“I’m here to see Andrew.” I swept past her desk.
“Excuse me, no visitors—”
Ignoring her as she pushed out of her chair and headed toward me, I opened Andrew’s door and shut it behind me.
Andrew jumped up out of his seat like I’d given him an electric shock.
Shit. Why did he have to have those big, soulful eyes and such touchable hair? He looked tired. I wanted to ask him what had been going on and what I could do to help, but the sound of Trudy crashing through the door behind me brought me back to the moment.
“I barged in,” I said. “It wasn’t Trudy’s fault.”
“I know,” he said, not taking his eyes off me.
“I’m sorry, Andrew, I didn’t—”
“Leave us.” Andrew shoved his hands in his pockets. We both waited as Trudy retreated.
“You really should be nicer to your assistants,” I said.
“Thanks for coming by.”
What was he thanking me for? “You don’t know why I’m here yet.”
He shrugged. “Go ahead.”
Something was off. Andrew should have yelled at me for barging in here before twelve, or at the very least ignored me like I was one of the abstract paintings on the wall. Maybe the dark circles under his eyes were thanks to more than basic exhaustion. I took a step toward him, my body instinctively wanting to soothe him and be soothed by him, but abruptly, I remembered who we were to each other now. He was my boss. And he was responsible for deciding my bonus. I wasn’t going to mess this up. I had to stay focused.
“I’m good at my job,” I said.
Andrew nodded.
“That operational plan I produced was excellent. I know you liked it. And Goode really likes me. That’s why I’ve got this job in the first place.”
Andrew frowned. “One of the reasons, but go on.”
“What Verity needs now is stability. Commitment. Long-term thinking.”
I paused, but Andrew remained silent.
“I want part of my salary and my full bonus in advance. Specifically, I want forty-three thousand dollars or the equivalent in pounds. We’ll draw up a contract that covers all the details—a payback penalty if I leave before the three-year mark, for starters, and any other assurances you need.”
Still no reaction from Andrew.
I slumped in one of his visitor chairs like all my energy had drained away from my body, leaving me with limbs too weak to hold me upright. I’d done it. I’d asked him. It had taken more from me than I expected.
“For your mum’s operation?” he asked.
“It doesn’t matter what it’s for. It’s a business proposition, nothing personal about it.” I knew that he didn’t like to mix personal and professional. I wasn’t going to make the mistake of trying to appeal to his human side. That didn’t wash with Andrew.
“Okay,” he said. “You can have half of everything.”
I glanced up at him. “Half?” Half might work. If I saved my salary and moved to a smaller apartment, I could come up with the rest some other way. “What about thirty? Can I have thirty?”
“You can have half of everything I have.”
He came to sit on the visitor chair next to me, leaned forward, and tried to catch my eye. “I don’t mean that. It sounds clinical. I mean . . . I want you to share it all with me.”
He wasn’t making any sense. His voice had a weirdly soft edge to it. “You want part of my bonus?”
“No . . .” He leaned back on his chair and pushed his hands through his hair. “I’m galactically bad at this. I wasn’t expecting you today. I’ve been trying to figure out a way of . . . saying that I want—”
“Half my bonus? Is the business doing badly?”
He started to laugh. “This is ridiculous. Let’s take the bonus out of this conversation.”
“No!” I said, standing. “That’s why I’m here. I want my bonus now.”
“You can have your bonus, Sofia.”
I was entirely confused now. “I can? Like, the entire forty-three thousand?”
“Let’s make it an even fifty. That way, wherever you got that seven, you can give it back.”
I had to sit again as the energy drained from my legs. It was like I’d been heaving against a locked door with all my strength, only to have Andrew open it and let me in. “Okay,” I said, lifting my hands in the air. I’d given up trying to understand what was going on.
“But I’m serious, Sofia. I want to share everything with you.”
I don’t know whether it was because he looked at me like I was his entire world, or because my entire body flushed with heat at the realization that we were so close, but suddenly I realized that we weren’t talking about business anymore.
“Share everything?”
He nodded. “Everything. My life. My day. My . . . bed.”
I shivered at his words. What had changed? “But the separation of business and—”