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“What’s the matter?” I said, as I neared his desk. “What’s happened?”
Gabe let go of the pen, flipping it casually in the air. It rattled to a stop on top of his desk, and he leaned back in his chair, interlocking his hands behind his head.
“You don’t want to know. Trust me.”
“Why do you say that?” I began, as I grew more concerned. “You can tell me anything.”
“Hmm…” he muttered, as he narrowed his eyes at me. “Let’s see. I just had a meeting with the investors and basically told them all to go to hell.”
Taking a seat across from him in one of the chairs, I felt my eyes widen in their sockets as I looked at him.
“Why would you do that?”
Gabe shook his head.
“It doesn’t matter, Fiona. I don’t want to talk about it.”
The look in his eyes was something I’d never seen from him before. He seemed… defeated. Unwilling to let the issue go, I sat forward in the chair and pressed him on it.
“Is this about the delays in the lab?” I asked. “Because if it is, I have something to tell you and…”
Gabe snapped at me, in the first flicker of anger I’d seen from him in quite some time. “I said I didn’t want to talk about it, okay? I mean it.”
His aggression caught me by surprise. I swallowed and eased back into the chair.
As I did, Gabe let out a deep exhale.
“I’m sorry, Fiona I didn’t mean it. I’m frustrated, and I shouldn’t have lashed out at you like that. What do you need?”
Although he wouldn’t say, I assumed that whatever happened between him and the investors may have put the entire future of the Link Protocol at risk.
If it had, the idea of it made me nauseous. All the weeks and months of endless work, by not only myself but everyone involved, would be for nothing. Not only that, but I felt bad for him. Gabe put everything on the line for this project. I only hoped the news I had to share with him hadn’t come too late.
“Why are you here, Fiona?” he asked, as I sat there in silence.
I reached under my arm. Grasping the results in my hand, I passed them to him. After I slid the pages across his desk, Gabe placed his palm flat on top of it and looked at me.
“Is this what I think it is?”
A broad smile stretched tight across my face as I nodded.
“Yes. But it sounds like it might be too late. I hope it isn’t.”
“Mmm, hmm…” he grumbled as he broke eye contact with me and began to thumb through the paper.
He read in silence for at least a minute or so, before at last looking up to me once again. After picking up the same pen he tossed on the desk earlier, he pinched it between his thumb and index finger and tapped on top of the results.
“Is this… Is this right?”
By now, my smile was so wide it had begun to hurt my cheeks. At the same time, overcome with pride, I felt warm pools of wetness begin to collect in my eyes. All the hard work and all of the effort had finally paid off. Just then, a single tear fell from my eye and streaked down my cheek. I wiped it away as I looked across the desk at him.
Sniffling, I answered him with a whisper. “Yes, it’s right.”
Gabe dropped the pen on top of the paper once again. Only this time, it wasn’t in disgust. Slamming his palms down on top of his desk, he pushed himself into a standing position.
“Yes! Yes! Yes!” he chanted at the top of his lungs.
Sharing his excitement, I shot to my feet as well and hurried towards him. As I did, Gabe opened his arms and I crushed my body against his, burying my face in his chest. By now, the tears flowed without restraint and for the next minute or so we hugged, overcome with the joy of achievement. Afterward, Gabe reached for my upper arms and gently pried me away from his torso.
“You are absolutely brilliant, Fiona. What an amazing fucking woman you are.”
I smiled at his compliment, and as I smeared away the remnants of my joy from my cheek, I replied, “It’s all because of you, Gabe, and your vision. Without it, none of this would be here.”
As I finished speaking, Gabe shook his head.
“Well, my vision got a little cloudier today.”
“The investors you mean?”
Gabe just shook his head.
“Look, let’s not discuss it. Right now it’s time to celebrate. I’ll figure something out. It’s my mess and I’ll clean it up.”
GABE
In the aftermath of Fiona’s breakthrough, I picked up the phone an hour or so later and summoned Don Cabot to my office. Feeling exuberant, I decided to have a bit of fun with my senior executive.
And so it was, fifteen minutes later I sat across from him at the conference table.
