you," Maria answered. "We threw a little surprise party to congratulate you. It's not much but we figured we could at least get you some food and cake."
"That's very sweet of you all," said Jane, with excitement. "But what are you congratulating me for?"
"We're congratulating you on your new job. We should have done this a while ago. But it's clear you are going to accept one of the offers, and we wanted to congratulate you for it."
"Thank you so much!" Jane responded. This is all so nice! I really needed this, after such a stressful week."
Although there was an awkward tension in the room, the women all tried to make Jane feel appreciated. They toasted with a glasses champagne and took turns wishing her luck with her future endeavors.
After a bit of chitter chatter, Jane noticed Veronica walking to the break room. She followed her, hoping to speak with her away from the others.
