Page 27 of As a Last Resort
SAMANTHA
When it comes to the friendship communication tier, texting is considered the acceptable norm.
Email is saved for when you know you’re going to piss someone off but want it to look like you’ve really thought about it and it typically includes bullet points.
Actually calling someone is reserved for when something’s on fire or you’re being abducted.
So, when Ivy’s name flashed on my screen as a caller, either her apartment building was going up in flames or aliens were luring her into their mother ship and I’d be interviewed for the next Unsolved Mysteries case as the last person to speak with her.
“What’s wrong?” I answered.
“It’s about Robby.”
My stomach dropped. “Did you just call him Robby? Wow, this must be bad if you’re using his real—”
“The Oakstone contract came back around.”
I paused. “Isn’t that good news?”
“Glenn put Robby on it.”
I sunk into the wicker couch covered with stamped starfish. “I’m sorry, could you say that one more time? I could have sworn you just—”
“Glenn said you were already deep into the due diligence in Florida and he didn’t want to pull you.”
Warning bells went off.
“But that doesn’t make any sense. Oakstone is my project. Robby doesn’t do developed cities. He does blank slates.” My voice rose a little. “He doesn’t do local restaurants and breweries and city councils with art festivals and dog parades.”
“Not usually, no.”
Oakstone Springs was as high profile as we had run into.
And I had been the lead on the project just the week before last. My history of city revitalizations was impeccable.
My ideas were specific and unique to the groups of people I studied in these areas, not only the locals and what was important to them, but the transient traffic the city received.
I knew how to capitalize on the wants and needs of both parties to elevate the whole. I was hired for that sole reason.
This didn’t make sense.
And now Robby was going to convince them of that instead?
How could Glenn possibly think Robby could do a better job when I had made it my life’s mission to do exactly that for every project we’d run across?
And had a successful track record of doing exactly that. This was just on a much bigger scale.
Robby should be the one stuck down here with wicker couches and spotty internet, and I should be on a plane to Oakstone Springs, meeting with the mayor, talking about the reconceptualization of the city.
“Robby doesn’t have any experience whatsoever with cities like Oakstone. There would be no sound reason he’d put him as lead on that project, unless…” My voice trailed off.
“It gets worse.”
“How could it possibly get worse?”
“Robby’s coming to Florida.”
Something didn’t click. Why would he be in Florida?
“I thought you just said Robby’s on Oakstone.” My words were slow and steady.
“He is. But it doesn’t start for another six weeks. That’s when the city approved funding. Glenn’s sending him down to… help you out.”
“Help me out?” She was silent. “As in, supervise me?”
She spoke slowly and carefully. “While what happened on the company Zoom call will make for a great story once this is all said and done, Glenn’s got twenty million riding on this.”
“So he thinks I’m jeopardizing the contract because my mother interrupted a call in her bikini.”
“Not in so many words, but yes. If that had been a client call, or someone from the board had been present, it wouldn’t have been as entertaining. And there’s one more thing.”
“Just stop talking,” I pleaded.
“He’s staying with you.”
The line went silent. I looked over at the single queen bed with the sand dollar–printed duvet that sat in the middle of the room. This had to be a joke.
“Before you ask, I already called the Starfish and they’re completely booked up. So are all of the other hotels and rentals on the island I’ve checked so far. Apparently there’s a national high school football showcase , or something equally absurd, happening this weekend.”
“He cannot stay in this room with me.”
“The lady at the front desk assured me the couch is a pullout.”
“This is completely inappropriate.”
“Obviously. Can you stay with your mom?”
“After this morning’s pleasant interaction, most definitely not.” I was not about to turn around and ask my mom for a favor. “I’ll figure it out.”
The pieces all came together at once. I knew what this meant.
Robby got pulled onto the Oakstone Springs project over me, when I’d already worked on it for weeks.
It didn’t even start up again for over a month, which meant I’d be done with the DD in Florida in time to jump back on it.
Robby being sent down to chaperone me because my boss thought I wasn’t being as responsible as I should be with the project could only mean one thing.
“He already knows, doesn’t he? Who the promotion is going to?” The words stuck like syrup coming out of my mouth.
“Don’t let your mind go there,” she warned.
“The decision’s already been made and he just hasn’t told me.” The thing I had been chasing, that I had been enduring the entire state of Florida for, was gone.
“I haven’t been able to confirm anything.”
“But you thought the same thing.”
“No announcement has been made, but it crossed my mind.” She paused.
“The board still has to vote. It’s not solely Glenn’s decision, and to my knowledge, they don’t know about the yellow polka dot bikini call.
” I leaned back on the couch and closed my eyes as Ivy continued.
“I know Glenn is smarter than that. I think it was a ‘right time, right place’ kind of a decision. It really doesn’t make sense to pull you off the Rock Island DD when you’re already halfway through, right? ”
“You’re not convincing me.”
“He’s just a safety net, Samantha. Glenn has seen your reports so far.
You’re doing a great job. A better job than what Pugglepuff would do.
Rock Island is a bird in hand for us and he probably just wants to make sure it stays that way.
Oakstone Springs is still a bird in the bush.
They’ve already flaked out once. Doesn’t make sense to pull you from something that’s a sealed deal to put you back on a project that may flake out again. ”
I heard half of what she said. All I could think of was that Robby was going to get the corner office and the title. And I wasn’t.
“Let me do some digging. Just because Glenn put him on Oakstone doesn’t mean he’s already made up his mind. It could be a test. There’s got to be something else here.”
There wasn’t anything else here. My boss was giving my work nemesis my project, and my promotion, and I was stuck in Florida for two more weeks.
“Are you still breathing?” she asked.
“Barely.”
“Give me the weekend and I’ll find out what’s going on and call you Monday.”
“Great. Don’t mind me, I’ll just be sitting here on my wicker couch that has blue starfish screen-printed all over it.”
“Oh, God. It does?”
“Only in hell.”
I hung up and closed my eyes. As much as I tried to find a work-around in my head, I could only land on one sure thing.
There was no way Glenn would use Oakstone Springs as a test for Robby.
It was too high stakes and too high profile a case to gamble with.
Glenn had already made up his mind about the promotion and he was showing off his new shiny toy to the largest client we’ve ever had.
I needed some air. I pushed the screen door open and walked out onto the patio. The sky was starting to lose its blue hue, turning into a hazy honey color as the sun set.
I needed a distraction. Bottom line.
ME: Feel like going out tonight?
LEXI: Ugh I wish! Plans with the in-laws. Everything OK?!?!
ME: Yeah. Rough day.
LEXI: I’m sorry. I’ll call you later!
There was only one other person on the island I could think of that would be the perfect distraction.
ME: How do you feel about a plus one for tonight?
AUSTIN: you down for harpoon’s
ME: If they still serve alcohol, yes
AUSTIN: pick you up in 20
ME :