Chương 4
Across the table, one of the investment directors frowned.
Eve continued before courage could abandon her.
“Let the people running the programs speak.”
“And if they criticize us?” he asked.
“Then you learn something useful.”
The director gave a short laugh.
“You’re recommending we pay your firm to help people criticize us.”
“I’m recommending you stop treating credibility like a product your communications department manufactures.”
Silence followed.
Marianne’s knee touched Eve’s beneath the table.
Not affectionately.
Eve looked at Adrian.
He had folded his hands in front of him.
There was no smile now.
“What do you think credibility is?” he asked.
The question was quiet enough to make everyone else quieter.
Eve considered the answer she had written in her preparation notes.
She abandoned it.
“Something other people decide you have.”
Adrian’s gaze held hers.
“And if they decide incorrectly?”
“Then you probably won’t fix it by telling them they’re wrong.”
Daniel stopped tapping his pen.
Lena smiled into her coffee.
Adrian sat back.
“Continue.”
So Eve did.
By the time she reached the final slide, the shaking in her hands had stopped.
She closed with a six-month strategy rather than the grand campaign Marianne had originally wanted.
Less advertising.
More disclosure.
Fewer polished interviews with senior leadership.
More access to the people whose work was normally reduced to quotes in annual reports.
When the screen went dark, Eve felt the abrupt return of everything she had managed not to feel.
Her exhaustion.
Her breakup.
Adrian.
The airport.
Marianne thanked everyone and began the practiced ritual of promising follow-up materials.
Chairs moved.
Folders closed.
Daniel took a call before reaching the door.
Lena stopped beside Eve.
“You made Daniel uncomfortable.”
“I noticed.”
“He enjoys that less than he pretends.”
“Should I apologize?”
“Absolutely not.”
Lena grinned.
Then her expression became more thoughtful.
“You were right about the community program.”
“Thank you.”
“That doesn’t mean we’ll hire you.”
“I assumed there was a catch.”
“There’s always a catch here.”
She walked away.
Marianne was speaking with Celia near the door.
Eve began packing her laptop.
The adapter still belonged to Adrian.
She pulled it free and crossed toward him.
“Your lifesaving technology.”
He accepted it.
“You did well.”
The compliment landed more heavily than she wanted it to.
“Thank you.”
“I’m told I’m difficult to impress.”
“By the same person who reviews your hugs?”
His mouth moved.
“Different department.”
Eve looked toward the others.
No one seemed to be listening.
“I didn’t know who you were.”
“I gathered that.”
“I should probably clarify that I don’t usually grab prospective clients in airports.”
“That’s reassuring.”
“And I had no idea I was going to see you today.”
“That part was obvious.”
She frowned.
“How?”
“You looked like you were considering climbing into the ventilation system.”
Despite herself, she laughed.
It felt strange in her body, as though laughter belonged to someone she had been before Friday.
Adrian’s expression softened.
Then his gaze shifted past her toward the harbor windows.
The change was so quick she almost missed it.
He seemed suddenly elsewhere.
Not distracted.
Removed.
Eve remembered the way his arms had tightened around her.
The desperation that had appeared for only a few seconds.
She glanced at his left hand.
The wedding ring was there.
Platinum.
Plain.
He noticed where she was looking.
His hand closed.
Embarrassment rushed through her.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“I was staring.”
“You were.”
“That wasn’t an invitation to agree.”
“You value accuracy.”
She almost smiled again.
Then Marianne called her name.
Eve lifted her bag.
“I should go.”
Adrian nodded.
“Your handkerchief.”
“What?”
“The one Nathan gave you.”
Eve blinked.
“The security guy has a name.”
“He’ll be relieved you know.”
“I still have it.”
“I assumed.”
“It’s at the hotel.”
Adrian’s face remained perfectly serious.
“Then Sterling Capital may have suffered its first loss of the quarter.”
She stared at him.
“That was almost a joke.”
“Don’t tell anyone.”
Marianne called again.
Eve turned toward the door.
“Goodbye, Mr. Sterling.”
“Adrian.”
She looked back.
He had risen from his chair.
For the first time she noticed how tired he looked.
Not ordinary Monday fatigue.
There were faint shadows beneath his eyes, and his shoulders seemed heavier now that the room had mostly emptied.
“Goodbye, Adrian.”
She followed Marianne into the corridor.
They made it twelve steps before Marianne stopped.
“What happened at JFK?”
Eve kept walking.
“We crossed paths.”
“Do not give me the sanitized version after I watched a billionaire make jokes about a handkerchief.”
“Technically, I made the first handkerchief joke.”
Marianne caught her arm.
“Eve.”
A group of employees approached, and Eve waited until they passed.
Then she lowered her voice.
“Preston broke up with me.”
Marianne’s expression changed immediately.
“What?”
“Friday morning.”
“You didn’t tell me.”
“I didn’t want it affecting the meeting.”
“You should have told me.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m your boss.”
“That is not the compelling argument you think it is.”
Marianne exhaled through her nose.
“How does Sterling fit into this?”
“I was crying at the airport.”
“You cried in front of Adrian Sterling?”
“Not exactly.”
Marianne stared.
Eve pressed the elevator button.
“I cried on Adrian Sterling.”
Marianne said nothing.
Eve wished she would.
The elevator arrived.
They stepped inside alone.
Marianne pressed the lobby button, then turned slowly.
“Define on.”
“I asked him to hug me.”
“You asked Adrian Sterling to hug you.”
“Yes.”
“And he did?”
“Eventually.”
Marianne closed her eyes.
“Please stop looking like you’re about to fire me.”
“I’m deciding whether this is the strangest client-development strategy I’ve ever witnessed.”
“It was not a strategy.”
“I know.”
“That somehow makes your face worse.”
The elevator descended.
Marianne leaned against the wall.
“Did anything else happen?”
“No.”
“Nothing?”
“I insulted his hugging.”
Marianne covered her face with both hands.
Eve stared at the floor numbers.
“I was emotionally compromised.”
“You were apparently professionally suicidal.”
“He laughed.”
May you like
“That is not helping.”
The elevator opened on the twenty-third floor for a man carrying a salad.
