The marketing team have been instructed to send it to you.
Me
So you’ve been busy, and you’re busy now?
Eli
Yes, I have been in court, and I am working on a merger of two corporations that is taking longer than expected to finalize.
Me
I guess you don’t have time for coffee, breaks, or checking emails?
Eli
Like I said, I’m slammed.
Feeling mischievous, I do something that on any other day would be unprofessional: I take a photo of him sitting directly across the street from me and send it.
His head snaps up and he looks around like a meerkat on high alert until he spots me. Then his mouth tightens into a thin line, and the bump between his eyes thickens, eye narrowing to slits. I can’t tell if he’s angry at me for catching him taking a much-needed break from his office, or if he’s mad at himself for lying about being too busy to speak to me.
I’m actually delighted that he’s out of his office and taking a break from his stressful job; he needs to do more of that, in my opinion, not that it counts for much.
I lift my hand in the air and throw him an over-the-top finger-wave, then shoot him a smile before pushing myself off the lamppost and continuing in the direction of my office.
If driving the grump that is Eli Hart crazy with annoyance were a sport, I’d be winning.
In fact, I just won gold.
10
ELI
I feel relieved when Paige Bradshaw arrives for a meeting with Max because, for the last five weeks, he has been rambling about a mystery woman he met at a dating in the dark, sex club event and has been trying to find out who she is, with no success. As soon as Paige entered his office, he shut up about it, which I am grateful for.
He’s not just driving himself crazy; he’s driving all of us up the wall, too, even having Cole make a list of all the things we know about the stranger. Not that it’s helped; we are still no further forward in figuring out who she is.
As soon as Nathan disappears, then Cole, I follow closely behind to leave Max to his meeting with Paige.
They are currently lawyers on opposing sides of a messy divorce, and it’s clear to everyone how much Paige and Max hate each other, but for the sake of their clients, they tolerate one another.
“How did it go with Rainbow Bright?” Max calls out to me just as I’m about to leave his office.
“Rainbow Bright?” I ask, completely puzzled.
“The team-building woman,” he clarifies. “From a few weeks ago?”
“Oh, Sapphire.”
He slaps his desk and points at me. “That was it. How did it go? Did she have good ideas?”
“I’m not sure her company is right for us.” I sound like a broken record.
If Max had seen Sapphire on her social media the other day, singing karaoke in her office with her entire team celebrating thirteen years in business, singing Fleetwood Mac’s “The Chain,” then he would understand my concerns. It’s a cult she’s running, not a business, and they’re all mad as a box of frogs.
Once everything is finalized and I get my eyes on the day’s running order, it might make me think differently about their capabilities. Until then, the jury’s out.
“Really?” Max sounds surprised, as if he can’t believe that I’m still saying the same thing.