“When will you be back?”
I hesitate to say more, but I won’t give up on helping Bri. “That’s the thing. I need to ask you for another favor.”
“Tell me.”
“Would it be possible for me to start back next Monday?” A few more days would let me stay with Bri until she goes back to LA. Bare minimum, I can keep her company until she leaves the hotel. Either way, it would give me time to pay her back for all the help she has given me. “There’s something I need to do before I leave.”
Sai hums as he considers it. “I suppose you could waste all your vacation time, or . . . you could work remotely from New York. You’re still on payroll, and your benefits are intact, including your housing stipend. Stay for a month.”
A month? That’s much longer than I planned. This is an unexpected variable thrown into an equation I was about to solve. “Seriously?”
“I’m the best, I know. Express your appreciation of my generosityin the form of securing the FBC account.” A venture capital firm in Manhattan he’s been trying to get since January. I can never remember the names that create their acronym, so in my mind, I call them Finance Bros Corp. Don’t tell them. “Do what you do best and close it so we can beat Dickerson’s revenue this month.”
Sai’s archrival on the racquetball court and head of the cybersecurity solutions team. Our departments are always in some invisible competition over profits. Sai divulges too much to me, which is how I know their competition has nothing to do with end-of-year bonuses or profit shares. Sai hates him, as he should. Dickerson is literally a dick.
“Stay there for the month, land the account, and talk to Natalie,” Sai says. “You can still convince her to come back to you if you try hard enough. It worked for me.”
That’s not what I want to hear. I finally started to believe there is a world where I can exist without her and be happy. Reopening that door would . . . I’m not sure what it would do. It’s farfetched to think I could ever convince the notoriously decisive Natalie to change her mind. And knowing me, I’d still try. Unless Bri is here to stop me. I wouldneedher to stop me.
And there it is, standing right in front of me. The perfect excuse to let me help Bri. Make her thinksheis helpingme.
“Deal,” I agree. “I’ll be back on our morning calls on Wednesday?”
“Perfect. Hey, Liem.”
“Yeah?”
“I’m glad you’re back.”
Deep down, I am too, but not for the reason he thinks.
Not a minute later, the door swings open and Bri walks in, almost catching me in the act. Her face bears a grin and a glassy sheen. It takes me a moment to figure out her hair isn’t pulled back, it’s down. And different.
“Hey,” she says when she sees me. “Ignore my face. I’m pretty sureI have a snail’s shit on me. It feelsamazing.”
“You changed your hair,” I say, wondering why she’s burying the lede.
“Yeah. You inspired me.” She turns around and brushes her fingers over her new bangs. The rest falls like a lion’s mane, framing her face in tight, defined curls. She must have chopped off inches. “They had a stylist downstairs who looked as young as you, and I told her to do whatever she thought was best. Do you like it?”
Her haircut brings out the best of the features she must have been hiding before. Her button nose, dramatic full lips, big eyes, the pretty angle of her jaw and the line of her elegant neck.How have I not noticed that Bri is beautiful?Maybe the breakup is starting to look good on her.
“I love it,” I say, holding back the details of how much. “It looks great. Seriously.”
“Thank you,” she sings, still turning side to side to give me angles. “Maybe I’ll start wearing a hoodie every day and get some cute glasses next.”
Is she talking about me? “I don’t wear a hoodie every . . .” I trail off when I think back and remember I have indeed worn a hoodie every day I’ve known her. “Well, fuck.”
“That wasn’t a dig, babe. I love your style.”
Warmth comes to my face as if she’d just hit on me. I’ve never been called “babe” before or been told my style is anything other thantech nerd remix. Both feel nice.
“Do you still want to come to the museum with me?” She switches subjects like she didn’t just give me one of the biggest compliments of my life. “If I don’t go to the Guggenheim while I’m here, I might actually die.”
Not exactly my vibe, but Bri wants to continue our tourist adventures before we leave. My conversation with Sai could change that.I’m too nervous to bring it up yet.
“Yeah, let’s go.”
~
