He motioned for me to sit in the chair in front of his desk. There was a stack of papers there, maybe 100 pages. If this was what I was going to be working with, I questioned how Greg hadn’t finished ityet.
“I was supposed to coordinate a chart for the royalties for this a while ago, but I hadn’t had the time to sit down and read the book yet.” He handed me the pages I had been eyeing. “The client has asked to be kept anonymous, so we have to be precise with the numbers or we could lose the deal completely.” I started looking through the book to see if there were any notes already. Greg made sure to order food for us so it would be here in time forlunch.
“You know, normally this isn’t even something I do, but Max asked me personally. I may be doing this last minute, but goddamn, we’ll get this done.” Greg seemed determined in his actions as he started to pull out some sticky notes and pens after ordering lunch. I was glad he was including me in helping out with his business. I had been working all day yesterday with royalties and no substance, so it was nice to be able to read the book and then work itout.
“I’m glad I’m here to help,then.”
I grabbed a pen off Greg’sdesk.
“I was surprised to see Max on the floor here yesterday.” Greg’s words stopped me at the first word on the page. I looked up at him while he was scrolling through his computer, like what he just said hadn’t mattered in theslightest.
“What?” I sounded more confused than I intended to, but I didn’t understand what he was trying tosay.
“We were about to head to lunch when I told him you had started and he wanted to meet you. I haven’t seen him smile that much in the last few days, so hopefully his good moodstays.”
Instead of responding to Greg, I dove into the book. I tried not to think about what he said about Max being happy to see me. I didn’t even fully know him yet. By the time food was delivered to the office, I had finished the book once and was gearing to start it a second time, and maybe a third. It was one of those books that you could devour over and over again and never get tired ofit.
By eight that night, everyone had left, even the janitors who came in at six. Papers were spread all across the floor, and Greg had ordered us pizza for dinner. I had already finished the book multiple times. My notes were next to me, Greg’s spreadsheets were printed out, and an argument had been going on for the pasthour.
“If you think it should be that low, then you need to actually read the book like I did.” I had made a decently sized offer to Greg for the pitch, but he thought it was too much. All he had read were the first and last chapters of thebook.
“We may be a high-end publishing company, but they shouldn’t expect so much from us, especially since we aren’t even sure who this actually is. This could be a complete flop.” He started to get some of the papers gathered back together. “Maybe I just need time to think about this and talk it over with Max and create a last-minute chart for him in themorning.”
“Fine, but I’m just letting you know that if this is some big-shot author, they aren’t going to settle for less than double your $50,000 quote. I’m telling you, at least $100,000 would be best to pitch.” I finished helping Greg reorganize everything back onto his desk. I went to grab my things, but before I left for the night, I wanted to thank Greg for letting me help him on this project. I realized in our haste of arguing, I hadn’t been grateful enough for the opportunity. As I reached his office, someone else had already made themselvescomfortable.
“Alexa.” Max sat up straight in the chair I had just been in. He sounded surprised to see me. I remembered the bookmark in my bag and felt it burning a hole in there. “What are you doinghere?”
“She was just helping me with the numbers for the pitch tomorrow, but we had a little disagreement, which is why I wanted to talk to you about it.” I couldn’t help but stand in the doorframe as both men watched me. “If you’re ready to leave, Alexa, go ahead. I think we can handle it fromhere.”
“Thank you, Greg, for the opportunity. Have a good night, you two.” I turned to leave. I heard footsteps behind me, as I stood waiting for the elevator. I turned to see Max stop in front of my desk. There was a smirk on his face. I knew he could see that the bookmark wasn’t there anymore. He didn’t know where it was. Actually, no one did. But I knew that he was thinking I had it with me. And he wasright.
I tried to get home quick, not liking that I was leaving work alone and at night. I may have been in Atlanta for a week, but I still wasn’t as comfortable being on my own as I would’ve liked to be. I looked behind me, almost hoping that Max would follow me again, but frowned as I saw no one around when I crossed the street to Lilly’sapartment.
“How did tonight go?” Lilly questioned me when I entered the dark apartment. She paused her action movie, moving all of her attention tome.
“It was really good. I got to see a different side to the business.” I moved to the couch next to her, then plopped my feet onto her lap as I lay down. “I mean, Greg and I didn’t agree on anything, but I liked to see his side ofthings.”
“Did you get to see Maxtoday?”
I raised my eyebrows at Lilly. Her question threw me off. “Actually, I did. Why do youask?”
“Greg and Max are best friends, so he comes down usually when Greg stays late.” A blush crept across her face. We hadn’t talked more about Lilly’s crush on Greg, so I pretended not tonotice.
“Yeah, he was shocked to see me, and then I left, that was it. But Greg mentioned that he had been having a rough last few weeks, and apparently I had made Max smile again finally.” I laughed off my statement because as ridiculous as it sounded when Greg told me, it was worse to hear it coming from my mouth. It wasn’t like it was something I was proud of, or even wanted, but I didn’t know what else tosay.
“Now that you mention it, he has been a little on edge, but I thought that was just because he hadn’t gotten laid.” If I would have had a drink in my hand, I probably would have spit everywhere. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen him show interest in someone like he hasyou.”
I didn’t respond to Lilly’s comment. She unpaused the movie when awkward silence started to fill the room. I tried not to think about Max and what Lilly had said. I checked my phone multiple times, wanting more than anything for Adam to call or text me. I hadn’t talked to him since last night, and having been crazy with work today, I hadn’t gotten to text him. I knew he would be at work, so I didn’t want to disturb him. I laid my phone across my chest in case it vibrated; this was becoming a bad habit, One I didn’t know if I was going to be bale tobreak.
Lilly and I watched movies till we fell asleep, both of us slumped awkwardly on the couch. The next thing I knew, I was rolling over onto the floor in front of the couch. I shot up to see Lilly in the kitchen with a coffeecup.
“We have about ten minutes before work. You still have time to change.” My head was throbbing. I turned to the coffee table to see a cup of tea there forme.
“Thanks.” By the way my headache was already forming, I knew today was going to be a longday.
“No problem. Now go get ready.” Lilly shooed me away, and I hurried to the bedroom, tea in hand. The best vice a girl couldhave.
I threw on a simple pair of black slacks with a black dress shirt. It may have been June, but as a girl from California, I could stand to wear black in 100-degree weather. I also didn’t feel like trying to be fancy today. Jeans and a shirt were my go-to, and this was the closest I could do. I was so used to Adam picking out my clothes for me in the morning, that it was sometimes odd to have to take out the extra few minutes to put together anoutfit.
