Page 5 of The Probability of Us

“Great, we look forward to serving you tonight.”

Just as I’m hanging up, Jason comes stomping into my office without knocking and I internally groan as his eyes drop to my chest before he looks up at my face. His smile is big—it’s always just a bit too big.

“Can I grab one of these?” he asks, beelining over to the half-empty container of blondies.

Be nice or he might go bother one of the other girls,I remind myself when I want to tell him where he can shove it. It’s become a game of perfectly treading the line of keeping his attention on me without showing interest in him. He hasn’t crossed any lines yet, but the way he so carefully places himself around me and the other girls makes me believe he’d have no problems crossing that line if given the opportunity.

I nod and smile, sickly sweet and forced as hell. “As long as there’s enough left in case the Vitality execs want any.”

He pauses before taking a bite, as if considering if it’s safe to eat, and a muscle in my cheek twitches. IwishI poisoned the piece he chose. It’d make my life so much better if I didn’t have to deal with him five days a week. He sniffs it and I fight an eye roll, then he shrugs and shoves half of the piece into his mouth. My face starts to twist into disgust as he chews with his mouth open, but I try to stop it from falling into totally horrified territory, although I am—totally horrified.

“Delicious as always,” he says, while still chewing and I cringe as he flashes a thumbs-up.

“Thanks.” I try to sound cheery, but I dread it every time Jason comes to my office . . . because he doesn’t ever leave. I honestly don’t know how he gets anything done because he will waste hours in my office if I don’t find a way to kick him out. A large part of me truly believes this is his passive aggressive way of trying to force me to go out with him. Like if he just doesn’t go away, I’ll cave and say “sure.” What he doesn’t realize is that the longer he sticks around the less I want to be near him.

“Did you go to The Dizzy Acorn this weekend?” he asks, and I regret the day I let it slip that I often hang out there. As if five days around him isn’t enough, he constantly shows up and tries to ruin my weekends too. “I was there on Saturday but didn’t see you.”

“I have some work to get done before the execs come,” I hint, ignoring his comment, but there’s enough of an edge in my voice that he looks over at me and his face drops.

“Right, I guess that’s my cue.” He grabs another blondie, and I don’t say anything because it might stop him from leaving. “See you later.”

I let out a sigh of relief when he’s gone and get to work. The Vitality execs sent over a strategic plan for our business post-acquisition, and a few points stuck out to me that I want to look into before they get here, particularly their salary projections—it’s much too low for the amount of people we have now. And they’re not showing any consulting fee projections in revenue, which is the core of what we do here.

Are they planning on absorbing us into their business and getting rid of the foundation of our company?

“Analise.”

I look up to see Clara at the door, looking expectantly at me.

“Come on. They’ll be here any minute.”

My eyes widen when I check the clock in the bottom right corner of the computer screen.How has that much time passed?I save the files I was working on, close my computer, and lock my office again as I leave.

On the walk to the main conference room I ask, “Did you take a look at the financial projections they sent over? It looks off to me.”

“I can’t stress about anything else right now,” she says under her breath, walking so fast I have to speed walk to keep up. “If you find something substantial that needs to be addressed, please let me know, but otherwise, can you handle this?”

“Yes, of course.” That was the plan anyways. “I just wanted to let you know. We should be paying close attention to anything they say regarding strategy.”

She opens the glass door for us, and we take our seats on one side of the table. Jason and Serge take the seats around us—Jason chooses my side and scoots his chair closer to mine. I fight an eye-roll and shift closer to Clara. I’m not sure what it is—just general worry, the concerns about the financial documents, or something else entirely—but there’s a seed of dread that has taken root in my stomach and is beginning to flourish. By the time Stacy, our administrative assistant, rounds the corner with the group in tow, I’m convinced that something is seriously wrong with me. I’ve never felt this way before.

Clara stands to greet them, and the rest of us follow her lead.

As the group gets closer to the conference room, I catch a glimpse of familiar, honey-colored hair and I don’t have to see his face to know.

The source of my dread isn’t something, it’s someone. It’shim.

He radiates light—his sunny disposition appears to glow. When he looks up and our eyes lock through the glass door, my legs stop working. I drop back into my seat, and I can’t move. My arms are frozen, white knuckles gripping the edge of the table. I’m struggling to catch a breath through the onslaught of emotions and memories that feel like a thousand punches to my gut. And when his eyes skim past me as if he doesn’t recognize me, my stomach twists. I think I’m going to be sick.

Clara gives me a strange look and whispers, “You okay?”

“Yeah, all good.” I force deep breaths into my lungs and slowly rise back up, keeping my hands on the table to steady me. Jason puts his hand on my arm and I pull away. My mind is pure chaos, and I’m not sure I keep it from my eyes, but I force my rose-colored lips into a smile to greet our guests.

His eyes run across everyone as he enters the room, and when they get to me they freeze for an extra second before looking away. No emotions play across his face. The corners of my mouth drop into something that can only barely pass as a smile.

What is he doing here? And does he really not recognize me?

We go through the introductions by pairing. First is Clara and Peter, their CEO. Jason and Serge are paired with Mackenzie, the CMO, who goes by “Mac,” and Ben, their COO. When there’s only me and him left, I realize what happened.

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