“So I think our department is being staffed wrong. It’s not that I need more people, I just think that maybe there’s a faster way we can be doing things, something I’m not seeing. More productive, but not as much work—”

“Have you lived in New York long?” he asks, cutting me off.

I take a sip of my soda but ignore his question. “A few years back, a guy by the name of Jordan Chen used to work for us. Crazy good with computers, but he’s retired. Anyway, long story short, we never replaced him. He had contingencies in place, but I think things have become dated and some stuff has changed.”

“I can tell you were born and raised here. You talk fast.”

I take my sunglasses off and study him for a second. “What’s wrong? Can’t keep up?” I raise an eyebrow at him.

He only smiles. Again. Then takes a sip of his water. I inhale slowly and try to stay on track.

“Anyway.” I shift back as Sam comes over and sets our tacos down. “Thanks,” I tell him as he walks away. “I don’t think he’ll want to do it. I mean, I can reach out to him, but he has a daughter. She’s like him.” I think about it for a moment. “Kinda like him.”

“Did you know your lip lifts in the corner a little when you get annoyed?” His eyes are on my mouth.

“If you know you’re annoying me, then why do you keep doing it?”

He shrugs and opens the box with his tacos, but doesn’t move to eat one.

“Echo is—”

“See, your lip did it again. Does she annoy you?” He leans in a little, propping his elbows on the table and studying me. I don’t like it. He’s known me two seconds and already he’s reading me like he’s been doing it his whole life.

“Like I said, Echo is like her dad, but with some quirks. She can be—”

“Annoying?” he finishes. His eyebrows rise to let me know I did the lip thing again, but all I can think about is him watching my mouth now.

I take a breath and sit back, crossing my arms. Echo can be more than annoying. She has to control most things. “She can be unpredictable. If I tell her to do one thing and she thinks I’m wrong, she’ll just do it her way. It’s always her way.”

“Then why would you want her?”

“Because she’s normally right and five steps ahead. She’s in her head a lot of the times and isn’t always vocal. She just does it.”