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He realized that he could have gone after her. She might have left, but he could have gone and brought her back. He didn’t, because maybe fear was a two-way street and they were both stumbling down it.
Technically, he still had another strike.
He filled his lungs with a deep breath that rattled into the phone. “What do you want me to do?”
CHAPTER 18
Sydney
Houston was nice. She’d been there for two days, and while she wasn’t completely sold, especially on the prices of stuff, the job opportunity her mom magically procured for her like a damn rabbit out of a hat- well… it was impressive. If she landed that job, a job that she’d maybe even be decently happy doing, since it was marketing a new line of shoes made out of recycled plastic and other materials and that was pretty cool in itself, she wouldn’t need to worry about finding a decent place. The starting salary bracket for the position was impressive.
The whole thing basically sounded too good to be true.
Especially since the company was willing to fly her down there to interview for the position.
When she’d sent her resume in, she was sure no one would call her back. She was shocked when her phone rang and the lady on the other end, with the honeyed smooth voice that somehow made her think of glitter and sunshine and giggling babies, told her that they believed in face to face interactions. When she’d confessed that she didn’t have enough money for a last-minute plane ticket, the lady, Sandra, told her that it wasn’t a problem. They were serious about hiring her and they’d pay for the flight.
So currently, she was a basket of nerves. Like a literal, overflowing basket. Her entire body felt like someone had taken out her insides and replaced them with a storm of angry birds battling to get out.
As Sydney’s fingers curled around an impressive glass door in an even more impressive modern looking two story building made of glass and steel with wood accents, those birds fought their way up into her throat.
She swallowed convulsively as she walked through the lobby, up to the massive steel desk. The woman behind it was gorgeous, six feet tall, slim, with long flowing blonde hair. When she turned around and found Sydney standing there though, her smile was immediately genuine.
“I’m Sydney,” she choked out. “I’m here for an interview.”
“Right.” The blonde nodded. “That’s great. Sandra is expecting you. I’ll just take you back to our boardroom, if you want to follow me?”
“Sure.” Sydney gripped her purse tight as she trailed behind the woman.
She glanced around and was relieved to see that the building was a maze of hallways and offices, and while some were smaller than others, they all appeared nice and no one was sitting in the middle of the room in a horrible little cubicle.
The boardroom was impressive. Sleek paneling on the walls matched the exterior and metal accents brought everything together. It was kind of a strange place, ultra-modern. She wasn’t used to anything so new. In her experience, offices were horrible, decrepit buildings filled with even worse people sometimes doing even worse things.
The blonde indicated a high backed, fancy looking office chair. If Sydney was going to guess, and she did guess, she figured that it was ergonomically correct. Which meant that her back and arms wouldn’t ache after a day at work. She loved yoga, but she’d started it up because she couldn’t deal with the pain of sitting in her terrible office chair every single day.
“I’ll go get Sandra for you. Just have a seat. Do you want some coffee or tea? Some water?”
“Oh.” Sydney sunk into the chair like she had no bones to hold her up. “Water. Yeah, sure, that would be great.”
The blonde flashes another smile. She was pretty, but kind of gave off the impression that she didn’t actually know it and hadn’t been one of those snotty, mean kind of girls in high school, even though she looked like she could have been cheer captain.
The blonde shut the door behind her, and Sydney was left alone in the room. It was quiet. The place smelled new, and, while she realized that the office was a new one, for a new product branching off from a main parent company or something- honestly she hadn’t done that much research because she didn’t think she’d actually get the job- she didn’t realize just how new everything was.
When the door creaked open, Sydney whipped her head around, even though she told herself to remain composed. She was kind of excited to meet the woman she’d talked to on the phone and see if her face matched her voice. Although she wasn’t really sure what she was expecting, considering most people didn’t have voices that sounded like they belonged in a magical forest filled up with unicorns.
