Page 46 of As a Last Resort
I shook my head to try and focus.“Yeah.Let’s get you home.”
14
SAMANTHA
The morning rays were peeking in through the horizontal blinds as Ivy’s dark eyes squinted at me on my computer screen.
“Look at you.You look like you’ve seen the sun.Nice to see you finally have internet that works.”
“Austin dropped by a booster earlier.”
“Austin?”Her eyebrows perked up.
“Yes, Ivy.”My stomach tumbled.“The older brother of a childhood friend I have absolutely zero interest in.Yes, he’s cute.No, it doesn’t matter.He’s a ferryboat captain.Hazel eyes, but more green than brown.Shaggy blond hair.Actually, it’s more of a light brown.And no, I won’t change my mind.”
She smirked.“You sure?”
“We’re not all characters in a romance novel, Ivy.Moving on.What’s the temp on Glenn?”
“That’s why I needed to talk to you first.Robby busted out of the hospital.Clean bill of health.He and Glenn have been holed up talking about waterslides all morning.”
“Waterslides?”I asked.
“Apparently Glenn’s adolescence didn’t include enough of them and he’s trying to stick them everywhere he can now, including the new resort.You’ve officially been warned.Anything you want me to tee up?”
“Not yet.I dumped all the pictures I have of Rock Island into the Google Drive already, but I haven’t been able to get my hands on a lot of the financials yet.Businesses are being pretty tight-lipped.”
“You’ll get them to warm up.Schmooze them.”
“I am schmoozing them.”
“I know.But, like, SparkPug-schmooze them.Sidenote, I love the starfish on your coffee cup.”
“I never want to see another painting, statue, ceramic, or metal reproduction of a starfish in my entire life.”
“So, no sea creature theme for your new corner office decoration.Noted.”
“I’ve missed you.”
She smiled.“It’s five till nine.Let me get in there and conference you in.”
“Glenn here.”He nodded to the camera.
He always did that even though I could literally see his face on my computer screen.They were set up around the conference room table, remnants of breakfast scattered about.It looked like they had been there a while.There was a huge screen on the back wall that I knew showcased my face at the moment.
“Good morning, Glenn.Robby, good to see you vertical.”He flashed his golden boy smile at half-mast.“I figured we’d jump right in and go over some of the information I’ve been able to gather so far.”
“Good plan, but we’ll show you our ideas first.”Glenn nodded to Robby.
Why did I even bother?It’d be the same buddy-buddy back-and-forth with the two of them propping each other up, Robby encouraging Glenn’s ideas, regardless of what they actually were.I’d sitand nod my head, internally screaming at both of them while my smile tightened and froze until I felt like the Joker.
Ivy warned me, but nothing could have adequately prepared me for the monstrosity on-screen.Robby stood up and held out a three-foot-long printout of a waterslide—a neon-green hunk of plastic that looked to be over a hundred feet tall scaled down.
Glenn’s eyes brightened.
“It’s quite… bright.”How could I possibly spin something positive about this horrible idea and hold in the rising bile at the same time?
“Shoots you out going up to sixty miles an hour,” Robby said, beaming.“Would be great to erect this puppy at the main pool.”
