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Today’s meeting was to review current projects and any other potential leads they might have a chance at winning. Because if there was a chance, M&M needed to submit a bid. Yes, proposals took time, but with their current lull in work, time was something they had plenty of.
Money, however, was not.
Their budget had been slashed to the bone in every area but payroll, thanks to the added expense of PR damage control. If things didn’t start to turn around soon, they’d need to consider layoffs. But who could they possibly choose to hand a pink slip? Each member of their team was like family to them.
Isaac prayed it wouldn’t come to that. If only they could convince their clients—both existing and prospective—to move past the misunderstanding that’d spiraled out of their control. Or, better yet, find a way to extinguish the fire out east without any further harm to their company.
Isaac logged into the web call, his name still appearing as Robert on the screen, then pulled out the agenda he’d drafted. For years he’d second-guessed Will’s suggestion to use his middle name since Robert sounded more established and businesslike than Isaac. After the mess he’d found himself in last fall, though, it’d turned out to be a godsend. “Robert” could be on hiatus while Isaac could quietly help keep their company moving forward. Though their team now knew the two names were one and the same person, they continued to address him as Robert for simplicity’s sake.
Soon their faces began to appear one by one in little boxes on his screen. Sam, Vivvy, AJ, and Monique—their development team, composed of once-fledgling programmers who’d shown promise and initiative. To date, he’d not been wrong about a single one. Up next popped Ashley and Carmen, Will’s administrative team members whom they’d all be lost without.
Man, he missed everyone. Missed being able to pop into their cubicles and assist with coding struggles. Missed watching Ashley get everyone’s coffee orders wrong. Missed just shooting the breeze with his team about a ballgame they’d seen the night before.
Which was why he had to find a way to fix this mess he’d caused. If hiding out in the rental that used to belong to Will’s great aunt wasn’t helping their business, then it was time to try a new approach. Hopefully, the team would be on board with his ideas.
As the others engaged in their usual office banter, Isaac’s mind drifted to the prior night and a certain blue-eyed beauty who’d paid him a surprise visit. Was that the reason he was battling loneliness today? Because he’d had a taste of human interaction and was now craving more?
The image of Del climbing in and out of that huge pickup truck, looking as though she’d done it a million times, came back to him. Something told him she’d do that a million more, too. The woman wore confidence like a second skin—something he used to do in his line of work as well. Used to, before the whole Katrina Gibbons incident.
“Good to see you this morning, Robert. How’s life treating you in Cornville?”
Isaac grinned at Carmen’s teasing. She’d grown up in an Indiana farming town not far from here; thus, he knew better than to correct her. “Boring as ever,” he answered.
She chuckled. “And Louie?”
“Asleep on my feet.”
“Excellent. Well, it looks like we’re just waiting on Will to join the call,” she said. “We’ll give him a few more minutes before I send out the ‘hurry up already’ text.”
Her head shake elicited a round of soft laughter, and Isaac’s melancholy grew. For the umpteenth time, he kicked himself for not listening to his gut when their mail courier had first asked him out for coffee. He’d tried to be the nice guy, and coffee sounded harmless enough. He just never could have guessed how wrong that assumption had been.
Well, technically, the coffee had been harmless. The woman, not so much.
“Louie, buddy, I can’t feel my toes.”
He gently slid his feet out from under the rump of his stocky English bulldog and reached to give Louie a scratch behind the ears. They said man’s best friend was his dog, something Isaac hadn’t fully comprehended until rescuing his deaf pooch from the pound two years ago. Louie’s former owners claimed they didn’t have the time or patience to deal with a dog who wouldn’t listen.
Morons. If they’d taken him to a single vet trip, they would have found out why. But their loss was Isaac’s gain, and he’d done all he could to make sure Louie was living his best life. They’d even come up with a language all their own, using hand signs and other visual cues. Judging by the way Louie’s whole body wiggled with happiness at his every touch, the dog knew how much he was loved and appreciated.
Touch.
Isaac grinned at the memory of Del falling into him the night before as he’d helped her from the ground, and how they’d both behaved like awkward teenagers afterward. Clearly, he was out of practice “peopling.” While that might have explained his reaction to the accidental collision, hers was a bit of a mystery; Del didn’t come across as a woman who embarrassed easily.
Maybe she was shier than she’d portrayed.
Maybe she had a boyfriend.
Maybe he should stop thinking about her, because it did him no good to dwell on a chance interaction with someone he didn’t plan to live near for long.
His gaze shifted to the rental insurance policy he’d dug out the night before, in case she didn’t show today. The lonely side of his heart hoped she’d hold to her promise; the smarter side hoped she wouldn’t. Then again, her returning to take down that damaged evergreen would cost him less, so that meant his smarter side was rooting for her to show, too.
Isaac blew out a sigh. Why did life always have to be so complicated?
Will’s ever-booming voice broke through his reverie as another familiar face appeared on Isaac’s computer screen. “Gooooood morning, everyone. How’s Team M&M doing today?”
Lively chatter ensued, and Isaac refocused on the task at hand. This company, this team, was what he was most passionate about. The relocation and loneliness were temporary, a means to an end. Will had promised to do all he could to douse the dumpster fire. Until then, Isaac had to be patient.
Someone on the call mentioned a great book they’d been reading. Had Delaney’s group been able to save their bookstore? In the past, he wouldn’t have hesitated to go help a family in need. But for the first time he could remember, fear had held him back. For that, he felt like a coward.
