Page 116 of As a Last Resort
IVY:i luv where this is going
ME:If I’m going down,
I’m going down in flames.
IVY:
There was a fierce kick at my door ten minutes later.I looked through the peephole and saw Ivy’s eyeball peeking through a fern branch at me.
“You’re a sight for sore eyes.”I pulled the door open to let her and her entourage of bags and drinks come in.
She piled her stuff on my kitchen counter.“I brought you a venti vanilla latte with oat milk, Celsius for later, and a turkey-cheese wrap from Delco’s.”
“What’s the fern for?”I asked, pointing to the one she held in her hand.
“That’s a fake.”She nodded to the perky one on my kitchen counter.“The other died of natural causes.”She walked over and put the new live fern on the counter and threw the fake one in the garbage can.“There.Now it’s alive.”
“Oh.Okay.”
“We have the presentation slot scheduled for four p.m.on Monday.The entire board has RSVP’d yes.”
“Wow.That was fast.The entire board?”I asked.
“All twelve of them.You have ten minutes.And you’re scheduled before Glenn, but heads-up, he’ll be in the room.I’ve already requested an extra trash can for when he shits his pants when you start talking.”
“How’d you pull that off?”
“I’d tell you but I’d have to kill you.So, we’ve got one day to blow their minds with your ideas.Office or apartment all-nighter?Your choice.”
I just stared at her and blinked.Was I really going to do this?
“Let’s reacclimate.”She stepped in front of me, grabbed my shoulders, and slowed her voice.“You are no longer in Florida.You are in New York City, at your apartment.You are Samantha Leigh, kick-ass resort developer with a score to settle.Do you know who the president of the United States of America is?”
“Yes, but does that actually matter?”
“Aaaand she’s back.Here, drink this, it’ll help.”She handed over a mixed green smoothie out of her Mary Poppins bag that tasted like grass with a tiny bit of metal stirred in.
She stared me down until I drank the entire thing.“Okay, now out with it.”
“I’m fine.I just need to get back into the swing of things, that’s all.”Jet lag was a real thing.Most of the time.
“I’m going to ask you one more time, and if you don’t want to talk about the guy yet, I get it.I will switch the conversation back over to work and how we nail Pugly Duckling and his harebrained ideas to the wall and prove you are master of all things beach town development.Now, are you okay?”
“Yes.I am fine.I promise.It’s just going to take me a moment to shake the sand from my brain.Pun intended.”
“Noted.”
“An office all-nighter.This place is too sterile.”I looked around and wondered why the monochromatic tone of the room never bothered me before.
“I’ll buy you another plant.And a colorful vase.”
“Good plan.And maybe a key dish.”
“What in the hell is a key dish?”
I paused.“A dish for keys.”
“That’s completely impractical.”
