He had always assumed Anne loved that about him, but in the end, maybe that was the ultimate problem.
“I went to Argentina. She stayed,” he replied simply.
“And then?”
Freddie shrugged. “And then nothing. I haven’t talked to her since.”
George winced, while Will let out a loaded sigh behind them.
“Be careful,” he murmured, his attention still on his phone.
“Of what?” Freddie asked.
“Getting back together with her. If it goes south, you can’t exactly pick up and move out of the country again.”
Freddie forced out a dry laugh. “Not going to happen.”
George turned around, frowning. “Then what are we doing here?”
“I just need something to do,” Freddie said, running a hand down his face. “Half my problem right now is that I have too much free time to think about all this shit.”
“And convince your friends to blow off work to listen to you work through it out loud,” Will murmured, sending him a wry grin before taking a sip of his beer.
“Let’s be honest. It didn’t take much convincing,” George said, lining up another shot.
Freddie let out a long breath as he shook his head. “What’s funny is I actuallymisswork.”
George paused. “I thought you were looking forward to some time off?”
Freddie scratched his jaw as his gaze wandered out to the far nets and the boats drifting by on the Hudson just beyond them. That’s right, he had said that. He had meant it, too. After spending almost a decade building Wentworth Hydroponics, and working so hard to use his technology to help people who needed it most, he had been almost relieved to sell and have some time to himself. But now, the long stretch of idleness felt daunting, and he had no previous experience to help him through it.
“I was,” he finally replied. “But I think I suck at relaxing.”
Will scoffed. “I could have told you that.”
Freddie couldn’t help but laugh.
“Well, if you’re looking for something to do, Mark Segel over at AirSoil is still asking to talk to you,” George said.
Freddie paused. “Who?”
George frowned. “Do you read any of my emails?”
“No.”
Behind them, Will chuckled.
“Mark Segel,” George repeated. “He founded this green energy start-up last year, AirSoil. They’re one of our companies who just had their Series B funding round and look pretty solid. Mark wants to build out a sustainable farming division and was asking if you’d be up for a meeting.”
“Is this a job interview?” Will asked suspiciously.
“No,” George replied. “Just a meeting. But you never know what it could grow into.”
Freddie considered for a moment, then nodded. “All right. Let’s set something up.” Then he turned to notice Will’s dubious expression. “What?”
“Nothing,” Will said, bringing his attention to his phoneagain. “I just thought you weren’t interested in becoming a cog in corporate America.”
It was a line Freddie had used when he first met Will, when they were working out the details of selling his company and the possibility of Freddie staying on as CEO. Freddie had dismissed it—he had always hated the idea of working for someone else. Even worse if that work required him to wear a suit and go into an office every day. But just a few months later, Freddie found himself doing just that, attending all the sales pitches and board meetings required for the sale. It had been tedious, yes, but he could handle it. And if this new company was investing in sustainable farming initiatives, the very thing he had once wanted to start a nonprofit to do, would it be so bad to talk?
