“Have a safe trip back to your office,” Jaxon calls loudly as I stumble, numb, out the front doors of the lobby.
It takes a few moments of the cold rain hitting my face before I remember to open my umbrella. Shivering, my shoes getting soaked in the rain, I walk slowly toward Salinger’s office.
What am I going to do?
My phone beeps. I hope it’s Salinger out looking for me, but it’s not.
Unknown:Tick tock six o’clock.
Six o’clock. I only have a few hours.
I can’t think. I don’t know what to do.
It’s all my fault, because I didn’t find a way to fix it earlier, to take care of the problem. I wasn’t smart enough or strong enough, and now I’ve lost the port contract. Salinger is going to be furious, I know. He’s going to rage and throw things and tell me it’s my fault for not coming to him sooner.
I can’t tell him what happened—he’ll be so angry. The contract is worth billions and billions of dollars. He’ll fire me, and then what will I do? I’ll be completely at Jaxon’s mercy.
My mouth is dry. I need a coffee.
Thankfully, Salinger isn’t in his office when I return, dripping water.
“Oh my gosh,” Jess cries, grabbing a roll of paper towels. “You’re drenched. Why didn’t you take an Uber?”
“I—an Uber?” My voice sounds far away.
“Are you feeling all right?” My friend sounds concerned.
“Sure, I just need a coffee. It’s a caffeine crash,” I assure her. “Let’s go to Starbucks.”
“Can’t. I have to go with Dara’s group to that tech summit tonight, so I need to prep. I hear Emerald Fork is catering. I’ll steal you some caprese pizza bites.”
“Yummy.” I try to sound enthusiastic. “You’re making me hungry. Pepper, come on—let’s go to Starbucks.” I’m going through the usual motions like it’s any old normal day.
Pepper trots next to me as we make our way to the coffee shop. There’s a long line, and I hold Pepper as I wait in the warm store for my coffee, pretending, like always, that nothing is wrong, that everything is fine. I’m going to get my mocha sprinkleberry crunch Frappuccino. I’m going to go back to my office and sit at my computer. Salinger’s going to make a snide remark, Jess will make a funny comment about his hair, and she and I will talk celebrity gossip while I finish the report he asked for.
Everything is fine. Everything is perfectly normal.
“Mandy and Pepper?” the barista calls.
I pick up our orders. I don’t even taste the sprinkles as they fizz on my tongue. I have an hour until six o’clock, yet I’m just walking slowly down the sidewalk like I have all the time in the universe, like my life isn’t just about to end.
It can’t, though, right? I mean, Jaxon can’t just think that I’m actually going to quit my job and show up at his condo, right? If I just pretend this isn’t happening, what is he really going to do? Well, to me, at least? He’ll definitely ruin Salinger’s contract.
The coffee drink is making me sick.
I cut across the first waves of people leaving offices early and toss the mostly full drink into a trash can.
“There she is!” a man yells.
I hear screeching and honking, then a white van with little vented doors on the side and the logo for the City of Seattle Department of Animal Control pulls up next to me.
A heavyset man jumps out of the truck. “We got a complaint about a dog. Two bite incidents.” The man pulls a folded piece of paper out of his coveralls.
“No.” I back away.
Pepper is barking at the man in his coveralls.
“Let’s just do this nice and easy.” He extends a hand.
