She would have to deal with all of it sooner or later, though. The future was vague, and although it was exciting, having all these people in her life added more variables, made it easier for things to go wrong. Joan might not want to be a child-care person her entire life. What would she do then? At some point she'd have to think about schools, about all sorts of things for them. It was beginning to look as if her life was going to be constantly adapting to their changing needs.
For the moment she needed to think about getting this project.
Tina seemed a lot more upbeat and cheerful than she'd expected. "I bet you want to know about the contract with Acker," Tina said.
"The one you signed for my company?"
"Yeah, that was important to him when I was negotiating with him. You came back and I was working my way out the door. I wanted to get in on the Milan project, and he said he'd give me the job if I came up with a way to make sure you couldn't work with Julio. The idea had him shaking in his boots. So I came up with this idea. We wrote the contract and backdated it. The asshole. Him and his kinky games. I'm glad to be out of it all."
"You admit it's a fake? Why?"
"Because I'm pissed. He screwed me-in every imaginable sense. He and that bitch Willa."
"He paid you off, though."
"None of what I did was about the money, Lissa. Think about it. I'd have made more working for you than he paid me. I wanted to be in on the project-an international operation, working with a European consortium. That was exciting. And he left me with a little money and no work. He tossed me out in the cold. Willa saw to that, after she made sure Julio wouldn't hire me. She made me think that she wanted me working with her and Julio, but when we met, she set me up. I didn't know she was working Acker as well. She surprised me with that."
"Would you be willing to sign a statement about what happened?"
"I talked to a lawyer." She opened her briefcase and took out a document. "Read it, but it says you won't press charges against me for anything I did regarding any of your projects."
"A get-out-of-jail-free card?"
"And I want ten grand."
"You've been thinking about this a lot."
She took out another document. "I've done a lot more than just thinking. My lawyer wrote out this statement for you. I hope you can fry his ass with it. My lawyer notarized it. Hand over a check and sign my little note and it's yours."
Lissa read the waiver of liability, as the document was titled. It was a simple declaration that she wouldn't press charges against Tina. She didn't care to anyway. She took out a ballpoint and signed it, pushing it back to Tina. "We can go to the bank and get the money, if you have the time. Neither of us really wants a check involved, do we?"
Tina smiled. "Good thinking."
"Abby, watch the store for a while. Tina and I need to go to the bank." As they went out the door, Lissa took Tina's arm. "When this is over, I never want to see you again."
"Fine," Tina said.
When Lissa had taken out the money and it was safely in Tina's purse, she closed it with a click. "I've been offered a job with an ad agency," Tina said. "It's a small but up-and-coming company. They understand that with my connections I can get them a few serious industrial accounts."
"You know what? I think you just might do well in advertising." She was feeling good. The statement would mean that if she had to go to court, Tom Acker wouldn't stand a chance. "You know that Tom will try and make things difficult for you now."
Tina smiled. "I considered that possibility. But Willa and I think that, under the circumstances, he'll think it's funny."
"What circumstances?" The mention of Willa's name sent off alarms. Somehow she was becoming an unpleasant thorn in Lissa's side.
"The contract has to do with doing work on the Milan job. Without that, there isn't any point to any of this."
"You aren't making any sense."
"Everything will be clear soon enough. Now I'm off."
Lissa watched as Tina caught a cab, wondering why she insisted on being so mysterious. Then Lissa walked back to the office thinking about a more intriguing question. Why were Willa and Tina still working together after what Willa had done to Tina? Something stunk.
After work, Lissa went to meet Julio at an office he had rented. She was looking forward to seeing him, but when she came in and he stood up from his desk, she saw a sadness in his eyes. "What's wrong?"
He picked up a sheaf of papers. "The project is off. Milan is dead."
"Off? Why?"
"The consortium discovered a problem. They sent out a memo to all the bidders, but some clerk sent mine to my Barcelona office. I can bitch about Willa, but she never would have let this happen."
"What happened?"
"It got misplaced in the office on Friday and wasn't found until today. So everyone has known about this but us."
"I think Willa is still running your Barcelona office."
"What do you mean?"
She told him about Tina approaching her, about paying the money. "She mentioned that Willa told her to come to me. I think Willa arranged for that notice to be delayed. It's another way of sticking a knife in me for getting back together with you. But that isn't important. I still don't understand how they can cancel the project. It must be serious, as they've already invested heavily in the damn thing, and put a year of planning into it."
"I know. Everyone was eager to get working on it. It's a huge setback for an ambitious group of people."
"What happened?"
"The initial site-mapping studies missed something significant." He unrolled a map of the site. "It's a nice spot for the purpose, almost perfect, except for one problem. Apparently a few hundred years back, the city built an underground aqueduct right under this spot, right here in the center of the proposed building. They think it might have been part of the navigli, the network of artificial waterways that were built around the city. It probably redistributed water to or from the Po River. Anyway, there is no way the ground at that point will support the structure they wanted there."
"I can't believe they missed that."
"The story is that right after it was built, it partially caved in. It was abandoned and forgotten about. It's narrow, and somehow the surveyors missed it-either there was bad documentation or just some sloppy work, but this is serious enough that it will undoubtedly put this project in the courts for a long time while everyone involved sues everyone else."
Lissa thought quickly. "If it was just an aqueduct, why can't it be filled in?"
"That's possible, but the new information suggests that there might be some sort of fault or sinkhole there. Very localized." He handed her the report. "You can read the details for yourself, but their conclusion is that the cost of verifying the precise location of whatever is wrong and working out a fix would be enormous and prohibitive, even for a project of this scale."
"And it can't be relocated?"
"Possibly. I don't think the consortium has the heart for starting over on scouting locations, and they'll have bankers and governments breathing down their necks to make decisions fast."
"So they aren't willing to give us time to come up with options."
"They've called a meeting. I need to go to Milan tomorrow. I'll know more about the options after that."
"And just in case the project is actually on, I can't go unless I represent Tom Acker because of that damn contract."
"I've talked to a contact with the consortium. Tom and Willa are arriving tonight." He sighed. "I need to go to the hotel and pack. It's an early flight."
Lissa felt her heart flutter. They were just beginning to get to know each other outside of the bed, and now he was being called away on urgent business. This had happened before and been disastrous. She wanted to cling to him, either get on a plane and go with him or keep him from going.
This was business, and he hadn't caused this. She didn't blame him, but somehow he was being taken from her for a second time.
"See if you can stall them while I take a close look at what we know. There has to be some way to make this project happen. I'm willing to bet I can come up with a fix that will make the project even better."
"That American optimism. Okay, I'll do my best."
She knew she sounded desperate, but something inside Lissa made her feel that the fate of the Milan project and her relationship with Julio were entwined, that they would sink or swim together. She didn't know if that was good or bad or even true, but it felt that way.
Conflicting emotions tore at her. She wanted him to fly to Milan and fight for the project, but having him pulled from her again for business dragged up bitter memories. She wanted to go with him, but that might compromise his bid if nasty legal wrangling came up. Sometimes there didn't seem to be any entirely good days.
Their parting kiss was disappointing, but then neither of them wanted to say goodbye. At least she didn't. Sometimes she still wondered how he truly felt. It was one thing to love the children, and to like making love to her, and another to take it to the next level. And she had to wonder about her own feelings for him. She wasn't used to wanting a man that way, feeling empty when he was gone. It made her feel weak.