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Very pregnant,I wanted to say. But that cat wasn’t out of the bag just yet.
“Better than average,” I smiled instead, hugging her back. “And you?”
“Pretty damn good,” she declared, “except for the three different college tuitions kicking our ass at once right now.”
“College!” I smiled. “Already?”
“Already,” she groaned, rolling her eyes. “Then again it was David’s idea to have the kids so close together, so this is all on him. If it were up to me, I would’ve spaced them out a little. Given my poor body a break, you know?”
I stood there for a moment, trying to remember her children’s names and coming up totally empty. Luckily, Tori put me out of my misery.
“You’re looking for Robert?”
“Yes please.”
“He’s all over the place these days,” Tori groaned, “especially with all the new stuff going on. But come with me. I know where to find him.”
Through a half dozen doors we went, and up two flights of glass-walled stairs. The offices on the higher floors stretched around the outside of the building, giving everyone a window view. In the shape of a U, they looked down over the project area as well.
I found Robert Valentine in the ass end of a small, executive break room, stirring synthetic sugar into a steaming mug of very black coffee. When he saw me, his eyes went wide as billiard balls.
“Juliana!” he cried. “What a great surprise!”
It took less than a quarter second for the fear to leave his face, replaced immediately by a warmth so genuine it was almost convincing. He gave me the obligatory hug, then ushered me quickly into what amounted to his new office. Which, I noted, was smaller than his old one.
“I had no idea we had a meeting today,” he began. “I didn’t think we—”
“C’mon,” I cut him off, with a quick glance that said everything. “It’sme.”
Robert stopped talking while I paced his new office, taking it all in. His desk was the same one he’d always had, but in this room it was too large. There were no more plants. Half his little aviation tchotchkes were missing too.
Ahhhh, shit.
Something was most definitely wrong. Something big enough that not even Robert could get a handle on it.
“Wanna tell me what’s going on?” I asked.
Robert’s usually cheerful face was criss-crossed with sleep and stress lines. The worry in his expression was gone now, though. At the moment, he wore the relieved resignation of someone tired of running. Someone eager to finally make a full confession.
“I’m sorry Juliana,” he said, his voice sounding hollow and defeated. Raising one weary arm, he pointed to an empty chair.
“Sit down and I’ll tell you everything.”
Thirty-Three
JULIANA
“GoddammitRobert!” I shouted again. “Just like that? After all this time!?”
The news was shocking, and yet a bigger part of me could totally believe it. I’d become blindly complacent. Unreasonably comfortable. I’d taken my biggest, oldest client completely for granted, and now it was finally coming around to bite me right in the ass.
Legendary Gaming was signing on with someone else.
“Who?” I demanded. “Who could possibly—”
“We’re going with Skyline.” Robert said flatly.
It was the worst thing he could’ve possibly said. I would’ve rather he just stabbed me in the stomach.
