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He laughed. “And that’s a bad thing?”
“It is when I know how miserable you were a week ago,” Will said, his knowing gaze piercing him through the screen.
“So what you’re saying is you want me to be more miserable? Thanks a lot.”
“You’re really not going to tell me what’s going on out there?”
“There’s nothing to tell. I’m sitting out here in BFE, working up bid proposals like we’d agreed I would do.” Isaac raised his notepad into the camera’s view. “In fact, I’ve been more productive lately than when I was sitting in the office. So if you’ve got a beef with something I’m doing, say it already.”
“Look, I know you’re sick of sitting out there by yourself, but if you want this plan of yours to succeed, you’ve got to stay the course. Stay hidden. If you show back up in the headlines somewhere…” Will shook his head. “I don’t know how much more damage control we can handle. I mean, we’re doing our best to snuff out fires the second we see a spark, but we haven’t caught them all. Because of that, we’re basically donating nonbillable hours on upgrades to keep the rest of our high-profile customers from jumping ship. We’re bleeding money, man, and I can’t seem to make it stop.”
Isaac pictured their team all working extra, donating hours from their lives to keep the company afloat. Monique working from a laptop at her kitchen counter while trying to chase two toddlers through their apartment. AJ giving up time with his aging father and their motorcycle restoration project to debug new code. His flash of temper quickly shifted to the sting of shame. It was easy to forget that he wasn’t the only one affected by this mess—a mess he’d gotten them all into, even if it was unintentional.
“You guys shouldn’t have to be taking on extra work because of me. What more can I do to help?”
“Just promise me you’ll be smart.”
“I’m always smart,” he insisted, but the answer sounded more like a grumble. Deep down, he knew driving into town with Del the other night had not been smart, nor was having her over yesterday, or whatever days she’d be visiting in the future. Even so, there were more days planned, black cloud be damned.
His partner smirked as though he’d heard Isaac’s thoughts. “Then at least promise me you won’t do anything stupid.”
“Thanks for the reminder, but I think I already learned that lesson the hard way. What’s the status on your idea to reveal Katrina for the vicious nut that she is?”
“I think we made some more progress this week. She’s gone quiet on Twitter and ventured onto TikTok, posting clips openly criticizing couples at a mall in Philly. Commentors are beginning to call out her bullshit. If that keeps up, she’ll lose credibility all on her own and we won’t have to do anything but sit back and wait.”
“You know, I’d almost feel sorry for her if she hadn’t tried ruining my life.”
“Not me, man,” Will said. “That girl has been trouble from the start. Karma can’t find her soon enough.”
Isaac’s phone buzzed. He looked down to find a new text message from Del.
Hey there! How’d your meeting go?
He resisted texting back and looked up to find Will watching him closely. Yep, he still had his doubts. Knowing each other for as long as they had, Isaac really couldn’t blame him. Though, in all fairness, if the shoe had been on the other foot and it’d been Will who’d been told to isolate, that plan might have lasted a few days, not months.
“Well, I wish I’d seen the red flags as quickly as the rest of you had. Then maybe we wouldn’t be in this mess.”
Will chuckled. “Next time you consider going out on a date, run it by us first. I’m sure we can vet a much better candidate for you.”
“I’ll be sure to keep that in mind,” Isaac said, his mind instantly shifting to Del, an amazing woman he’d found all on his own. Thanks to Brooklyn’s driving, anyway.
Louie chose that moment to let out an extra loud snore, which sent Will laughing across the line. It was good to see him smiling again, the stress at least temporarily gone from his features. Will was like a brother to him, their team, his extended family. Isaac silently vowed to keep their dreams alive and company safe, even if it meant cutting things off with Del.
He just really, really hoped it wouldn’t come to that, because she truly was amazing.
*
Del leaned subtlyaway from the cash register to skim the latest text from Isaac, feeling like she was back in high school sneaking notes behind her teacher’s back. She hadn’t dared to tell Chase about this week’s developments, knowing it would get straight back to Ms. Worrywart Mia. Though, with as many messages as they’d been sending to each other today, her business partner would pick up on it soon enough.
Join me for dinner?
Oh, how she wanted to! Unfortunately, it was Thursday and she was due to be at the bookstore by six. She worked to keep the disappointment off her face as she returned her attention to one of their oldest, most loyal customers.
“Here’s your change, Mr. Rivers. I promise, the missus will love her new jade plant.”
The little old man across from her shrugged, his bushy white brows drawing together. “One can only hope. How was I to know that other one didn’t need a good, daily watering?”
“Maybe save those ‘watering’ habits for the patch behind the shed instead of Maude’s flowerbed next time, huh?” Chase said with a wink. “Here, I’ll help you get it safely out to the car.”
