Dina grimaced, then seemed to think better of saying whatever was on her mind.
“Please, Dina,” Grayson said.“What do you want to tell me?”
“It’s just that your wife,” Dina said, flustered.“She’s watching everything you do like a hawk.The divorce isn’t finalized yet.I don’t think she’ll be happy about something like this.”
Grayson heaved a sigh, admitting Dina had a point.“As soon as the divorce is finalized,” he said, his voice projected toward the desk before him and bouncing back into his face.He couldn’t wait to get out of his marriage.He couldn’t believe he’d let it go on this long.
To form Water Works, Grayson had hired his longtime accountant pal, Calvin, his business-whiz friend, Bobby, and his environment-obsessed buddy, Alex.That afternoon, they sat in the long, window-filled office at the end of the hall, their brows furrowed as they listened to Will and Ella’s song, the song Grayson and Will had selected for the commercial.Immediately, Grayson smiled, grateful to hear it again.The lyrics were exactly what he’d had in mind when he’d reached out to Will and Ella about working together.They were heartwrenching but hopeful.
“Hey, Gray.”Alex reached out to shake his hand.
“Hey, guys.”Grayson sat opposite Calvin and Bobby and beside Alex, grateful not to sit at the head of the table, as was his custom in the old days.He’d grown so tired of that king-like status.“What do you think of the track?It’s killer, right?Perfect for the commercial?”
There was a strange fluttering of glances.The air in the room soured.Alex reached over to turn off the music, then folded his hands on the table.
“Man, we have to talk about this song,” he said, half laughing, although his eyes were serious.
“What do you mean?”Grayson was grateful he’d brought coffee into the room with him.It gave him something to do with his hands, something to look at that wasn’t his friends, his colleagues.
“Gray, we know this was one of your favorite bands in, what, the nineties?”Calvin began.“But Water Works is a brand-new company, you know?We’re trying to reach an entirely different fan base.We’re trying to get at the Gen Zers and the alphas.”
“And the younger millennials,” Bobby added.
“I think all generations can appreciate Will and Ella’s music,” Grayson said, aware that he was being overly proud and that he felt excessively sure of himself.He didn’t care.He’d already promised Will a massive cash windfall.He’d already imagined the commercial with their music and only their music.
“We did some market research,” Bobby said, reaching for his phone.“What do you think about this?”He pressed play on a poppy track that made Grayson think of bubblegum, cotton candy, and suntan lotion.
Grayson shook his head throughout the thirty seconds the song played.“That isn’t the emotion I want the commercial to evoke,” he said.
Alex clucked and said, “The thing is, we talked to the head marketer.Sally?And she’s been doing this a really long time.She isn’t sure Will and Ella’s stuff is going to cut it.”
“I adore Sally’s work,” Grayson said, remembering the commercials he’d seen that she’d made, advertisements that had secured her a job at Water Works.“But it has to be Will and Ella.There really is no discussion.I’m sorry.”
Alex, Bobby, and Calvin exchanged worried glances, then immediately fixed their smiles in a way that, Grayson realized, suggested they weren’t always honest with him.He suddenly wondered if their friendships were honest or if they coddled him because of his wealth.His heart darkened so much that, when their meeting finished, all Grayson wanted to do was hide out in his Upper East Side apartment, eating junk food and waiting for Christmas to pass.
But once the four of them left the meeting room, the intensity collapsed around them, and they managed to laugh like the old friends they were.Calvin suggested they grab late-afternoon beers at a craft beer place not far from there, so they cut off early, shivered on their walk down the block, and unraveled over IPAs and stouts.Calvin told a story about his teenage daughter, how she’d tried to sneak out and set off every alarm in their apartment building.
“Can you imagine what these kids are up against?”Alex laughed.“Back in the day, we could sneak out without any real problem.”
“Speak for yourself.”Calvin scoffed.“You were raised in the Midwest.All you had to do was escape through the window and into a cornfield, and nobody would find you.”
Alex smiled, his eyes glinting with nostalgia.Everyone knew that he was a Midwesterner to his core.He would never become a wealthy Manhattanite, not really, not in his heart.Grayson really liked that about him.
But the thing was, Alex really was wealthy.He’d founded and sold several start-ups before the age of thirty-three.He spent the rest of his time investing intelligently and opening luxury hotels that had made him wealthier and wealthier.It was this that made Grayson slow down beside him on their way out of the bar.Calvin and Bobby were up ahead, talking loudly about sports, which allowed Grayson an opening.
“I need to get to Paris to check on some things,” he said under his breath.
Alex’s eyes echoed his understanding.“Nobody can know.”
“I know it sounds awful,” Grayson said.“I don’t want to ‘sneak’ on a plane.I’d much rather take a boat across the ocean and do things the right way.But if Genevieve is to be believed, if Camille really is struggling, I don’t want to wait.”
Alex bowed his head.“I can make a call that’ll have you on a plane by midnight tonight.Private.Just you and a couple of friends who wanted to get over to Europe anyway.No one will know.”
Grayson’s heart swelled.“You’re a good friend, man.”
Alex punched him lightly in the bicep.“You’re doing your best for the future of the world.Don’t beat yourself up about one flight.”
Grayson thanked him, said goodbye to the others, and hurried back to his bike.He needed to pack his bags, take a train to the airport, and leap across the ocean as quickly as he could.He needed to check on his daughter—just as he’d needed to all those years ago, when the fact of her had called him home.
