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"Okay. Awesome. Well, I'm just going to have a quick shower and change, and then I'll be out for breakfast."
"Make it quick. I don't want your breakfast to get cold."
"I will. Thank you."
I hurried into the room to grab some clean clothes to put on. As I made my way to the bathroom and turned on the water for the shower, I realized the list was growing. The list of things that Foster and I didn't talk about anymore. I wondered if he ever thought about that. I wondered if he thought about back in the day and the things we'd said and done then.
I shook my head quickly. I did not want to think about that now. I needed to concentrate on finding a job. That was my number one priority. My absolute number one, and I was going to stop drinking because no way did I want to make a fool of myself again, no matter how sexy Foster was.
Chapter13
Foster
"Foster, do you have those reports I asked you to get done?" My boss, the CEO of the hedge fund that I work for, Travis Covington, asked me in our Monday morning meeting.
I nodded. "Yeah, I do, Travis."
"And what are the projections?" he asked.
I could feel all eyes on me. I opened the manila folder and looked back down at the pie chart. "Well, first year we're looking at a loss of about 6.5 percent. However, by year two, it's looking at a loss of 2.1 percent. Year three, we're looking at a gain of 1.9 percent. Year four, we've projected a gain of 3.8 percent. But by year five, we're looking at a gain of about 9 percent. So that's actually beating the markets."
"Okay. So you recommend we put money in?"
"I do recommend, for our long-term holdings, we put in a couple of hundred million." I nodded. "I think that will be a great return on investment for our clients who are saving for retirement more than ten years away."
"Sounds good to me." He nodded. "Okay, Fairfield, what about you? What about the numbers for Sweets and Company?"
"I have to say that the projections are not looking as good as Foster's, sir." Fairfield made a face.
I tuned him out. Monday morning meetings were always about our report on companies we were interested in investing in. Travis Covington, my boss, had been the top hedge fund manager for the past ten years. He was renowned internationally. He was on the face of magazines. He'd been on TV shows and movies. He dated actresses and models. And essentially, everyone in the finance world wanted to be him.
I looked up to him as my mentor. I'd been ecstatic when I found out I had received a position at Covington and Associates. I had been working for this my entire life. One day, I wanted to be the Travis Covington of the finance world. I wanted to start my own hedge fund. And I knew that if I wanted to do that, my entire focus had to be on work.
That's how Travis had done it. He wasn't married. He didn't have any kids. At thirty-five years old, he was probably the most eligible bachelor in New York City. In fact, one of the most eligible bachelors in the world. He'd been on the Top 10 Eligible Men under forty for the past five years.
"So Foster, what do you think about that?" Travis's sharp voice made me blink.
Shit, I'd been completely spaced out. "I'd have to hear the numbers again and look at the reports myself in more finite detail," I said quickly. "Oftentimes, situations aren't shown in just the numbers themselves. Things could change; projections and forecasts can change."
Travis looked at me through narrowed blue eyes and nodded. "Fair," he said. "Why don't you look over the numbers tonight, and you can discuss them with me tomorrow morning? Eight o’clock?"
"Yes, sir," I said. I knew he knew I'd been spaced out, and now I'd gotten more homework.
I sighed. I'd wanted to watch a movie or something with Alice this evening. I'd wanted to make her feel comfortable and less embarrassed about our night from the weekend. She'd been gone all day Sunday. I wasn't sure if she'd been avoiding me, or if she'd really had that many job opportunities lined up to interview for. But by the time I'd gotten ready for bed, she still wasn't home.
I'd sent her a text message, and she'd said she was still filling out applications at bars and restaurants. I didn't really believe that, but what could I say? And then this morning, I'd had to get up and go to work.
I still thought about the way her body had curled into mine that night, the way her breasts had pressed up against my chest, the way her fingers had idly played with my chest hair. And I knew that it was going to be a very long time before I forgot the feel of her almost-naked body against mine.
"So ... Foster," Travis said.
I looked up and realized the room had emptied, and he and I were still there. "Yes, Travis?"
"You got something on your mind you want to talk about?"
"No, I’m just still a little bit jet-lagged. It was quite a busy time in Europe."
"I know. And you did a really good job."
