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Maybe I should throw a dart at a map and move wherever that sucker lands. Completely start over somewhere new. Somewhere no one knows what a screw-up I am.
The door opens and it’s Darnell, who looks surprised and then deeply disturbed. “I thought you were Jerry. You are not Jerry, and you probably didn’t bring the subs.”
I don’t have time for Darnell’s verbal game play. I don’t think about the relief I feel that they’re waiting for someone named Jerry to bring them dinner and not a pretty woman Heath’s entertaining. “I need to talk to Heath.”
“You need to…” He gestures up and down my body. “…do a lot with that. I can’t even begin to list the things you need to do. I don’t like to sound like my mother, but you are going to catch pneumonia and die, and you will die looking exactly like that. Is that really how you want to go out?”
Yep, he confirms all of my nasty suspicions. I do not look romantic walking in the rain. No Jane Austen-heroine look for me. “Is he here? If you’ll let me talk to him, you won’t have to see me again.”
He frowns. “Why would I want that? You know I’m teasing you because I like you. It’s one of my love languages. I’m excellent at ignoring the people I don’t like. Come in. You obviously have some serious drama to play out. Heath, your business partner is here, and she looks like she walked off the pages of a Dickens novel. We might need to get her some gruel.”
He steps back, allowing me into the apartment.
It’s set up for some kind of gathering. They’ve brought in extra chairs, and it looks like the bar in the kitchen has been turned into a mini buffet with chips and crackers and store-bought cookies.
He’s having a party and didn’t invite me. I’m surprised he didn’t invite Harper. Unless he did and she chose to go to the big client party. Hypocrite.
He walks out wearing sweats and a tank top that shows off the fact that he understands the term arm day. He has a smile on his face until he gets a look at me. “Hey, what’s going on? Are you okay?”
He’s not going to make this easy on me. Maybe some hard truth will get him in the mood to be mean. I don’t know that I can walk away from gorgeous, warm, affectionate Heath. I need him to reject me so I can get on with my life.
“I just came by to let you know that I’m going to pull out of the project and give you back my forty percent. You now are the sole owner of your company, which still does not have a name.” It’s something I’ve been talking to him about. He’d published his game under H Marino LLC, but I think he needs a better name. Something catchy.
But with me out, he can be boring now.
Darnell opens the bag of chips and sits down, crossing one leg over the other. “See, told you. Drama. Could you wait and hash this out in front of my writing group? Some of the fuckers do not understand how to write tension, and you two are the perfect illustration. They don’t get sexual vibes. They’re sci-fi writers. Well, most of them. One of the women is writing a series about her heroine being used as breeding stock by space pirates. Guess which one of us sold.”
Heath frowns his way. “No.” He looks back at me. “What is going on? You can’t pull out of the project. You brought in all the money.”
“No one’s taking the money back. It’s yours.” I would talk to CeCe about finding someone else who could shepherd him through the process. Maybe Benjamin would be a better business mentor. “You need to follow the schedule I set up. CeCe will need to see a solid business plan. If she rejects you, I’ll leave a list of other investors you can talk to.”
He pales a bit at that news. “That is not what I do. That’s your job, Ivy. I don’t understand what’s going on here.”
I don’t want a long sit-down. I’m ready to move on to the me leaving portion of the evening. I’ll go back home, hole up in my tiny bedroom, and figure out what to do now. I still have connections on the West Coast. I need a job. It won’t be what I want to do, but I can find a place on a programming team. “You don’t have to. I’m going to be in town for a couple of days if you have questions. Text me.”
He reaches out and puts a hand on my shoulder. “Now I’m really worried. The project is going great. You were happy when you left this afternoon. You were excited about starting with the new hires on Monday. This isn’t about the project. You were supposed to go to a party with Harper and Anika. What happened?”
