Page 129 of The Nanny and the Nerd
“It’s okay,” he answered, rubbing at a kink in his neck. He was bone tired as well. “Thanks for bringing her back to my office. I didn’t even hear her sneak out. Any progress with the old files?” he asked, slipping on his glasses.
Jerome shook his head. “No, not really. Boomer and his team are trying to piece together the cut scenes. But all we have are the ones before…” he trailed off.
Rowen could fill in the blank.
Before Penelope.
Jerome shifted his weight from foot to foot.
“Is there something else?” he asked.
“Did you turn your phone off?”
Rowen frowned. “No, it’s on silent mode, so I can work. Why?”
“A fair number of people are trying to get ahold of you.”
“I’m busy. Anything else?” he asked.
Jerome threw a tentative look at Phoebe. The kid had blown off the suggestion to play with the virtual reality headset. She sat on his couch, staring at a tablet as a flurry of sounds emanated from the device. Jerome pulled a laptop with a pink sticky note affixed to the top from the bag.
Penelope!
“Is she here?” he whispered, hating himself for the rush of relief that smoothed over his frayed nerves at the prospect of seeing her. The only glimpse of her he’d gotten this week was that glorious moment when he’d see her at the gate on the security camera feed. He’d even taken a screenshot.
Jerome shook his head. “No, I found this on the receptionist’s desk, along with her tablet, phone, and smartwatch. She must have slipped in and dropped them off earlier. I gave everything else to Boomer to get checked in. Do you want her laptop?”
“Why would I want her laptop?” he asked, keeping his voice even.
Jerome opened it, and the screensaver came to life. Penelope had chosen a picture of the three of them taken during one of their pizza and cookie Fridays. Squished together with Phoebe in the middle, at the child’s suggestion, they’d held chocolate chip cookies in front of their eyes for the picture. The pain of knowing those days had to end tore through him, stamping out the brief flash of peace.
“You can take care of it. I don’t need to see it,” he barked, then flicked his gaze back to his computer screens.
“Sure, I can do that,” Jerome answered with a touch of melancholy to his tone. “There’s one other thing. It’s about the E3 Gaming Expo,” his assistant replied, hesitation coating the words.
Shit!
“What about it?” he asked, careful not to inject any emotion.
Jerome leaned against the doorframe. “We should consider pulling out, Rowen. I hate to suggest it, but we need to think about it.”
Rowen rubbed the knots at the base of his neck. “No, not yet.”
“I heard through the grapevine that Bones Gaming is demoing a Zombie shooter this year. The buzz is that it’s pretty phenomenal,” Jerome added, and it wasn’t hard to connect the dots.
“And?” he barked, not ready to admit defeat.
“Taking into consideration what happened last year, wouldn’t it be prudent to wait a year to debut AI-77? You know, until we know we’ve got the best version.”
The clawing, grating whispers were back. A muscle ticked in Rowen’s jaw as he worked double-time to maintain his icy facade. He could not fail. It was not an option. “No, we’ll get there. We’ll piece AI-77 back together. I’ll do it by myself if I have to.”
Jerome gave him a weary nod before sliding Penelope’s laptop back into the bag, then quietly left the office.
How would he fix this?
If any mind could work it out, it was his.Rowen sat back in his chair and exhaled a tight breath when he noticed that the beeps and chimes from the tablet had stopped. He looked up to find Phoebe standing in front of his desk with her arms crossed and her lips puckered in a mighty scowl.
“Uncle Row?” she barked, sounding more like him than he’d like to admit.
