How many times had he re-read the note? Five? Ten? More? It had been three months since she left. He knew that because not a single day went by when he didn't count them up again, since he didn't feel the gap that she left when she went.
His performance had suffered. Jeff noticed, Berto noticed, and Kat sure as hell noticed. He knew he couldn't go on like this much longer- he couldn't do his job as well as he should be able to, and his father had informed him that his distraction was putting him and his team in danger. He either had to move on, or do something about it.
He had decided to move on. Or at least he thought he had. He'd tried dating a few times, but no girl could hold his interest for very long. None of them seemed interesting to him anymore. He knew they weren't the problem.
He decided to forget- to not think of her. She had left. She didn't care about him. There was no reason for him to stay wrapped up in memories of her. Still his head snapped around every time someone mentioned her name.
He decided to be angry. Apparently he was worthless to her. How could she leave without saying goodbye? What gave her the right, after all they'd been through? He cursed her all day long, telling himself that even if she did come back- even if she begged him to forgive her, admitted she was wrong, he wouldn't give her a second glance. But his thoughts were always of her when he drifted off to sleep at the end of the day.
He decided to wake up. No one was surprised when he requested a week off. They all seemed relieved- had they known before he did that he couldn't get by without her? It didn't matter.
The flight to Europe seemed to take forever, even though it was only three hours as the Hawk flew. He still had no idea what he would say, how he would convince her to come back, how he would handle seeing her again after so long. He stopped thinking about the details. All he knew was that he was going to see her again after so long. And that was all that mattered.
It had been another long day for Rachel. Her new job was nothing like she had imagined it. At N-Tek she had been a big fish in a small pond- she was respected, she had a good position, she was well-known and well-liked among her co-workers. Here everything was different. The European base served the UK, France, Germany, Spain, and Portugal, and was humongous. After three months she still got lost, and didn't know three quarters of the faces she passed in the hallways each day. Her position was centered around paperwork, and she rarely had any human interaction during the day. She'd been miserable. All day long she thought about the Del Oro Bay base, the people she had known, the job she had worked her way up to for so long. But she was comforted at least in knowing that she had been able to leave. Max would be able to live his life with fewer complications, and she wouldn't have to know when he finally chose someone who wasn't her.
Letting herself into her gloomy office- only one of the overhead lights worked, she felt her spirits deflate even further upon taking in the amount of work that had been dropped on her desk while she was out. The clock already read 7 PM, and she knew she would most likely be here all night. Holding back what would have almost certainly been a sob, she sat down and focused herself on the task at hand. Or at least she did, before she saw the piece of paper on top of everything. Obviously crumpled at one time, it had been smoothed out carefully over and over again until the paper was soft to the touch- more like cloth than the material it had actually been written on.
She read the words she had written what seemed like years ago, transported to the last time she had sat in her office at N-Tek, convinced she was doing the right thing. Her eyes filled with tears as she felt the urge to go back in time and tell herself not to come here- not to give up the life that had meant so much to her.
When she felt the arms wrap around her from behind the chair, she at first thought it must have been wishful thinking- she must have lost it and was imaging the person she wanted to see the most at that point. She leaned into them anyway, and let herself go as she realized that it was really him.
"Come back with me."
He didn't have to ask twice.