“Lily, Cole’s in his office, right?”

“Yes, but—“

Before she can finish, my knuckles are already rapping on the big solid wooden door. My whole body is shaking.

“What are you doing?” Lily stands up and leaves her desk to approach me. “He’s busy.”

“I don’t care how busy he is. He’s going to want to hear this,” I say without even turning my head to look at her. I raise my hand up and knock again, a little louder this time.

“Are you crazy?” Lowering her volume to a loud whisper, she says, “Foster Senior is in there!”

As if my heart weren’t already beating hard enough. Sometimes Cole’s father comes into the office and they spend some time alone. Nobody ever dares to interrupt them because if people are scared of Cole, they’re terrified of his father.

Well, it’s probably too late to back down now anyway.

Just when I’m about to knock again, the door cracks open a few inches. The part of Cole’s annoyed face that I can see through the gap tells me this is indeed a bad time. And with my hand still frozen in the air obviously about to knock again, I’m pretty much caught in the act.

“Can’t this wait?” His thick eyebrows furrow, telling me I’m not wanted.

“You’ll want to see this,” I say, offering him the piece of paper I found inside the unmarked envelope on Steffi’s desk.

He grabs the letter impatiently, glancing behind his back before he unfolds it. All I can see of his father is his back and his full head of silver hair.

“Fuck,” Cole curses. Then he looks behind him again. Is he…is he worried about cursing in front of his father? Because that would be adorable.

“Alright,” the older man says as he gets up from his chair. “What’s happening here?”

The closer he gets, the faster my heart beats. Despite his age, he’s an intimidating man. He looks like the kind of person who has seen and done a lot of things in his life, and not all of them are good things.

I know now why Lily panicked over me interfering with their precious father-son bonding time. Even the tough guys in the ghetto would think twice before messing with Foster Senior.

“It’s nothing,” Cole says.

“Let me see.” Mr. Foster takes the letter from Cole’s hands.

“Our marketing manager just quit,” Cole says while the three of us stand around by the door, which Mr. Foster has swung wide open.

“So hire another one,” Mr. Foster says.

“It’s not that simple,” Cole says. “She was supposed to deliver the presentation at the conference in Seattle next week.”

Cole suddenly glares at me. He places a hand on the door and pushes it like he’s about to shut me out.

“Let’s talk inside,” Mr. Foster says, walking back toward the desk. “And have the girl come in as well. I want to hear what she has to say.”

Cole seems irritated, but he lets me in anyway. Is he angry at me? Could he actually be blaming me for Steffi’s resignation?

Maybe the rumors are true. Perhaps they’re dating and they’re having problems because of me.

Really? Cole Foster sabotages his own relationship for me?

One can dream, of course. But there are limits to how seriously one takes that dream if one doesn’t want to be labeled completely batshit crazy.

“Thank you, Mr. Foster,” I say.

“Sit down,” he says, gesturing at the empty chair beside him. “And tell me what happened.”

“Uh, there’s not much to tell, really,” I say a little too quickly. Have I mentioned I may be nervous? “I found the resignation letter on her desk when I went into her office for something else.”

“Something else?”

“I was about to book the flight tickets for the trip to Seattle and I needed her details.”

“Book the flight tickets?” Mr. Foster raises his eyebrows. They’re just as thick as Coles’ are, except they’re white. He looks across the desk at Cole, who is now sitting down in his leather chair. “You’re not taking the private jet?”

“Just trying to improve the bottom line,” Cole says. He seems calm on the surface, but the way his fingers lightly tap on the desk betrays his restlessness.

“There’s no need for this to be a big problem,” Mr. Foster says. “Can’t you do the presentation yourself?”

“I haven’t prepared anything. I don’t even know what she was planning to speak about,” Cole says.

“Um, I do.” As soon as the words come out of my mouth, both men fix their dark eyes at me, urging me to continue. I look at Cole and say, “Remember when I was staying behind to work on something?”

“Yes,” Cole says. He purses his lips, looking unhappy.

“Well, I was working on the presentation.”

“How much of it did you work on?” Mr. Foster looks at me intensely.

“I did the research and I put together the slides,” I say. “The only thing left to do is the actual presentation script.”

“That’s solved, then,” Mr. Foster clasps his hands together, as if concluding the conversation. “You can go to Seattle with Cole and I’m sure the two of you can come up with something.”

“Me?” I ask incredulously. “I’m just a junior marketer, Mr. Foster.”

“Who cares? You were the one who prepared the presentation, weren’t you?”

“Yes,” I say.

“Then you probably even know it better than the manager who resigned.” He has a way of talking that makes it feel more like he’s issuing orders rather than having a conversation, even though he’s perfectly polite about it.

I turn toward Cole. He’s still silently tapping his desk. What is he thinking about?

I didn’t expect this turn of events at all. I personally would love to go to Seattle and play a part in this presentation. It’s a big opportunity that can lead to bigger and better things for my career.

But in the end, it’s Cole’s decision, him being my boss and all. I have a feeling Mr. Foster is the one who actually calls the shots here, though.

“That’s settled, then,” Mr. Foster says. “Why don’t you go and book the tickets for the two of you, Miss…?”

“Webb. Emily Webb.”

“Right. Miss Webb.” Mr. Foster’s eyes dart toward Cole and I think I see a hint of anger or at least irritation in his eyes, but he quickly regains his composure. “Perhaps you can make arrangements for the trip now.”

Something has changed. Mr. Foster is not a friendly man, not by any stretch of the imagination. But he has impeccable manners that can make him seem almost warm. Now, though, it feels like the temperature has dropped by twenty degrees.

“Yes,” I say. “I’ll go and do that now.”

I hurriedly get up, almost toppling my chair in the process, but Mr. Foster manages to catch it in time before it falls loudly on the floor. His lips form a small smile as he puts the chair back in its place, but his eyes remain cold.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Miss Webb,” Mr. Foster says.

“The pleasure is all mine, Mr. Foster,” I say, giving him an awkward smile.

While leaving the office, I look over my shoulder and see Cole with a strange expression on his face. He’s staring into space with his teeth gritted. His fingers are still tapping on the desk. I can’t see Mr. Foster’s face with his back to me. They’re both silent.

The tense atmosphere makes me want to leave this office and get back to the normal world out there, where I don’t have to deal with my boss’ family affairs.

The door creaks when I open it. I didn’t notice the noise when I first entered Cole’s office for the interview, but now it’s so loud I feel like it’s drawing all the attention to me. Without looking back, I slip out and close the door behind me.