Page 6 of Arrivals & Assets

“I got it.”

He nodded. “Do good things out there.”

I grinned. “I will.”

We studied each other for several seconds, then he clapped my shoulder and gave me the tiniest shove.

I chuckled as I headed toward the elevator. I was about to be slammed with work, but I was excited, too.

Running the first branch in a beachside city? I couldn’t wait to show them what I could do.

Chapter 2 - Flynn

Ishivered as the air conditioning kicked on and blew on me.

“I really need to remember to turn that down,” I muttered as I attached a receipt for a fifty-thousand-dollar painting to a client’s file. I double-checked that all the required fields had been filled out, then marked it as ready for the main office.

The underwriters would hate it. It was almost an insult to their time when they expected and regularly saw files for paintings valued at over a million dollars. But our branch had been accepting scraps over having no business at all for too long.

Footsteps echoed and bounced off the vacant furniture and bare walls. I glanced up to see one of my few remaining coworkers, Jeremy, standing a few feet away, rubbing the back of his neck and grimacing.

He didn’t need to say it; I knew why he was there.

“It’s your turn, isn’t it?” I asked.

He let out a long breath. “Yeah.”

“Does this mean the vault is empty?”

“Last shipment out is this afternoon. My stuff is arriving at my new place the day after tomorrow, so I’m on a flight first thing in the morning.”

“Where are you headed again?”

“They’re putting me back in the vault in New York.”

“You have family there, right?”

“Yeah.”

“At least there’s that.”

He chuckled. “Yeah, but they can be a bit much. I actually put in for the Dallas office, but didn’t get it.”

“I think I heard they were already at full staffing before they announced our closure.”

“Yeah, but it didn't hurt to try.”

“I hear ya.”

I stood, walked over, and pulled him into a hug. I thumped him on the back a couple times. “Hey, maybe it’ll be a good thing. You might be happier back home.”

He chuckled. “Maybe, but I’m not going to hold my breath.”

“You like concerts and gaming conventions. You won’t have to travel several hours to find the closest ones now.”

“You’re really looking for a silver lining for me, aren’t you?”

I smiled. “Gotta try to make something of this shitshow.”