“Sounds like Qasim made it better. He’s a great guy to know.”
“You’re right. Nothing much changed after the army. I was more down on my luck than ever. I reached out to Sim on a whim and the guy gave me a job I was nowhere near qualified for.”
Vectra squeezed Will’s arm beneath his suit coat and smiled. “We’re gonna make sure he knows what a great choice he made.” She stood. “I’ll be waiting on that call.”
“Thanks, Vectra.” Will saluted her with his glass before she left the table.
Qasim noticed Minka waving to him the moment he stepped from the elevator into his personal lobby. He acknowledged her wave with a subtle nod and then returned his attention to the man he’d left the elevator with.
“I’ll want to see the company’s projections for the last five years at least. I also want to know how close they’ve come to those goals or how far they under or overshot,” Qasim said. “I won’t have our employees making ill-informed decisions about how to invest any of their retirement dollars.”
“I agree.” Donald Bertson nodded. “You’ll have that data before noon tomorrow.”
“Don.” Qasim smiled, extending his hand for a shake. Don Bertson headed off to the executive offices housed on the other side of the private lobby while Qasim took the opposite route to his office wing and Minka. “Nice to know I’ve been missed,” he said when he reached her.
Minka smiled, but the effort was shaky. “I wanted to catch you before you got caught up in something else.”
“Sounds serious.” Qasim loosened his tie.
“I don’t think so.” She shrugged, sending barely a ripple through the shimmering peach fabric of a cap-sleeve blouse. “Probably making something out of nothing anyway.”
“Mmm-hmm, it’s what I depend on you for, you know?” Qasim inclined his head, slightly arching a heavy brow. “Nothings have a nasty way of turning into somethings.”
“Okay.” Minka’s tone was resolved.
“Hey! Just the two people I wanted to see.”
Minka had just rounded her desk when Will Lloyd’s greeting rang out.
“Spill it.” Qasim settled to a corner of Minka’s desk.
“First, let me start off with an apology.” He turned to Minka, hand humbly set in the center of his chest. “I’m sorry about how I acted before at the meeting and then again a little while ago for overstepping. I’ve still got a lot to learn about business etiquette, but I saw a chance and I took it.”
“O...kay...” Frowning curiously, Minka perched on her desk, as well.
“I had drinks with Vectra Bauer this afternoon.”
Minka’s dark eyes shifted toward Qasim. He’d stilled, his features going sharp.
“Drinks.” Qasim felt a muscle stir along his jaw. He didn’t care if it showed.
Will didn’t appear to notice. “Yeah, we ran into each other after she’d finished up a lunch meeting. We struck up a conversation... I see why you like her so much, Sim. She’s really nice. Hard to believe she’s single.”
“Uh, Will.” Minka coasted another uneasy look toward Qasim. “You said something about overstepping?”
“Right.” He threw back his head slightly in sudden remembrance. “So we got on the subject of her gallery and all her obligations and before I knew it, I’m telling her about what we’d discussed at the meeting about using her place for the scholarship event.”
Will fixed Minka with an indulgent look. “I gave you full creds and told Ms. Bauer that the idea had really been yours.”
“Did she seem interested?” Minka asked.
“Very.” Will took a step closer to the desk. “Even after I told her me and Sim weren’t too thrilled about it.”
Minka bowed her head to hide a sudden smile.
“She made me see how important it was to do all we could to see that the bulk of the money got in the hands of the folks we’re trying to help.”
Qasim tugged the loosened tie away from his collar with a touch more force than he actually needed. “Sounds like you talked for quite a while.”
“Oh yeah.” Will folded his arms over his chest, looking pleased. “She’s real easy to talk to. Before I knew it, I was talking about stuff I hadn’t thought of in years.”
Qasim could feel the stirring jaw muscle positively dancing then. He looped the tie around a half-closed fist and imagined the silken material going around the neck of a man who had once saved his life.
“So, Will, you say she sounds interested in the event?” Minka observed, returning the conversation to more peaceable details.