Page 80 of Due Dilligence (Takeover)
Sad lines around Fazil’s eyes. “If the distance weren’t there, this would be perfect.”
Time to place that card on the table. “Well, maybe at some point, the distance doesn’t need to be there.”
Fazil sat up straighter. “You mean me moving here?”
“There’s a decent amount of high tech companies, and you like the city and the mountains.” Todd set the wrapper aside. “It’s a thought.”
Fazil seemed to chew on it. “This is... fast.” He rubbed his elbow, then met Todd’s gaze. “I mean, it’s been just over a week since I showed up.”
“Maybe?” It was, on some level. “But you can’t deny the connection.”
That brought out a laugh. “God, no. I can’t.” The grin was back. “I’ll think about it. Won’t stop me from going home soon, though.”
Home. There it was again.
A moment later, the waitress brought their food. After they dug in, the door to the restaurant opened and a group of five engineers from Singularity walked in. They noticed Todd right away and then the back of Fazil’s head, judging from the frowns.
Damn.“We’ve got company.”
Fazil fiddled with his chopsticks. “Got it.”
No more personal talk. Not when the host seated the group at the table behind Fazil. Todd picked up his own sticks. “Have you been back home at all?”
A look of understanding passed across Fazil’s face. “Yeah. Last year. They tore down the high school a couple of years back.”
Same conversation from before, this time entertainment for his coworkers. They discussed school for a while, then slid into work topics—mostly about Fazil’s experiences rather than on the current situation at Singularity.
He’d worked a lot of interesting jobs. The way his eyes lit up when he spoke of the coding he’d done or the solutions the Anderson team had implemented took Todd’s breath away.
So did Fazil’s leg brushing his halfway through the meal. A wicked little smile after that, too.
The contact, soft as it was, poured heat into his body.
“Hey.” One of the guys from the other table—Eric—leaned over. “You ever fail at one of those jobs?”
Fazil frowned, but he rotated to address the other table. “Yeah. It’s not pleasant, and no one is happy about it, because we know what it means.”
“Layoffs.” Eric wore a grim expression.
“We succeed most of the time,” Fazil said. “But if the goalposts are moved, or the company is in worse shape than we first realized, it’s harder.”
“Which are we?”
That pulled a chuckle from Fazil. “You guys are pretty normal.”
That eased some of the tension at the table. “Thanks.” Eric turned back to his food.
When Fazil met his gaze, there were lines around his eyes, and the smile that curved his lips was fake.
Good thing their server brought the check. They escaped back to Todd’s car. Fazil closed his eyes and released a breath.
After they were back on the road, Todd spoke. “Did you mean that? We’re normal?”
“Yeah.” Fazil waved a hand. “The pushback, resistance to change, and suspicion are common. That’s part of the reason we come to sites. Once you work with people face-to-face, that tends to go away.”
Except here it hadn’t. “If it doesn’t?”
“I don’t know.” Quiet words. “I guess we’ll see.”
