Disclaimer: I don't own anything Twilight related…
Chapter 2: Decisions, decisions, decisions…
The next morning I walked into work and logged in immediately to check my email. The usual suspects were there including an email from Jessica. I clicked it open.
Bella,
It was a pleasure to meet with you yesterday. I look forward to meeting with you again.
Sincerely,
Jessica S. Stanley, MD
Generic reply, I thought, shutting it down. She was as obviously as interested in me as I was with her. I did not hear anything about it the end of the week on Friday afternoon. "Memorial Hospital, Dr. Morgan's office, this is Bella, how can I help you," I said, not paying attention to my caller id.
"Bella, hi, its Jessica Stanley," the voice on the other line said.
"Oh Dr. Stanley, how are you," I said sitting up.
"Well, thank you, listen could you come by later today, I am having the candidates meet with my team," she said.
I looked at my calendar I could take a late lunch. After a quick debate with myself I said, "Sure would 2:00 be ok?" My mother said never say no to any potential job opportunities.
"Sure, see you then," she said.
A minute later my email pinged. Curious, I opened the email. It was Jessica asking me if I could forward some references to her. I frowned the email proved she was serious about me however I didn't know how serious I was about her. Giving my references would include my current manager. I wasn't sure I was ready to admit I was looking for another job. Her contacting my references would show I was ready to leave.
Looking at my Outlook I thought about the morning I had. Jodi had demanded that I complete her financial statements for this morning. The phones had been ringing off the hook. Even though I had reservations about this job I knew I was not racking up any other job offers. My more temperamental side was making herself shown. It was the side that once made herself known after too many Cosmos and leading to the idea that hailing a cab by flashing it was a good idea. But it was also the side that convinced me to move to New York and marry a guy completely out of my league.
I looked the screen for another moment before making my decision and then opened up a new email. In the email I put the names of a couple of colleagues I could trust to keep a secret. If something came out this I could forward more solid references later on. Once I sent the email, I notified Jodi that I would be taking a late lunch. Around 1:45 I grabbed my bag and went to my interview. Jessica met me at the door and walked me in. "So Bella, I am going to walk you over to Cindy first and then you are going to meet the team", she explained.
Nodding my agreement we walked down the hall to the first person's office. "Cindy Olson, this is Bella Cullen, the candidate I told you about," Jessica introducing the two of us.
Cindy got up to shake my head. I smiled and she smiled back but not before I witnessed the look of loathing between the two of them.
"So Bella, what brings to our office," Cindy said, gesturing to the chair behind her desk.
"The job was really intriguing to me and to be honest I outgrew my current position some time ago," I said.
Cindy nodded, "I have reviewed your resume, you have a lot of promise. What is it about the job that you like?"
"The way it was explained to me I would be responsible for the financial health of the grant and help design budgets for any new grants that Dr. Grant would design?"
Cindy nodded again. "That's what it says on paper," she said. I feel that feeling of forbearance again. "Well you definitely have the experience for this and the education. You are extremely qualified." She frowned.
That concerned me. I knew for a fact this job had been opened for 6 months, in their place I would be dying for a qualified candidate. Verbally she was giving me the signs that she really liked me. However her body language indicated that she could not wait for me to get out of there fast enough. I wonder what I done in the last 5 minutes to offend her.
Cindy must have noticed my concern because she snapped right out of it. "Bella you are more than qualified for this job but Jessica can be," she searched for the word, "challenging."
I nodded, I had gathered that speaking with Dr. Stanley but I had difficult bosses before and could do it again. "I have had challenging bosses in the past. It's not my favorite situation but for the right position I would be willing to take it." I replied.
Cindy grinned. We spoke for a few more minutes. I liked Cindy she obviously knew her stuff. She and I were discussing the current bans on certain grants when Jessica came back. I knew I could learn a lot with her and was starting to feel better about this job.
Jessica came back and escorted me back to her office. "Bella, these are my senior staff members Rose, Vanessa and Lauren," she said introducing the three women at the round table in her office.
I had brought out my hand to shake their hands and realized how young this "senior" staff was. They all looked around the age of 23 I could have babysat any one of those kids during my teens. Was Jessica really serious about running a federally grant with a group of people, who unless they graduated college at 16 were completely unprepared for the challenges? Pushing my concerns aside, I sat down at the table.
"So Bella, have you worked on a grant before?" the shorter one, Lauren asked me.
"Yes," I replied and went into my experience with federal grants. The three of them nodded and the looked at each other.
"How you are with difficult people, "Vanessa asked," Jessica is usually pretty nice but she can be a little difficult sometime"
"Not a problem, I pride myself on being able work with anyone," I told her, noting this was the 3rd person who warned me about Jessica's personality.
The three of them continued to grill me about my working relationships with other researchers. As the interview was coming to end I realized that not one of these girls asked me about financial experience and my abilities in budget design. None of them could give me a straight answer what my job duties would be, something that a senior executive should know.
Relieve to be out there, I walked back to work, realizing how much I did not want this job. Sending a quick note to thank Jessica and her staff, I went home. August turned into September a week later when I got a surprise visit from Edward. It was September 12, 2008.
"Hey what a nice surprise!" I said getting up and kissing him on the cheek.
He tightly smiled and said "Can you leave for lunch today?"
"Sure," I said, looking at the clock. It was nearly one. I had skipped lunch to work on some reports and we didn't have clinic this afternoon. Picking up my phone I called Jodi to let her know I was leaving the office.
"C'mon" he said opening the door for me, "let's go to Europa."
We left my building and walked across the street, I grabbed a table while Edward paid for the coffee. Sitting down, he gave me my cup.
"Edward, what happened, you look like you same a ghost," I said.
He sighed, "My manager called me in today looking all freaked, and asked me if I cashed my check. He said if I didn't do it I better leave and do it immediately. I said I had and asked him what was going on. He told me that there was a meeting last night and the directors voted to file bankruptcy. Apparently the company was doing a lot worse than we thought." He was referring to the bad publicity Lehman's gotten recently. There had been talk about layoffs but I had thought with those bonus checks last week I thought that things were stabilizing there.
I sat there in shock. When I finally found my voice I asked, "what about your job, I take it that you are going to be laid off?"
He nodded, "We're notifying the staff on Monday. I am going to help the employees leave and then we are going to be shut down most likely."
"Oh baby, I am so sorry," I said, not knowing what to say other than that. Edward had hated his job but he took a lot of pride in working at Lehmans. It had a lot of history and he had been proud to contribute to the company and be part of it. He loved the fact he could provide a good lifestyle for our family. Finance was a fickle industry. Working for a busted company was a definite black mark on your resume and Edward had been with Lehmans for his entire career. The economy had been going down for a year and finding a job was going was going to be tough.
Edward looked at me with a scared look on his face. I could see his thoughts behind his eyes and the fear going through his mind. We sat there for another 20 minutes not saying anything. Finally we got up, we both had to get back to work. He had to hammer out logistics with the other senior staff in the company and would probably be on staff until the beginning of October. I took a little comfort as he would a couple of more paychecks.
Financially we were doing well and had enough money saved up for at least 9 months. I believed that Edward could definitely get a job in a few months, if not in finance, maybe teaching. I knew he loved lecturing college students. Giving workshops was his passion. It seemed like a good solution for the time being until the industry picked up again. However I was worried, even though my job provided our health insurance, my job would barely cover our bills. If we had an emergency we were screwed.
Sighing, I walked back into the building. My bag begin buzzing, I realized that my cell phone was ringing. "Hello," I said answering, walking over to a corner by the fire escape.
"Hi, Bella, this is Jason Robards," a man said, "do you have a couple of minutes?"
Jason Robards was the head of the research administration. He had initially interviewed me for the job with Jessica's department.
"Sure Jason, what's up," I asked, my pulse picking up.
"Well, congratulations, I don't know what you said to Jessica but she loves you. She wants to extend you an offer of employment."
"Wow – that's great," I told him, hoping my foreboding thoughts were just that thoughts, "Can I take some time to think about this?"
"Sure take all the time you need. Here are some details I want you know before you make your decision." He started listing some of the perks of the job. The hospital would pay for my research certification and then he got the salary part. It was $15,000 more then I was making. I had to sit for a moment. As much I wanted too, I couldn't deny the money would be really appreciated right now.
I thanked Jason for the call and looked at my spreadsheet. I had done some quick math, including whatever unemployment Edward would get. We had enough at our current rate of income to get by for a while if no major emergencies came up. If we tighten up some areas we could probably be better then even. There were some things we just wouldn't need if Edward wasn't working like his golf membership. Our mortgage payment was reasonable and we only owned the one car. The only outstanding bill was my student loan. We had a minimal credit debt but I thought we could apply Edward's bonus towards that. If I took this new job we could more comfortable. With that in mind I made my decision started composing a new email.
Dear Dr. Stanley and Mr. Robard:
Thank you for calling me with the good news about the grants manager position. I would be honored to accept this position and look forward to contributing my talents to Dr. Stanley's staff.
Sincerely,
Isabella Cullen
I doubled checked it and sent it out. Both Jessica and Jason emailed me to thank me for joining the staff. I wrote a separate email to Jason detailing when I planned to start and began a separate resignation letter to my current employer and a detailed duty plan to start training a replacement. I wanted to give 30 days' notice. I might not be enthralled with my current job but they had been good to me over the years and I had no desire to screw them up.
Around 3:00 I got another call from Jason. "Hi Bella, its Jason," He said.
"Hi what can I do for you Jason," I asked.
"I just went over your acceptance letter and with Jessica. You write that you would like to start on October 13th?" he asked.
"Yes I would like to give my manager 30 days to so she can train someone new," I explained.
"Really, is this a department policy or just your policy," he asked
That got my attention. "Well to be honest Jason that is just my policy. First off if I don't give at least 2 weeks' notice I will lose my PTO and secondly I don't want to leave them in a lurch. That wouldn't be right and I wouldn't do that to Dr. Stanley," I explained.
"I see…"he trailed off, "Bella, she is really excited to get you aboard. There is some training you would need to do with the NIH and the only date for the next couple of months in couple of weeks. She actually wants you start in a week."
"Well couldn't I just take a couple of days and train and come back here? " I asked, wondering why this was a big deal. With any previous employer I had they did not think it was odd for me give at least 2 weeks' notice. In fact I couldn't remember any new employer who did not have me start 30 days after accepting a position. I had accrued over 100 hours of PTO. If I left within 10 days, which they were suggesting, I would lose the time."
"I could probably talk her into 2 weeks' notice," Jason told me.
I sighed, "Ok let me know as I want to give my letter to my manager." I put down the phone. It then occurred to me that I had just made a major decision without consulting Edward first. He was not going to be happy. It had been an emotionally exhausting day and this was going to be the icing on the cake. Around 4:30 I got an email from Jason stating that Jessica had agreed to the 2 week start period. I agreed and sent back my reply to them. I then emailed my managers and asked to meet with them the following day.
Thoroughly exhausted I grabbed my bag and went down to the subway entrance on 55th Street and started the trek home. Edward was waiting for me at the subway again when I got off the train. "Hey," he said, opening the door for me.
"Hey," I said walking through the door, taking the arm he offered. We arrived home 15 minutes later and I repeated the same routine. I got the kids down while Edward got dinner for us. Sitting down I proceeded to tell him my news.
"So got a call today from Jason Robards," I started after about 15 minutes of stress induced silence.
Edward looked up from his plate. "The guy who was interviewing you for that crazy chick's job?" he asked.
"Yeah, he offered me the job," I said.
"Really?"
"Really," I confirmed.
"So what do you want to do," he asked.
"I going to take it Edward, its more money," I explained.
"Yeah but that woman is a total psycho Bella, you are not going to be happy there," he said.
"Edward, you are not going to have a job by the end of next week. My workplace happiness is hardly relevant," I pointed out.
"Bella, I am going to find another job. I already have feelers out. You don't need to do this," he told me.
"We don't know how long you are going to be out of work. Listen, I know she is high maintenance but I worked for high maintenance people before. Plus they are going to help me get that research administration certification," I said.
"Yeah I know you've worked for shitty bosses but you hate it. You're always complaining about them. Hell how many times have you come frustrated because of something Jodi has done." He reminded me. I hated that the man had a memory of a steel trap, the unrusty kind.
We looked at each for a moment when it dawned on him. "You already accepted it didn't you," he told me. The man really was in the wrong field he should have been a lawyer or an investigative reporter.
I nodded there was no point in lying. "Dammit Bella, you would be giving me hell right now if I took a job without discussing it with you 1st." he snapped me, obviously hurt.
I cringed he was right it was a double standard no matter how justified I felt at the moment. Without another word he got up and left the table. The next thing I knew he came down with a pillow and blanket and threw it on the sofa. I cringed again.
"Edward, don't you think you are overreacting a bit," I said, he told to the task of assaulting our couch with the pillow. "We need to be realistic, who knows how long you are going to be out of work?"
He just glared me at. "Fine," I said, "When you want to act like an adult you can come up and find me." With that I got up and left the room, not even bothering to clear the dishes.
I walked up to our bedroom, checking on the kids first. Walking into my bedroom, I lied down and looked at our wedding photo. I could hear the faint sounds of our television in the background. I knew that I should have talked to Edward before going through all of this but my answer wasn't going to be any different. The fact remained that he was going to be out of work in a couple of weeks and this job paid more, bad boss aside. I knew I wasn't likely to get any sleep this evening and for that Sighing, I put down my wedding picture and got ready for bed.
The morning Edward was still giving me the silent treatment. Great, I thought inwardly as he ignored my good morning and went straight to the coffee maker. He just sat there at the table and sulked while I ran around trying to get the twins and myself together before the babysitter arrived. About 20 minutes into this the twins were still running around in their diapers and I snapped. He was just sitting there not even dressed for work yet staring into his coffee cup ignoring the chaos around him.
I know that Edward had a reason to be upset with me but he was completely overreacting. I had accepted a new job not had a wild affair with some guy. I walked over to his place at the table slammed down the New York Times in front him. He looked at me shocked and irritated at the same time.
"I know you aren't happy with me, but they're your kids too so stop sulking and help me get them ready. I didn't make them on my own," I snapped him and then threw in for good measure, "and since you are so goddamned confidant about getting a new job, here is the Times, start cruising the Classifieds."
With that I turned my back and grabbed Melody and walked into the babies' room and got her ready. With her settled, I grabbed my purse and went to the door.
"Where are you going," Edward asked with a squirming Geoffrey.
"What does it look, I going to work and if I don't move it I am going to be late," I replied grabbing the screen door.
"If you wait I'll walk you to the subway," he told me.
"Don't bother, I am not in the mood for the silent treatment or the attitude," I told him and stalked out the door. I felt good for about 5 minutes until I walked onto the train. The stress and lack of sleep caught up with me on the way to work. I had to fight to keep my eyes open on the subway and I still had to give notice. All and all not shaping out to be a good day.
Walking in my office, I took off my coat and settled my coffee cup on my desk. Going through my normal morning routine, I pulled the messages off voicemail and sorted the mail. After that was done I logged into my email and adjusted my resignation letter and printed it out. Once that done, I called Joni and told her I needed to speak with her in the afternoon. Even through the morning had such a rough start, it passed by without any major changes.
I spent the afternoon going through reports and making a list of things to do before I left. There were several projects I was heading out that would require me to stay over and do before I left. I made a note to myself not to take on anything else before I left. Edward tried to call and email several times but I just ignored not wanting to deal with any extra problems during the workday.
Jodi called me in at 3 and I walked in and sat across from her. Before her promotion she and I had actually been pretty close. She had been pretty sensitive to only have a high school degree and had glared at me when I got my masters. Once she got the promotion her personality had done a complete 180. Even if I didn't have the job offer I couldn't see myself staying any longer. Joni had made it clear that she had no respect for my work ethic or education.
"Bella, what's up," she said when I walked into her office. I sat in the chair by her desk and quietly gave her my letter. She took it and opened it. After reading it, the color drained from her face. "Are you sure," she asked quietly.
I nodded and handed her a second paper, "This is a list of the projects I have been working and what I think I can complete before I leave. I am willing to come in the next couple of Saturdays to complete this," I told her.
"Bella, this date is 2 weeks from now can you push the start day back later?" Jodi asked.
"They actually wanted me to start next week and I had to talk them into the 2 weeks," I explained.
"Well, I am going to call HR and see if I can push it," she said, in a matter of fact voice. I nodded.
By the end of the day my start date was now 3 weeks from today. Emotionally I was wrecked and really to go home. I stumbled outside the building. Edward was waiting for me on the outside I ignored him, walking to the subway terminal. He started to call my name but I kept ignoring him. I knew I was acting childishly but I didn't care. The 24 hours had been a roller coaster and I was getting my release.
"Ok, I get the picture, I was a jerk last night," he said grabbing my arm but I could enter the subway.
"Let go of me Edward," I told him not looking at him.
"Bella, I am sorry. You were right I overreacted," he said.
I nodded, my eyes, filling up with tears. It had been an awful 48 hours. "I know, I am sorry too," I said, trying not to cry.
"Look, my mom is going to watch the twins tonight, we can go and get dinner," he said, hugging me.
"Ok," I said sniffling like a five year old. We got on the train together and took it down to the Village and walked down to my favorite Italian restaurant.
Sitting down we ordered a bottle of wine, not sure where to start. We just looked at each other for a moment and then our wine glasses. "So, did you give your notice," Edward asked.
"Yeah – I spoke with Joni this afternoon," I said taking a sip of the wine.
"Bella, I am sorry – I have been so obsessed about my job that I didn't even consider about what you were thinking. I am just worried that you are going to take this job and be miserable," he said.
"I know and this is definitely not my dream job. I should have talked with you first before I even considered taking it. Edward, honey, you are not going to have a job in a few days. It's not just us anymore, we have Geoff and Melody to consider," I replied, taking his hand.
"We have money saved up," he pointed out.
"I know but you never know what can come up," I said, not want to take a chance with the financial health of our family. He nodded resigned. Edward was brilliant but even he realized you couldn't account for everything life throws at you.
"We told everyone today what is going to happen," he said, absentmindedly.
"I guess I know the answer, but how did it go?" I asked, stroking his hand.
"Like you probably guessed – horrible," he replied, running his fingers through his hair, "everyone wants to know when their last day is and when they can expect their paychecks. I can't blame them that was me yesterday. The department heads are going to make a statement today. If it is ok with you, I would like to go my parents' house in the Hamptons, the PR people that all the employees are probably going to get calls from the media."
I nodded it was good plan. No one would reach us out there. The season was almost over so there weren't many tourists out there. We would have to deal with this on Monday but at least we could have a break before the circus began.
Our entrees came and we picked at them, not feeling like eating. "How did Jodi take it?" Edward asked.
"About as well as you would think. She managed to get my start date pushed back an extra week. When I accepted the job I put in 30 days but they knocked it down to 2 weeks" I explained.
"That's impressive," he smirked. "So tell me from the beginning, I want to know everything. "
I started doing that. I explained how I had been working on our monthly expenses trying to squeeze more juice from our funds when I received the phone call. I told him about my initiate misgivings when I accepted and they wanted me to start this week. "I wish I had called you at the time but I got caught up all the sudden, like I was on this high," I explained, patting his hand. "I really needed to calm down but it was like car wreck, you couldn't stop looking if your life depended on it."
"I can relate, when I was first starting on the AMEX floor if you weren't careful you got caught in the whole adrenaline rush of the thing, especially if you had a really winner of stock," he said, taking a sip of wine, "I had couple of close calls that could have gone bad."
We both silent for a moment and then I went on about today and Joni managed to get an extra week for me. "I got a list of projects together that I need to complete before I leave. It's going to be a nights and maybe a Sunday to make complete the work. But obviously it's not going to be this weekend," I said. He nodded.
It was getting late and Edward wanted to leave early the next day. "Can we will leave tomorrow around 7:00?" he asked, putting my coat on me as we left the restaurant.
I agreed and we ended up at home around 10:30. Edward's mother said goodnight and I started packing for the beach. Edward came up behind me and watched me pack. He put his arms around me and started to nuzzle my neck. I turned around and kissed him back, his hands started to travel up my back.
"Edward, I have to finish packing," I murmured, distracted by his hands. His hands were one of the 1st things that had attracted me to him.
"I'll finished up," he told me his hands untucking my blouse from the waistband of my slacks. I could feel a shiver starting up my side.
"You promise" I asked, nibbling along his jawline. His stubble scrapped me slightly.
"I'll even packed up the diaper bag," he chuckling with a little moan, as I turned around and put my hands under his sweater. I smirked and continued my handy work.
AN: Hmm – do you think that Bella made a good choice? Should she have switched jobs? We know from the prologue that something does happen to her but can she foresee it right now? Also was Edward justified in the way he treated her?
Thanks everyone for reading/reviewing/favorite/following this story! On Friday we'll meet Edward's family.