The One Who Waited novel · Chapter 11 of 24

Chapter 11: Monday at Nine

Steady's office took up the top two floors of a glass building on Twenty-Second Street.

I had been there exactly once in twelve years.

Derek had asked me to bring cupcakes for the launch party and leave by the service elevator.

On Monday at eight fifty-five I walked in through the front door in my good black coat and my wedding ring.

Tamara walked beside me with a rolling briefcase.

"Remember," she said. "You're not the girlfriend. You're the second-largest shareholder in the building. Walk like it."

"How do I walk like it?"

"Like you're carrying a cake and everyone else is carrying a sandwich."

The receptionist looked at my name on her list three times.

Then she took us up.

The boardroom was all white oak and glass, with a view of the Flatiron Building and a bowl of green apples nobody ate.

Five people sat around the table.

Two investors in fleece vests. An older woman, the independent director, with reading glasses on a chain. The company's lawyer.

And Derek, at the head of the table, in a blue suit I'd never seen.

He didn't look up when we came in.

"This is a closed session," he said. "Merry, you can wait in the lounge."

"No, she can't," Tamara said pleasantly. "She's a director. Has been since Saturday at six-fourteen."

The company's lawyer cleared his throat.

"That's correct, Derek."

Derek looked up then.

His eyes went to my hand, to the plain gold band Luke had made in the shop's metal room, and back to my face.

I pulled out a chair and sat down.

It was the first time in my life I'd sat at that table.

It was very comfortable.

The meeting started like a meeting.

The prospectus. The pricing range. Roadshow dates. Twenty-two dollars a share, maybe twenty-four if the market stayed hot.

Then the door opened and Skye came in with a laptop and a latte.

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