“That’s not how everyone meets, Mona. That’s not how I met Logan.”
I laugh at that and take my time chewing on the peanuts, rolling my eyes again. The girl sounds way too naïve in general. She’s lived a sheltered life, and it’s obvious.
“Yeah, and look how well it’s working for you.” The sarcasm is thick in my tone, but I don’t care. The perfect relationship she was hoping for is not working out like she was expecting. I guess that’s what happens when you have everything handed to you for your entire life.
“What do you mean?” She sounds as offended as I was expecting her to be.
I take a deep breath in and prepare to give her a reality check.
“Well, I don’t know how to tell you, sweetie, but how is your relationship with Logan normal? He didn’t want you to tell anyone you’re dating. But now he does, and you don’t. The whole thing is messed up,” I say, referring to everything that she’s shared with me since she moved to Texas to be with this guy. It’s been one thing after another with them.
“Not as messed up as you hooking up with Alex every time he glances your way.”
I am not prepared for the deep pain her words are causing me. I am always the tough chick who is ready to kick ass for us both. Now, I realize with a start that I have no right to judge herrelationship when I was never able to claim Alex as being my anything. It’s always been just wild, crazy sex and nothing else.
“I’m so sorry. That was uncalled for,” Elizabeth murmurs into the phone.
I swallow hard and regroup, grateful that she is not here with me to see the pain etched onto my face.
My life is such a mess.
FOUR
Alex
This has gotto be the longest, most drawn out meeting I have ever been a part of. My eyes follow the presentation on the large screen attached to the wall, but my brain has a hard time staying engaged.
I should’ve never agreed to do this today since I knew I wouldn’t be able to stay engaged. This is too big of a project for me to make the wrong decision. There’s too much money at stake, and losing money is not something I am accustomed to.
”The numbers projected for the first year support the expansion,” Melanie, the presenter concludes. “We will need to be conservative with our other investments, but as you see on page twenty-seven of the report, this is only short term…”
As I sit at the head of the table, I don’t acknowledge the hopeful smile she sends my way. I understand that this wouldtriple her commission for the year if it works out, but I am more concerned about my bottom line than hers.
”We are always conservative in our investments. So how much more conservative are you talking?”
The room falls silent when I speak. All heads turn to stare at me, waiting to follow my lead on how they would vote on this. They know that I will not put any money at all into a project I don’t believe in one hundred percent. If there is even a shadow of a doubt, I back out.
Melanie stares at me like a deer caught in the headlights. She was comfortable during the entire presentation, but now she’s losing steam. That tells me that I am right to be apprehensive about this project. And if I catch this when I am not even running at full capacity, it is clear to me that I would find even more holes in it once I gave it my full focus.
The cell on the table in front of me buzzes with a message. I ignore it as I am not into the habit of taking calls while I am in meetings. I do however glance at it with the corner of my eye while I wait for my number one saleswoman to answer my question.
I am surprised when I see it’s a message from Kyle.
Call me back asap, this is urgent!
My first instinct is to ignore the message. But then I realize that he never sent me a message like that. He is not the type to leave cryptic messages either, and now my curiosity is piqued.
”We are going to take a ten-minute break while you come up with a viable answer.”
Relief instantly floods Melanie’s face. She rushes back to where her laptop is sitting with the rest of her stuff. The others on the team gather around her.
I sit up from my chair and walk out of the room, not seeing any sense in hovering over her. It would only make her nervousand unable to perform, which would be of no good to my business.
Depending on what Kyle has to tell me, I might need some privacy, so I head toward my office as I tap on his phone number to call him.
“Whoa! You actually called!” The surprise in his voice is obvious. He makes it sound like I never call him when he asks. Although, I’m not sure when is the last time that he did ask for a call back.
“What’s so urgent?”
