“Yeah. That would be the one.”
“He sure fell off the face of the earth.” He chuckles and my arms immediately cross over my chest.
“The weirdest thing happened the other week…”
“Yeah?” Aidan is watching me carefully and my heartbeat is a drum filled with umms and likes to fill the gaps in my mind.
“Chris invited me to a client pitch meeting. Out of nowhere, Holden calls me out in the middle of the meeting because he doesn’t like everyone’s ideas in the boardroom. After he calls on me, Chris basically hands me the responsibility of helping him with strategizing his comeback. I think he was nervous that Holden hadn’t signed with us yet. We haven’t had a big name like his in a while…”
“So did he?”
“Did he do what?”
“Sign with you…”
“Oh yes, he did.”
“Wow, this is huge. What was so good about your ideas?” he says. A coldness rushes past my shoulders and a full-body shiver takes over me.
“Luck of the draw… Just another age-old story where my fate is in the hands of one man’s opinion.”
“Probably wanted someone who was softer around the edges and prettier than Chris.”
I lift my shoulders and try to physically shake off what he means by that. Without a second to think about it, I ask, “Are you happy for me?” It comes out as more of a whisper. A question that I don’t know if I want to speak louder.
“Of course I am happy for you. You are making big moves. Holden Strauss is trusting you with his image.”
I can feel my chest tightening and my throat becoming itchy.
“How’s the video game venture?”
As soon as the words come out of my mouth, Aidan pushes off the bed. He stares with pursed lips. “Not going.”
I push my body back to a crisscross apple sauce position on the bed, trying to maintain optimism in my voice. “I am sure you are just being hard on yourself.”
He rubs his chin a few times. “You wouldn’t understand.”
Crossing my arms, I know this is going to become a losing battle for us. You can never win with the Whitmores.
“I am trying to.” I softly whisper my words back.
“They won’t back me.” His voice is elevated now.
“Who won’t?”
“Who do you think?” he retorts.
Mr. and Mrs. Whitmore were nothing but generous with him. But I guess for work ethic, that was something you couldn’t teach and they knew that.
“There has to be a logical reason why they said no.”
“They said it was too risky. That I don’t know the implications of the amount of money I am asking for.”
“Maybe itcouldbe risky?”
“So you are siding with them?”
“No, I just know they are big investors in other companies, so they probably know the signs…”
