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Joe turned to Callum just as he opened his mouth to shout. Joe could tell he was going to yell, because his face had turned red.
“I think Julia should update everyone. She’s the one with the best overview.”
“What?” came a horrified squeak from the corner.
Joe caught Patricia’s eye as he turned back to Julia. Patricia beamed at him, and he knew he was on the right track.
“Jules,” Joe called across the room. “Fill everybody in, will you?”
Part of him hated himself for making her the centre of attention when he knew she loathed it. But she could do this. She was the best person to do this. No detail got past he
r quick brain; no logical reasoning escaped it. The more he thought about it, the more he realised her skills were sorely underutilised, because everyone treated her as the scared rabbit she professed to be. But she was stronger than that. He was sure of it.
“I-I-I…” She looked like she was about to start hyperventilating.
Joe pushed himself off the sofa and sauntered towards her. He held a hand out to her. “You’ve got this,” he said in a low voice, meant only for her.
Wide, panic-stricken eyes met his. Joe let her see his confidence in her. He let her see that he absolutely believed she could do this and do it better than anyone in the room.
Come on, come on… He wasn’t sure if he was praying or trying to communicate with her by telepathy.
“Do you need a data projector?” Elle called across the room. “Because I bought one of those mini laser cube things on the internet, and it’s brilliant. We can connect it to your iPad and project onto the wall. Wait until you see the clarity of the images. And it can get so big. I love it. When I’m working alone in the office, I project my work all over the walls. It feels like I’m actually inside the programming. You’ve got to try it, Julia. It’s super cool.” She was practically bouncing on the spot as she gushed about her new tech.
Joe hid a smile. Bless Elle’s geeky little heart.
“Looks like you’re all set,” he told Julia.
Elle came over with a tiny cube in the palm of her hand. “Gimme your iPad. I’ll set it up. This is going to be brilliant.” She didn’t wait for a reply as she plucked it from Julia’s hand. A second later, her fingers were flying over the screen. “Ry,” she called to the man who was currently eating his way through Bolivia’s food reserves, “how about we call for popcorn?”
“No popcorn,” Callum growled as Elle handed Julia’s iPad back to her. “This isn’t a bloody movie screening; it’s a meeting.”
“In a hotel,” Elle pointed out. “In the middle of the night. In South America. There could be popcorn.”
“Julia,” Callum snapped, but without his usual sting. “Get on with it. I want to go to bed.”
With wide eyes and a look of confusion, Julia put her hand in Joe’s. He could have fist-pumped the air with victory, but he didn’t. He held Julia’s hand as they watched the rest of the team rearrange the furniture to face the wall Elle had picked for Julia’s presentation.
“I don’t have anything prepared,” Julia whispered up at him.
Knowing Julia, even if she’d had a month’s notice, she’d still think she wasn’t prepared. “Use your notes to illustrate what you want to say. If you don’t need to show anything, put a photo of Elle on the wall. It’ll keep her happy.”
She almost smiled at that. Almost, but not quite.
“I’ll get the lights,” Patricia called as she headed for the switch by the door. “We should have popcorn. When we watch anything in Libby’s cinema, we always have popcorn.”
“Your parents have their own cinema?” Ryan’s eyebrows shot right up his head, and Joe swore he’d smack them back down if the next words out his mouth were to invite himself over.
The room went dark, except for one small lamp over by the bedroom door.
“I’ll stand back here and talk.” Julia used the same tone she always used right before she ran.
“Do you need to stand?” Joe asked casually.
“No.” She looked at him nervously.
“I have a better idea.”
She squealed when he picked her up, making Patricia laugh. Joe settled into the opposite end of the sofa from Ryan and shifted Julia until he was comfortable with her in his lap. Then he clamped an arm around her waist to make sure she stayed there.
