Later that evening, when Keira arrived back home to the apartment she shared with her boyfriend, she found herself still shaking with excitement and disbelief. Her hand trembled as she tried to get her key in the lock of their apartment door.
Finally, she opened the door and walked inside. The smell of cooked food lingered in the air, mixed with the smell of cleaning fluids. Zachary had been cleaning. That meant he was angry.
"I know, I know, I know," she began before he'd even come into her eye shot. "You're mad. And I'm sorry." She chucked her keys into the pot by the door and slammed the door shut. "But, babe, I have great news!" She slipped her heels off and rubbed her aching feet.
Zachary appeared in the doorway of the living room, his arms folded. His dark hair mirrored his dark expression.
"You missed brunch," he said. "The whole thing."
"I'm sorry!" Keira implored. She threw her arms around his neck but found he was resistant, so decided to change tack. She put on her sultry voice. "How about we argue about it and then I make it up to you?"
Zachary shoved her arms off of him and stomped into the living room, where he slumped onto the couch. The room was immaculately clean. Even his PlayStation had been dusted. He was more pissed off this time than ever, Keira realized.
She sat next to him and gently rested a hand on his knee, stroking the denim texture beneath her fingertips. Zachary stared ahead at the TV that wasn't on.
"What do you want me to do, Zach?" she asked softly. "I have to work. You know that."
He exhaled and shook his head. "I get that you have to work. I work too. The whole world works. But not everyone has a boss that clicks his fingers and makes his staff come running like drones!"
It was a fair point.
"Wait, you're not jealous of Josh, are you?" Keira asked. The thought was laughable. "If you only saw him!"
"Keira," Zachary barked, finally looking at her. "I'm not jealous of your boss. At least not in that way. I'm jealous that he gets so much of you, of your energy and your focus in life."
Now it was Keira's turn to sigh. She understood where Zach was coming from on one hand, but on the other she wished he could be supportive of her success. She wanted him to ride out this wave while she was at the bottom of the ladder. Things were about to get easier, once she'd made this next step in her career.
"I wish he didn't, either," Keira agreed. "But putting that much effort and energy into my career isn't going to change. At least not for the next month."
Zachary frowned. "What do you mean?"
Keira wanted to keep her excitement contained out of respect for Zach but she just couldn't help herself. She almost squealed as she said, "I'm going to Ireland!"
There was a long, long pause, as Zach absorbed the information.
"When?" he said, coolly.
"That's the thing," Keira replied. "It's a last-minute change of staff. Josh broke his leg. It's a whole long story."
Zach just glared as she rambled, looking at her expectantly for the punch line.
Keira hunkered down into the couch, trying to make herself seem as small as possible. "I leave tomorrow."
Zachary's expression turned as quickly as a flash storm. If he'd been rain clouds before, he was now thunder and lightning.
"But the wedding is tomorrow," he said.
Keira grabbed both his hands in hers. "The timing sucks, I'll be the first to admit it. But I swear Ruth won't mind."
"Won't mind?" Zach snapped, yanking his hands back. "You're in the wedding party!"
Suddenly he was on his feet, pacing away, running his hands through his hair. Keira leapt up and rushed to him, attempting to placate him with affection. But Zach was having none of it this time.
"I can't believe this," he gasped. "I spend all day hosting a brunch with your family, listening to Bryn going on and on about how hot her new meditation teacher is and all her vacuous opinions-"
"Hey!" Keira said, angry now. Criticizing her big sister was not okay.
"And instead of thanking me," Zach continued, "you drop this on me! How the hell am I supposed to tell Ruth?"
"I'll tell her," Keira suggested. "Let me be the bad guy, I don't mind."
"You are the bad guy!" Zach exclaimed.
He stomped out of the living room. Keira followed helplessly. They'd been together for two years and she'd never seen him this angry before.
She followed him into the bedroom and watched as he pulled her suitcase out from under the bed.
"What are you doing?" she asked, exasperated.
"Taking this out," he snapped back. "You can't go without a suitcase, can you?"
Keira shook her head. "I know you're angry but you're taking things a bit far."
She took the suitcase from his hands and slung it on the bed. It fell open as if inviting her to start packing it. Keira had to fight the urge inside of her to start filling it up.
Zach seemed to momentarily lose his strength. He deflated, sitting on the end of the bed with his head in his hands.
"You always choose work over me."
"I'm sorry," Keira said, not looking at him as she grabbed her favorite sweater from the floor and flung it discreetly into the case. "But this is an opportunity of a lifetime." She went over to the dresser and rummaged through her bottles of moisturizers and perfumes. "Ruth hates me anyway. She only put me in the bridal party because you asked her to."
"Because that's what you're supposed to do," Zach said sadly. "You're supposed to do family stuff together."
She turned and quickly added the items to her case. But Zach noticed what she was doing and his ever darkening expression grew darker still.
"Are you packing?"
Keira froze and chewed her bottom lip. "Sorry."
"No you're not," he said in a cold, measured way. Then he looked up and said, "If you go, I don't know if we can stay together."
Keira raised an eyebrow, nonplussed by his threat. "Oh really?" She folded her arms. Now he'd gotten her attention. "You're going to give me an ultimatum?"
Zachary threw his arms up in frustration. "Don't act like you're not forcing my hand! Can't you see how embarrassing it will be for me to turn up tomorrow at Ruth's wedding without you?"
Keira sighed, equally frustrated. "I don't understand why you can't just tell them that I've landed an awesome opportunity at work. Something that I couldn't miss."
"My sister's wedding should be something you can't miss. It should be a priority!"
Ah. There it was again. That word. Priority. The thing that Keira would never admit to Zach wasn't him but her career.
"I'm sorry," she repeated, feeling her resolve finally weaken. "But it's just not possible. My career has to come first."
She hung her head, not from shame but from sadness. It didn't have to be this way. Zach should never have pitted their relationship against her career. It was a battle he would inevitably lose.
Keira didn't know what else to say. She looked at Zachary's enraged face. No more words passed between them. There were none left to say. Then Zach got up from the bed, headed out of the room and down the corridor, and grabbed his keys from the bowl by the door before pulling the door open and slamming it shut behind him. As Keira listened to the sound of his car driving away, she knew he wouldn't be back tonight; he'd sleep on Ruth's fold-out couch to prove his point.
Keira had won the fight but there was no pleasure in her victory. She slumped onto the bed beside her open case and felt a hard lump form in her throat.
In need of some TLC, she grabbed her cell and called her mom.
"Hello, darling," the woman said, picking up right away, as if the sight of her youngest daughter's name on the caller ID had propelled her into immediate action. "Is everything okay?"
Keira sighed. "I was calling to tell you about an assignment I was given today at work. It's a cover story. I get to fly out to Ireland."
"Darling, that's wonderful news. How exciting! Congratulations. But why do you sound so glum?"
Keira rolled onto her stomach. "Zach. He's annoyed. He basically said if I went it would be over between us."
"I'm sure he doesn't mean it," her mom said kindly. "You know what men can be like. You've just bruised his ego by putting your own priorities above his."
Keira plucked the corner of a pillow case absentmindedly. "It's more to do with Ruth's wedding tomorrow," she explained. "He thinks I'm ditching him, leaving him in the lurch. Like if he turns up without a date his whole world will implode." She laughed wryly, but was met with silence on the other end of the line.
"Oh," her mother said.
"Oh what?" Keira asked, frowning.
Her mom's voice had lost some of its warmth. There was an edge to it that Keira recognized well enough, since she'd heard it a thousand times as a kid. Disapproval.
"Well, I didn't realize you'd be missing his sister's wedding," she said.
"And does that change things in your opinion?" Keira said, growing a little terse.
Her mom replied in the voice Keira recognized as "diplomatic." "If you had prior engagements already. And it is his sister. Turning up at weddings alone is really the worst. Everyone stares and whispers. He'll be quite uncomfortable."
"Mom!" Keira wailed. "This isn't the 1950s anymore. A man's comfort isn't more important than a woman's career!"
"That's not what I mean, darling," her mom said. "I just mean that Zachary is a lovely young man and there's nothing wrong with prioritizing the wedding. You don't want to be like your sister, always on those dating websites, having those terrible evenings with men who say they're six foot but then turn out to be barely five!"
"Mom!" Keira yelled again, cutting an end to her rambling. "I need you to be supportive right now."
Her mom sighed. "I am. I'm very pleased for you. And I love your…passion. I do."
Keira rolled her eyes. Her mom wasn't very good at being convincing.
"I just think that in this situation you should stay with your boyfriend. I mean, really, what matters more? You'll be quitting that job in three years anyway to start having babies."
"Okay, Mom, stop talking right now!" Keira snapped. Making babies was so far from her radar it was a laughable suggestion.
"Darling," her mom soothed. "It's very honorable that you work so hard. But love is important too. Just as important. If not more so. Does writing this article really mean more to you than Zachary?"
Keira realized she was gripping her phone tightly. She relaxed her grasp a little. "I have to go, Mom."
"Think about what I said."
"I will."
She hung up, her heart heavy. The elation she'd felt earlier today had entirely evaporated. There was only one person who could cheer her up now, and that was Bryn. She quickly found her big sister's contact details and called her.
"Hi, lil sis," Bryn said when she answered. "You missed brunch."
"I was working," Keira replied. "Joshua dragged us all into the office, I think just to show off in front of Elliot about this Ireland cover piece he was going to write. Only he slipped and…well, he broke his leg."
"Are you kidding?" Bryn exclaimed, bursting into hysterics. "How does that even happen?"
Already, Keira felt her unhappiness begin to melt away, such was the power of Bryn.
"It was insane," she said. "I saw his bone. And then he screamed about how he'd ruined his expensive pants!"
The two sisters laughed together.
"Then what happened?" Bryn asked, being the captive audience Keira had sought in Zachary and her mother.
"He was getting carried off on the gurney by the paramedics and I realized the meeting was about to start-Elliot hates it when people are late-so I went and sat down. And I guess I caught his eye because of that and he gave me the Ireland piece."
"No way!" Bryn exclaimed. "Are you kidding me? My baby sister is writing the cover story?"
Keira smiled. She knew Bryn didn't fully understand the extent to which this was a big deal for her, and was at least feigning twenty percent of her enthusiasm, but she appreciated it. It was the kind of reaction she'd hoped for from Zach.
"Yeah. It's great. But I have to go to Ireland tomorrow so I'm going to miss Ruth's wedding."
"Oh pft. So what?" Bryn said. "This is way more important. I didn't think you liked Ruth anyway."
"I don't. But I like Zach," Keira said, prompting Bryn to consider why jetting off to Ireland at the drop of a hat might not be the easiest thing to do in the world. "I've really upset him this time."
Bryn exhaled. "Look. Sis. I know this is hard. And I like the guy, believe me, I do. But you have got to go! You have to do this. I hate to be the one to say it but you really shouldn't be with a guy who holds you back. You'll only resent him if you give in to his demands."
"And he'll only resent me if I don't."
"Yup. It's a sad truth, but sometimes life just gets in the way of love. Two people can be right for each other but the timing can be all wrong."
Keira felt her chest ache at the thought of dumping Zachary in favor of her career. But maybe Bryn was right. Maybe it just wasn't the right time for them.
"So, what are you going to do?" Bryn asked, breaking Keira from her reverie.
Keira took a deep breath. "You know what, I've gone through too much crap climbing the corporate ladder to give up at the last hurdle. I can't turn this down."
Keira felt her drive return back to her. She was sad about the prospect of leaving Zachary behind, but she really didn't see any other option. Turning down this opportunity would be the end of her career. There were no two ways about it.
She had to go.
