I told you that I wasn’t engaged to Bianca, right? She’s a crazy bitch and needs to stay away from everyone, especially me.

It took Jack almost a day to answer my message. I tried to be patient; I mean, he was out in the Pacific with nothing but intermittent satellite access, so I couldn’t expect him to answer right away. But it was hard to wait. I had a lot I had to deal with, and I really felt like I had to have this conversation with Jack first.

Yeah, you told me.

I glanced up, making sure neither Gary nor Bianca were standing in my office doorway. I had just been feeling bad vibes all around—Bianca had been walking around looking smug for days, and Gary had been “forgetting” to tell me important things, like when meetings were changed. Things were just weird, but if Gary knew about me and Chrissy, he hadn’t said anything about it to me, or to Chrissy. And I was positive that he would.

So, are we cool then, bro? I mean, you know I wasn’t fucking around on anyone, right? You said you thought I was a good guy—is that still true? I need to know, because I have more shit to dump on you!

I knew it might be a minute, or it might be a day or more, before he got back to me, so I pulled out my files for a project I was just beginning. The Monroe bid, which I had pulled together, had been accepted, and since it was a government contract, it actually helped us that Bianca was considered an executive. One of the other execs was Hispanic, so we had a pretty good women and minority ratio.

Still, if it were up to me, we would scope out the grad schools and hire more young execs, or at least managers, with diverse backgrounds. I could think of a few from grad school who would do great work and shake things up around here—which was the opposite of what Gary wanted. Gary was a strong leader, but he was old school, and wasn’t thinking about trends, globalization, or the impact of technology.

Oh well, it was his company.

Yeah, we’re cool. Sorry. I had some residual anger over what I thought you’d done, but I’m over it. So, have at it, bro. Dump the shit.

I laughed. It felt good to be back on even ground with Jack. I was crazy about Chrissy, but Jack had been my best friend since we were kids.

I would just have to wait to figure out what I meant by crazy about. I just knew that our current situation was becoming less and less workable. I wanted something more. I didn’t know what, but something.

I’m dating Chrissy, and your parents don’t know.

The pause before he answered was so long that I figured they must be out of satellite range. I sighed and gathered my paperwork together. I had to file copies of the bid and contract with legal and HR, and bring the list of approved subcontractors with me to the meeting with the project manager from the county, plus hard copies of the tax documents I’d already faxed to prove we were an honest company, not shafting shareholders, not selling our secrets to the Russians, etc.

I checked in with Elaine on the way out the door. “Tell the boss I’m headed over to the county to turn in all the paperwork on the new justice center. I don’t know how long it will take, but it’s the government, so probably a lot longer than it needs to.”

She laughed and promised to pass on the message.

An hour later, nobody was laughing.

“Look.” I shoved a hand through my hair. “I had the same paperwork from Accounting that you do, and I didn’t see any discrepancies.”

“I know what you’re saying.” The county project guy, Hanson, was trying as hard as I was to be patient. “Maybe it’s nothing, but what could it hurt to get an audit? Just tell them it’s one more hoop the government wants you to jump through. The fact is, some of these numbers don’t add up, and the way things were moved around, you could make the case that it’s deliberate.”

“Am I going to lose this bid?”

“Not necessarily. Bring us an all-clear from an independent auditor within thirty days, and we’ll move it forward. It’s pretty standard stuff.”

“Standard.”

“Yeah, totally standard. But, Gardner? Arrange for the audit yourself, okay? As an executive and a shareholder, you have that right.”

“Shit, you think someone’s embezzling or something.”

“Obviously, I have no idea. That’s just one of a hundred possible explanations, the most likely one being stupid human error. But it is one. I don’t know, man, but I do know it has to be done within thirty days if you want this contract.”

“Okay, I get it. Thanks.”

As soon as I got out of his office, I pulled out my phone. “I need to speak to Chad, please. Or Steve. This is Aaron Gardner. You know what, forget it. Tell them I’m coming by and I need to see them. It’s an emergency.”

****

It took me all day to deal with this and seriously important projects got put on the back burner. It was irritating and frustrating. Chad told me that his firm could run the audit if I had a majority of stockholders consent to it.

“It really is business as usual,” he told me. “I mean, not always, but a lot of institutions need to make sure their contractors and subcontractors are legit and there’s nothing that can bite them in the ass later. I don’t think anyone will give it a second thought if you tell them the county is asking for it.”

“Hanson seemed to think there might be some malfeasance involved.”

“I doubt it, but since it’s always a possibility, they have to check. Just get those consents and call me when it’s time to get started. I can have a team—and by team I mean me and Steve—there first thing in the morning.”

When I got back, I locked myself in my office and started calling board members to get their consent for the audit. I had no idea whether this was proper procedure, but if Gary called me out on it, I would plead ignorance—which was true. I would tell him I didn’t know how else to do it, especially since we were in a time crunch. I called Chad back and told them to come on out in the morning.

So now the question was, did I tell Gary? If there was something illegal going on, Gary should know. Unless Gary was doing it, but why would he sabotage his own company that way? He was hugely successful without having to falsify anything.

I didn’t know, but I was getting damn sick of keeping secrets from Gary.

By six I had a splitting headache, and all I wanted to was see Chrissy. Not to have sex—and we wouldn’t be having sex for a few days anyway—but just to find some peace.

****

I called in and told Elaine I’d be in late because I had to check in with the county. Which was abstractly true, because I really stopped by Chad and Steve’s office to drop off the consents that had been faxed in to me. I knew that once they showed up, there’d be no keeping the audit under the table, and that was fine. I’d deal with it. I could just play dumb, because hey, this was just business as usual, right? Everybody said so.

I let the guys leave for my office, and I took the long way back, stopping at Starbuck’s on the way. That would give them a good 45 minutes head start. I’d get there just as the Accounting department was pulling all the docs and records that the auditors would need. It would all be good.

I strolled in ready to walk right into my office, and I almost made it. Gary’s door opened and Bianca walked out, smoothing her hair. Her clothes were a little messed up, but before I could give that any thought, I heard Gary’s voice yell from inside the office.

“Get me Gardner!”

Uh oh. He sounded pissed.

“Right now, God dammit!”

I smiled at his Elaine. “No need,” I said casually, although my heart was racing. “I’m right here.”

I strolled past looking like I didn’t have a care in the world, but I knew I was about to get reamed. The audit had already started—I could see Chad and Steve set up in the conference room.

“Hey, Gary,” I said, sauntering into his office. “What’s up?”

It’s normal procedure, I reminded myself. Business as usual.

“What’s up, you asshole, is that you are fucking my daughter behind my back!”