The proposal, p.29
The Proposal, page 29
The Oren & Co. robots sat at the front of the room on the side farthest from the door.
From the back of the room, Sam waved and gave us a thumbs-up.
Kathleen stood at the center of the conference room table and smiled wide at both of us. Her tartan scarf had been replaced by a navy and gray one.
“Thank you everyone for being here today. I know we’re already well into our day, but we’ll be changing gears for a bit. It’s exciting work we’ll be doing and we can’t wait to join the Waverly group and show them what it means to be part of the Winthorpe family.”
Leo’s jaw clenched and he mouthed words silently like he was running through the presentation in his head.
Wait, ‘…join the Waverly group?’ What?
“To give you an idea of how we work, I’ve invited you here today into a review of all the teams we’ve worked with over Q3 this year to manage our staff and guests’ exceptional experiences. We have a number of companies presenting and some of you have been to their events, so that’ll give you an idea of the level of care we take in ensuring our employees and guests feel like family. First up, we have Easton Events and Simply Stark. Leo and Zara, take it away.”
Keeping my smile, I whispered through my teeth, trying not to draw attention to us. “Leo, what happened? Did you know about the acquisition?”
He leaned in, smelling like soap and cedar. “Yes, I found out. I’ve handled everything. The presentation has been updated.”
How had he found out? When? How long had he known? The questions flew through my head and I tried to focus on Kathleen’s speech. My foot shook, rattling my chair before Leo slipped his hand under the table and squeezed my knee. Sleep-deprived and on edge about Leo’s mad dash here today, I blinked hard and struggled to keep the neutral smile on my face.
“Relax.” His whispered word soothed me the tiniest bit. He scribbled down a note on a notepad. I have it handled. Don’t worry. With a smiley face drawn under it.
I nodded and clasped my hands in my lap to keep the nervous bounce out of my legs.
Leo pushed back his chair and I went to join him, he dropped his hand to my shoulder. “I’ve got this. Let me handle it.”
His presence alone drew back the attention of some of the more distracted suits in the room and on the screens.
“I’m Leo Wilder. Yes, I’m the same guy who got carted off the field at the last national championship, in case you had an inkling you’d seen my face before. But today I’m here as part of a collaboration between Simply Stark and Easton Events to show you why there hasn’t been an event planning outfit like this before.
“There are many ways we can develop the perfect experience for guests, colleagues and high-profile visitors to the city and the hotels.”
He flicked through the screens and pointed to the boards behind him.
I recognized none of it. My chest felt like it had been hollowed out. Cavernous and empty, and it only got worse as he continued.
He’d changed the entire presentation. None of the things we’d discussed to win over Kathleen were there. Leo focused on international flexibility, bringing groups in from abroad, and touring them through the city and a different set of objectives than we’d laid out.
“Thank you, Leo. This is a unique take on what you could bring to Winthorpe and Waverly. The coffee has arrived, if anyone wants to take a break. We’ll reconvene in a few minutes.” She got up and patted Leo on the shoulder before leaving the room.
“How was that?” He sat beside me with his eyes on everyone else in the room.
I stared back at him. “Where was the presentation we worked on?”
“Those were the changes I was talking about.” He scanned the room, looking everywhere but at me.
“Those weren’t changes, you threw out everything we worked on.”
People milled around the room chatting, grabbing cups of coffee and breakfast pastries.
Leo tried to cover my hand with his, but I dropped it into my lap.
The door opened again and Kathleen strode in. Not an acknowledgement or wave to us like she usually did. Maybe she was taking the veneer of impartiality in her decision more seriously with so many people in the room.
Then the door opened again and Bill and Valerie waltzed in, both on their phones. They’d finally showed up. The management of all the companies presenting today had been invited to attend.
Valerie’s smile at me tightened the knot in my stomach. Her happiness always came at someone else’s expense.
Kathleen stood in front of her chair, but didn’t take her seat. “While there was some consensus about bringing on a new provider to handle bigger events for us this year, the roster is full.”
She directed her gaze at us. “Leo and Zara, we won’t be bringing you on for more events. Let’s move on to the rest of the presentations.”
Everyone else went back to what they were doing, unaware we’d been tossed into chummed water.
Kathleen leaned over toward us, bracing her hands on the table. “You two should be ashamed of yourselves,” she hissed. “Pretending to be together. That’s low, and I don’t abide liars. You can leave.”
I sat in my seat, doubly stunned. Frozen like I’d been welded in place.
We’d lost. Our lie had blown up in our faces at the worst possible moment. How had she found out? Had Valerie remembered our last confrontation and told Kathleen? But that didn’t make sense. If so, she’d lost her dad tens, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars.
I looked down at the glinting ring on my finger and wanted to launch it across the room. All our work. All my work was gone. Leo had erased it, shredding it and flinging me in front of the wolves from Easton.
I sat beside him, every fiber of my being wanting to fling my chair back and rush from the room as Oren & Co. walked through their presentation.
Why would he do this? How had he done this? He hadn’t completed this presentation in one night on his own. He’d sabotaged me. We’d worked together for a week nearly non-stop when we hadn’t been falling into bed together—this presentation wasn’t a slapped-together job. I squeezed my forehead. What had I been thinking, trusting him?
Kathleen cleared her throat. “Thank you everyone for your attention this morning.” She tidied her stack of papers. “Everyone else, we’ll start the tour of the grounds in ten minutes. We’ll meet you outside of the Barnes Room.”
Kathleen left the room.
Leo shot up out of his seat and rushed after her before the door could close.
How long had he been working on this behind my back? Had it been his plan the entire time? How long had he known about the acquisition? I glared at his retreating figure through the closing door.
42
Zara
I sat in my seat with my copy of the presentation gripped in my hand.
Leo’s hands flexed on the arms of the chair beside me. His gaze was trained on Kathleen and he jerked forward in his seat.
I could almost laugh. His big plan had failed. The words floated on the page as the crushing ache in my chest stifled each breath. If only his failure hadn’t tanked my chances of holding the pieces of my life together.
My spot on the end of the table with the full morning glare of the sun shining on me should’ve felt hopeful. A new day with a new beginning. Instead, I felt like I’d been transported to the surface of the sun. Blood whooshed through my veins, thumping out the erratic heartbeat that had started the second the words had left his mouth.
I’d drive to tell Tyler tonight. I squeezed my eyes shut. He’d be crushed. That devastating disappointment that only came from the people closest to you letting you down. I clutched at my chest, the ache growing, burning, searing me.
I’d trusted Leo with not only my future, but Tyler’s.
“Zara.” Leo’s voice assaulted my ears like drumming on a metal trashcan. The crowd leaving the room was thick and heavy with excited conversation. Their acquisition would mean even more expansion. Even more money. Maybe there was something else I could do. I could sell the furniture. As quickly as that flashed into my head I dismissed it. I’d rather sleep in an empty apartment than know that I owed anything. I’d have to find another way to pay for it. I’d hung everything on the hope of winning this job.
Every beautiful piece of furniture was going back to Leo. I’d slept on the floor before. Besides, it would be less to deal with when I was evicted. Maybe I could crash with Stella for a bit. That would give me more time to set up a payment plan and figure something out for Tyler. I could donate plasma. And maybe my eggs to make extra cash.
Pushing my chair away from the table, spots danced in front of my face. Was this what it felt like just before you passed out? The door to the conference room opened again. Everything was drowned out by the desperation filling my veins.
Leo broke through the haze of doom I was trapped in. “Zara.” But I couldn’t be the least bit relieved. My rescuer had turned into my villain.
“What did you do?”
“I had to call the guys in after you left. Hunter gave me a tip, so I redid the whole thing. I was up until 5am working on it with them.”
“You let him handle this?” Bill’s glower drilled into me. Valerie stood behind him with her arms crossed, wearing a smug look of satisfaction that turned my stomach and fanned the flames of embarrassment glowing like a beacon in my chest. “You said you had this handled, Zara.”
“I told you, Daddy. She wasn’t up to it.” Her snide voice was nails driven into my eardrums.
“It seems you were right.” Bill’s disapproving tone barely scratched the surface of the groundswell of emotions eating away at me. “This is unacceptable, especially since this could’ve led to a partnership with the Waverly Group.” Bill seethed, keeping the simmering rant low enough for my ears only. “You’re fired.”
No crying. Breathe. A shortness of breath threatened to collapse my lungs. Valerie had said far worse to me, but that didn’t hurt nearly as much as Leo’s hammering the final nail into my coffin with his words.
The certainty in my future. My job. Leo. All of it had all been set alight, and I was standing outside the raging inferno, trying to decide whether to throw myself on the blaze next.
I wanted to slam my hands over my ears and run screaming from the room. All the times he’d whispered his sweet words, ones I’d always felt were only for other women, in my ear at night. His hands trailing along my side, tickling my skin. Had it been worth it? Had it been worth letting him into my bed and my heart?
Tunnel vision took over. All the sounds in the room dulled and morphed into Charlie Brown adult speak.
One final sneer from Valerie and Bill and they were gone. My heart thumped against my ribs and my stomach threatened to revolt. I’d need to keep whatever I’d eaten down since it would be some time before I’d have a full plate again.
“Zara.” Leo stood beside me.
I stared at him, almost unable to place his face in the fog in my brain. My body wasn’t my own. My arms and legs wouldn’t move. The plan I’d just made with a fragment of a glimmer of hope had died. Now I had zero months and no chance of keeping Tyler in school and my head above water.
Leo cupped his arm around my elbow and walked me toward the exit. I stumbled and he wrapped his arm around my waist, guiding me out of the room.
He led me to the stairwell, pressing the exit bar and letting it close behind us. There was a temperature drop the second we stepped over the threshold and it snapped me out of my stupor. The weight what had built up in the last three-and-a-half minutes crashed into me like a time-lapse video slammed into my face.
“Bill fired me.”
We were enveloped by the dim seclusion of the concrete and metal steps. My voice echoed off the walls, dialing it up to surround sound.
“That sucks.” He rubbed his hands up and down my arms. “But you hated that job.”
Was he kidding me right now? My chest tightened and my blood hammered in my ears like it could start spilling out of them any second. I’d been fired. There was no upside, no silver lining. I shook his hold off my arms and took a step back.
He broadcast it to Bill and Valerie about staying up all night alone to work on today’s presentation. How had Kathleen figured out we weren’t engaged? Had she seen a picture of him cozied up with some woman’s cleavage, or had our over-the-top denials exposed our lie?
My cheeks heated and my hands trembled. I hadn’t even had a chance to help with his new presentation. Maybe I could’ve seen something that would have improved our chances. He’d taken the whole thing on, leaving me hanging there as the shitty lab partner no one wanted to get stuck with, not even telling me there was an issue.
“You got me fired.” My clipped words barely made it past my clenched teeth.
“It’ll be okay, Z. You can come work for Simply Stark.” He smiled and took a step closer like it was no big deal.
Newsflash, it was a huge freaking deal. “With what accounts, Leo?” I shrugged and shook my head.
“We’ll make it happen. We’re a great team. It’ll take us a few months to get things up and running, but we pulled it off. If the Shining Twins hadn’t gone to Kathleen, we’d have won the job.”
Accounts like Winthorpe and the Waverly Hotel Group did not fall out of the sky. Simply Stark wouldn’t have been on its last legs if it were so damn easy to come up with events jobs in this city with no effort, capital, or experience.
“Do you think I was with Easton Events because of the warm and welcoming atmosphere and friendly coworkers? I was there because it paid. I needed a job and it paid what I needed. Sam hasn’t even been paying you. You don’t even know if you’ll still be there and you’re family.”
“I’m not saying it’ll be easy, but we’ll figure this out.”
“Figure this out?” I dragged my fingers through my hair until they caught on my bun. I ripped them out, probably making myself look like a psycho in the process. But the look on his face, like everything would be just fine and dandy, sent my blood pressure skyrocketing. “I can’t afford a temporary stopgap. I can’t even afford a fucking cup of coffee. And you want me to take a chance on a company that can’t even play its single full-time employee?”
“Calm down, Gingersnap.” He stepped closer.
I shoved both hands against his chest before balling them into fists. I snatched them back and clutched them against my chest. My heart rabbit punched against my ribs. “I don’t have the fucking luxury of calming down.” I pressed the heel of my hand against my forehead. “Tyler’s tuition is due in a week. My rent is due in three weeks, and I have one paycheck left. If I’m lucky, unemployment will keep me going for another month, but even so, my brother will have to go home, crushing his spirit and destroying everything he’s worked for. I can’t believe you did that to me. I can’t believe you got up there and fucked me over like that.”
“Zara—”
“No! You could’ve told me what was happening. You could’ve given me the chance to help.”
“You were already on the train. You needed to spend time with your brother.”
“I needed to protect him. I needed to pay his tuition. I needed my chance to save my life, not you trying to save it for me,” I barked at him, blinking back the tears. “This is why I don’t trust people,” I spat the words fast and furious before spinning on my heels and rushing down the stairwell. My ring scraped against the painted metal on the way down, adding to the echoing call of my name from above.
I rushed for the exit and out into the street, where the bright sunlight blinded me. A taxi screeched to a halt in front of me, and I rested both hands on the hood before jumping in the back. I rattled off my address.
“There are easier ways to get a cab.” The driver looked at me through the Plexiglas divider.
I brushed the tears from my face.
“Are you okay?”
Staring out the window, I watched everyone else walking around, looking at their phones, laughing, grabbing a hotdog from the street vendors like my world hadn’t just imploded. The loneliness crowded in on me, threatening to swallow me whole.
“No, I’m not.”
43
Leo
The tin of popcorn beside me needed to be a hell of a lot bigger. August left it on my doorstep. I don’t even know how he knew, but he did. Leaving the Winthorpe presentation, I’d come straight back here. I couldn’t face Sam. I’d had one shot and I blew it. Not only had I blown the job, but I’d lost the girl.
Sam had found me after she left, hugged me and told me that it was okay, I’d tried my best. Only it wasn’t okay, and he was too damn understanding.
I’d been holding onto so many threads, trying to keep everything together, and it had collapsed all around me, taking my heart with it. The anger and disappointment shining in Zara’s eyes killed me. I was just another person added to her list of unreliable people she couldn’t count on.
My phone rumbled across the coffee table in front of me. I brushed off the caramel and cheese dust and stared at the unknown number. Hope flared in my chest. Maybe it was Zara.
“Leo, my man,” a familiar voice crowed on the other end of the line.
“Charlie?”
“Of course, who else would be calling you from New York?”
There was a list a mile long.
“All the guys got together with the producers and higher-ups. You got the job,” he screamed it through the line, and I jerked the phone away from my face.
A week ago, I’d probably have been yelling my thanks back to him, but now…bro-ing down with those guys turned my stomach. Leaving Philly felt wrong—not like my feet were cemented here and I couldn’t escape, but like I was finally putting down roots to things I cared about, even if they no longer cared back.
“Thanks for letting me know. When do you need my decision?”
“The fuck?”
