The Wright Mistake(17)

“He did what?” Heidi cried.

Austin laughed. “I don’t think that was actually what happened. Or at least…you said something worse.”

“What the hell? He never told me that!”

“I bet he didn’t,” Patrick said. “Y’all weren’t dating yet.”

Heidi moved over to Patrick’s side and started grilling him on everything that Landon had said and done in that conversation last year. That meant, Austin and I were somehow alone together even though we were in the middle of a roomful of people.

“So…do you know what this meeting is about?” I asked. “Heidi wouldn’t say.”

His eyes went distant and unfocused, as if he were very far away. “Yeah.”

“Not good?”

“No. I mean, yes. It’s a good thing. Smart decision.”

“But you don’t like it?”

“Do you care?” he asked.

“Just making conversation,” I said defensively. “Why do you always have to make it an argument?”

He shrugged. “I like the way it makes you flush all over.”

I shivered at the intensity in his eyes but refused to look away. I was sure he’d said it in an attempt to disarm me. And it’d worked, but I couldn’t show that. I had to remain stoic and unaffected by him. Otherwise, things would devolve quickly.

“Unless that’s what you want,” he said, taking a step toward me.

“I don’t,” I told him firmly.

He leaned forward until his lips nearly brushed against the shell of my ear. “I know every one of your tells, Jules. Say whatever you like, but I know the truth.”

I roughly jerked back. Patrick and Heidi must have noticed that things weren’t going that well because they both whipped their heads over toward us. My hands were balled into fists, and I shot him a look filled with venom. He might think he knew my tells, but he sure as fuck couldn’t tell when he’d crossed the line. Or he didn’t care.

“Oh, look, Jensen is on the stage now,” Heidi said, placing her hand on my elbow. “Come on, Julia.”

I turned my back on Austin, still wired with energy from our brief altercation. He was the only person I’d ever met who could do that to me. Who could make me so freaking angry…yet turned on.

“Thanks so much for joining me here today,” Jensen said into the microphone. He was in a crisp suit and looked ever the part of the perfect Wright brother. “I’m sure you’re all wondering why I asked you to be here today. It’s not every day that I’m letting you all out of work early on a Friday afternoon.”

The room chuckled. But I could feel the relief in it. Whenever this was all over, we would get to leave. I was pumped.

“I’ll try to keep this whole thing short. I know everyone would rather get their weekend started. So, there are three main things on the agenda. I’ll start with the good news.”

I glanced around at the rest of my coworkers. Austin had said that it was a good thing, and Heidi seemed excited, but I didn’t like change. Bad news usually meant change. I was still frustrated after the Tarman Corporation merger that had happened six months into my job here. From an HR standpoint, it had been a nightmare to deal with. I was not looking forward to something like that again.

“The good news is…we got the new Disney contract for Walt Disney World! Construction starts next summer, so we have our work cut out for us. But I know that, the last time we had a major project like this, we all knocked it out of the park. I’ll expect nothing less this time around.”

“Plus,” Heidi whispered to me, “Disney perks! I bet we’ll be able to get some discounted tickets.”

“I’ve never been,” I admitted.

Heidi’s eyes bugged out of the sockets. “You’ve never been to the most magical place on earth?”

I shrugged. “Nope.”

“Uh…we’re going to have to fix that.”

Having a friend like Heidi was a whole new experience for me. I’d never really had girlfriends before I moved to Lubbock. And what a culture shock it had been for me, coming from Ohio. It wasn’t a small town or anything, but it had the small-town vibes. The everyone-knew-everyone kind of feel. Plus, the flat, dry, dusty aspect still felt foreign to me. Maybe it always would.

“But the main reason that I brought you here was because I wanted to announce that I’m stepping down as CEO of Wright Construction,” Jensen said.

My jaw dropped. “What?”

Heidi bounced up and down on the balls of her feet.

“What is happening?” I hissed at her.

“This was a very hard decision to make, but after careful consideration, I have decided to follow my passion and move back into architecture.”