Matched

After my run and shower, I get dressed and am a bit late getting in to work.

I check India's office, but she's out with her friends and visiting her mother so I don't expect her in until later in the afternoon. I have a meeting with one of my staff, and after the meeting's over, I go out to the main office and see that Chris's office door is open.

He waves me in.

I go inside and he points at the door. "Close it, will you?"

I do and sit across from him, wondering if there's a problem with the financial side of things.

"What's up?"

He folds his hands and gives me this tired look. "India was in wondering how much her shares would be worth if she cashed them in now."

"What?" I frown and look down at the floor, trying to take in what Chris just said. India's considering selling her shares?

"She asked me not to say anything, but I thought you should know, just in case she's planning to leave. Replacing her would be quite a challenge. There aren't too many CTOs wandering the streets looking for work, especially not with her experience in the aerospace industry. We should do some quiet headhunting just in case."

I sit, unable to respond at first, totally shocked that India would even consider leaving Pacifica.

I could see her telling me to fuck off, but Pacifica? It's her baby as much as mine. Or any of the partners who came together initially to fund and build it.

"Thanks for giving me a heads-up. Don't talk to anyone else until I have some time to feel India out, okay? I don’t want us to get ahead of ourselves on this. It may be nothing."

"Sure," he says and gives me a nod. "Like I said, I just thought you should know in case she really does decide to leave."

"No problem." I sit up straighter. "Was there anything else? Anything I should be aware of?"

"Not on my part. Everything's fine."

"Good." I stand and rub my hands together. "I'll leave you to it."

I leave and make my way back to my office. India's door is still closed and I stand outside and debate with myself whether to go inside and confront her or wait.

I don't want her to think I've been gossiping about her behind her back. Which I have been doing, of course.

I decide to wait and bring it up when it's not posed so confrontationally. Maybe tonight after we have dinner together – and I plan on making dinner for her and fucking her brains out – I'll very deftly talk about Pacifica's market capitalization and how much it's improved, and ask her gently about her talk with Chris.

I try to focus on work and spend some time going over the financial reports that have been sitting on my desk for a couple of days, unread. After about an hour, I look up when India

's door opens across the hall from me and she leaves, her bag on her shoulder.

She doesn't look my way or pop her head in to say hello.

She's leaving already?

I sit for a moment and debate whether to follow her.

I hear her speaking with our admin staff, and then nothing.

She's actually leaving without saying anything to me...? That's when I know something's wrong.

I hop up and leave my office, determined to follow her and confront her about that much, even if I hold off talking to her about what Chris told me.

I catch up to her at the stairs and grab hold of her arm, turning her around to face me on the landing.

"Were you going to leave the office without even saying hello?"

"Oh, Jon," she says, like she's surprised. We're alone but she still glances around to check. "You scared me. I'm just going to get a juice." She forces a smile. "I'm feeling a bit under the weather and thought some apple-carrot-kale would be good."