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Being in Seattle meant they were still a couple hours away,but even then, it felt odd being back. Or at least,closeto being back.

“Oh,” Howard muttered, as if having some new realization. “That actually might be perfect. We own part of a financial firm in Seattle, and they’ve had a lot of issues this year with their analytics and reporting. That might be a good way to test things out and make sure everything would integrate well and be productive for our teams.”

“That’s great,” Sam beamed, not bothering to hide the eager excitement this time. “Yes. We can do that.”

It was perfect. Better than she could’ve hoped. If they managed to finish up with their current client over the next month, then they could begin the process right away and cut out potential months of delay.

“Can you go meet with them today?”

Sam blinked once, staring down at the small black speaker. “Today?”

“Yes. I can call them now to confirm, so they’ll have a team member available to meet with you.”

She shot a look at Caleb and could practically see the problems spinning in his head.

If they started that day, before they finished up work with the new client, they’d have double the workload for a few weeks at least. And doubling an already stretched schedule sounded nearly impossible.

But the alternative of possibly missing out on their one opportunity to sell the company and solve their problems also seemed impossible.

They couldn’t let that happen.Shecouldn’t let that happen.

“Yes,” she answered. “Of course. Send me the address and I’ll head over right away.”

***

Sam approached the tall modern building, shielding her eyes against the sun that reflected off the glass exterior. She pulled open the heavy door, squinting as a swoosh of cold air blew out against her face.

She glanced around the wide, empty lobby, adorned with black leather chairs and couches that led up to a milky white desk that formed a crescent moon around half the room.

“Can I help you?” A young brunette woman greeted her from behind the desk with a soft smile.

Sam gave the woman her name and a brief explanation of why she was there before being directed to wait in the lobby.

She settled into a large leather sofa as she pulled out her phone to shoot Scarlett a quick text, letting her know she wouldn’t be able to meet for dinner.

Scarlett had been in Seattle for a few years, having moved there after finishing college. They’d kept in close touch sincehigh school, talking every week. And now Scarlett was one of her closest friends. In fact, she was really the only thing Sam had looked forward to after finding out they needed to move to Seattle for the most recent client.

She finished typing out the text, then hit send before scrolling through the endless stream of new work emails.In the middle of replying to one particularly urgent message, she spotted someone approaching.

“Hi,” the woman said. “You must be from the—”

Sam glanced up as she stood, tucking her phone into her back pocket.

The woman paused, cocking her head. “Sam?”

Sam stared at her for a moment, blinking as a sudden stream of memories she hadn’t recalled in years began trickling in.

“Lizzie?”

An amused smile crossed the woman’s face, her eyes lighting up with recognition. “Wow, it’s been a minute since anyone called me that,” she said with a laugh that made her straight red hair skim the tops of her shoulders. “I go by Liz now.”

Sam nodded, her mind slowly working to merge the image of her long-forgotten childhood best friend with the composed woman standing before her. Even now, the faint smattering of freckles dusting her cheeks and nose gave her a youthful air despite her polished appearance.

“I can’t believe how long it’s been,” Liz said with a wide grin as she casually tucked her hands into the pockets of her light gray suit pants.

“Yeah,” Sam said, forcing a smile onto her lips as she thought of the last time she’d seen her, in the few days after her mother had passed. The days she’d stayed with Lizzie’s family before going into foster care.

“So, you work for that software company?”