August 2013
Ross and the kids were back in Germany participating in a summer science camp. Ross thought it would be a good idea to help the kids continue to integrate in Germany. Rachel had told them she was spending the summer in NYC visiting friends and family, but the truth was that she was in town for a job interview with Nordstrom for a assistant designer in their NYC office. As she applied extra deodorant as the temperatures were expecting to reach 31 degrees Celsius that day.
As she got on the subway, she relished the familiar sights and sounds she had missed them the hustle and bustle of the city made her smile. Berlin was a beautiful city, but she was struggling adapting and every always seemed so serious, being a stay at home mom had not helped as she felt secluded and felt a lack of fulfillment from not working.
As she walked into the office for her interview, she gave a firm but appropriate handshake radiating confidence. She let Nordstrom slip through her hands once and she was not going to let it happen again.
"Good morning we have to frank we were very impressed with your drawings that you sent in through your portfolio, we are wondering what makes you a good fit to work for Nordstrom?"
"I believe that I am a good fit to work for Nordstrom as I have been in the fashion business on the front lines for 10 years and have a keen eye for the changing trends in the marketplace which will help Nordstrom advance into it's promising future. I believe in working as a team to give clients and consumers the best designs possible."
"Very well then" the interviewer said non-chalantly, "We here at Nordstrom expect top quality and have high expectations for our employees? Can you name a time when faced a tight deadline and how you achieved or made the deadline?"
"One time at my previous design job we had a thanksgiving deadline and I drove from Albany overnight down to the city with a presentation on my USB stick and had a presentation prepared and edited for my boss for that morning at 10am. I understand the importance of meeting deadlines and understand that I need to bring my full devotion to the job in order to provide our clients with top quality products at prices they love"
"Good to hear sounds like a lovely story. I see here that you have lots of design experience, but you left your previous design job last year and then recently started working for Amazon in a warehouse in June can you explain that?" the interview said disinterested
Caught a little off guard Rachel took a few seconds to think before replying "Well the reason that I left the design job was that I got laid off" she had rehearsed this and called in a favour from Steve continuing "In the best financial decision for my family my husband took a professor job in Germany but I felt unfulfilled so I moved back to America and have been working at Amazon to help pay the bills"
"Interesting, your still married? Your husband knows about this? We need you in America pretty much 24/7/365" the interviewer asked puzzled
Without skipping a beat Rachel replied, "Yes he has my full support, it's no problem he is going to move back to America" You liar Rach, he has no clue, he thinks you're with Monica and has no intention to move back.
"That's nice to hear" the interviewer said smiling
The rest of the interview went off without a hitch and Rachel felt confident it had gone well just before she was leaving the interviewer stopped her
" you impressed me today"
"Thanks, I look forward to hearing from you" she said as she left the room looking around before giving herself a high five Awesome job Rach!
She texted Phoebe that she was on her way to the bar to meet her and Mike who were in town for a convention of masseuse professionals. A bar recommended by Mike's friend
As she got to the bar, she ordered herself a drink in congratulations for a good interview. Before she knew it, a gentleman introduced himself
"Could I buy you a drink?" he said as a group of people behind him were giving thumbs with a fella in blonde giving him a double thumbs up and a sly smile when they saw she noticed them they turned away pretending nothing had happened
"I'm okay but thanks for the offer, I'm actually meeting friends they should be here soon"
"Oh well friends or you know friends?" he asked in quotation marks. He sure is trying
"Just friends there actually another couple that live in Florida but are in the city for a convention" she said checking her watch. They should be here by now as she scanned the bar
"That's cool, where do you live in the city? I always like Miami's cool art deco architecture, but nothing beats New York Cities architecture! If you can't tell I am an architect. Mosby... Ted Mosby professional architect" he said offering his hand. Rachel shook it laughing.
"Nice to meet you Ted, my names Rachel… Rachel Geller professional order picker but soon to be assistant designer at Nordstrom. I used to live in the city but it's complicated is a nice way to put it" she wasn't sure if it was the alcohol talking but she was letting loose.
"Wow that's a career change or excuse me career upgrade to be correct. I bet they'll take you I mean the way you dress I thought you were a designer the second I saw you"
"Stop it" she slapped his knee chuckling. All of the sudden Mike appeared in the bar as Rachel glanced at her phone seeing Phoebe had apologized but she was stuck at the conference, but Mike didn't get the memo.
"Hi Mike, this is Ted, Ted this is Mike one half of the Bouffay-Hannigan family" she said introducing the two
"Nice to meet you, how do you know Rachel?" Mike said trying to put the pieces together
"We actually just met here in the bar before you got here" he said smiling a little nervous as he pulled his sweat stained hand away from Mike's hand. Ted excused himself to use the restroom.
"Well Rachel how's it going but before we discuss that we need to talk about what just happened? You know you are married" he said in an accusing tone
Rachel got defensive "It's not what you think, I had a little too much to drink waiting plus I was excited, so my cougar and flirty side appeared. Come on Mike you know me"
"Why exactly were you excited? Excited to get into his pants?" he said getting more serious with each passing word
Rachel sighed "No Mike that's not what happened, look I'm drunk and I'm excited about a job at Nordstrom" she stopped talking and got silent. Always have to get cocky when your drunk Rach?
"A job at Nordstrom? Last time I checked they did not operate in Germany and have offices in NYC. Look the reason I'm here is because Monica asked me to check on you since Chandler saw you leaving Nordstrom from a coffee shop and I see the reason why" he said taking a swig
He put that together quickly "Look Mike it's not what it looks like" as her phone started buzzing and she excused herself
"Hello Rachel Green… I mean Geller speaking"
"Hi Rachel, this is Julia from Nordstrom I would like to officially offer you the position of assistant designer, congratulations"
She said without thinking "Thank you so much I accept, I look forward to Monday" Well this complicates things, I haven't told Ross, fuck Ross he didn't tell me when he took the job in Germany
"Have a goodnight Rachel"
"Goodnight Julia"
She skipped back to the bar as Mike gave her a funny look
"What's so awesome?"
"I got the job at Nordstrom and I accepted it" she said proudly pointing to herself
Mike gently put her hand down as Ted returned from the washroom
"What's everyone happy about?" he asked confused
"I got the job at Nordstrom!" she said jumping out of her chair and she kissed Ted on the mouth before quickly backing off
Surprised Ted backed away as Rachel's face turned beet red "Congratulations"
Rachel stumbling over her words "I'm so sorry I was just so excited"
"It's okay I understand you should have seen me when I started my own architect firm that's now defunct" he said sheepishly
"I was actually just going to introduce you to my friends at the table over there, ignore Marshall he gets excited when I meet a girl" as they all watched Marshall pumping up the crowd with everyone else at the table egging him on
"sorry Ted you said, Rachel has to come with me back to our hotel as she needs to help take care of my kids as my wife is at a convention, right Rachel?" he said helping her put her coat on which she reluctantly accepted
"Yeah sorry Ted" she said apologetically as Mike excused himself to go to the washroom giving Rachel the look that he was watching her. As he went to the washroom Rachel and Ted exchanged numbers.
The ride back to Rachel's apartment was silent as Mike was furious at her for betraying Ross. As they pulled into the driveway and Rachel got out, she heard Mike lay on the horn and she turned around in shock to see him holding a piece of paper.
Practically yelling at her in rage "What's this? Oh, it's your so-called friends Ted from the bar's phone number, so you're not going to sleep with him. Well survey says that was a lie! Tell me why I should not tell Ross?"
Rachel sighed as her world was spinning around her. To be honest with herself she had no idea what her logic was behind the night that had transpired one thing had led to another and the alcohol had not helped. After collecting her thoughts, she finally began to respond with Mike still waving the paper in his hands like it was an auction paper.
"He was being friendly, and I thought it would be nice to have someone to talk to in New York other then you guys and Monica plus Chandler. Amazon is lonely and sure people are friendly, but no one wants to hang out with the temp since well its only temporary and I'm lonely. Germany is terrible but Ross loves it" Tearing up she continued "I haven't told Ross yet but it's going to crush him we're over Mike long distance doesn't work" she broke down
Mike changed attitudes and tried to console her "Rach you don't know that you're still married Ross loves you more then anything in the world, give him a call" he said handing her his phone trying to fix the situation seeing how broken she was, patting on the back between sobs.
Rachel dialed Ross's number and he picked up a little groggy since it was early morning in Berlin. "Hey Rach" he said chipper
Trembling Rachel responded "Hi Ross there's something I have to tell you" this concerned Ross who responded with worry in his voice
"Rachel is everything ok? Did someone hurt you I'll fly over there and knock them out myself!" he said getting angry
Rachel laughed as she composed herself and wiped away the tears "I got a job at Nordstrom but it's in New York full time." she stopped wincing at the last part fearing how Ross would take it she braced herself
Ross paused before responding "Congratulations Rach that's amazing! We'll make it work don't worry, so that's what you've been up to in the city" he said with excitement with a hint of confusion and a little bit of anger, but he hid it
"I love you Rachel"
"I love you Ross"
As they both wished each other a good morning/night they hung up the phone and Mike was smiling
"See that wasn't so hard? Sounds like he took it well, look I have to go have a goodnight Rachel" he said as Rachel handed him his phone and they hugged
"Mike this stays between you and me what happened at the bar okay?" she said in a stern voice "Remember what happened to the bird and how I convinced Phoebe to move to Florida?" Mike had let Phoebe's pet bird fly out the window and told her that it had simply passed away for we know Feathers was still flying to this day and Mike initiated the move to Florida, not doing that they would have been broke in NYC.
Mike nodded his head in acknowledgement and made a motion that his lips were sealed before getting into the car and driving off giving her a friendly wave
The next morning
"Good morning , after reviewing your case I must concur that most couple's marital breakdown's start with lack of communication, different desires and in this case long distance doesn't help. Not to scare you but this is a challenging case, but I applaud you for taking the first step by coming to marriage counselling"
"No problem Dr. Greenwald I realized it was finally time to start" Rachel said exhausted after the whirlwind past 24 hours wiping hair out of her face, she got out a notepad and pen ready to take notes
End of Chapter
Authors Note: Thanks for continuing to support the story, always appreciate feedback both positive and negative and just to let you know the italics are when Rachel is thinking to herself.