Blair went to work to find she had more than a few messages waiting for her. The most important of the bunch was a message from her bosses, Michael and Chad, asking to meet with her over lunch. Jill had asked all about the wedding as well as the Bahamas and Blair, unenthused, told her everything was beautiful. Upon being asked what was wrong, Blair simply told Jill that she and Justin had broken up and that she wasn’t exactly in the best mood. Jill nodded, forced a smile then exited her office to leave Blair alone.
She looked through her messages once again and began to return phone calls. By the time lunch arrived, Blair was starving. She wondered what the meeting would be about as she drove over to the restaurant they were meeting at. She was seated at a table and before she could even sit down Chad and Michael arrived. They greeted each other in a friendly manner and talked about their weekends. They didn’t get down to business until their food finally came.
“Well, Blair,” Chad said. “I’m sure you won’t be surprised to hear that we love working with you, and you’ve done so much for us.”
Blair set her fork down and took a sip of water.
“We received a call at the end of last week while you were on vacation from New York,” Michael continued.
Blair knew what this was about. She knew now. New York City. This was good news.
“You told us some time ago that you had wanted to move up north to work with the Food Network,” Chad said, noticing Blair nod her head. “You know what this is about then.”
Blair nodded again with a slow smile. “I think so.”
“Because you’ve done so much for us, and helped us get our restaurant off the ground and to what it is today, we wanted to return the favor to you,” Michael said.
“Oh my, God,” Blair gasped, “You didn’t.”
Chad and Michael grinned and nodded their heads. “We made a call a few months ago, asking if there would be a position opening up that you could fill. They told us that there might be one in a few months for a new buyer for one of the shows and they would call when they found out. We faxed them your résumé and they called,” Michael said.
“This is the catch, though, Blair,” Chad said. “Their buyers are all set, but they have a different opening. It’ll be open after the first of the year so you’ve got some time-”
“The first of the year?” Blair asked. “I’m due in January.” Maybe this dream of hers wasn’t going to work out.
“Just listen, Blair,” Michael said.
“They want you for a show,” Chad told her. Blair’s eyes questioned him. “The show ‘How to Boil Water’ needs a new host. Jack Hourigan, the current host, wants to do something else instead of the show. She’s been doing it for a while now, and she just decided she’d like to do something else.”
“You guys want me to host a television show?”
“You don’t have to,” Michael told her with a smile. “We just thought you might like the change of pace. You might like it and we all know that you like to cook, so I don’t know why you look so worried.”
“It’s not like you’ll have to carry the show by yourself,” Chad smiled. “Tyler Florence is your co-host.”
Blair couldn’t help but smile. She did love to cook and it really was her dream to work her way up the food ladder to work for Food Network. “But what about January? I’m due the twentieth.”
“Well, we’ll give you the numbers and you can talk to Jack. Maybe she’ll stick around long enough so you can still have time off.”
“You’ll figure it out.”
Like Chad and Michael said, things worked out for the better. Blair had contacted both Jack and the producers of the show. She told them that she was expecting and her due date was closer to the end of January. Jack, as well as the producers, enthusiastically agreed to keep doing the show until Blair felt she was ready to go back to work after the baby was born, after all there was time off from shooting the show.
Blair had contacted a realtor to help find an apartment in New York, preferably out of the city, and had already told her sisters what her future was looking like. She had yet to tell her parents… and Justin. He probably wouldn’t be very pleased to find she was moving, but there wasn’t much anyone could do. Blair had made up her mind and she was finally going to take charge of her life and do what she wanted to do. She had worked hard to get where she was going and there was nothing anyone could say to make her give it up.
She hadn’t seen or spoken to Justin since the day after they got back from the Bahamas. Blair had stopped by his house to gather random things she had left there and was relieved with the fact that she had waited to move in with him. He had asked her repeatedly since they had made it official that they were dating to move in with him, but she had found reasons to put it off.
She tried hard not to think about him, not to wonder what he was doing or thinking at any given moment. She often laid awake at night wondering if he was thinking about her, missing feeling her body near his.
She missed him. She missed his warmth. She missed his toothbrush next to hers in the bathroom, his shoes next to hers in the foyer, and his clothes hugging hers in the laundry room. She missed the way his hand fit hers, the way his arms fit so perfectly around her shoulders, and the way their bodies fit together when they slept. She missed his steady breathing at night, his carefree laugh when they were having fun, his ability to reassure her when she needed it, the way he smelled, the way he laughed at his own jokes and the way he talked to her. She just missed him, and that was killing her.
“Oh, Blair,” Kirsten squealed, rushing over to the front door with a big smile on her face. “Look at you!” Kirsten took hold of the bags Blair was holding on to and ushered her into the kitchen.
Kirsten, the middle child in Blair’s family, called out to other relatives to let them know Blair had finally arrived. She had begun to unload dishes and groceries from the bags for thanksgiving as she excitedly filled Blair in on details of the weekend. Nikki, Blair’s other sister, took Blair’s jacket and purse and hung them up in the hall closet. She hugged her sister and greeted her with a friendly hello. She had cut her hair since the last time Blair had seen her and, as always, she looked beautiful. It wasn’t long before Nikki’s husband and children entered the kitchen to greet Blair, followed by Kirsten’s husband as well as their parents. They all exchanged hellos and hugs, a normal routine. Blair also found that her parents’ embrace was warm. It was as though all animosity between them had been forgotten, at least for the holiday.
“Hi, sweetie,” her father said as he kissed the top of her head. “How are you doing?”
“I’m good, Dad,” Blair nodded with a small smile.
“You’re looking beautiful, honey,” Blair’s mother smiled as she hugged her one more time.
“Thanks, Mom,” Blair laughed, tugging on her shirt.
“Well, this is just silly,” Nikki said with a smile, picking up her son, “why don’t we go into the living room?”
Blair found a seat on the couch next to Marissa, Nikki’s daughter, who wanted to feel the baby kick. Nikki talked about what the kids were doing at school and how well her husband, Ryan, was doing at work. Debbie would interject with comments of how Jim had worked his way up the ladder to being an associate at his law firm and how Nikki’s husband wasn’t far from that point as well. David, Kirsten’s husband, spoke about sports with Jim as a football game played on the television behind them. Blair couldn’t help but think about Justin in her surroundings; she wanted so badly to have a family like her sisters, as well as a healthy relationship with her parents. She wanted her parents to support her and love her for who she was, including Justin. She wanted so badly for Justin to develop a relationship with her parents.
