“Eight million people in this town, and I have the pleasure of running into you.” I wadded up my napkin before tossing it on the table with a little too much gusto. “Olivia, this is Benjamin Emmerich, current CEO of Emmerich Technologies.”
“Nice to meet you,” she told him with a satisfying amount of reservation.
“Benji, I’d offer to pick up your tab,” I said, “but I don’t want to.”
The old man had a trio of deep creases in his forehead from decades of frowning, and he put them to work now. “Still running that smart mouth, I see. Some things never change, do they?”
I gave the man a dismissive once-over. “No, they clearly don’t.”
Benjamin Emmerich had the nerve to look pointedly at my wife again. “Congratulations on your many achievements,” he told me. “Nothing like the tabloids running your wedding photos. I thinkTown & Countrypublished mine.”
“Was that the wedding to wife number five or six?” I inquired.
Benjamin smiled, revealing those high-dollar veneers that always looked too big for his mouth. “I hear you’re really talking up your big announcement for TechieCon.”
Now this I almost enjoyed. “You scared?”
“Of you?” Benjamin opened those ugly teeth and laughed. “You may be having a moment, but you have to know how to run a business to actually maintain that success. When your star fades, I’ll still be here.”
“Sorry to interrupt,” Olivia said in a voice that communicated she was anything but sorry, “but you must not know my husband very well.” She wore the perfect ice queen, intimidate-the-peasants expression. “TIMEcalled him a genius three months ago. Did you get that issue? I can send you a copy if you’d like.”
Benjamin would be skipping that read. “Quite unnecessary,” he said.
“So is your treatment of Lachlan,” Olivia clapped back. “My innovative, visionary of a husband has worked incredibly hard and is now reaping the benefits of that work.”
I conducted a brief survey of the room. Had anyone else heard angels sing?
I wanted to pull this woman in my lap and kiss her until the world faded away. Nobody had ever said nicer things about me, ever. And while I didn’t need defending to the likes of a Benjamin Emmerich, I still held out my hands and let Olivia’s words drop into them. I’d keep her sentiments tucked into the craggy crevices of my heart until I was too old to remember my own name.
“Lachlan is lucky,” Benjamin told Olivia with his hazel eyes on me. “No matter what trouble he stirred up, he always landed on his feet somehow—by luck, not by doing the right thing.”
I was just about to open my mouth when Olivia beat me to it. “He has a blockbuster series of games, a movie franchise, and his company’s stock has doubled since it went public.” Her glare would wither most mortal men. “What is ityoudo, sir?”
Benjamin ran a pale, liver-spotted hand over his navy tie. “I buy and sell companies like your husband’s.”
“Benjamin also makes sound cards used in gaming,” I told her, then took a drink of water. My throat ached with all the words I still wouldn’t say. “Tinkers in tech.”
Benjamin didn’t appreciate that. “What Lachlan fails to mention is my company is the leading innovator and manufacturer of the E-97 sound card, the best sound option available by far. Even the military uses our card for their simulation systems. I once gave your husband a job, among other opportunities, and he screwed it up.” Benjamin rested his hands on a chairback and leered in my direction. “You’ve got some money in your pocket now, but we both know it doesn’t change who you are.”
A fireball of rage exploded in my head, and were it not for Olivia’s hand coming to rest on mine, I would’ve lunged across the table. Instead, I schooled my features, as I’d always done when dealing with Benjamin, and stared him dead in the eye. “You’re right—money didn’t change me at all. Hard work and growing up did. It’s a shame you didn’t have the same results.”
“It’s one thing to sketch some characters and throw together a game,” Benjamin said. “But it’s another to run a million-dollar company.”
“Multimillion,” I corrected. “And I’m smart enough to hire the best to do what I can’t.”
“Which is not a lot because Lachlan can do just about anything,” Olivia interjected. Her eyes full of venom, she pointed right at me. “This guy. Right here. He’s brilliant.”
My lips curved in a smile. “Thanks, sweetheart.”
She nodded once. “You got it, babe.”
“I don’t wish you failure, Lachlan,” Benjamin said, liar that he was. “I’d just hate to see you playing in a sandbox you’re not ready for.”
“Let me ease your mind.” I tugged on Olivia’s hand as I stood, tossing cash on the table. “I’ll play in whatever sandbox I want to. I decide where I belong, and I don’t need your fake concern or your warnings. What you should be worrying about is your own company. You’re a one-trick pony with no diversification, which I recall mentioning to you during my brief employment. One day someone more innovative than you will come along and create what you never could. I’m looking forward to that day, Benjamin. It can’t get here soon enough. Come on, Olivia. We’re done.”
“Goodbye, Mr. Emmerich.” Olivia gave him one final parting glare. “Oh, if you ever need any PR help, please give my company a call. That’s McMinn and Associates.” She plucked her purse from the table and slung the strap over her shoulder. “Ask for Larry.”
The afternoon sunshine hit my blazing skin when we stepped outside. Olivia’s heels clicked quickly beside me in that comfortingly familiar staccato. November would charge in soon, and fall barely held winter at bay. Olivia tied the belt of her black coat but didn’t look at me until we hit the next block.
