Page 13 of The Gathered Fragments of Us
She paused, hand on the doorframe. "And for the love of God—don’t delegate this to me. I believe in you. You love her. You’ve got this."
She walked out.
I was rubbing my eyes when her head popped back in again.
"One more thing—freebie. You’ve got dinner reservations tonight. Antico Forno, 7 p.m. I booked it a month ago—an anniversary makeup, just in case. Based on what you’ve told me, I doubt she’ll show, but maybe you can figure out a way to make it count—If you’ve got it in you."
She paused at the door, then turned back with a slight frown.
“Actually, there is one more thing. Has Jessica been asking you about work lately?”
I looked up from my desk. “Not really. Why?”
“She called here last week. Said she was trying to reach you about Macy’s school schedule, but then she started asking questions about our clients. How business was going, whether we were busy this quarter.” Lauren’s expression grew concerned. “It felt... off.”
“What did you tell her?”
“Nothing specific, obviously. I told her she’d need to discuss business matters with you directly. Probably nothing, but it felt weird.
I felt an uncomfortable twist in my stomach but pushed it aside. “Probably just making conversation. You know how she is.”
“Maybe.” Lauren didn’t look convinced, but she shrugged. “She also asked if you still travel a lot for work. Even overnight. Whether you’re ever out of town overnight.”
“Could be it was because of her wanting us to take Macy maybe? But if it happens again and it still feels off, then just let me know.”
“Will do.” Lauren paused at the door, then turned back. “Actually, there was one more thing. She asked about our expense reimbursement process—how quickly we turn around travel expenses, whether receipts go directly to accounting or through me first, that sort of thing.”
“Our reimbursement process? Why?”
“She said Brad’s company was looking to implement a new system for their employees. Wanted to know how we handle things—do you submit expenses as you go or in batches, how long approval takes, whether we require original receipts.” Lauren shrugged. “It seemed like a lot of detail for casual conversation, but maybe she was just being thorough for Brad.”
I felt that uncomfortable twist in my stomach again. “What did you tell her?”
“The basics—that you usually submit monthly, that I process them and send to accounting, standard turnaround is about a week. Nothing confidential, but...” She trailed off.
“But?”
“I don’t know. It just felt like such a strange conversation, you know? She was definitely focused and paying close attention.”
“Yeah. Thanks Lauren. Keep me posted on anything else, okay?”
“Will do.” And with that, she was gone.
I stared at the empty doorway for a moment, sitting in the silence—Lauren's words echoing in my head. Really though, Jessica is a problem for another day.
Right now, I need to focus on my wife. I need to worry more about figuring out where shit went wrong with us.
A memory hit me like a punch to the gut. Three years ago. We had the issue with the Pemberton contract.
Felicity had planned our anniversary dinner—not Lauren. Mistral at 6:30. I could still picture her that morning, humming while she got ready for work, mentioning how much she was looking forward to our evening.
Then at 4 PM, Pemberton's CFO called. The contract we'd been counting on—the one that represented nearly thirty percent of our annual revenue—was being slashed. They had reevaluated their office space with most of their workforce moving to remote. This meant their construction partnerships needed review and our bids for the new builds and renovations were being reconsidered. No capital for the space? No money for planned contracts.
I'd sat in my office doing the math. While we would retain the existing Pemberton work, most of those jobs were coming to an end. Losing the future contracts meant having to lay off Jake and several newer guys. I remember that Jake and his wife had just had twins.
When Pemberton's team said they could meet that evening to discuss salvaging part of the contract before they presented to their Board first thing in the morning—maybe keeping us on for specialized work instead of general construction—I didn't hesitate.
I'd called Felicity within a few minutes of getting off the phone with their CFO.
