Page 4 of Mistlefoe
“That’s it! An immersive Christmas sport experience.” He snaps his fingers several times and humming in tandem. “You two have nailed the brief.”
I pause. Even Conor shuts his mouth so tight that his teeth make a clacking sound.
“Um.” I clear my throat. “I came up with the initial idea.”
Conor chirps back. “But I fine-tuned it.”
“Exactly, and that’s why the two of you will work together.”
“But—” We both start at the same time.
“You both challenged each other and came up with something really intriguing. I have no doubt you’ll push one another to excellence for this event and that’s what I want. An absolute banger.”
Slowly, Rachel turns her head to offer me a full-teeth cringe. She’s the only person in this room who knows what all is going through my head right now. Not only would I rather shave my glorious head of curls than work closely with Conor Mahoney, but also what this money means to me.
That latter is precisely what pushes me to challenge Richard one more time. “But does this mean we’ll have to split the bonus? What about the promotion, then?”
“Yeah.” A wrinkle appears between Conor’s eyebrows. “I’ll be honest, Richard. This doesn’t make me super motivated.”
“Me neither,” I admit openly.
Richard throws his head back and releases a very Santa Claus laugh—all ho ho ho like. I guess he’s channeling the inspiration for his mug or already getting into the seasonal mood.
“And I wouldn’t expect you to, so I raise you this.” He laces his fingers all villain-like. “It’s ten-kay each, guaranteed, for organizing the event. But whoever impresses me the most gets the promotion. How’s that for motivation?”
Oh, shit.
I swallow hard. Okay. If the money’s guaranteed alreadyI’m definitely in, no matter how horrible it’ll be to endure Conor’s face up close. But if I also get that promotion, I could change the plan altogether. Grammie could come to America not just for a visit, but also to get some proper healthcare.
That’s when I notice that Conor’s attention is solely on me. His eyes roam my face like he’s trying to read it for what I’m going to do. Odd. Why would he even care? This isn’t the first project he messes up for me.
When I can’t take the silence anymore, I say, “Fine. I’m in.”
“Guess I’m in, too.” Conor nods.
“Great. I expect a solid proposal on my desk in a week.”
“Er, Richard… it’s Thanksgiving in two days.” Rachel now turns her cringey smile on our boss.
“And that’s why I said in a week. That way they’ll have all of tomorrow and Monday to put it together.”
As if two nine-hour-long workdays were enough for that. Tomorrow and Monday aren’t anywhere near enough, and there’s no way I’m seeing hair or hide of this guy during the holiday break—no matter how pretty either of those is.
“Well, we have more or less a plan so this meeting is adjourned.” Richard picks up his ridiculous mug and gets to his feet.
Dave regales us with one of those coughs that make everyone uncomfortable even though he’s not in the room. I give him a polite wave of my hand before disconnecting the call.
Kaylee lets out a sigh that bleeds disappointment before leaving her seat. Meanwhile, Lewis huffs and pushes away from the table. Only when his chair slams back against the glass wall does he get to his feet.
“Good luck, Sierra.” Rachel squeezes my arm. “I know this isn’t what you were hoping for, but don’t forget you’re the one who took the initiative here. You got this.”
“Thanks.” I jut my lower lip. It sucks, but I guess I’ll just cry my way to the bank.
“You coming?” she asks me when I don’t move from my seat.
“Nah, I have a few minutes before another meeting in this room. I’ll just stay and get some work done here.”
By work I mean I’ll make a flight reservation right away. This is going to be super expensive because it’s so late, but I didn’t have enough funds in my bank account to cover a cheaper ticket earlier. Now that I know the bonus is happening, I can charge the ticket to my credit card and pay it off later.
