“I’m going to change her mind. Just you wait.”
Rob raises an eyebrow. “With all due respect, Bill, that young woman seemed pretty intent on her choice. And she doesn’t seem like someone who can be easily swayed.”
“You’re definitely right about that.” But I know more than Rob how much Sophie has on her plate. Those two little girls and her baby boy who’s barely out of the newborn stage …
That woman is a powerhouse. And I want nothing more than to help her succeed. To see her happy. I’ve seen firsthand how much work she put into her business, her family, and ultimately, her relationship with Matthew over the last decade.
All I need to do is find a way to convince her that working with me is in her best interest.
What could possibly go wrong?
“So what’s your plan?” Rob asks.
I take a deep breath and look back to the window, bringing up an image of Sophie’s tall, graceful form striding out of the café. It takes all my focus not to get hard.This isn’t about that.“I’m not sure yet. This is probably going to be my toughest assignment to date.” I chuckle, and Rob laughs along, although a bit less surely than me.
Game on, Sophie Côté.
Rob and I head back to the office together, although I mostly keep to myself on the walk and metro ride. About halfway through our metro ride, my phone buzzes several times in a row.
I’ve got two texts—one from Karan, and the other from Océane.
I swallow, then open the text from Karan first.
Karan
Hey man, if you’ve got an opening this week I could really use some help
Will
Yeah what’s up
Karan
I’m applying to a new job, so I’d love your business smarts on my resume
Weird. I thought Karan loved working at Ubisoft. I remind myself to discuss this with him tomorrow at dinner, but for now, I tell him yes and move on to Océane’s message.
Océane
I just got the money :) thank you thank you thank you
Océane
But also I just wanna remind you
Océane
It really isn’t necessary. Like yeah I’m poor AF lol but whatever, gotta deal with it
A painful tug grips my heart. Maybe, if someone had stepped in to protect Océane from my parents, she’d be capable of working and supporting herself. As it stands, her fibromyalgia certainly doesn’t help, but the severe CPTSD she developed thanks to all that abuse has gotten her fired from every job she tried to keep.
Apparently, most people won’t believe you when you tell them your entire body hurts. Not even your doctor. Not even your parents. So when Océane fell short of the academicperformance Rachel and I had achieved a decade before her, they were anything but forgiving.
Rachel understood. Rachel believed her. I believed her but didn’t know what to do. I was a coward.
And in some ways, I still am.
Will
