Level Up (19 page)

He dialed Casey's cell. "Finally," Casey said, then sighed. "Sorry. It's just...I left a message. I called a few times."

"Sorry. My power was out, and I kept my phone off so I wouldn't lose charge."

"Still in that old house in the boonies," she said, with a little laugh. "That's so you."

And so not you,
he thought. That's why she'd moved on to New York and he'd stayed in Snoqualmie. "Are you all right?"

"I'm in town," she said. "I'm interviewing with a firm over on Capitol Hill. I thought...I thought we could have dinner. Catch up."

"You're moving back?" he said, with some shock.

"I'm really thinking about it," she said. "There are a lot of great things here, you know. Lots of things I'd forgotten about."

"Would it be a PR job?"

"Head publicist over at a women's clothing company. Sustainable, hippie hipster stuff, but cool." She sounded proud. "They flew me out and everything."

"I was wondering--would you know how to help a little company? Like a bookstore?"

"A bookstore?" she said. "They still have those?"

"Yeah, actually," he said. "There's one around the corner. Little, independent. They're run by these sisters..."

"Oh, I get it," she said. "You dating any of them?"

"What?
No
," he said, feeling vaguely guilty. "I just--they're local, and they're cool. They'll lose not only the business, but their home if the bookstore goes under. I just wondered if there were any pointers or ideas you could give them, or anybody you know who could help them boost the signal."

"You and local causes. You're such the small town guy. I mean that in the good way." She hummed, thoughtful. "Well...yeah. I could probably pull something together."

"That'd be awesome. I would really appreciate it."

"Tell you what, give me tonight to work on it, and then I'll give it to you tomorrow. Over dinner."

He blinked. "Um..."

"Are you seeing anyone right now?"

"I...well..." He was sleeping with someone. Someone he'd like to get involved with. But she hadn't said one way or the other. "It's complicated. And new. And, erm, confusing."

There was a hurt pause, then a brittle little laugh. "Well, we'll just meet as friends then, and catch up," she said easily. "Eight o'clock, over at the Sea Star. Bellevue. You remember?"

He winced. He remembered. It was delicious, but hellishly expensive. That was payback, he supposed. "Sure."

"Great. I'll see you then," she said, with a sensuous little laugh.

He hung up, then looked at the phone like it was possessed.

This was going to be hard to explain to Tessa. But he needed to. Like,
now
.

He rushed over to her cubicle. One look at her dazed expression stopped him in his tracks. "What happened? You okay?" he asked.

She blinked. "Yeah. I think. I just got a phone call that's kind of freaked me out."

He'd meant to just dive in and tell her what he was planning--dinner, with Casey, and the reasoning behind it--but seeing Tessa's shellshock quickly derailed him. "Problems? Your family okay? The bookstore crew?"

"No, it's fine. Nothing like that," she reassured him. "I got a call from this guy from Impresario. That''s the company who produces
Mystics
. He saw my game. Our game."

"Oh, shit." Adam sat next to her, rubbing her shoulders. "You're not in any trouble, are you? You can't be. You took the game down. They disqualified you, for Christ's sake..."

"No, no, I'm fine," she said, then looked at him. "He liked the game. The thing is, they're producing their own version of a
Mystics
game. I'm guessing they're pretty stalled on theirs, and so...he wants me to help them."

"Really? That's awesome!" Adam gave her a quick hug. She didn't hug back. She still looked stunned. "That's awesome, isn't it?"

"It is," she said. "They're... well, they're offering me a job."

Now Adam was the one who was stunned. He took a step back, staring at her.

"That's...good, right?" he said slowly, suddenly feeling numb. "What are you going to do?"

"It's what I wanted," she said. "The respect. Finally getting recognized."

Oh, God. It was Casey, all over again.

He blinked. "When do they want you down there for an interview?"

"He's flying me down tomorrow," she said.

"Tomorrow." His stomach sank like lead. "They're just...flying you down."

"I get the feeling they're pretty desperate," she said. "They'd want me to start right away."

"Will you take it?" he said.

"It's what I always wanted," she repeated.

And that's when he realized--she would. She was leaving. And there was nothing he could do about it.

"Nothing here's going to keep you from that, right?"

She bit her lip, not looking at him.

"I don't know," she said. "What do you think?"

I think you should stay here!
 He wanted to scream it. But at the same time--was he supposed to stand in the way? Was he supposed to ask her to put her dream on hold just because they were together?
Were
 they even together?

"I think that you should do what you feel most strongly about," he answered, crossing his arms. "Because if you decide to stay, but you really want to go...then you're just going to resent all the reasons you stayed here. Which would suck."

Now she looked at him, her expression pained. "It's what I've worked toward," she repeated. "I...I didn't know that we'd..."

He stepped forward.

"What are we doing?" she asked, her voice quiet. "We've had some great sex."

"I think it's more than that."

"You do?" She straightened. "How...how much more?"

What did she want? Did she want him to beg, for God's sake? If she was confused, it wasn't fair for him to pressure her. But if she just didn't know what she wanted...how did he know she wouldn't change her mind later?

He clenched his jaw, anger and pain bubbling in him.

"I can't make this decision for you," he said. "I won't. You're a grown woman, and you need to make this call on your own."

She gritted her teeth. "Well, I'm going to San José tomorrow. First flight," she said. "I'll spend the night there and I'll fly back the following morning. Okay?"

"All right," he said.

"I'll call you," she said, hoping to ease the sting. "After the interview. Maybe...maybe you can pick me up from the airport?"

"I can't tomorrow night," he said. "I'm having dinner with Casey."

She looked like she'd been slapped.

He swore. "It's not like that. I'm talking to her about helping out the bookstore. She's a journalist; she's got a lot of contacts. It could be good publicity for them."

She'd gone pale. "Well--have fun at your dinner."

"Good luck at your interview," he said, hoping it didn't sound out as petty as it felt. "No, I mean it. I really, really mean it. They'd be stupid not to hire you."

She smiled, her eyes filling a little. He had to get out of there, before he did something stupid--like throw himself at her feet.

"I'm going to be doing a video game marathon over at Fezza's tonight," he said quickly. "It'll run late, so I'll probably crash over there. I'll have Stacy give you a ride home, okay?"

Without another word, he turned and stalked away.

CHAPTER 11

"Well...that's the complete tour," Richard said to Tessa the next day. They'd spent the better part of the afternoon going through Impresario Games' "campus." It was larger than Mysterious Pickles. Actually, it seemed like MPG could fit in their lunchroom. They were working on dozens of games, for all the movie and TV franchises that Impresario put out. They'd spent a good deal of money and, reading between the lines, they'd seduced or outright stolen as many employees from other game companies as they could.

And now, they were trying to seduce her. Or at least, Richard seemed to be.

"So you'd want me as a coder?"

"More than that," Richard said, with a friendly smile. Only the glint in his eyes said "salesman." He gestured to his office. "I'd like you to take point on this project."

"What exactly does that mean, 'take point'? Do you mean be a project manager? A producer?" she asked, sitting in the seat he motioned to as he closed the door and took his own place behind his desk.

"You certainly could be either," he said, "but it sounds like you want more. You were able to rally the troops, get them going. And you obviously know about coding."

She sat up straighter and suppressed a smile. When she showed him--and the not-surprisingly hostile Mike Powers--the code she'd contributed to her
Mystics
 project, they'd both been impressed. Granted, in Mike's case it had been reluctant, but after Abraham, that was nothing.

"I'd like you to become the lead engineer," he said.

She coughed. "I'm sorry. Lead engineer?"

"You've obviously got the coding skills. And more importantly, you know the property--the show--and you've got leadership." He looked frustrated for a moment. "I'll be honest with you. We're months behind and our production is going to hell. The guys just don't understand it. And much as I like Mike, he's just not getting it done."

"Are you firing Mike?" she asked, in a low voice. She didn't particularly like the guy, but she'd done some Googling on him prior to coming down here, to know what she was up against. He had a decent career, and he'd been an engineer with both Sony and Microsoft prior to coming here to Impresario.

"No, no. He'd still be working with you for the time being, before we moved him to another game," Richard said dismissively. "Your team would be larger, and you'd have a lot more work to do."

"I appreciate the confidence," she said, hoping she wasn't selling herself short, "but I've just...I've only worked as an audio coder up to this point. I've never been a straight coder, much less a lead engineer."

"I get the feeling you're a natural," Richard said. "More importantly, you can produce results, and in a short period of time."

She took a deep breath. This was huge. This was just what she'd always wanted.

So why did she feel so numb?

"What sort of pay?" she asked.

Richard smiled, the smug, satisfied smile of someone who knew he'd sealed a deal. He named a figure. "It's not as much as some others, granted," he said, "but as you've mentioned, this will be your first time in an engineering position. Besides, the benefits are stellar, and I'm sure we could provide bonuses--contingent on finish date, sales results, that sort of thing."

She frowned. That didn't necessarily sound bad, but it didn't sound quite right, either. At least, that wasn't how they did it at MPG. But it was a small company.

She wished, suddenly, that she could call Adam, talk it over with him. But he didn't even want her there. Or so she thought.

No, she chastised herself. Keep your head in the game.

"What sort of deadline?" she asked.

He looked surprised. "Same deadline," he said. "We want to release by end of the year."

"But..." Now it was her turn to be surprised. "The game...it needs so much work."

"Yes, but you can do the work, and you can rally the troops," he said. "We just need fresh blood."

"No," she said. "It...well, not to put too fine a point on it, but right now it sucks. It'd need some significant changes at the actual story level. That means a lot of re-coding."

"Does that mean you think you can't do it?"

Her back stiffened. "I could do it," she said slowly. "But..."

But it would mean working sixteen-hour days. Of course, if she moved down here, it's not like she'd know anyone anyway. She'd only be going home to Netflix and her regular Skype sessions with Ani. She didn't really need a social life, did she?

Suddenly, she felt a pang. The thing was, she liked going out now. She liked hanging out with the girls from the bookstore. She liked having lunch with Stacy. She'd even enjoyed gaming with the guys.

And Adam...

She more than "liked" hanging out with Adam.

"How many on the team?" she asked, by rote.

His smile widened. "You'd have fifteen people under your supervision."

"How many of them worked under Mike?"

"All of them," he said. "But that won't be a problem."

She'd seen how they glared at her when she'd walked through the office. Oh, it would be a problem, all right. Not one she couldn't surmount...but again, did she want to?

"We'd need you to start right away," Richard plowed forward, starting to pull paperwork out of his desk. "I know that two weeks is the usual notice, but it's not like MPG has any big games in the pipeline, and you're just doing audio for them. They can replace you easily, so you shouldn't feel guilty about that."

He was acting like it was a done deal. "I appreciate the offer," she said. "It's just...it's all so sudden. I need to think about this."

He sighed, and she saw the look of irritated impatience cross his expression before it shifted back to glad handing salesman. "Of course, of course," he said. "Moving, taking on this big challenge, becoming a lead engineer...it's a huge step. Not everyone has what it takes to make this big a change, or to take this kind of opportunity."

She fought the urge to scowl at him. "Thank you for your understanding."

"But we have to move on this quickly," he said, his smile turning just a touch sharper. "So I'll need to know your answer within the next few days. We just can't wait."

"All right," she said. "I'll let you know as soon as I can."

She got up, shook his hand, and headed for the door, going toward the front doors. As she pulled out her phone to call an Uber to get her back to the airport, her mind raced.

Pushy as he was, he was right: it was a big step. A huge step. It was a risk. She could do it--but only if she devoted herself, one hundred percent, giving up everything else. It meant starting over, being completely alone.