At 9AM sharp, I exited the elevators and dialed Yessica to set up an appointment within business hours.

“Say yess to fabulous, this is Yessica.”

“Hi, Yess.” I smiled at my friend’s confidence and waved to Cora, who sat up, extraordinarily perky for a Friday morning. She and Dad were always here before everyone else, although a few other office lights were already on. “Do you have time to touch up my nails this week?”

“Only if you take me to dinner. There’s a new Italian restaurant opening downtown and we need to try it.”

“Do you mean Antonetti’s? Their calamari is amazing!”

“They’re not open, yet, hun.”

Oh, right. “I must’ve been thinking of somewhere else.” Hopefully, my weak chuckle didn’t betray the whole time travel thing. “Will they have reservations so close to the weekend?”

“When they see us, they’ll be begging to put us in the best seats for free advertising: boss bitches on the scene.”

“Is that our brand?” I laughed and opened my office, stunned by the beautiful array of flowers sitting in a vase on my desk. “Wow! Did Cora…”

“Who’s Cora and what did she do?” Yessica prodded.

“My dad’s secretary must be redecorating. When I was a girl, she’d give me a flower from the lobby’s bouquet to put in my hair, but today I must’ve graduated to earning my own vase.” I brushed my fingers over the silky petals, basking in their perfume.

“Are you sure they aren’t from a secret admirer?”

The warmth from Damon’s “good game” handshake flared through my veins.

He loves me.

A silky petal came off in my grip.

But my favorite flowers were carnations. I’d painted them in art class and given Damon the canvas. He’d always been hesitant to accept any kinds of gifts, but he hung that one in his bedroom.

Did he take it down when we broke up? Or wait until he officially moved out for college? It was probably packed in a donation box somewhere…

Besides, the last time we met, he said something snarky about not running into one another again anytime soon.

He loves me not.

“Unless they were an apology, I doubt it.” I dropped the petal in the vase and dusted off my hands.

A knock at the door had me spinning around.

“Good morning, Alina,” Todd beamed. “Can I steal you away?”

“Sure, one second.” I half-turned away to finish my call with Yessica. “Text or email me confirmation, and I’ll see you at dinner!”

“Ta, Alina! Have a great day! And I want to hear more about this ‘apology’ later.”

“Okay, thanks.” I hung up and braced myself with a smile against Todd. “Did you look over the WorldCon plans?”

“Yeah, we could do that.” He perched on my desk and plucked one of the flowers, twirling it between his fingers. “Were you just making a date?”

“Catching up with a friend. Should we gather the rest of the team in the conference room?”

“Not yet.” He offered me the delicate bud. “Do you like them?”

“The flowers? Or the team?” I shook my head and took it from him. “Yes, either way.”

“I’m glad to hear it. Do you like me?”

My chest tightened.

I loved him. Past tense. Mostly.

He slipped off the desk, warm and admiring. “You’re beautiful, smart, and sweet. You help everybody. I know I’d be jeopardizing my career and my relationship with Roy by—”

“Don’t.” I tapped the flower to his lips. Eyes wide, he froze. “Listen, Todd, I appreciate you cheering me on at the game and in board meetings, but we want different things.”

“Do we? I thought we wanted to see Roy happy.” He lowered my hand, holding it between his. “I think… we could make each other happy.”

“Maybe,” I admitted, swallowing hard at the earnestness in his expression. There had been moments of brilliance between us: inside jokes about board meetings, exciting trips around the world, exhausted nights where we’d massage each other’s necks to get rid of stress. It was hard to believe that after all that time, he loved money more than anyone. 

“But right now, I’m focused on making myself happy,” I insisted.

Todd brushed his lips against my knuckles. “Is it because you’re worried about what would happen if things went bad?”

“No, I know what happens when things go bad,” I said as a million memories flashed through my head. “I just want to do things right, this time around.”

Brows furrowed, he shook his head. “Your father gave us his blessing.”

“What?!” I yanked my hand out of his grip. “What does this have to do with my dad?”

“I didn’t want to go around behind his back or complicate our positions in the company. I wanted to do things right, too,” Todd insisted. “You’re both too important for me. I don’t want to screw anything up. So tell me how to make it work.”

But wasn’t that how he’d gotten the CEO job in the first place?

I sighed and shook my head at him. “Todd, you know you’re charming. And we make a great team. But I need you to pull your weight with this WorldCon presentation before we can even think about dating.”

“You sure? I’m pretty fantastic at multitasking.” His mouth twitched as if testing a smile.

“One of your many fabulous qualities,” I mused, twisting him around and pushing him out of my office. “Prove it to me.”

Todd drew himself up. “I’ll be back with my plans.”

As he went down the hall, squeak of Cora’s chair drew my eye to her desk, where she and my dad were blatantly spying.

Cora pursed her lips, the opposite of the innocent look she was going for. “Do those plans happen to include dinner?”

“No,” I emphasized, crossing my arms. “We’re too busy.”

“Hmph!” Cora pouted. “Don’t you like the boy?”

Kill me, I thought, cringing as I backed up. “I like him fine.”

Dad pursued me into my office. “Alina, don’t you want to date? Start a family?”

“I have a family.”

“I mean besides me.” 

The sting of reality and my possible future without any of these people silenced me. My father drooped in the doorway, a gray tinge to his skin in the overhead LED lights. He’d never wanted to date anyone besides my mother. But I wasn’t resigned to pining for Todd and our lost marriage for the rest of my life.

I plucked a flower and fastened it to Dad’s lapel. It brightened his expression as much as it did his outfit.

Todd barreled back into the room. “Hey, Roy! Alina.”

“Are you done with your plan already?” I asked.

“N—not quite.” Todd winced before flashing us a confident smile. “I got my tablet, though.”

Dad looked at him, puzzled. I really hoped he saw through the facade in a way I hadn’t until it was too late.

I pulled on the crook of Dad’s arm and turned to Todd. “Do you mind taking a photo of us?”

“Um, sure. I thought you had a photographic memory?”

“I do. But I can’t frame that on a desk.” I didn’t have nearly enough photographs of us after he passed, unless I counted the shots of him shaking some business partner’s hand while I stood in the background.

For once, I wanted a photo just for us.

“One second!” Dad grabbed a long-stemmed flower and tucked it behind my ear before posing and grinning. “Perfect.”

“Definitely,” Todd said with a wolfish glint in his eye, snapping a photo.

If he loved me so much, why did he do a backdoor deal against me and my family?

Well, I was going to make some moves of my own. “Hey, Dad, I’ve been doing some research on these high-end mounts for people who want to take selfies. I’ll leave my investment recommendation on your desk.”

“Are people using those enough to be worth it?”

“Trust me.” It would make so much money!

Right now, I could only rely on my own knowledge to save our company and honor my family.