“Aubrey.” He looked worried. Not angry, but genuinely concerned. “What’re you doing? Are you okay? Do you have some kind of emergency?”
“Yes,” she said. “And I’m sorry I have to go. But since I have you here, consider this my notice that I’ll be working remotely, going forward.”
He stared. “Remotely? What? No. You know it’s against company policy to—”
“I know,” she cut in. “But it’s the twenty-first century. That policy doesn’t make sense anymore. And that algorithm I built, Osos doesn’t own it. I made it on my own time. At home. And I never signed over the rights for you to use it. You fired me before I could. At which point I spent two months writing a document that proves all that, actually.”
He gaped. She hoped he wouldn’t make her spell out the rest. Shereallydidn’t feel like dampening the mood by threatening him with a lawsuit.
“Okay,” he finally said. “But... where’s this coming from?”
“It doesn’t matter. I should’ve told you I’d be working remotely when I agreed to come back. But since I didn’t, I’m doing it now.”
He surveyed her as if looking at a stranger. “Remotely. As in, full-time?”
“Yes,” she said, calm as a summer’s breeze. “Full-time.”
He pulled at his bow tie, then ran a hand through hair he still hadn’t managed to tame, even for this. His frown gave her the impression she’d strained his goodwill to breaking. “I... okay. If you’re not giving me any other option, then I’ll make it happen.”
“Thank you.” She kissed his cheek, which only deepened the groove between his brows. “I’ll be available by Zoom, if you want.”
“Uh. Sure. We’ll work out the details. But... you’re really leaving? Right now? It’s that important?”
She checked her phone. The Uber driver was seven minutes away. “Yes, it’s that important.” She handed him the Innovation Cup.
“You don’t want this?”
“Put it in my office. You can have it shipped to me, okay?”
“O... kay.”
She flashed a smile and left him standing there.
In the bright, airy lobby, she scrolled to Paige’s name in her phone, then hit the call button. She needed more than just Nick’s number. She needed to know where he was so she could do this face-to-face. But she had no idea where he lived these days, whether he was still sharing a roof with Tansy, or—
“Eeeeeee!” Paige shrieked in her ear. “What’d you say? Tellmetellmetellme!”
Aubrey blinked and held the phone out, giving her ringing ear a reprieve. “Uh, Paige? Hi, it’s Aubrey MacLean.”
“Oh my god, I know who it is, you weirdo. Just tell me the news!”
“News? What do you mean, news?”
Paige rushed in a breath. “Wait. Is there not news? Oh my god, you didn’t say no, did you? Because if you’re worried it’s going to upset me or something, it totally won’t, and—”
“I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about,” Aubrey said. “I just called to see if you could tell me where your dad is. If he has a new address. There’s... something I want to ask him.”
The line went silent.
“Paige? Hello?”
“You haven’t seen him?” Paige sounded subdued now.
Aubrey rocked back on her heels. “Um, no? Should I have?”
“Uh... Where are you right now? The Manhattan Center? For the Osos gala?”
Aubrey swallowed her bewilderment and glanced around, halfway expecting to find Paige hiding behind a potted plant, her hand cupped around a cell phone. “How’d you know that?”
