It was lunchtime on the day before Christmas Eve, and I was packing my stuff up at my desk at Stomae. My contract ended today, as the company hadn't been able to acquire the needed funding to keep me on for another four months. Holly, Vanessa and Adrian had all stepped out for a few minutes, and the silence in the little office was eerie. I put the last of my notebooks and papers in my bag and turned to go for my lunch break. I jumped as I saw all three of my colleagues standing in the doorway. "Hey guys," I said, glancing from one to the next. "What's up?"
"We just wanted to say that it was really nice to have you on the team for the past few months," Adrian began. He looked embarrassed and looked down at his feet, seemingly unable to say any more.
"And we're really, really gonna miss you," Vanessa said. "You've been so good at your work and you're such a nice person. You even helped us with our personal stuff at times." I waved it off to say it was nothing, but she went on. "So we wanted to do something for you before you leave."
"Really, you guys don't have to do anything," I insisted. "You taught me the ropes of this job, and you welcomed me and included me, that meant a lot to me on its own."
"Please let us do this for you," Holly said, with her usual wide smile. I smiled back at her, but then noticed something odd.
"Holly, have you been crying?" I asked in concern. Her eyes widened.
"What? N-no," she stammered unconvincingly.
"You have, you were crying," I said. "What happened?"
"She gets very emotional when saying goodbye," Vanessa said quietly. I looked back at Holly.
"You were crying because I'm leaving?" I asked, touched. She looked embarrassed but nodded. "That really means a lot to me, I hope you know that," I said, embarrassed myself now. Suddenly the three of them had drawn me into a hug. When we separated, Holly and Vanessa were lightly sobbing. Adrian even looked a bit detached from his usual composed self. "Don't you cry on me, too," I chuckled, trying to lighten the mood but painfully aware of my eyes being a bit wet.
"Listen, we were wondering if you would let us take you to lunch," Holly said. I was a bit surprised, but nodded with a smile.
"That sounds really nice, thanks."
"Keith will be joining us, too," Vanessa added. "You remember Keith? He was part of the team before his daughter, Ally, was born, and then he quit so that he could help take care of her."
I nodded. "I remember him, yeah. So where are we going?"
"We were thinking Churchill's," Adrian suggested brightly. I stared.
"Isn't that place super expensive?" I inquired, about to protest. "You don't have to take me to an expensive place, you guys."
"Well, we're not gonna be cheap about it," Holly smiled. "Come on, let's go." Vanessa offered to drive us all in her SUV, and a quarter of an hour later we were pulling up in Churchill's parking lot.
"Oh look, Keith's already here!" Vanessa pointed. "And he brought the baby!" Sure enough, Keith was standing just inside the entrance, holding what looked like a smallish bundle of blankets. We got out of the van and greeted him.
"Hey everyone, you guys doing well?" he said, clapping us all on the shoulder. The little bundle wriggled a bit and he turned it around. A tiny little face peered at us all, her eyes slowly opening. It looked like Ally had just woken up from a nap. Vanessa and Holly started gushing over the baby, cooing at her, while Keith simply shook his head, grinning at me and Adrian, who were standing a step behind the girls and maintaining our composure.
