Coda Books 04 - Strawberries for Dessert (MM)

considered reminding him of my name, but then decided against it. I had a feeling I would have to get used to the pet names. “I wanted to apologize—”
    “Don’t worry about it a bit, sugar. I think it’s fair to say neither of us was on our best behavior. Just water under the bridge, really.”
    “I wondered if you would like to try again.”
    “I would love to. Will it be just the two of us this time?”
    “I can’t not bring my phone. But none of my clients are in crisis mode right now, so it shouldn’t be as bad as last time.”
    “I suppose that will have to suffice then,” he said with obvious amusement. “Were you thinking of tonight?”
    “No. I’m actually in LA at the moment.”
    “Well, that would make it more difficult, wouldn’t it? When do you get home?”

    “Tuesday afternoon.”
    “Your timing is dreadful, sugar. I leave for Paris on Wednesday.”
    “Really? Are you going on vacation?”
    “No,” he said in an off-hand manner that made me curious. “So are we on for Tuesday then?”
    “Sure.”
    “What time does your flight get in?”
    “At four, but I have to go straight to the office and meet with my boss. I should be home a little before six.”
    “That’s perfect, sugar. I’ll see you then.”
    “Wait—what?” But I was too slow. The line was already dead. I debated calling him back, but figured I would only end up looking like a fool.

    MY FLIGHT home was delayed by an hour, and I had to rush to get to my meeting with Marcus Barry on time.
    Marcus was in his forties, and although I wouldn’t quite have called him a friend, he was fair and easy to work with. He was the type of man who could be expected to drop dead of a heart attack long before he reached sixty. He was overweight and overworked. He smoked too much, drank too much, and lived off of fast food. He was also incredibly successful. He reported directly to the CEO of the company, made more than five hundred thousand dollars a year, and drove a Porsche. I hoped to follow in his footsteps, minus the trans-fat and imminent cardiac arrest.
    “I’m sorry I’m late, Marcus,” I said as I rushed into his office and closed the door behind me.
    “Where have you been?”
    “My plane was late—”

    “I’ve been trying to call.”
    “You have?” I pulled out my phone and looked at it. “Shit. I’m sorry, sir. I guess I forgot to turn it back on when I got off the plane. I was in such a hurry.”
    “Never mind,” he said. “Leave it off so we’re not interrupted.”
    “Do you want to hear about California?”
    He waved his hand dismissively at me. “No, Jon. You know your job.” That was the closest thing to praise I would ever get from Marcus.
    “There’s something else I wanted to talk to you about.”
    I sat down in the chair opposite him. “I’m listening.”
    “Monty called a meeting yesterday.” Montgomery Brewington was our CEO, and Marcus was one of the only people in the entire company who could refer to him by his first name. “He’s talking about restructuring.”
    “Restructuring, how?”
    “He wants to have Account Liaisons in each state, to cut down on travel expenses.”
    “That makes sense, I suppose. What does it mean for me?”
    “Keep in mind, Jon, that this is all conjecture at this point. No decisions have been made. But if it happens,” he shrugged, “there are several possibilities.”
    “Such as?”
    “There are seven major areas he’s talking about having to cover: Arizona, LA, San Diego, San Francisco, Vegas, Colorado, and Utah.
    The problem is we currently have ten of you covering those areas.”
    “So you’re saying three of us will lose our jobs?” I asked, trying to fight the panic that was suddenly blooming in my chest.
    “Nobody’s losing their job, Jon.”
    “Then what?”
    “Three of you will probably be demoted.”

    “ What ?”
    “Don’t get too upset yet. The good news is you’re fifth in line, so there’s no reason to believe that you would be one of the three.”
    That was good news. I counted to five, felt myself relax a little.
    “In which case, I have a one in seven chance of having to relocate?”
    “Yes. What I’m asking is, how do you feel about that?”
    I had to think about that for a minute. I wasn’t attached to Arizona. I hated the idea of moving, simply because I knew it would be a pain in the ass. And my dad was in Phoenix. I would definitely miss seeing him if I had to move. But there was no reason to fight