Timing (130 page)

Timing

1

IT WAS unfa

f ir

r of

f my bos

o s

s to ord

r er me to go.

“I don’t

’ unders

r tand why this is a big deal. We’r

’ e only talking

about the morning of

f on

o e of

f the days. We’r

’ e

r not talking about your

entire––wil

i l y

ou look a

t m

e, ple

l ase?”

But I didn’t have tim

i e.

. I was sorting pape

p rwork on my

m desk in

preparation for being away. I had differe

r nt pe

p ople doing different

n

things, and so I was making piles. “My best friend is getting married,

Knox. I don’t want to think about––”

“I need you to me

m et

t this

s woman, St

S ef. You’re the only one who

can c

lose

s the deal, so y

ou’re the one who’s going.”

“I’l

’ l go when I get back,” I responded absently

l , checking the

inbox of my internal e-ma

m il, hoping he

h ’d get t

he hi

h nt and just leave

v .

“Look at me.”

But I

I was so busy. There

r were things I had to fi

f nish before I could

leave

v and not worry

r . My

M a

ssista

t nt was amazing, but I couldn’t leave her

everything. She’d kill me.

“Stefan.”

I

I lifted my

m eyes from my

m c

ompute

t r scre

r en to me

m et h

is.

“That makes

e sense

s to you, does it?

t You’re going to fly to

Amarillo––”

“What?”

2

Mary Calmes

“Stefan,” his voice dropped irritably as he realized I had stopped

listening to him.

“Are we still talking about this?”

“You’re going to Amarillo for your––”

“Lubbock,” I corrected him. “I’m flying into Lubbock.”

“Whatever. You’re telling me that you’re going to fly to Lubbock

and drive to the small town where your friend is getting married––

which, it turns out, is one town over from where Mrs. Freeman is––and

then you’re going to come back here to Chicago only to turn around

and make the same trip back out again? That seems logical to you?”

It didn’t, no. And even though I had no intention of telling him

so, my best friend, Charlotte Holloway, soon to be Charlotte Cantwell,

had told me the exact same thing when I explained what my boss was

planning.

“Just take the meeting,” she laughed at me over the phone. “I

mean, for crissakes, Stef, it’ll only take the morning of that Thursday,

and the wedding stuff doesn’t even start until that night. I
so
don’t care,

I swear to God.”

“You’ll resent me for making your wedding into a business trip.”

“I will only resent you if you’re not there when I need you. Other

than that… I’m good.”

“But––”

“Stef, I’m in Winston. Where you’re going is in Hillman.

Seriously, it’s like an hour drive away, tops.”

“I just want you to know that my trip is all about you.”

“Yes, dear, I know.”

“Stefan!”

Knox barking at me brought me sharply back to the present.

“Are you listening to me?”

I had been daydreaming, so the answer was no, I was not listening

to my boss, Knox Bishop, Director of Strategic Operations and

Marketing.

Timing

3

“Just go see Mrs. Freeman. I already said I would pay for your

ticket, what more do you want?”

“I don’t do sales,” I repeated for what felt like the millionth time.

“You know I don’t. I’m in acquisitions, not sales.”

“It’s a title, Stef. You’re in sales, believe me.”

“No,” I squinted at him, “I assess what property we or should not

purchase and how much money should or should not be offered to

purchase said property. After a pitch is made and the deal is closed I––”

“This is important.”

“Then send one of the sales––”

“I need it to be you.”

“Why?”

“Because a great deal of money is riding on us closing this deal,”

he explained, taking a seat across my desk from me.

Knox Bishop was one of those high-powered corporate men who

always looked like he had just walked off the cover of a fashion

magazine. He was model perfect. All the designer labels he wore, the

way his steel-blue eyes never missed anything, the wisps of silver that

had started to show in his thick, gray hair—he was flawless. The only

thing more amazing than the way his suits fit or how broad his

shoulders were or how his eyes twinkled when he was happy was his

ever-calculating mind. The man was a first-class schemer, and he never

missed a thing. The fact that he wanted me to go to Texas instead of

someone else had already been carefully calculated. I just needed to

figure out his angle. After four years of working for the man, it should

have been easier for me to figure out what that was.

“Are you listening to me?”

“I just don’t understand. Make me understand.”

“It has to be you.”

“Why?”

“Do it as a favor to me.”

4

Mary Calmes

Favor to him? “Something must be really wrong.”

“Don’t concern yourself with that, simply get Mrs. Freeman in

Winston, Texas to sell.”

“Why is it so important?”

“We need the land.”

“There’s other land.”

“Not anymore.”

“I read the file, you know.”

“So you get it then.”