Can't Let You Go

Chapter 48

***TALLY/HONEY***

Ashton asked me to help him get in touch with Zayan, so I arranged for the three of us to have lunch together while he's still here on spring break.

"You know I've missed the friendship with Ashton, but in looking forward to this lunch, I feel like I'm betraying you," Zayan confesses as we sit at the table before Ashton arrives.

"You're not. I'm seriously working on forgiving him. Besides, you're allowed to have your own friends, even if I don't like them. You're still in contact with your freshman roommate, Marcel. I liked him in the beginning, but by the end of the year... not so much. You can be friends with Ashton even if I'm not."

"Oh! He's here! Damn Girl, you're right, he got better looking," Zayan enthuses as Ashton makes his way to us through the restaurant.

Zayan stands as Ashton arrives at the table, they hug.

"Wow, Zayan. Independence really looks good on you." Ashton takes Zayan's hand and holds it high to twirl Zayan around.

They exchange cheek kisses and sit.

"And six years of living in California look good on you. You came back to us all tanned and buff."

"You can thank Emily for that. She got on a fitness kick freshman year, so I joined her."

Zayan makes his "I don't approve, but I'm not saying anything" face. The same one he made when he met Emily the first time. He never took to her the way I did. The silence is awkward.

"So, what is everyone having to eat today? It all looks good." I try to break the ice.

It takes a while for Zayan to warm back up and he chastises Ashton for his past behavior a few times along the way. By the time I have to leave, they're chatting comfortably again.

Since that dinner with the four of us, Emily shows up as Savis more frequently, even attending ski resort meetings that have nothing to do with her part. Not one goes by without a cloaked insult, but I do my best to ignore them, for the sake of my sanity and the project. Renderings of the interior are a key visual in the presentation we have to make for the RFQ and she is, as I predicted, quite good at design.

A bigger problem than a backbiting team member is a disappearing one, which happens repeatedly. Like there's a virus going around, a couple put in to be transferred out of HQ and several leave Savis entirely. Darius has done his best to help me replace them, but the new people always have to be brought up to speed and frequently they don't agree with whatever their predecessor has already decided. Most days it feels like this RFQ is going to fail before it ever makes it out of our hands.

Little things that I find out about the departures, point the finger squarely at Bethany. If I fail to properly handle my responsibilities, my reputation as a competent manager will be damaged. That can only be a good thing for her. Except that we're also having problems with our subcontractors as well - the people and firms outside Savis that Bethany has been signing-on. I don't think she'd go so far as to tank her own efforts just to make Dad doubt me. But then again...

A wave of whispering passes through the large open-office area, but not in my direction, leaving me out of the loop until the apparent topic of their attention walks through. My father. I, along with everyone else, follow his movement as he makes his way to Bethany's office.

"We'll finish this later," I say to the employee I'd been speaking with.

Quick-stepping back to my father's former office, I see the shades are drawn on Bethany's. Positive he'll stop to visit me before he leaves, I can only sit at my desk and try to get some work done. The anticipation of him walking through my door, his door, at any moment makes concentration difficult.