“Serious?” Pete said with a look of total disbelief.

Half of them looked as devastated as if they’d just watched him get beaten up. The other half looked like they weren’t hearing his words correctly.

“You all know how much work we do for Silverschone,” Kevin said. “And there was always this possibility—”

“Why?” Beth Anne asked, her need to fix things obvious in the question.

“You can guess the why—the economy, cutbacks, their company.”

“Is there anything we could have done?”

Kevin shook his head and smiled at Beth Anne. “No. Every one of you—and I mean this—has done an extraordinary job. I mean that.”

He could practically hear the sound of six plane engines roaring to life, thoughts racing in their heads, wondering what they were going to do and what was next.

“I wanted all of you to know right away because—because I want to give you time in case something doesn’t come in by the first of the year. It doesn’t mean I’m giving up—that we should give up. There’s a lot that we can still do.”

“Like what?” Pete asked.

“We still have some projects—some money waiting to come in, some potential clients. I know going into December and Christmas—this is pretty much the worst kind of news I could possibly give you. And I want you to know that I’m going to try to do everything I can to keep this company alive.”

“What can we do?” Zack asked.

“Look, before everybody goes crazy and starts trying every possible lead they can, I want all of you to hear this: every one of you has an amazing talent that—if forced to go somewhere else—I know you will continue to do incredible work.” Kevin carefully made sure to look at every one of them in the eyes as he spoke. “I want you to know that I’ll do anything I can to help you find something else if Precision ends up shutting its doors.”

“Just like that? I mean, you would close your doors just like that?”

Pete seemed dumbfounded. Beth Anne and Jamie weren’t as completely blown away. They knew more than the designers how close to the edge Precision had been for some time.

I was close when I went on my own. Then I got even closer when I began hiring. Then I really neared the edge when I leased these offices.

With this latest obstacle, the stretch marks were really starting to show, and no amount of cocoa butter was going to prevent that.

“Kev—I’m so sorry,” Beth Anne said, looking like he just told them that a family member had died.

“Beth Anne, thank you. But look, we’re not shut down yet. Who knows what can happen in one month?”

“You’re gonna have twins, that’s what can happen.”

“Guys, it’s just—stop,” Kevin said, noting the deathly expressions on their faces. “I think things will be fine. There’s just one thing . . .”

The glance he gave everybody was equally serious. No hint of any kind of humor could be detected. They waited for him to continue.