Page 74 of Enemies to French Kisses
“For all of Innov’ Biotech.”
Silence falls on the line, the conversation about my so-called hopeless romanticism lingering in the air.
Finally, Alain speaks. “As they say in America—knock 'em dead, tiger.”
“They say that?”
“They do in the movies. Now go. I’ll call you tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow, huh?” I never hear from my brother this often.
He pauses. “You scared me, Marc. I thought I might have lost you. Take care of that head of yours.”
He hangs up without a goodbye. I can honestly say this ranks among the most unexpected conversations of my life.
I seem to have been collecting these conversations recently.
And more are yet to come. The Dutch await, but so does Laura. I roll over possible ways to start the conversation with her during the entire commute to the office, but there are too many unknown variables.
As I stand in front of the door to Innov’ Biotech, a wash of nervousness comes over me. I have no idea what I’m about to face. I stretch my arms forward and tilt my head left and right like a boxer, because I have to be prepared for anything. And I can’t let my feelings pour all over the floor the first moment I see her.
I don’t even know which feelings will come first because I have close to a thousand of them running through my stomach at this very moment. Nerves, fear, but also anticipation, and strangely… readiness. A voice inside saying,“Whatever happens, you’ll figure it out.”
I let out a breath I’ve been holding for too long, and open the door.
Here we go.
Up to the sixth floor, straight to the conference room that will be our headquarters for the next couple of weeks.
I fling the door open to find Laura and Vincent already there.
“Marc!” Vincent cries, rushing toward me with arms outstretched, though it wasn’t from him that I wanted this greeting.
By the time he lets me go and I turn to Laura, all I find is a wall of a woman making it very clear that I’ll be lucky to get through these next days alive.
“Whatever happens, you’ll figure it out…”echoes in my head.
“Marc.” She lifts her chin in an expression of an Olympic boxer.
Challenge accepted.
CHAPTER29
Marc
Day four of the standoff,and I think I’m wearing her down. She doesn’t show a sign of it, but after four days of me putting on my best ‘colleague-turned-husband-turned-hopeful-boyfriend,’ I don’t see how she could resist.
She rolls her eyes, but I know that’s to hide something more behind them. There has to be.
I hope it is.
At least the work keeps us focused on something moving forward. While my feelings for her are at times more powerful than the Atlantic tides, this project has a life of its own, and we have to bring our best to the table. That’s one thing about Laura, she can separate the personal and the professional. It’s why it was so hard to break into that tough exterior, though what I saw in my apartment was a completely different woman.
Now we’re stuck on ‘Scale Up Plan.’
“This is too slow!” Laura taps the white board. “They will laugh in our faces if we propose only four sites in year two.”
“They will laugh in our faces if we overstretch and collapse due to lack of infrastructure,” I retort.
