“Hey, Alec!” If only she could appear that cheery to her own mother, life would be much easier.

Suspicion crinkled around his eyes. “Hi. Take a seat.”

So she did. They stared at each other for a beat.

“So, how can I help you?”

Frazer smiled at him. Held his eye. Her chin jutted out slightly, and she thought she should rein it in, but wanted him to know she meant business. “Any news on the project approval? Surely you received my multiple e-mails asking if a decision was on the way?”

He gave a nod. “I received them.”

Seriously? That’s all he would say after making her send all of those revisions? This was why Frazer had always wanted to start this programme outside of the hospital system, to create her own clinic and avoid these games. But the idea of not having the safety net and resources from the hospital was a pretty scary thought. If she could just get Alec behind the project.

“Okay. Great.” Frazer smiled again. Just keep playing the game. “You would have seen, then, that there were many changes put in place to make it less of a financial burden, to include more volunteers and to actually free up Social Work’s budget.”

Alec leaned back in his chair and nodded. “I saw.”

God. Bosses did her head in. “Great. And what did you think?”

For a moment, she thought he wasn’t going to answer since it would have required more than a three-word sentence. He proved her wrong, but only just. “It’s gone to the board.”

“And that means…” If she didn’t know better, she could swear he was repressing enjoyment.

“I should have an answer by next week. I’m at a conference, but when I get back, I’ll give you your answer in Monday’s meeting.”

Damn Mondays. At least this one had the potential to be good.

“Any hint?” She would have winked, but for some reason, he didn’t strike her as the type who’d find it funny. She settled for a charming grin.

That hint of a smile must have been nothing, because he gave a curt shake of his head. “No.”

“Okay.” Standing to go, Frazer turned away. “Thanks for your time.”

“Frazer?”

She paused in the doorway. Before she managed to get a look at him, his eyes were already back on the computer.

“Yeah?”

He let a beat pass. He still didn’t look at her. “If it means anything,” he said, “I hope they pass it. The revisions were good.”

When she walked away, it was with a skip in her step.

* * *

If someone said yes to drinks, they should really have the courtesy to actually follow up on the invitation.

Instead, all Cora managed to do was see the back of Frazer’s head in hallways or a glance of her at a nurse’s station. She received a few e-mails saying that there’d been no news on the project and that they were waiting for Alec to come back from his conference. Somehow, there had been a hint in the e-mails that Alec was on board.