AllFreeNovel
Share Us
His eyes narrow. “Where did you go to college again?” he asks. A part of me is hurt he doesn’t remember, but my cool, sophisticated grown-up parts hand her a Lisa Frank journal and some glitter pens so she’ll be distracted.
“Brown.”
Eyebrows shoot up. “That’s right. They taught you the woo at Brown?”
“I taught them the woo at Brown.” I bat my eyelashes as he chuckles. Hearing him laugh is its own reward. “And quit talking to me while I’m reviewing a contract. It’s bad business.”
“It’s good negotiation.”
“Are we negotiating? I thought the terms were set.”
“Contracts are never set. They’re just set for now,” Will says, but then he goes quiet.
Two and a half pages later, I’m happy but troubled. Happy because the contract is fine.
Troubled because Will seems to think I shouldn’t be happy. Shouldn’t settle for what he’s offered.
His expectation that I will negotiate is the only reason I am going to negotiate.
“I want to add to the budget.”
“What do you want to add? Dandelion root?”
“A live elephant.”
“An elephant.”
“And nine ounces of platypus milk.”
“Really? What does that do to the energy of my parents’ house?”
“You ride the elephant around the outside of the house while drinking the milk.”
“And that does what?”
“It makes me laugh. And when I laugh, it gives a space good energy.”
“You really went to an Ivy League school and this is the result?”
“It’s okay, Will. You don’t have to understand. Not everyone does.” I give him a pitying smile, calculated to be condescending. “And if you’re having second thoughts because you know you’ll lose–”
“No second thoughts.”
I sign the contract. “Great. Done. Now get me some platypus milk.”
“You didn’t attach an addendum.”
“Damn.” I look around the office, which is atrociously claustrophobic in spite of the fact that it’s about five thousand square feet of tall-ceilinged warehouse space. “I’ll have to find one of the critters and milk her myself.”
“You are a woman of many skills, Mallory.”
“Or I’m easily distracted. You pick.”
“My pick is for you to go back to my parents’ house with me and get started on the fluffing.”
“Excuse me?” I pretend to be offended, but my blood is supercharged. The mental image Will’s joke conjures….
Rich laughter fills my ears. “House fluffing. Did you really answer that Craigslist ad and not know what a fluffer was?”
