Liv folds her hands on the table. "You texted at 10:23 on a Sunday."
"What happened?"
I open my mouth, fully intending to give the perfectly structured explanation I rehearsed in the shower this morning. I had three key points to cover before asking for the vote. But sitting under the combined weight of their stares, the words evaporate.
Nadia watches me over the rim of her latte. She isn't impatient, just quietly waiting. She tips her head slightly.
Priya leans back in her chair and crosses her arms. Her mouth twitches. "You're wound up."
My shoulders pull back automatically. "I'm not wound up."
"You texted at 10:23."
"I was awake."
"On a Sunday."
I look down at my coffee. Pick it up. Set it back down without drinking. "I'm processing."
Liv's eyebrow goes up. Just one. "Processing what?"
I take a breath.You already rehearsed this. Just stick to the facts.
"The photographer I'm working with. Tom. The Developer loved his work so much they're making us co-present to the Board. Every Thursday. Indefinitely. And we have to prep together every Wednesday."
I pause. Wait for the sympathy. The solidarity. The acknowledgment that this is a problem.
Silence.
Priya blinks. "That's it?"
My jaw tightens. "That's not enough? I have to stand in front of investors every week with someone who—"
Liv cuts in. "With someone who what? Does good work?"
I look at Nadia. She's watching me, not coming to my defense.
"With someone I did’t expect to be... competent."
Heat crawls up my neck. "He found a connectivity angle I missed." I'm talking faster now. Filling the silence before it gets worse. "He improved my design argument. And now the Board thinks we're some kind of creative dream team and I'm stuck co-presenting with him until the bid closes."
Priya sits back. Takes a slow sip of her coffee.
Her grin widens. "You're mad he's good."
I want to deny it. I open my mouth to deny it.
Liv's already nodding. "You expected chaos. Instead you got a capable partner. And now you don't know what to do with it."
I look away. Stare at the chalkboard menu behind the counter like I'm reading it for the first time.
"I know what to do with it. I manage it."
Nadia tilts her head. "And?"
Priya's grin shifts into something sharper. "At least he's cute, right?"
My hand jerks, sloshing coffee over the rim of my cup. "That's not—this isn't about—"
