Chapter 8
Eight
When I arrive to the conference room on Wednesday morning, Anya is speaking to Leon quietly about Theo. I can’t hear everything they’re saying, but I make out the words “Harris,” “punishing,” “grunt work,” and “unbelievable.”
I frown, my thoughts circling back to the day I overheard Mr. Harris on the phone with Theo. It must be about the last-minute trip he was sent on to LA.
Everyone was caught by surprise. Theo was barely here two days before he was dispatched again. I know he’s the head of the Orlando office, but the frequency he travels is still a lot.
Excelsior has other offices that are all closer. They could’ve sent someone from the San Francisco office to LA, or from Munich to Amsterdam. Yet somehow, it’s always Theo being pulled away. I’d like to know what Mr. Harris’ reasoning is.
I tuck the thought aside as I finish setting up my laptop. I’m pulling up my notes when movement outside the glass walls catches my eye. Speaking of Theo, there he is, striding down the hall. But the silhouette is all wrong. It takes my brain a second to accept what I’m seeing.
He’s in jeans and a white T-shirt?
No. Absolutely not. The man who purposefully wears woolen three-piece suits in Orlando does not own denim. Nor would he ever dress so casually. There’s no way. I lean back for a better look, misjudge the angle, and my chair shoots out from under me. Down I go.
“Kaori!” Anya exclaims.
“I’m fine,” I blurt out, scrambling upright and scooping my papers off the floor, popping back up like a malfunctioning jack-in-the-box.
“That’s good,” Theo’s voice says mildly, “because we don’t have collision insurance.”
I freeze.
He’s standing in the doorway now, one hand hooked around the strap of his leather suitcase, the other holding a coffee.
“Welcome back, Riverton,” Anya says. “Are you going to behave yourself today?”
“Yes. I’m heading home right after the morning huddle.” He sets his things down at the head of the table.
Anya shifts over to her normal spot to his right. “I can start without you if you want a moment to stop by your office to drop off your things and check a couple emails,” she offers.
“Not necessary,” he says. “I’ve got what I need. I can do it all after.”
Leon’s gaze drops to the brown paper bag next to Theo’s coffee. His eyes light up. “Are those, by any chance, fresh cornetti from Lina’s?”
Leave it to Leon to laser in on the food.
Theo slides the bag a fraction closer to himself. “They are. And they’re mine.”
Groans and a few snickers ripple around the table.
“You can’t bring Lina’s into the office and not share,” Leon says.
Theo pauses, takes a sip of coffee, then says, “Yes I can.” He sits. “You lot never share your lunches with me.”
“We have potlucks every Friday.” Anya lightly elbows him. “Whose fault is it if a certain person doesn’t choose to participate?”
“Touché.” He takes another sip of his coffee.
“I don’t think I’ve ever tried a cornetti before,” I say to Leon. “Remind me to order one next time we’re at Mamma Lina’s.”
“I’ll do you one better. You can try one now.” Theo smirks.
“Hey, how come she gets special treatment?” Leon teases.
“No special treatment.” He takes another long, drawn-out sip. “Because I’m a nice boss, I ordered ten boxes for the office. Katie’s baking them now and will drop by with them shortly.”
The room breaks out into applause and a few cheers.
I lean over and whisper to Leon, “Has he ever willingly left after the morning meeting?”
“No, this is a world record.”
I nod, turning my attention to the boss.
There’s a looseness to his shoulders that I’ve never seen, a softening of the permanent crease between his eyebrows.
Logically, he should be volatile, as he always is after a trip, but he looks .
. . relaxed. Something’s put him in a good mood. And I’m dying to know what it is.
Theo lets it go for exactly five seconds before clearing his throat. The noise dies instantly. “All right, enough. Let’s get started.”
The atmosphere shifts back to professional, and the meeting begins. “Sharma, let’s start with a recap of where we are with Medusa’s Fury,” he says.
Anya clicks to the first slide of her presentation.
“Here’s a quick timeline check before we dive in.
Track delivery is confirmed for the end of the month.
The on-site construction is on schedule as long as we sign off on the secondary assembly by Friday.
That gives us a narrow window to flag anything that could slow installation. Any questions so far?”
She glances at Theo, who is leaning back in his chair, chin resting in the crook of his hand. He remains silent.
Anya nods once. “All right. Before I move on, just one more thing. My two junior engineers are ready to make their first site visits. Kaori will visit Medusa’s Fury and Jared the Mystic Quest. I sent you the proposed dates this morning.”
My pulse gives a small, unexpected jump. A site visit. My first one. I keep my face neutral, but inside, my brain is already sprinting ahead. I’ll finally be seeing what I’ve been working on in the flesh.
“I got them, and everything looked good to me,” Theo says.
“Fantastic. I’ll email out the details and CC you,” Anya says. He nods. “Kaori.” She gestures to me. “Take it away.”
“Thanks.” I stand and pull up my slide. “I reviewed the outstanding documentation against the current schedule. Everything we need for sign-off is accounted for.”
Theo nods. “Good. That’s exactly the point we want to be at before this goes any further. Make sure that checklist stays updated once we’re on-site. Billings, where are we on the Escape From Weisshorn timeline?”
While Leon connects his laptop to the projector, I sit back down.
That’s it? There’s no follow-up? Nothing I’ve overlooked?
Everything is fine? I glance at Theo again, half-expecting him to stop and circle back to me so he can dismantle my report for sport.
But he doesn’t. He’s focused on Leon and moving the meeting along.
Across the table, Derrick and Andy lock eyes with me, both of them wearing the same “are you seeing this” expression I feel on my face.
It’s good to know I’m not the only one thinking this is weird.
Throughout the rest of the week, Theo’s good mood continues.
I don’t get the chance to interact with him much outside of our morning meetings, but the office buzz fills in the gaps.
“ . . . He provided lunch for the entire floor three days this week. And not just pity pizza, either. We’re talking actual catering. Yesterday it was a build-your-own taco bar with four types of salsa. Today it looks like an ice-cream bar.”
“ . . . The office door was open and Julie swore she heard him singing AC/DC. Singing!”
“ . . . offered free tickets to everyone for the Miami Open tennis tournament.”
Over lunch at Mamma Lina’s on Friday, I pick Leon’s brain over it. He doesn’t offer much insight at first except to say, “Everyone has their theories.”
I tilt my head. “And yours is?”
Leon chews slower than usual, eyes drifting toward the corner booth where the subject of our conversation is camped out with his laptop and a plate of gnocchi.
After he swallows, he says in a low voice, “I don’t think he’s a different person, Kaori.
And I don’t think this good mood is as new as everyone thinks it is.
I think there are two very simple things at play here. ”
“Go on,” I say, abandoning my fork.
“One, he hasn’t had to set foot in an airport for seven days. He’s actually well-rested for the first time since he arrived in Orlando.”
“And the second thing?”
Leon looks back at the corner booth, his expression softening with a rare moment of genuine respect.
“Riverton has always done nice things anonymously. He just always made sure to fly under the radar—like he was afraid that being nice would ruin his reputation.” He turns back to me.
“I think he finally realized he doesn’t have to hide it anymore. ”
I nod, letting that settle.
Then Leon changes the subject, clearly deciding that’s enough emotional insight for one day. “You all set for your site visit tomorrow?”
“I think so,” I say, reaching for my water. “I didn’t get a chance to touch base with Anya, but her email said to be at the office by seven.” I wrinkle my nose. “I assumed it’d be during the week. And maybe not at the crack of dawn.”
Leon chuckles. “Theo likes the quiet and getting an early start. He always does the visits on Saturdays if he can.”
I frown. “Theo? No. I thought I was with Anya.”
Leon winces sympathetically. “Hate to break it to you, kiddo, but Anya’s in Gainesville this weekend. It’s the official college visit with her son at UF.”
My stomach drops. “That’s this weekend?”
“Yup.” The “P” pops as he smacks his lips together.
I squeeze my eyes shut and think back. He’s right. Anya talked about it as we walked back to her office after our Wednesday meeting. “Are there any days you aren’t free for the site visit?” she’d asked.
I was so excited, I answered, “No. I’m fully open.”
“Great. I’ll try and get it set as soon as possible. If it’s before Tuesday, it might be with someone else. I’ll be in Gainesville this weekend with my son.”
I nodded, far too distracted by the idea of my first site visit to connect the dots.
Leon’s voice pulls me back to the present. “Don’t worry, kiddo,” he says, setting his fork down. “Site visits are fun. And with Theo, you’ll see more than you would with Sharma.”
“Great,” I mutter, glancing back toward our boss.
Lina is standing in front of him with her hands planted on her hips, an annoyed expression on her face. “What do you mean you don’t want dessert?” she says, raising her voice. “You always order dessert.”
Theo shrugs and lifts the familiar red-and-white Rocky Road wrapper from beside his plate.
Lina’s mouth tightens. “That is not a dessert.”
“It is to me,” he replies mildly.