Page 129 of One Night Only
“What?”
“I brought them in. I won them withmypitch. Sure, we were hammering out the details but there wasn’t anything we couldn’t work through. It was going well. And then three weeks after you get the promotion it’s suddenly taken from me.”
“They didn’t want you, Sarah,” Matthias says. “I’m sorry to speak so bluntly but—”
“Says who? You said so yourself. They’re going with the terrace. They already signed off on the floor plan and the parking lot. Harvey said they wanted to go in a new direction but they’re not. They’re going with mine. But you wanted the big fancy project so you took it from me.”
“I’m the senior—”
“You took it from me,” I repeat. “When you knew how much I wanted it. How hard I’d worked on it.”
Matthias says nothing for a long moment. And then he shrugs, something slipping from his expression that makes him look like a different person. A colder person. “Maybe you didn’t want it enough.”
“Screw you.”
“It’s not personal, Sarah.”
“It’s business, is that it?”
“I asked Harvey to take over as lead,” he says. “You’re right. Your work was solid, but I wanted it. When I accepted the job offer, I made it one of my conditions. You’re telling me you wouldn’t have done the same thing if I had them?”
“No!” I exclaim. “I wouldn’t have.”
“Then maybe that’s why you didn’t get the job.”
I stare at him in shock. All this time I’ve been doubting myself, but it had been nothing to do with my ideas, my plans. The Grayson Group liked it just fine. It was just because Matthias wanted them. So he took it from me.
He sighs now as if reading my thoughts. “I really am sorry there wasn’t room for the both of us here,” he says. “Harvey planned to transfer your workload over to me, but I asked him to give your boyfriend’s one to Suzie. Didn’t want any conflicts of interest.”
“You—”
“You should go early today,” he says. “I’ll tell Harvey I said you could.”
And then he leaves, closing the door behind him.
* * *
The next few hours are among the most awkward of my life.
I do not go early. I leave at five while Will is packing up. He doesn’t say anything to me, but I can feel his glances.
I thought I’d be coming home to an empty apartment; it doesn’t even occur to me that I wouldn’t be, so it’s something akin to horror I feel when I open the door and realize I’m not.
“Hi, Sarah!” Mark sits on our sofa, leafing through one of Claire’s books. He stands when he sees me.
“Oh hey.” My voice comes out flat even to my ears.
Please leave. Please.
He doesn’t, smiling at me and looking completely at ease.
“Sarah? Mark and I are going for dinner,” Claire calls from her bedroom.
“I’m on a flight back to Seattle in the morning,” he explains. “We’re trying to make the most of our time.”
“Where are you guys going?” I turn rigidly to the kitchen, putting my bag on the counter while Mark tells me about some Asian fusion place everyone is talking about. I hide my misery as I pretend to get a glass of water, making all the right noises.
“Okay!” Claire says, emerging from her room. “I’m ready. Sarah, do you know if…” She takes one look at my face and knows instantly something’s wrong.
