Quitting

“I quit.”

“I quit. I quit. I quit. I quit.”

“I am sending in my resignation this weekend and I will not go to the office on Monday. Never again. You may have to go in to pick up my stuff. In fact, you will have to go in to pick up my stuff. Don’t miss my yellow sweater.”

“Ok, then,” said Geoffrey. “Is there anybody in the office you want me to bust up? Any windows or mirrors to break? Anybody to kiss goodbye?”

Rachel screamed. “I quit.”

Geoffrey responded, “yes, honey bunny. I get that part. You may forgive me for not getting what brought this on. Why you are angry? Why are you yelling at me? And. Somewhat importantly, how do we replace your salary of three hundred thousand dollars a year? Plus bonus. You know Rachel, I have never seen you this mad, but I have to say you still look beautiful as ever. You are just so completely good looking.”

“Shut up, Geoffrey.” Rachel sort of half smiled. “That is not a fair tactic. You are too good looking yourself and way too charming. Just like our worthless CEO, Harvey.”

“What? Wait! The mighty Harvey, the Seer of the Universe? You’re kidding. Harvey, who can do no wrong, did something wrong? The world is in turmoil.

“Geoff, I need to throw a fit. Well you just let me do it? I am mad beyond imagination. I have never been this mad in my life. I have never quit anything in my life. I don’t want to lose that income and my stock options. I have worked too hard for those. Remember, I started out at sixty thou. We will do an IPO within a year and I stand to lose a lot of money. So, just let me throw my fit and know that I love you. I am going to the kitchen and break some things.” Rachel stomped out of the room.

Geoffrey stood in the middle of the gorgeous, Broadway condominium looking out over the San Francisco Bay. He looked around the room at all the stylish, grand furniture, the deep rich hardwood floor with exquisite oriental area rugs, the superb dining room that held a fabulous, dark oak table and equally fabulous chairs. Then there was the crystal glass and heavy wood cabinet housing delicate, stunning china. Damn.

Outside, itt was a beautiful, foggy, grey overcast day on the Bay, the kind of day that they both loved. Daylight was fading but he could see Angel Island, Alcatraz, Tiburon, Sausalito, the St. Francis yacht club and, of course, the Golden Gate Bridge, the run-up to the Robin Williams tunnel and the Marin Headlands. Life was good. “Not bad, really, now if it would just rain,” he thought. Then the sounds from the kitchen started.

First, a broken glass, Then, what sounded like a plate followed by a pan clanging off what? The fridge? “Wow, that sounded like a bottle. I hope it was empty but I don’t think we have any empty bottles hanging around. Rachel loves that kitchen and takes really good care of it.” Geoffrey was getting nervous.

Big crash. “Oh my god. That sounded like the tv screen. No. Rachel.” Geoffrey ran in the kitchen and found Rachel sitting on the floor., breathing, actually, panting heavily. He looked around and saw glass everywhere, tv screen busted. “Damn, Rachel.”

Rachel jumped quickly to her feet and ran to Geoff, throwing her head on his shoulders and the crying began. Geoff wrapped his arms around her and started coddling. “Rachel, Rachel, what is it? Talk to me. Please. I am beginning to get very concerned about Harvey. What happened? Did he…did he assault you? What happened?

Rachel just kept crying. Between sobs, she croaked, “just give me a couple of minutes Geoff. Keep holding me.”

“OK, princess. Let’s go sit in the leaving room. OK? We can cuddle on the couch and watch this beautiful grey evening. Don’t worry about the kitchen, I’ll clean it up later.”

He released her, took her hand and led her out into the living room. Such a wonderful, warm room with a view. The couch was an 8 footer, subtle soft leather which they needed to be long because Geoffrey was six foot seven. Rachel was tallish for a woman, about eight inches shorter than Geoff. She loved the way they fit together and was happy to lie down on the couch with him. They dropped to the couch and she landed with her head on Geoffrey’s chest. She let out a big sigh and a little sob, and said, “I love lying like this Geoff, but I need to see you and you need to see me for this conversation. I am ok now, so let’s sit up.”

“Suites me,” said Geoff. They both struggle to upright and sitting across from each other on the couch. 

“You sit in the chair, Geoff and I will sit at the end of the couch. It will be much easier that way.”

Geoff grunted, got up and sat in the chair. He started thinking, ‘this is getting too serious. Are we breaking up? Did she have an affair with Harvey? With somebody else? Why are we sitting apart? Does she not want to be close to me? What the bloody hell?”

He sat down and Rachel actually smiled. “It’s wonderful to look at you Geoffrey. I love every second of looking at you and I love you deeply. That is not a prelude to any problem between us, but it is a cautionary note to what I am about to tell you.”

“Bloody hell,” he thought again. She is warming me up. I feel some real anger coming on PTSD time. Time to get control and he started counting. “If I can just get to ten thousand,”

Rachel wiped away some tears and smiled again. “Geoffrey, because of your PTSD, I am going to cut to the chase. I know you are counting and I hope that you can get to ten thousand. I love to see you managing the PTSD and, in this case, it will really help. You are not going to like what you hear, but get a grip.”

Geoff’s PTSD meter went off the charts. “Rachel has never been that direct with me before. Did she sleep with that guy? I’ll kill him. I’ll beat him ’til the end of time. His face with be unrecognizable to his mother.” His mind was racing and raging. “Bloody hell and damn.”

“Geoff, get a grip. Here it comes.” Rachel said as she watched Geoff tighten his grip on the arms of the chair. His knuckles were a stark white and his face was grim, hard and lined.

“Quickly, Harvey tried to seduce me. That failed so he tried to intimidate me.”

“I’ll kill him, I’ll kill him,” and Geoff started to his feet.

“Geoff! Wait. Look at me. I love you Geoff. Got it? I love Geoff. I don’t want to lose you. I want to spend my life with you. Stop. Sit back down and hear me out. It’s the high tech world Geoff, or the business world, or the VC world. They are all the same and I need your help dealing with it. Do you think I am beautiful, desirable, attractive?”

What? You’re joking. You are the most beautiful woman I know and ever hope to know. But that isn’t important. What’s important is that I love you. You are the smartest, noblest, most caring person I have ever met. So what if you are beautiful?”

Rachel started crying again. Her face was tear streaked. “God, Geoff, if you really mean that, just calm down. Clearly we have something very special and we are not going to let an asshole like Harvey ruin it. If you attacked him, I am literally afraid that you would kill him. Even if you didn’t, you would beat him so badly, you would go to prison. No fuckin’ way.”

With tears in her eyes, she went to Geoff and sat across his lap. She put an arm around his neck and looked straight into his eyes. “Doll, I need to be able to tell you this story. That means you need to be able to hear it. Then we have to move on. In more ways than one. Look at this place, wonderful isn’t it? Do we need it to be together? Do you need it to love me? As much as I like it, I do not need it. All I need is you. Can you try to listen to my story and manage your emotions. Can you, will you promise me that after you hear it we can both mark it down to history.”

Geoff swallowed hard. His brain was on fire and his mind was covered with fog. He could barely think, much less breathe. Geoff had never felt this kind of thing before. He looked at Rachel. “God, she is so beautiful and I love her so much. What would I do without her? She’s right about Harvey. I never trusted him anyway and all those pricks in Silicon Valley are the same. I remember the stories about those two guys, the CEO and his henchman, running around San Francisco in Ferarris hell bent on getting laid. Maybe, I am just luckier than they are. Rachel is a fantastic woman. Calm down. Calm down. PTSD gods, please help. Four thousand two hundred thirteen.”

“You know what, Rachel. You don’t even have to tell me. If you need to tell me or really want to tell me, that’s one thing, but you don’t have to. I know it will be a real challenge for me to hear and hold my temper. I believe that I can do it. I can tell that you are not confessing anything on your part and Harvey did not have his way with you. Maybe, we should just let the story unfold over the next few days. Maybe, we should just go clean up the kitchen, have a glass of wine or six and go make love somewhere. Like the bedroom.” He smiled and gave her right breast a little stroke.

Rachel let out a big sob and kissed him.