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JULIANA

“Really?” I pressed, as the elevator doors closed. “Youstilldon’t know why I flew you all the way out here?”

The man next to me shook his head again, while sweating profusely. Not because he was nervous, but because Robert Valentine was way overdressed for Arizona.

“Not a clue,” he admitted, tugging on his collar. “And for the record, you didn’t fly me out here. I bought my own ticket.”

I laughed. “And why’s that?”

“Because you’re cheap?”

“I prefer the term thrifty,” I smirked, “but sure, money’s tight right now. Why else, though?”

Robert shrugged meekly. “Because after what happened between us, I guess I owed you that much.”

“You did,” I confirmed, as the elevator jerked to an abrupt stop. “But you also came for another reason.”

The doors opened. Like a game show hostess, I waved my arm grandly.

“You came because you trust me.”

I urged Robert forward and out onto the landing, which looked out over a large, empty room just one floor below. A walkway with office doors encircled the second floor area, running all the way around the perimeter of the building in a rectangle.

“What’s this?” asked Robert.

“Shameless West.”

His shrewd eyes narrowed. “Wait, what?”

“You said the board wanted a marketing company with a west-coast presence, right?” I stepped up to the railing and gestured downward. “Well here you go. You’re looking at one right now.”

The man whose company I’d made — and who’d subsequently made mine — turned to stare back at me. He was still incredulous.

“You’re opening another marketing company?” he breathed.

“Not another one, just an extension of the one I already have.”

Robert Valentine cocked his head. “But…”

“But what?”

He stared down again at the empty floor. “There’s nothing here.”

“Not yet,” I countered.

“No desks, no computers, no people…”

“What if I told you we’ll be up and running in less than two weeks?”

He couldn’t contain a laugh. I couldn’t blame him.

“No, really. I’ve got everything coming at once. Contractors setting up partitions, segmenting the departments. Bringing in all the physical infrastructure to set up a kickass office…”

I pulled out my phone and pressed a few buttons. The speaker cracked with the sound of an outgoing email.

“There, I just sent you the mock-ups, the floor plan, and all the specs. Click on the link and you can even take a virtual tour.”

Robert Valentine had always been a visionary, and I brought him to this unfinished space because I knew I could count on his creative mind. Judging by his expression now, I knew it was the right move. His eyes scanned the upper perimeter, where he could see the offices and conference rooms that would take shape. He saw the soon-to-be bustling floor, which would ultimately be the beating heart of this new branch of my company.