Chapter 39
CHAPTER 39
LIAM
T ime to pitch.
I’m sitting at the desk in my dad’s home office, looking over my layout, the breakdown, and the sketches for Whirlybirds in preparation for my meeting with Aaron.
Olive walks in with a bottle of water for me and a big mug of hot chocolate for her. “Are you sure you want me in here?”
I smile. “Definitely.”
She calms me. The part of me that felt knotted up has softened, a result of letting go of so much anger and embracing so much goodness.
She’s wearing a red turtleneck sweater, her blond hair pulled up in a messy ponytail, and she’s just about the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen.
Hopefully I can focus on the call.
“Did you see Lacey’s latest video? She shows the entire process of trimming a tree out in the field, cutting it down, hauling it to her room, and decorating it—start to finish—in about forty-eight seconds. It’s amazing.” She takes a sip of her hot chocolate, and some of the whipped cream hangs around on her upper lip. It’s absolutely criminal what that does to me .
“You’ve got a little—” I point at my mouth, then stand and lean across the desk and kiss her, taking time I don’t have to make sure I do it properly.
I pull back and meet her eyes.
“I should get whipped cream on my face more often.”
“I wish you would.” I go still. “If this goes well, it’s because of you.”
She shakes her head and stands, moving around the desk and drawing me close. “Nah, this one’s all yours, chief.”
My laptop sounds with the Zoom ringtone. “Okay, ready?”
She gives me a quick peck on my lips, then pumps her fist. “Let’s do this!”
I click the button to accept Aaron’s call and find him in his office, as expected. “Afternoon, Fisher,” he says.
“Thanks for taking this meeting so close to Christmas,” I say.
He gives his head a little shake. “Eh, it’s just another day to me, you know how it is.”
Across from me, Olive’s eyes widen, and she pulls a face. I try not to smile, but she doesn’t make it easy.
I look at the pitch on my iPad, then back at Aaron.
“What are we talking about?” Aaron asks, because I never gave his assistant a topic for this meeting. “I assume you have issues with your current workload or the deadlines?”
My eyes jump to Olive’s then back to the screen.
“No, not that at all, it’s something else I wanted?—”
Frustration winds itself into a tight ball in my belly. I think back on all the times I wanted to speak up, to say, “no, this isn’t okay with me,” but didn’t.
It hits me—the things my silence has cost me.
He jumps in. “I just want to say, if this is about the sequel to Castle Crusade , sorry man, I’m not budging on that one. It needs fresh eyes, and we really need you for other things. Best you get out from the shadow of that one, right? Get our little Boy Wonder on a project that will make up for the last three tanking.” He chuckles like he’s said something funny.
Olive’s eyes practically bug out of her head.
“Yeah, about that—” I start.
He jumps in again, “Look, I’m doing this for you, okay? I don’t want you to peak at, what are you, thirty-eight?”
“Thirty-one,” I correct.
“Yeah, well, I don’t want you to be washed up at thirty-one, that’s all I’m saying.”
A switch flips in my head. Normally I’d be all balled-up fists and flinging oil filters.
But today? With Olive? I’m not.
“I disagree,” I say, voice calm. “I don’t think I’ve even scratched the surface of what I’m capable of. I just don’t do well when people put me in a box.”
I don’t like to be restricted. I like to be free to make my own choices. My own decisions. And if I mess up, then I’ll own it because the mistakes are my own. I won’t have to take the blame for a failure that doesn’t belong to me.
I look down at the images of my game.
Do I really want Aaron to be in control of this?
“Parameters are part of the process, Fisher,” he says. “Now, what’s up? Why am I here?”
I drag my attention from the screen to the iPad, then over to Olive. “Actually, sir, I wanted to thank you face to face for the opportunity to work for you and learn from you and the rest of the Arcadia team. It’s been a truly incredible experience.” I pause, aware that Olive has started to lean forward in her chair.
“But it’s time for me to move on.”
Across from me, Olive gasps.
In front of me, Aaron frowns. “I don’t understand.”
“I quit,” I say. “I’m going to do my own thing for a while.”
“You know if you quit, the deal we have in place goes away. We don’t have to take you back. ”
I nod. “I’m aware.” People in my field will think I’ve lost my mind, but Olive is right. There’s no reason to hold on to a dream after I’ve realized I hate it.
For the first time ever, I see panic settle on Aaron’s face. He clears his throat. “Maybe we take the holidays to think about this? Not make a hasty decision?” He starts fumbling with papers on his desk.
“No, I’ve thought about it quite a bit. I’m good.”
“I think you’re making a mistake,” Aaron says into his webcam.
“I don’t,” I say matter-of-factly. “This just isn’t the life I want anymore. Plus, I’ve got a new idea for a game,” I look up at Olive, who looks as though she’s about to jump out of her skin. “And I found the perfect person to brainstorm it with.” And I’d much rather it have her fingerprints on it than his.
“New, uh, new game?” He leans over and snaps at someone off screen, waving his arm to get their attention.
“Yep.”
“Any chance you, uh, you came up with that on company time, using our laptops or equipment?”
I lean in. “Nope.”
He fumbles around with a few more things, then mutes his end.
“Hey, Aaron, I’m pretty busy here. What do you say we end things on a good note?”
Aaron taps a button and the mute icon disappears.
His mouth forms a tight line. “How can you walk away from Arcadia?”
I glance at Olive. “Because I’ve got everything I need right here.”
He raises his eyebrows, like he can’t believe what he’s just heard. He sighs, and I hope that means it’s dawning on him what he’s losing. “Okay, well, I wish you all the best then.”
“Thanks. You too. ”
I close my laptop to reveal a radiant, teary Olive staring at me.
“What did you just do?” she asks.
“I said what I want,” I say. “And what I don’t want.”
She smiles. She gets it, without having to explain the whole tangle of thoughts wrapped up in this decision.
“I just quit my job.” I lean back in my chair and scrub a hand down my face, over my beard.
She jumps up and practically vaults to the other side of the desk. “You can make this game on your own.” She lands in my lap and wraps her arms up around my neck. “You can call all the shots and make it exactly what you want. You have such great instincts—it’s going to be amazing.” She kisses me, her body melting into mine, and all the stress of what’s to come disappears.
I kiss her back, pretty sure that if I never got another job, I could sustain myself solely on this right here.
When she pulls back and as I search her eyes, I see a question there. “What is it?”
“This decision wasn’t . . . about me, right?” she asks.
I shake my head. “I’d do just about anything for you, Olive, but no. I had to make this decision for myself. I’ve been unhappy for a while and being back here just showed me I can choose something different than what I originally planned.”
At that, she smiles. “It’s funny because I’m doing the same thing.”
“Oh?”
“I spoke to that licensing agent,” she says. “I think she’s going to sign me. And Lacey’s going to help me get the word out about my brand new online store.” I watch the smile light up her face, and I get it. This feeling of finally figuring out how to let go of the past and move forward.
“So, what now?” she asks. “Will you go back to Indy?”
“Yeah. ”
I feel her deflate a little, but she nods.
“I have to clean out my condo to get my stuff back here.”
She presses her lips together to try and conceal her smile.
She leans in and right next to my ear she whispers, “I’ll hire the movers.”