Page 96 of See You Maybe
Three hours later, Olivia gave Todd the barest of nods as she strode past him to Declan’s door.
Todd’s face folded in confusion. “Did you have a meeting?”
“I only need five minutes.”
He looked uncertain. “Um, I’ll check.”
“No problem, I’ll be quick.” Cecile and Declan looked up in surprise when she swung the door open. Declan’s eyes were immediately wary.
“I want to present a proposal to keep the manufacturing in-house.”
Cecile darted a glance at Declan. His expression was impassive. “We’ve discussed this?—”
“That’s not entirely true. You told me you have a plan to manufacture overseas, but nothing has been set in motion. I’m asking that if I present you a detailed proposal will you genuinely consider it.”
“You shouldn’t waste your?—”
“Will you consider it?” she interrupted.
The muscle in his jaw ticked. “One week.”
“Perfect.” Olivia gave a nod to Cecile before spinning on her heels and marching from the room, not smiling until the door shut behind her.
The next night, Olivia chose a simple, black knit dress that tied at her side, and gold jewelry. It was only one step up from what she might wear to the office, because Olivia wasn’t interested in giving off any mixed signals. She already had enough of that from Declan.
Chris smiled and opened the car door when her rideshare pulled up to the curb in front of the restaurant. “Thank you for coming.”
Olivia was grateful that, although the restaurant was clearly upscale, it wasn’t romantic. The lighting had already been dimmed for the evening, but the tubes of neon running over the velvet-covered walls gave the place a more casual feel. Olivia followed Chris and the hostess to one of the small tables in the middle.
“I’ve only been here once before,” Chris explained. “But it was good.”
“Do you spend a lot of time in Atlanta?”
Chris wasn’t doing anything that would normally make her uncomfortable, but her guard was up. Between his desire to buy Armstrong, and his fiancée drugging her, Olivia suspected there was more to this dinner than just trying to help her professionally.
“More this past year than before. Wine?”
“Yes, please.”
Chris ordered a bottle for the table. “You took a car, so I figured it was safe.” He leaned back in his chair, his posture casual, and Olivia’s shoulders relaxed. Was she being paranoid?
Olivia gave him a wry smile. “Wine is welcome. It’s been an interesting week.”
“I bet.” He chuckled. “How’s it going?” His palms flashed up in surrender. “Nope. Forget I asked that.”
Olivia took a sip of the chilled wine their server poured into her glass. “It’s all right. For the most part, it’s been exactly as I expected.”
“It’s a shame. Armstrong has a solid design base. I really think it would have been an asset for us. Oh well, you win some, you lose some.”
Olivia hummed a sound of agreement, but she wasn’t buying it. Chris had been ready to come to blows over this deal. Despite his friendly expression, Chris’s eyes were shrewd. Did he think she would give him inside information on XEROS?
Just as Olivia was regretting agreeing to the dinner, Chris changed the subject, asking her about her professional history. Eventually, the easy small talk and glass of wine had her relaxing again. Chris didn’t ask a single question about Declan and seemed to be sincerely interested in her career.
The server placed their dishes in front of them, and after taking a few bites of her snapper, Olivia returned to the reason she’d agreed to meet Chris.
“I’m not sure a corporation as big as Bloom Communications would be a good fit for me. How much of a difference could I make? The thing I love about being at Armstrong is I can see first-hand how what I do affects our operations.”
Chris nodded. “I can understand that. We have literally hundreds of subsidiary companies. I’ll make inquiries if you’d like? Do you want to stay in the tech field?”