The Arrangement

Chapter 46

The day went by long and tedious. By the end of the day I was exhausted and my body was aching. As I was about to leave Rory caught up with me.

"You're going home, right?"

I shook my head. "I need to at least check up on the progress before I'll be able to sleep anyway."
Rory shook his head and ran a hand through his hair. "On one condition,"

"What's that?" I sighed.

"No matter where they are on progress, you leave once you know."

"What if-"

"If they're behind I'll stay behind and fix it. You will still go home." Rory put his hands on my shoulders and looked me in the eye. "You're going to go home, eat something, and get some rest. Are we clear?"
I nodded as I relented. "Fine."

"Great, I'll follow you over."

Rory followed me down to the site, I checked the progress, got the updates, still ahead of schedule, but they'd slowed down since I wasn't there. Not something I found surprising. With a few more pushes from Rory I left. My body felt heavy, like it was filled with sand. I was beyond exhausted. Rory had a point. I picked up Chinese on my way home and then called Katrina.

"So everything is all set?"

"Are you asking me professionally or as my friend? Oh hell, it's the same either way. You should let me take care of this. I'm the one who's an expert in this, not you. If I have a fish question not related to sushi, I'll ask you, same thing in the legal department." Katrina snipped. "But you're my stupid but smart loveable moron."

"What would you recommend then?"

"I think I'm hearing things, did Mikaela, little-miss-I-can-do-everything-myself, just actually allow someone to council her?"

"I didn't say I'd do it," I growled. "Maybe this is why I don't ask for help."

"Quit being a whiny bitch." Katrina warned. "You know better than to talk to me like that. Now listen up, you should let me handle this. Just fucking trust me and your life will be much easier."
I sighed. "So that's the best course of action?"

"Yes,"

"Fine. Alright, I trust you. What should I do?"

Katrina told me all of the arrangements for tomorrow. I texted my entire team telling them not to head in before noon, then I called the one person I was most afraid to call.

"Hello?"

Trent didn't sound like he'd been sleeping. "Hey,"

"What is it Mikaela?" Trent asked, sounding annoyed.

"Are you busy? I can call later,"

"Just tell me," Trent sighed. "What's up?"

"Can we talk?"

"I'm a little busy right now, what's up?"

"Oh, we can talk later. That's okay, sorry, I'll let you go," I apologized.

"Mikaela, what is it?"

"I just wanted to talk, whenever you get a chance, no worries."

"Mikaela, tell me what this is about." Trent prodded.

"I wanted to talk about this morning. Can - can you come over tonight?"

I heard Trent sigh. "Not right this minute, but I can be there about 10:30. Can it wait until then?"

I swallowed hard and found myself nodding. "Yeah, that'll work great."

"Alright, I'll see you then. And you're okay right now?"