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“Of which part?” Nick asked calmly.

The general raised a brow. “Of the entire idea.”

Nick shrugged. “It’s a crap idea.”

“I see. Do you feel like sharing why?”

“Poorly thought out, and not cost-effective enough to justify.”

General Winter eyed him for a second too long before nodding. “I agree. We’ll have to find something else that isn’t going to take an eternity and a quarter of the year’s budget.”

Nick leaned back in his seat, glad his phone was out of sight. He had no clue what idea he had just shot down without batting an eye. He wasn’t convinced he’d gotten away with anything, but it was difficult to read General Winter. Thankfully, Matt swore up and down that Nick wasn’t much better to read, and Nick’s delivery was too dry and cool to raise any questions.

A knock on the conference room door brought the conversation to a standstill. General Winter’s latest secretary, a guy whose name Nick could never remember, stood in the open doorway.

“What is it, Nathaniel?” General Winter asked.

“You asked me to interrupt your meetings only when a few select people wanted to see you,” the man told him evenly.

General Winter raised a brow. “That’s correct.”

Nathaniel gave a low grunt of surprise as he was pulled out of the doorway, and his presence was quickly replaced. Light to the previous man’s dark, a beaming blond stepped into the room. And although Nick had only seen him in passing, he knew the General’s husband when he saw him.

“A good thing I’m on that list, or we’d have to have a long conversation,” Christian told him, smirking.

Nick needed only to look at the general to know the meeting was over. If his tension over the upcoming celebration was obvious, then his reaction to Christian was as overt as an explosion. The pale color of his eyes grew vibrant, and the tension in his expression melted as though it had never been there in the first place.

“Are you here to save us?” Nick asked Christian.

The man grinned. “I heard there might have been a little trouble in the planning department. Who else to drag the boss away and get things sorted out?”

If the pleased expression on the general’s face was any indication, Nick had a good idea of what might get sorted out. Everyone was gathering their things and preparing to head out, knowing they were being cut loose. Nick knew that with Christian’s schooling taking up a good chunk of the year, they didn’t get as much time together as they would have liked. So when he found time to show up, everything on the general’s plate was put on standby.

“We’ll take a break from this, gentlemen,” General Winter said as he stood. “Perhaps come back at it with clearer heads in a day or two. Engel, I expect those reports on the latest recruits by lunch tomorrow.”

“Yes, sir,” Nick said, practically scrambling to get out of his chair.

The meeting had been the last thing on his to-do list for the day, which meant he was finally free. As he stepped into the hallway, he contemplated giving Matt a ring to see what the man was doing but remembered his mother. Not only had he promised he’d call back when he had time, but she was persistent enough he knew it was better to get it over with quickly.

Sure enough, she answered on the second ring. “Well, hello. Who’s this?”

Nick rolled his eyes. “Hi, Mom.”

“Ah, that’s right, I do have a son, don’t I? I’d almost forgotten,” she said.

“Yes, because it’s been so long since you last talked to me.”

“I’m sure your father will be happy to know you still remember we exist.”

“Since when do you do guilt trips?”

“Since someone apparently forgot our number.”

Nick tucked his phone between his face and shoulder as he opened the door to his office. It wasn’t like his mother to beat him over the head and make him feel guilty, at least not without good reason. Then again, considering how she was around the holidays, he might be willing to blame that.

“Mom, if this is about your yearly party not working out exactly the way you want, can we put it on pause? I’ve spent all week listening toworktalk about that same problem,” Nick complained.

“Nicholas, I’ll have you know the celebration this year is shaping up to go off without a hitch. Do you honestly think so little of my abilities?” she demanded.