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Highly unusual.
Christa sobers. “You don’t have to be worried. Just… be less yourself.”
“It’s really a wonder you didn’t go into motivational speaking.”
She narrows her eyes. “You should probably bring a date.”
“Why don’t you just come?”
My brilliant CFO laughs out loud. “Because I terrify most men. Except you.”
Sure. Except me.
“Anyway, they want to wine and dine you. See how you’ll be away from the boardroom.”
“I don’t care about wining and dining. I care about the bottom line.”
I also care about when, exactly, Bristol is going to show up. It’s already seven-fifteen. Office policy says that everyone has to be here by eight-thirty. I feel like I’ve been waiting months. Years.
“The guys from Hughesdocare. They want to throw some money around, pay for expensive champagne, and act important. Which is why you need to bring a date.”
“I’m married to the business. Feels like cheating.”
“That’s why we get along.” Christa pats at her hair, somehow making her body into even more angles as she does it. “But you’re moving up in the world, Will. Bigger than this.” She gestures around us. Two floors in a Manhattan office building. “Think CEO of JP Morgan. That’s where your future is.”
“Yeah. Probably.”
She watches me, suspicious. I’d think something was up if I were Christa. I’d think I’d been possessed. I’ve spent years chasing profits over everything else. I’ve spent years chasing a merger just like this one.
I’m beginning to wonder if I was wrong. Before Bristol Anderson walked into my office, I’d have taken this ambivalence as a clear sign that I was losing my mind.
Now, all I can see is the other side of the contract and the merger.
Theacquisition.
What’s there that I haven’t had already?
A yacht, sure. But imagining the yacht seems empty.
That has nothing to do with the fact that Bristol won’t be a temp by the time the deal is finalized. She’ll be long gone, working in some other office in the city.
I think about signing that contract and moving forward with no Bristol Anderson, and I don’t feel satisfied. I don’t feel giddy.
I feel nothing.
“Okay.” Christa’s been watching me, and here I am, staring into space. “You can’t go to this alone. Not if you’re going to zone out and forget you’re at dinner.”
“Fine. I’ll take someone.”
She slides her phone out of her pocket and scrolls. Taps. “There are options if you want me to find you a date. I have several people in my network who would definitely make themselves available for you.”
“No.”
Christa raises her eyebrows.
“I can find a date.”
“To be clear, no paid company.”
