The Game Plan (Game On, #3)(40)

She frowns as she follows me to the conference room for our morning meeting.

Tom, Alice, and Nathan are already sitting around the spotless glass table. I don’t know how it manages to escape basic handprints and smudges, but it does, as if it dare not defy the exacting expectations of our boss.

Felix glides in a moment later, tiny espresso cup in his hand, gold Prada sunglasses perched on his nose. “Someone please tell me whose idea it was to paint this entire office white. It’s f*cking blinding.”

“It was your idea,” Nathan deadpans. “Hangover, oh fearless leader?”

Lucky for Nathan, he’s one of Felix’s best designers. And he knows it. Felix glares but does not reply.

With exaggerated care, Felix sets down his cup and sits back in his chair, folding one thin leg over the other. Dressed like an Italian film star from the 1950s, his ink black hair immaculately combed and glossy, he could be from another era. Through the gray tint of his glasses, his dark gaze finds mine. “Well, hello, Fiona. I didn’t expect you back so soon.”

“Oh, you know, San Francisco can’t compare with New York City.” Lame. So f*cking lame.

His expression says much the same, and I fight not to cringe. Thankfully, he moves on. “Now then, where are we with the Meyer project?”

Nathan sits back, looking bored. “Ms. Meyer decided she wanted her bedroom candy apple red. The entire room.”

“Then let her haul her ass down to Home Depot and paint it herself.” Felix sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose. “What did you tell her?”

“That a glossy red powder room would have more impact, and all her friends would be able to see it.”

A sniff tells us Felix is pleased. His head turns my way. Or Elena’s. I can’t be sure because she’s hovering at my side as usual. “Mrs. Peyton has decided that the cerulean blue silk drapes remind her of her first husband, Clyde. As she divorced him after finding him riding his hot little PA, Jonathan, that ‘simply won’t do’.”

“Go, Clyde,” Nathan murmurs with a cheeky click of his tongue.

Felix’s nose wrinkles. “Having seen Clyde, my sympathies go to Jonathan. Elena, what would you suggest?”

“About Clyde and Jonathan?” she squeaks.

I manage to hold in a wince. Felix simply sniffs, this one annoyed. “About the drapery.”

A test. Felix loves to pop these little questions on us. Elena’s mouth opens, her gaze darting around the table as if one of us will mime the answer and save her.

As tests go, it isn’t a difficult one. The rest of Mrs. Peyton’s living room color scheme is set: deep, glossy mink-colored walls, low-slung ebony furniture covered in gold mohair, and dusky blue satin.

The silence stretches as Elena starts sputtering. “Um, well…”

Felix sighs and turns to me. “Fiona? Thoughts?”

My mind turns as I tap my pen on my sketch pad. This is my chance to gain ground and remind Felix what I can do. “I’m thinking of that Jonathan Alder chain-link print you fell in love with. The gold and cream—”

“Cream one,” Elena cuts in. She has her phone out and is frantically tapping on it as she beams at Felix. “Fiona and I were talking about it this morning, if you can believe it. I was saying how timeless that pattern was.”

My mouth is stuck open. Frozen in shock. Inside my head, I scream at myself to snap out of it, say something. She’s already holding up her phone. “If you like that idea, I’ve got a supplier on thirty-first who has it in stock.”

The air leaves my lungs in a whoosh, and I turn back to Felix, who is smiling.

“I do love that fabric,” he says, swiveling his chair back and forth. “And it would work well…” He sits up. “Great work, Elena.”

Across from me, Alice lifts a brow, her gaze hard. Because I’m still sitting here like a boob. Only, what am I supposed to say? This is real life. Shouting, “You lying hag!” will only result in me looking like a bitter nut.

My back teeth meet as I turn my chair and stare at Elena. She doesn’t flinch and gives me a big smile. Mine grows as well, so hard my cheeks hurt. “You know, it occurs to me that the master is also cerulean blue. Surely Mrs. Peyton will object to the color in her bedroom too.”

“Chances are,” Felix agrees from the head of the table.

I keep my stare on Little Miss Steal It. “What do you suggest for that, Elena? Or have I forgotten one of the many conversations we had this morning?”

She flushes. “Well…I…we could...” She nibbles on her bottom lip.

“That’s all right,” Felix says. “I’m sure you can work it out with Fiona. Bring me a color scheme after lunch.” And as if he hadn’t just metaphorically punched me in the gut, he stands. “Now I’m going to lie down. Unless the office is on fire, I do not want to be disturbed.”

At my desk, I allow myself a moment to slump over, press my forehead against the cold glass surface. So coming back to work early was a bust. But I’ve got time. Or I could just walk out. I picture it, how good it would feel. And then… What? What would I do?

Thankfully, my cell ringing distracts me. My voice is muffled when I answer because I don’t pick up my head. “Hello?”

“Fi, darling girl, how are you?”