Page 20 of Personal Escort

“Don’t worry, he’s going to break my heart. He’ll refuse to move to Australia with me.”

“And that’ll be the end of that.”

“Yep.”

“Go call your grandmother.”

“And you kick butt with your meeting with Sony.”

He laughs. “They’re trying to impress me, troublemaker.”

“Right. I should know that, shouldn’t I?”

“Nah. It’s refreshing that you don’t.”

When we hang up, I pick up the letter again. Talking to Toby did the trick. I’m not stressed anymore. It’s going to be just fine. I take a deep breath, and dial my grandmother’s phone number.

CHAPTER NINE

TOBY

I LAND late Sunday night at the San Francisco airport, bone-tired and grateful to have a driver waiting to whisk me home to Palo Alto. I spend the thirty-minute drive drowsily going through my public email account.

I have a couple of private ones, too, but all of our customers know they can email me at [email protected] and I will see it. Sometimes only whizzing by in a blur on nights like this, but I have a team of excellent customer service people who ensure that everything there gets properly responded to.

A name catches my eye and I tap the screen. Mike Rodriguez. I roll my neck as I read the message. It’s apologetic in tone. He’s been a customer from early on, but his latest batch of transmitters didn’t pass his company’s internal quality assurance check.

That’s shitty, though it does happen.

But my blood runs cold as I keep reading. It’s the third time it’s happened in the last year, and he’s afraid he needs to cancel the standing order.

Mike Rodriguez. The name is still echoing in my brain, like it should mean something more than just a disappointed customer.

I lean forward and get my driver’s attention. “Sorry, Vince, change of plans.” I rub the heel of my hand into my eye. “Let’s stop and grab some coffee at the first opportunity. Then take me to the office instead of home.”

After we hit Starbucks, I switch over to my personal messages. It’s nearly three in the morning in Toronto, but I still click on her name first in my messaging app.

To my surprise, it shows her as online.

Toby: Landed at SFX. Heading to work now.

Cara: No rest for the wicked. How was your flight?

Toby: Boring. No pretty girls selling me on a long con game.

Cara: Har har har.

Toby: How goes your romantic relationship with Alex?

Cara: I’ve started keeping a journal about him.

Toby: What?

Cara: Okay, it’s more of a log. Just so I can keep the fictional woo-ing straight.

Toby: Smart.

Cara: We had brunch today. It was lovely. And we held hands the whole way back to my place.

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