Chapter 5: The Lobby

I didn't show Alistair the text.

I made coffee in his kitchen at six and drank it standing.

I wore his shirt, and the ring on my finger still felt like someone else's.

At eight-thirty we rode in together to Crowe Tower in the Loop.

I wanted to see his office, and I wanted to see whether Reuben's building was really his.

It was.

Hallam Group rented floors thirty through forty-four of the same tower.

The lobby was full of Hallam people with lanyards and lattes.

They went quiet around me.

"Mrs. Crowe," the security desk said to me, and a man in a Hallam polo choked on his coffee.

Then Reuben came through the revolving door.

He wore a gray suit and carried a huge bouquet of white peonies in a paper cone.

I would have sent them back for being two days old.

He walked right up to me in front of the elevators.

"Tavi," he said, warm and sorry. "Can we talk? I was out of line. I should have done it in private."

"You should have done it never."

"I know. I'm trying to fix it." He held out the peonies. "These are for you."

"They're from the corner store. They're rubber-banded."

Two or three people laughed and then stopped fast.

His smile slipped half an inch and came back.

He took a folded packet out of his jacket.

"Gwen is upset. Your mother is upset."

"The lease on your shop is waiting, twenty years, in your name, plus two million dollars. All you have to do is sign."

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