Hardwired(69)

I struggled to speak, but his words had cut through me. He thought I was extorting cash from him? No, no, no. Shit. I shook my head frantically and rubbed the space between my brows. This was going all wrong. “It’s not like that. I just wanted to meet you. That’s all.” I didn’t need anything from him. At least nothing like that.

He hesitated for a moment before he leaned forward on his desk again, pinching the bridge of his nose with a sigh. “I can’t say I was expecting this.”

“Neither was I, to be honest. I never thought I would meet you.”

“Likewise.”

“Listen, um, Erica.” He cleared his throat and rearranged some papers on his desk. “This isn’t really the time or the place to delve into this, I’m afraid.”

I nodded. “I know. I’m sorry—”

“I’m in the middle of this campaign. They schedule me fifteen minutes at a time here so I have another meeting shortly.”

I stilled as I caught his meaning. If I wasn’t a threat, he didn’t have time for me. My throat thickened and my eyes burned with unshed tears. What a waste of time. The part of me that had held out so much hope for this meeting now flooded with painful regret. I should have known better. This was stupid, foolish. If only Marie hadn’t shown me that goddamn photo...

“I understand.” I reached for my purse, hoping I didn’t appear as hurt as I felt. “It was a pleasure meeting you, in any case. Good luck with the campaign.”

I rose to shake his hand and glanced down, avoiding his eyes. I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of knowing how I was hurting. He caught my hand and held it a moment longer.

“Tell Patty I said hello, all right?”

“She’s dead.” My voice was flat, emotionless. Of course he would assume she was still alive. She’d been taken from me too soon.

He exhaled in a rush, his hand dropping from mine. I caught a shadow of emotion pass over his eyes. He rubbed at his chest, wincing with the motion. “I had no idea.”

I nodded. “She passed away when I was twelve. Pancreatic cancer. But she didn’t suffer long.” My voice was quiet as I spoke the words, steady and objective, as if I were talking about someone I barely knew, detaching myself from the emotions as soon as they threatened to show up. Today was not the day to revisit my grief. I was hanging on a by an emotional thread as it was.

“I’m so sorry.”

“Thank you. You couldn’t have known.” Right?

I turned to go and he stopped me, placing a powerful hand on my shoulder to still me. “Erica, wait.”

My eyebrows shot up and my heart raced from the roller coast of emotions rushing through me the past few moments.

“My family and I are spending some time on the Cape this weekend. Maybe we could...catch up? Talk through this a bit more.”

“Sure,” I said quickly. I smiled, and took a deep breath, feeling a weight lift from my body at the offer. Did he mean it?

“Wonderful.” He smiled.

“Mr. Fitzgerald—”

“Please, call me Daniel—I guess.” He shrugged nervously. He looked more human, less formidable now than before.

I relaxed, and a seedling of hope grew within me. “Daniel, I’m sorry about this approach. I don’t suppose there’s ever really a good way to do this.”

“Probably not.” He scribbled an address on a monogrammed notepad and handed a sheet of paper to me. “Here’s the address of the house. Let’s plan for dinner on Friday then. You can stay as long as you’d like.”

“I’ll look forward to it.”

He rose, showing me to the door. “Me too.”

I gave him an awkward wave goodbye. We were nowhere close to being on hugging terms.





* * *

Back at the apartment I took a long soak in the claw foot tub that stood in the center of my adjoining bathroom. Sure, it was midday, but today was no ordinary day. Today had been possibly the most intense of my adult life, and it most certainly could have been worse. Still, I needed to take things down a notch. I took a little sip of my white wine when the phone rang beside me, startling me as it shattered through my moment of peace and momentarily silencing the soundscapes playing through my phone.

“Hello?”

“Erica, it’s Max.”

“Oh, hi.” I pushed myself up in the tub and glanced around for anything I could write on if I needed to.

“Is this a good time?”

“Sure,” I lied, embarrassed that I was about to have a business conversation in the tub.

“So good news. The deal is all set. I’m reviewing it for any final edits right now, and we should be ready to sign off tomorrow.”