Sure thing, honeybunch! Don’t work yourself to death!
I groan. I’m twenty-eight. I don’t want to worry them. My life has always seemed so solid and easy in comparison to what they see every day, and I want to be the person they’ve always believed in—the one with plans and dreams—not the guy who lost his childhood sweetheart and then stupidly injured himself. All I’ve ever really wanted is a home of my own and someone to share it with, maybe a couple of kids running around.
The tatty old building that houses Williams Security on Water Street looms in front of me, and I look up at it and sigh.Add this office to all your other problems, James.Des and I joined Jo’s business when it was six people, and we doubled in size after landing a major security contract from Caltech. Since the Samsung contract came in, Des has been out in Korea every few months, and we’ve had to bring on technical people in batches of ten or twelve to handle the increase in business. Our feet have hardly touched the ground.
When I tap in the code and push through the door, a large man in a Giants T-shirt is standing in the corridor, his belly hanging over his ill-fitting pants, peering at the directory of companies on the wall. It’s not a big list. There are only seven floors, and we have two of them.
“Can I help you?”
He swings toward me, long straggly hair framing bloodshot eyes and rough stubble on his chin.
“I’m lookin’ for my daughter,” he grunts.
And something about the way he says it with a belligerent jut to his jaw makes the back of my neck prickle.
“Oh yeah? Where does she work?”
He scowls at me and doesn’t answer, and I frown at him. “Does she have a name?” I add.
“Sadie.”
Sadie?We have a Sadie. She’s a new developer who started several months ago as part of the last intake. I’ve got a real soft spot for Sadie; she’s quiet, hardworking, and doesn’t toot her own horn. I understand that mindset so well. What’s the likelihood that there are two Sadies in this small building? My eyes scan down him again. I think of her smart pants and careful manner. This isherdad?
“She works in some technology place, software stuff,” he says.
Almost definitely our Sadie.Her dad doesn’t know the name of the company she works for?I study him again. Something about this guy makes me want to stall. He’s making my New York radar for odd people ping like crazy.
“Hmm, Sadie,” is all I say.
“Who d’you work for?” He waves his hand at the board behind us.
“Williams Security.” I’m not telling him that we’re a tech business. “Security and all that.”
He jerks his chin and purses his lips, then he narrows his eyes at me. “You get in a fight?”
My Band-Aid!How could I have forgotten that? “Not a serious one,” I say. A fight with myself, maybe? The idea almost makes me smile.
He grunts. “Always a clear winner and loser in a fight,” he says.
Yeah, and I’m the loser in the fight to hang on to my relationship.
He turns back to the board, and I examine the bald patch on the back of his head. Why has Sadie’s dad turned up at the office looking for her? Why hasn’t he texted her or called? Perhaps she’s not even in touch with him.
“Is there … some kind of emergency at home?” I say, all politeness.
“Na, just wanna talk to her.”
“You don’t have her number?”
“Lost it,” he mumbles, and I watch in fascination as his neck starts to go red. “You got any tech companies in here?” He gestures at the board.
I shake my head. Lost his daughter’s number? How do you lose someone’s number when it’s stored on your phone? More like she’s blocked him for some reason, and he’s turned up here. And suddenly I don’t want to tell him anything about Sadie working for us. No question he’s lying about something, and Sadie’s nice and straightforward. He’s like a weasel. I’m expecting him to rear back and bite me any minute.
“This is the right building, though. Y’see?” He holds out a piece of paper with 90 Water Street scrawled on it.
“Ah,” I say. “The numbers here are all mixed up—down one side and up the other. Ninety’s the one across the street.” Technically it’s true that they’re messed up. Though we are number 90, there’s nothing outside to say so.
He grimaces. “What do all these companies do?” He gestures at the directory.
