Page 46 of Hang the Moon
Hearing Annie tell him she was moving to London when he could still taste her on his lips? When he’d just discovered how perfectly she fit into his arms? He didn’t have words for how badly that had blown.
Kissing her might not have been planned on his part, but the chemistry between them had been palpable. He’d had a great time and it was clear she had, too. Ending the night with a kiss had felt like the most natural thing in the world, the thought of her living on the opposite side of the country unimportant in light of the sparks he felt.
Philadelphia wasn’t convenient, but London?
Traveling got lonely, Annie had said. Moving an ocean away would make herlesslonely? What about how she’d said her job involved less translation than she’d hoped it would? Wouldn’t it involve evenlessif she’d be traveling less frequently?
The longer he thought about it, the less sense it made.
“Brendon? Brendon?”
He jerked in his seat. Seven sets of eyes stared at him from around the conference table.
“Sorry.” His face went hot at getting caught zoning out in the middle of a meeting. A meeting he was meant to lead. “It’s been a long day. You were saying?”
Katie snickered. “Long day? Brendon, it isn’t even noon.”
“Someone had too much fun this weekend,” Jenny, the senior director of marketing, teased.
“Hardly.” Brendon laughed it off the best he could, pasting on a smile. “Now, this coming weekend? Whole other story.”
Jian’s face scrunched in mock confusion. “This weekend? Is something happening?”
“Probably something really boring.” Katie beamed at him from across the table. “Not at all special.”
A bittersweet ache gripped his heart.
Envywas too ugly a word for what he felt. He didn’t begrudge anyone their happiness; the opposite, in fact. But he wanted the same, what Katie and Jian had. Darcy and Elle. The way they looked at each other was nothing short of magic, like everyone else faded away when their eyes met across the room.
“I couldn’t be more excited for the both of you,” he said,choosing to focus on his friends and coworkers’ happiness rather than stew in self-pity because he didn’t have that. Yet.
Katie pinched her lips together, doing a poor job of smothering her smile. “We need to change the subject before Brendon gets too choked up to continue the meeting.”
“The one he wasn’t paying any attention to, you mean?” Jenny asked.
“Okay.” He held up his hands. “Quit roasting me. Jian, you were saying?”
“Q two’s numbers are in.”
His eyes dropped to the manila folder sitting ominously atop the conference table in front of Jian. “Okay. Don’t leave me in suspense.”
“Our operating expenses rose, but we made some hefty changes. Investments.”
Partnering with Oh My Stars had involved some heavy-duty shifts in their algorithms, not to mention their budgets.
“That being said”—Jian slid the folder across the table—“our numbers exceeded our projections. Revenue rose. More than we hoped.”
Brendon flipped through the report, brows rising. These numbers were good. These numbers werereallygood. He set the report aside. “This is fantastic.”
Jian winced. “I agree.Thosenumbers are certainly worth celebrating.”
Brendon braced his elbows on the table, waiting for the other shoe to drop. That happened to him a lot lately. “But?”
“We had a bit of a slump in accounts.”
“But we see that every year, people canceling their premium subscriptions post-cuffing season.”
“Right.” Jian tossed the stress ball between his hands. “Problem is, we’ve got a bit of an elephant in the room, and it’s the fact that the whole market is seeing a slowdown in growth of new users.”
