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I laugh because I’ve often thought the same thing. “It feels like when you’re dating someone and all their exes are the worst. It’s like, how did we end up together?”
“Angus has bad taste,” Sullivan says. “It’s his fatal flaw.”
“What tipped you off? The croc hats?”
“He’s close…” Sullivan smiles with strange satisfaction. “But he misses when it counts.”
“And why, exactly, is Sully going to dinner with your boss?” Merrick inquires. “Seeing as how the two of you arenotdating.”
“Oh, we are to him,” Sullivan says shamelessly. “It’s all part of the play, Dad—getting a bit of business done.”
Merrick shakes his head. “That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.”
“I promise you, it’s working brilliantly.”
“It always does,” Merrick says. “Until it doesn’t.”
“He’s a kill joy,”Sullivan points his thumb back in the direction of his dad’s door. “Always has been.”
“Sully…” I wheel on him, heart racing with the knowledge that we’re supposed to be at the restaurant in twenty minutes. “Calm me down. Tell me what you’re going to do.”
“It’s simple. I’m going to talk to Angus and figure out what he actually cares about when it comes to this deal.”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know yet. But I promise you, it’s there inside of him—the black swan.”
“What the hell is a black swan?”
“The unknown unknown. The thing that makes or breaks a negotiation. It could be anything…a dream, a desire, a point of pride, an entrenched habit…but usually, it’s an emotional trigger.”
That makes zero sense to me.
“Angus is pretty rational when it comes to business.”
Sullivan laughs. “I bet he thinks so. But we’re all just animals, Theo—it’s our passions that drive us. We make up the reasons later.”
“Then what’s my job?“
“Be part of the conversation, draw him out. And relax…it’s just going to be you, me, and him at dinner.”
But as it turns out, that’s the first thing that goes wrong.
19
THEO
We meet Angus at Birch, a pretentious restaurant on Melrose obsessed with topping things with foam. The interior decor is supposed to look like a forest, so we wind our way to our table through a thicket of glowing white plastic trees.
Only, when we reach Angus’ booth, he isn’t alone.
I whisper, “Oh no…”
Angus’ date turns, giving me a smile that only slightly rearranges the features on her highly-Botoxed face.
“Theo. What a surprise.”
I notice she doesn’t say it’s anicesurprise.
