Chapter 2
Late January
A harsh light slowly burned into Matt’s eyelids. A phone was ringing nearby, and a heavy, furry hat was licking his ear. That last thought made him pry open his eyes and reach up.
He had just spent his first night at the house he’d fixed up all by himself, but his dog hadn’t wanted to sleep in his own bed. Matt gently brought the dog down from his perch atop his head and looked into the soulful eyes that hypnotized him time and time again. “Did you sleep well, Persephone, daughter of—you know what? No. I’m tired of always giving in to you. New home; new name. You’re going to have to settle for… Percival. It’s close enough.” The one-eared dog proceeded to pee all over the front of Matt’s t-shirt. “You could’ve just growled or bitten me if you didn’t like the name,” he half joked. He’d been having a hell of a time house-training the dog. So far, Persephone couldn’t hold it in for more than two hours at a time during the day and four hours at night. And that was progress.
Matt sighed and grabbed his phone. It was seven a.m. He had one hour to get ready, drop Percival off at his new doggie day care, and get to work. It was doable because he now lived closer to work, and the doggie day car was right in town. The phone started ringing again. “Good morning, Sylvia,” he greeted his colleague as he stripped off his t-shirt and padded across the room to the bathroom. Along the way he listened to the background noise of Sylvia’s household, thankful that he only had a dog to take care of. One of Sylvia’s kids couldn’t find a shoe, a second couldn’t find the peanut butter, and the third told the first two to shut up because she had a headache. “What’s up?” he asked.
“Hey there—sorry to keep calling! But Skylar is sick, and I won’t be able to make it in today. Hold on a moment, please,” she said pleasantly. “For the tenth time, it’s in the pantry!” she proceeded to yell. Did she think her thumb on her phone’s microphone could drown her out? “So,” she continued, as if she hadn’t just blown out his eardrums. “I’m calling because I desperately need you to take my eight o’clock over at North Point.”
“You need me to take it?” Matt asked. He and Sylvia headed up different departments at the Dayton Business Development Alliance. Three people reported to Sylvia. Normally, she’d ask one of them to take over her appointment.
Sylvia sighed. “A tip came in late Friday afternoon, and it involved a potential breach of contract by Friendly Clicks, one of our first and most successful incubator companies. We weren’t sure if the potential breach fell under your department or mine, but you had left, and I took the lead. Hold on,” she interrupted in her most pleasant voice again. “No, not the shoe, the peanut butter!” she yelled. Matt pulled the phone away from his ear and flinched. “I’m sorry to say it didn’t go well,” she continued. “I reached the Chief Technology Officer, Justin Glick, who is one of the two founders we dealt with eight years ago when we assisted them with seed money, office space, and mentorship. I reminded him of loyalty and contractual obligations, he took it as a threat and issued a counterthreat. I realized after I hung up that he and I simply weren’t speaking the same language. I don’t know if it’s because he speaks tech or millennial. I was planning on smoothing things out with him today, but when I called Mike to ask him to take over for me, he said this should have gone to you in the first place.”
Matt blew out a breath. His day was already full, but since Sylvia was a good friend, and she had peanut butter, a shoe, and a sick child to attend to, he figured he could squeeze in one more meeting. “You had me at loyalty. Fill me in.”
* * *
Hope Piper regarded the private investigator sitting across from her desk. It was the first time in her life she’d forgotten about a meeting. Not only that, but she would’ve canceled the meeting had she remembered it. Wasting people’s time was number two on her never-do list. And now she had to tell the woman she’d wasted her time. Number one on her always-do list was to lead by being truthful and up front with relevant information. It was honest, and it had the added benefit of letting people know they were respected while also allowing her to stay in control.
“Mrs. Caputo, thank you for agreeing to see me before work. I know you’re very busy and sought after. When I made this appointment two months ago, I had a clear goal in mind. However, recent events have made me reevaluate those goals, and I’m no longer ready to move forward. I apologize for failing to call you to cancel this meeting, though. I’m very embarrassed to have wasted your time. Please let me know if there’s anything I can do to make it up to you.” Hope didn’t want to insult the woman by offering to pay her for her time, but she hoped to be allowed to do something for her, nonetheless.
Mrs. Caputo studied her for a moment, and Hope was encouraged to see warmth in her eyes. “Thank you for being honest. Will you allow me to be honest, too?” Hope nodded and Mrs. Caputo continued. “Josh Goodwin, your sister’s boyfriend, just won the election for Montgomery County prosecutor after a grueling campaign in which your sister unwittingly took center stage.” Hope nodded, not surprised the woman knew. Everybody knew. Gracie had nearly been killed over the special election. What people didn’t know was that Hope’s sleepwalking problem had been used to lure Gracie into the situation that had almost gotten her killed. That had been two months ago. Hope hadn’t had a good night’s sleep ever since. It had been catching up to her for a while now.
“That happened the day after you called me to say you had a missing person you needed to find,” the private investigator observed, and Hope nodded again. The last thing Gracie had wanted was for her past to be all over the news. It had been the reason Hope had decided to cancel her meeting with Mrs. Caputo and not look for Derek. If Derek didn’t want to be found, Hope had decided to respect that. Only she’d forgotten to actually call and cancel. “But I’m not saying any of this to rehash unpleasant memories,” Mrs. Caputo continued. “I’m saying it because it’s completely understandable that you’re now reevaluating your goals. But please know that your sister’s situation was unique. Nobody I have worked for has ever wanted to find someone in order to hurt them. The only thing I’ll ask of you is to think of me if you ever need to talk about the emotional implications of finding your missing person. I’m not a therapist, but I’ve seen and heard a lot, and my experiences might help you decide if going through with it will help you find the peace you’re looking for.”
Hope took a deep breath and held it, knowing it was a sign of weakness, but needing to do it nonetheless. She let it slowly, smiled, and agreed to think of Mrs. Caputo if she ever needed to talk her particular situation through.
The moment Mrs. Caputo left, Hope sat back down on her chair and stared at the wall in front of her with her hands neatly folded on her desk. What she wanted to do was bury her face in her hands, but that would be like admitting she wasn’t in control. Which she wasn’t. Her sleepwalking was slowly taking over her life and there didn’t seem to be a damn thing she could do about it. Therapy hadn’t worked. Alarms at her doors and windows kept waking the neighborhood up. All she could do was fight sleep. Or leave…
But leaving would mean letting over a hundred people down.
When she and Justin Glick agreed to merge Friendly Clicks, the company they’d founded eight years ago, with Unlimited Sparks shortly after, Hope and Justin had made a killing. They had each retained one-fourth shares of their company as part of the deal to remain separate entities under the Unlimited Sparks umbrella, and both had stayed on with cushy jobs. Justin had remained in his Chief Technology Officer role, and Hope had seen it as a chance to flee Dayton, Ohio, a place brimming with bad memories not just for her, but for her sisters, without completely breaking her ties to the company that had become such an integral part of her life.
But that decision was now coming back to haunt her. Everything was coming back to haunt her, it seemed. She’d left, the sleepwalking had stopped, and so she’d stayed away, proud to be CFO of a fast-growing company. A company she was no longer proud of.
Now both Friendly Clicks and Unlimited Sparks were in danger of being bought up by the biggest online dating service in the world. It was the right move for Unlimited Sparks—its mission, brand, and culture had changed in the last few years under the current CEO, but it would mean the end of Friendly Clicks as they knew it. And Hope and Justin didn’t want that. They believed in the company they’d started even more now than when they’d first had their idea. But things had gotten messy. And last Friday, while Hope had been at Josh’s election party, Justin had made them even messier when a call had come in from someone at the Dayton Business Development Alliance.
Now Hope had to clean up the new mess while still quietly finding a way out of the old one.
* * *
Matt parked at Friendly Clicks and stared down at the little mutt bundled up in a towel on his seat. The new doggie day care Matt had set up had blown frozen pipes and they’d had to close for a few days while they got the problem fixed. “I have no clue what to do you with you. No clue. None. It’s cold out, but it was still warm in here. I only left you in the car to go buy some extra treats for you, and still you raised such a ruckus that someone broke my car window to rescue you. I was only gone four minutes, buddy. Four minutes. Then the police came and fined me. It’s not a good start to our life in Spinning Hills.”
The mutt opened one eye. Matt stared into it, and just like the night Hope had found him—and this morning after the broken-window incident—he felt himself softening. He picked the mutt up and held him up. “It’s not your fault. You were just scared. We’ll figure something out… Pedro,” he said, trying out a new name. The dog proceeded to pee on Matt’s suit pants. Matt sighed. “You used to growl when you didn’t like a name.”
Matt opened the door and jumped out of the car, holding the dog out in front of him. He looked down at the wet spot on his crotch. What was he supposed to do now? The meeting was in ten minutes. Would the spot be dry by then? Maybe with the help of one of those bathroom blow-dryers.
He looked around. There was a man in the corner picking up garbage. He had an orange Dayton Volunteer vest on. “Excuse me, sir?” The man turned around. “I’m in a bit of a bind and I was hoping you could help me out.” Five minutes later, Matt was locked inside a bathroom with his pants off and under a blow-dryer, and the volunteer had agreed to watch the dog in the bathroom and hide in a stall if anyone came in.
Five minutes after that, Matt was standing in front of an administrative assistant named Maya, hoping she wouldn’t notice the stain on his charcoal-gray suit pants. “Good morning. I’m Matt Williams with the Dayton Business Development Alliance, and I’m here to see Justin Glick.”
“I’m so sorry, but Mr. Glick had a family emergency and had to fly out to Texas late last night.” Her apology seemed sincere, and it went a long way with curbing Matt’s frustration. What a day so far.
He was about to thank the woman in front of him when a familiar voice spoke up behind him. “If you’re with the DBDA, you’ll be meeting with me, instead.”
The hair on Matt’s neck rose. It couldn’t be. He turned. It was. Hope Piper. Smiling a detached, professional smile, her bright blue eyes regarding him as if she’d never seen him before in her life. Matt took a quick catalogue of all his sins, wondering which one he was paying for now. He felt like Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca. Of all the startups, in all the towns, in all the regions, he’d walked into hers… It felt surreal. It had been two months since he’d seen her last, but every night he’d worked on his new home, he’d felt as if he were waiting for her. Many times he’d caught himself feeling disappointed that she hadn’t come. Which was crazy.
Maya cleared her throat behind him, and Matt realized they were waiting for his response. “Right. Good morning. I’m Matt Williams, vice president of business development for the DBDA.” He walked over and stuck out his hand.
“I’m Hope Piper, chief financial officer of the Friendly Clicks division of Unlimited Sparks.” She grasped his hand in a firm handshake before stepping aside and motioning him into her office. “Mr. Glick believed I’d be meeting with Sylvia Radner. The two of them had already laid the groundwork for this meeting over the phone. Are you up to speed?” Meaning, was he aware that threats had been issued on both sides and a public-relations war was brewing?
“Mrs. Radner had an emergency, too, but I’m aware and up to date.” Matt stepped into her office feeling grateful for Hope’s professional tone and get-down-to-business attitude. It had gone a long way toward helping him find his footing. This was a business meeting. He’d sort out the other stuff later.
Hope sat behind her glass desk and, like a queen on a throne in her modern, light blue and gray executive suite, offered him a seat. Normally, the person behind the desk held the power, but Matt had never gotten the memo. He sat down, leaned back into the chair, and put his right ankle up over his left knee. Professional, but fully at ease. But when she looked over at him, a dilemma hit. “Let me make sure my phone is off,” he said, to give him time to think. He’d promised Sherry and her sisters that he’d never tell her anything about their nightly meetings if they ever met out in the real world, and it had been an easy enough promise to make. He’d known he might see her around town, but it wasn’t like he’d ever go up to her, tap her on the shoulder, and say, Hey you! Guess what? You don’t know me, but you’ve grilled me over the slow progress I’m making on my house, and you saddled me with a dog who now owns me. Oh, and I’ve held you in my arms as you’ve cried. And even if someone introduced them, it wasn’t as if he had to stay and chat with her. He could always find an excuse to continue on his way.
Now that they had no choice but to actually deal with each other, though, it didn’t feel right to withhold the fact that he knew her. But telling her right now, in her place of business, during an important meeting, also didn’t seem right. And leaving and not doing his job wasn’t an option. Other people’s futures were at stake. All he could think of to do was treat the woman in front of him as a separate being from the one who had visited him at night. He would think of them as twins. Bessie White, the wandering ghost he’d met nine months ago, and Hope Piper, CFO of Friendly Clicks, a woman who knew exactly where she was and what she was doing… which was breaking a contract and betraying the trust of those who had believed in her and her business partner.
No, she was definitely not the woman who he’d held in his arms. To him, the woman before him embodied everything that had gone wrong with the necessary, vital art of enterprise. She and her partner were showing themselves to be devoid of gratitude and loyalty. Matt put his phone back into his briefcase, leaned back again, and met her gaze straight on.
Hope watched the man in front of her. Until that moment, she hadn’t known what to make of him. Outside in the reception area, he’d taken his sweet time turning around after she’d spoken to him. She’d interpreted it as posturing. She didn’t like posturers. Then, he’d stuck out his hand as if he had no doubt she’d shake the hand of a man who clearly had a pee stain on his pants. Now that had been new territory for her. She’d faced all sorts of women and men in her business dealings. Among the men there were the consummate professionals, the decent, the misogynists, the chauvinists, and the narcissistic playboys. But never had she encountered a man with a large, obvious, yellow pee stain right on his crotch. And never had she imagined she’d encounter a man so completely unfazed at having pee on his pants that he’d look her in the eye with such complete confidence, as he was doing now.
They each waited for the other to begin. When neither did, they simply watched each other, neither of them the least bit uncomfortable. Finally, Hope smiled and said, “I believe you said you were up to date, Mr. Williams. What is it you came here to discuss?”
Matt Williams didn’t smile back. “I’m here to discuss the ramifications of Friendly Clicks’ decision to move out of state.”
Hope gave him a short nod. If he thought he could threaten her the way Mrs. Radner had threatened Justin, he had another think or ten coming. “Mr. Glick informed Mrs. Radner that Friendly Clicks has made no such decision.” That was true. “Will there be anything else?” She nudged her chair back. A polite, but clear message.
His sudden smile told her he had received the message, but wouldn’t comply. “Yes. I understand Mr. Glick issued a threat.”
“A counterthreat,” Hope amended. In truth, she hadn’t been happy about how Justin had dealt with Mrs. Radner. Hope was the one who handled business calls.
“I thought you said you were up to speed, Ms. Piper?”
“I am.”
“Then you’re aware that Friendly Clicks was provided with one hundred thousand dollars in seed funds, tax incentives, and five years of free prime office space, along with valuable mentorships and partnerships to help get it off the ground. One of the stipulations was that you would not leave the region for twenty years.”
“Justin and I both signed the contract, Mr. Williams, and we’re both well aware of the financial implications of a move. As I’m sure you know, healthy businesses continuously look for ways to grow and thrive and as a result of that, many conversations take place. I’m sorry if any of those conversations were misinterpreted and led you here. As of right now, I can assure you no such decision has been made.”
Mr. Williams leaned forward. “A move would be a material breach of contract and a dangerous precedent. It’s not something we can dismiss with a fine. And I’m sure you’re well aware of current consumer and employee trends toward rewarding ethical businesses practices. Many of our contemporaries consider lack of gratitude and loyalty a moral failing. I’m sure you’ve seen how boycotts catch on and go viral nowadays.”
Hope smiled. “Of course. And no one wants to be the bad guy, right?” She leaned forward. “As I understand it, the Dayton Business Development Alliance strives to attract startups and recent graduates to the region. It’s in your mission statement. Threatening to damage a company’s reputation and bottom line for doing what it needs to do to grow and thrive will hardly attract potential businesses to the DBDA.”
“We were the first to believe in you and the first to help you grow and thrive. I’m sure our track record there speaks for itself, and I’m sure startups would understand our need to protect ourselves from damages, so that we may continue to help the region.”
It was time to take a step back from threats. They weren’t working, and Hope was happy to take the lead. “Mr. Williams, you’re getting ahead of yourself. No breach of contract has occurred. So far, we’ve fulfilled our part of the bargain by creating employment and investing in the community. We’re also grateful to the DBDA, and we’ve shown our gratitude by appearing in your marketing and by praising and acknowledging your assistance as crucial to our success. I won’t insult you by dismissing or diminishing what you’ve done for Friendly Clicks. I can assure you you’ll hear from me personally if any decision we make will affect our contract with you. But please understand that our first loyalty is to our customers and our employees.” Hope nudged her chair back again, but Matt Williams showed no signs of leaving. He and his stained crotch looked as comfortable as if they were in their own living room.
“Finally, common ground. Our loyalty is to the region’s residents, and that includes your employees. We won’t settle for being the first to find out you’re leaving. We ask for you to allow Dayton to find a way to retain your business. Denying us a fair fight is not what’s best for your employees. I implore you to remember what happened to the last company that was founded here that left without allowing the state and the region a fair shot.”
Hope remembered. Years later, it still served as an example in business schools on how not to handle a move. The company’s image took a hit on the national stage. With states now battling each other to attract businesses by offering tax incentives, office space, and more, consumers were now more aware than ever of the impact it all had on their communities. The trick was in spinning a move as the greater good. Problem was, she didn’t feel that way. Staying put was the greater good. But business was complicated and the future depended on too many things. Personal and otherwise. She stood up. “A public-relations war that will hurt Friendly Clicks will also hurt the employees you claim to want to help. Our employees are proud of where they work and their satisfaction is high. We’re consistently rated a top place to work. Please remember that.”
Matt Williams stood up, too, and somehow, she got the feeling he felt he was dismissing her, even though he was in her office. “The leak about Friendly Clicks’ future plans came from within your company, Ms. Piper. A group of your employees asked us to step in. So I understand they like working here, but I believe you’re the one who needs to remember why.”
Now that had come out of left field. Hope had been sure the leak had come from Unlimited Sparks in North Carolina, as a way to force their hand and not give them enough time to come up with a plan. But the leak had come from Friendly Clicks? The division she’d given her all to the last nine months? How had they even found out? The answer was clear. Unlimited Sparks. Hope kept her features schooled. She had no choice but to reveal a card. “The employees here are not privy to the facts, Mr. Williams. I can assure you that if you persist in interfering and exerting pressure, you will only be hurting your own cause.”
Matt turned to leave. Normally, he wouldn’t have told Hope how they’d found out about the company’s plans to relocate to North Carolina, to make sure their source would not face repercussions. But Sylvia had assured him their source had been warned that it might be necessary. Hope was slick, though. She had neither confirmed nor denied they were leaving. Not only that, but she had implied the DBDA could be blamed if they left. As soon as he got to the office, he’d find out who the source was. He needed more information.
Hope’s heels clicked on the hardwood floor behind him as she walked him out. “Good day, Mr. Williams,” she said in a cheerful, untroubled voice.
He turned to meet her eyes once more, saying, “Till next time,” in an equally pleasant voice. But with one quick move, Hope had the upper hand. Her gaze shifted down to the pee stain on his crotch and she raised one eyebrow before allowing her gaze to slide back up. Matt looked down at it, too.
“It smells, you know,” Maya, the administrative assistant, chimed in behind him. Matt turned to give her a dark look. Maya shrugged. “I’m just putting it out there because we’re all thinking it. You wouldn’t want to leave and have us wondering about it, would you?”
Of course it smelled. The dog Hope had saddled him with had the bladder control of an infant. The irony helped him find his footing. “A neighbor of mine,” he said, looking directly at Hope, “gallantly rescued a dog about two months ago and then volunteered me to keep it. The pup was in a real bad way—missing an ear, missing fur, and missing bladder control.” He motioned to his pants. “This is his work, not mine.” He grinned and shrugged, to show her that not even a smelly pee stain on his crotch could ruffle him. But then he remembered that Hope had called his grin mischievous. He instantly wiped it off because he recognized he was being mischievous, at her expense. It took all he had not to groan. Now that they were out of her office, he was back to seeing Hope and Bessie White as one and the same.
Hope smiled her first real smile. “Well, then, good luck to you. It certainly sounds, smells, and looks like you’ve got everything under control.”
She was about to step back into her office, and Matt grabbed his coat from the coat rack and thought quickly. The meeting had not been productive. Something had to be done. “Not with Persephone, daughter of Zeus, I don’t. He’s just outside. Would you like to meet him?” he asked, remembering how she’d said she badly wanted a dog. Hope stopped her progress and turned to study him. It was obvious his offer had surprised her. But whether it was because the dog’s name rang a bell or whether she wondered what he was up to, he didn’t know. In truth, Matt didn’t know what he was up to. There was a human side to her, he knew it, and he had a sudden need to see it. But he hadn’t thought things through. Using knowledge she wasn’t aware he had on her wasn’t fair. Now he regretted it. God, how he hated the whole situation.
“Persephone, daughter of Zeus?” she repeated. He nodded. “And the dog is a he?”
Sensing the smile behind her words, he shrugged and smiled a little, too. “My neighbor named him. Come meet him, Ms. Piper, and let’s see if we can’t find some common ground along the way.”
He turned, hoping she’d follow him, and was relieved when he heard the click of her heels right behind him. “That’ll be difficult when I’m only following you because I’m worried about the poor dog. Not only did you keep the name your neighbor obviously meant as a mean, silly joke, but you left him out in the cold.”
“No. I left him hiding in one of your stalls with a kind stranger.” He looked back. “And my neighbor was tired when she found the dog. I don’t think she knew the dog was a he, at first. But, uh, she’s a good person with a good heart and she meant well. Persephone is a vegetation goddess. She helps things grow.”
“She’s also queen of the underworld. Why haven’t you changed his name?”
They were walking side by side down a long corridor now. “Because he won’t allow it. I’ve tried Percy, Penrod, Pepe, Perry, Pervis… He’s not having any of them.”
“What did you do, buy a baby name book and go down the list that starts with the letters ‘PE’?”
“How’d you guess?” He grinned. “Although I did try Hades, too.”
She rolled her eyes at him. “I’ll help you find him a name he loves, make sure he’s okay, and leave.”
Matt shook his head. Great. It would be a repeat of the night she left him with the dog. They continued in silence. When they reached the door, Matt saw the volunteer and the dog were outside. He threw his coat over Hope’s shoulders and said, “It’s cold out,” before opening the door. She looked back, surprised, but before she could say anything, the dog ran right up to greet his first rescuer, twirling and hopping and barking in front of Hope, over and over again. Matt thanked the volunteer, who shook his head and continued on his way. He then turned to watch Persephone, daughter of Zeus, and Hope Piper fall in love all over again. Hope squatted, mindless of her fitted skirt, and lapped up the dog’s ecstatic attention. “He’s adorable! And he’s so loving! But he looks like he’s been through so much. Are you sure you can handle him? He’s all skin and bones and something’s obviously going on with his fur. He needs a vet and food and love…” She looked up in consternation.
Matt didn’t know if he should be offended by her lack of faith in him, or touched that she cared so much. He bent down and ruffled the little guy’s head. “He looks much better than he did, trust me. Some of his fur has grown back, and he’s got a little meat to his bones now. I took him to the vet the morning after I got him, she gave me medicated topical cream and vitamins and special food, and I’ve taken him back once a week since, and she says he’s doing fine.”
“What are you going to do if someone claims him, though? It looks like whoever had him didn’t care for him, but it could also be that he got lost and someone’s out there looking for him.”
He frowned. “I don’t know what I’d do. One look into those eyes and I was a goner.”
She studied him a moment, and it made him uncomfortable. “Well, then, let’s hope no one claims him. He looks like he loves you, too.” She averted her eyes then and went back to loving the dog. “You don’t like Percy?” she asked him. He growled and walked away, pulling on his leash until Matt had no choice but to walk him toward his car. Hope giggled and followed them. He felt sure he was seeing a side of her that her employees and business associates rarely saw, if ever. All because of the dog. And all because he’d already known she’d love him. Again, it was an unfair advantage. Morally, the whole thing felt wrong.
The first thing he’d do that evening was talk to Sherry. Hope needed to know who he was and what he knew.
“And of course you don’t like Hades. You rule hearts, not underworlds,” she cooed. “How about Zeus?” she asked, and the dog began yipping and hopping and twirling in obvious glee. Zeus. Huh. Why hadn’t he thought of that? She lowered herself and Zeus went back to loving her.
After a full minute of that, Hope got up and clapped her hands, as if her work there was done. But regret was clearly written on her face as she looked down at the newly christened Zeus. That regret pulled at him, and he examined the feeling until the memory of something she’d told him surfaced. I don’t know what to do… Matt Williams. I don’t want to leave, but I don’t know how to stay. The same regret had been in her expression the night she’d said those words. He stared at her. Hope wanted to stay, but she didn’t know how. If that was true, it changed things. It could mean her heart was in the right place, but that something beyond her control was happening at Friendly Clicks. Could he help?
He itched to confess right there and then, but he knew that giving Sherry and Hope’s sisters the chance to be the ones to tell Hope everything was the right thing to do.
“Mr. Williams? You’re staring.” Hope’s voice brought him back with a start.
There was nothing for it but to offer her any honesty he could. He nodded. “I apologize, but the reason I was staring is that I recognize you from the press conference your sister held two months ago.” He looked her in the eye. “It was impressive. And it made think that you have strong family ties here and that maybe our goals aren’t so different.”
Hope, who had looked nothing but professionally polite and in complete control from the moment he’d met her upstairs, clenched her jaw and gave him a look so icy, it took all he had to hold her gaze. “I would think you would know better than to bring highly personal information into our business meeting. From now on, I’ll deal with Ms. Radner,” she said in a cold, steady voice before shrugging his coat off, tossing it over his shoulder, and calmly walking away.
“So you prefer that I insult us both by pretending we’re on a completely level playing field right now when I know we’re not. Through no fault of my own, I know you have a lot going on. I thought we could drop the threats, be honest with each other, and reach a truce.”
Hope kept walking, and Zeus pulled on his leash and trotted along after her. Matt had no choice but to follow him and scoop him up. But Zeus had other plans. He began zigzagging in and out between Hope’s legs, and Matt had no choice but to let go of the leash, else he’d have to zigzag in and out of Hope’s legs, too, which he was sure would not be appreciated.
Both the dog and the leash tripped Hope, and she almost stepped on the dog, but she managed to avoid it by stepping back onto the grass. Her heel sunk and she teetered back as an anxious Zeus ran behind her to break her fall. Hope’s arms flailed as she tried to regain her balance, but it was too late. She almost broke the little guy’s back, but Matt saved him just in time. Unfortunately, it meant Hope’s butt hit the wet grass.
“That silly little dog tried to break my fall,” she said after a stunned moment. Gone was polite and professional Hope. In her place was an anxious woman. “I could’ve crushed him!”
“You both had the same goal, to save the other. But there was no time to communicate your goals to each other.”
Her gaze went from worried to unamused. “An analogy. How original.”
He ignored her sarcasm. “It’s what I want to offer you, Ms. Piper. Time to get our acts together before we meet again, so that the relationship between Friendly Clicks and the DBDA can continue to be as productive as it has been until now. I think we both figured out early on that Mr. Glick and Ms. Radner weren’t speaking the same language.” Zeus barked at that, and Matt had to smile. Hope smiled, too, although reluctantly, and he offered her his hand. “You may call it unprofessional to bring up your sister’s press conference and the fact that I think you’d like to stay in the region, but to me business is always personal because I do business with people.”
She eyed him warily, but she stayed where she was, as confident sitting in the grass as she had been behind her desk. Matt’s smile widened because he realized that, despite everything, he really liked this woman. His outstretched hand did not waver. “That all sounds lovely and inspirational,” she said. “But I sometimes do business with vultures, so forgive me if I’m skeptical.” She took his offered hand, though, and allowed him to help her up. He couldn’t help but think it was a strategic move on her part.
“I’m skeptical, too, but my instincts tell me we can help each other.”
Hope shifted her gaze to look at Zeus so that she wouldn’t have to look at Matt Williams. Her gut was telling her the same thing, but she had learned to consider facts along with her instincts. It was easier to think while looking at Zeus.
God, how she wished he were hers. He looked so cute hanging over Matt’s arm, and something about his eyes touched her deeply. But that very thought led her right back to her present situation. That she was letting her eyes and thoughts wander was a testament to how exhausted she was. Normally she would look the man in front of her in the eye and tell him that she would be in touch in a polite, detached tone. But they were beyond detached politeness at this point. In the space of half an hour they’d threatened each other, discussed pee, she’d named his dog, and she’d fallen flat on her butt because of said dog. She slid her gaze back up to his. What did he think he could accomplish with another meeting? It was a fact that they couldn’t help each other with their main problem, which was that the DBDA needed Friendly Clicks to stay, but that the main obstacle to that was something only Hope could fix, but didn’t know how to.
She squared her shoulders. There was still time. And if there was a leak within the company, and if her employees were thinking of leaving and starting a PR war over it—with the DBDA’s help—then she needed to show her employees that she was actually willing to work with the DBDA. “When would you like to meet again?” she asked.
“Let me check my calendar,” he said, before reaching for his phone. She took the moment to study him and noted—in a detached way, of course—that he was a very attractive man. He was dark, and it made his hazel eyes stand out. And not even his beard took away from his good looks. It was short and neat. Some women might even find it sexy. It also boded well for their business relationship that he hadn’t tried to use his good looks on her. It was a good thing because men who flirted with her because they thought it would help their agenda had become a personal pet peeve. Chewing them up and spitting them out had, unfortunately, become a fun but bad habit she’d had a hard time breaking. “Next Monday, same time?” he suggested.
“I’ll have Maya check my calendar when I get back. If you don’t hear from her, it means the meeting is a go.” She stuck out her hand this time, he shook it, and she turned and left, even though she badly wanted to pet Zeus and kiss him goodbye. At least she’d get an update on him in one week when they met again.
“Until we meet again,” Matt Williams called after her.
Hope frowned. He was becoming too familiar. As if they were already on friendly terms. That didn’t bode well.