Kevin moved to the edge of his seat, not looking away from Dan and not blinking. “Can you tell me why?”

“You’re expensive,” Dan said, his blunt New York style adding to the blow.

“As I told you before, the retainer price can be renegotiated if you want—”

“No, Kevin. I’m sorry. It’s not that. Entire budgets have been slashed including marketing and PR. They’ve given me nothing to work with. There’s no way we can keep a firm on a retainer. I’m working project by project. And even those are going to be dramatically different.”

Kevin’s mind raced. As he swallowed, his mouth and throat felt dry. Even though he usually thought the worst, actually experiencing it was a blow.

“Is there anything I can do?” he asked. “Anything to change your mind?”

Dan rubbed his cheek. He looked a lot like Kevin probably looked: overworked, underpaid, stressed out. “It’s not my mind that needs to change. I tried, Kevin. You gotta believe me. I really did—I know with your family and all—”

“No, it’s okay,” Kevin said.

My family and the twins are my business, and that’s none of your concern.

Dan gritted his teeth, glancing down at his desk for an awkward moment. Kevin didn’t realize that his last statement had come out so loud, so aggressive sounding.

“Maybe there will be a chance to have Precision work with you guys in the coming year on some of those projects,” Kevin said, trying to control his voice and his expression and his pride.

“Yeah, maybe.”

It was like a girl telling him they could still be friends just after dumping him.

“I hate doing this right before the holidays,” Dan said.

Oh yeah, make that like being dumped before prom.

Dan studied him, could no doubt see the surprise on his face.

“I didn’t want to do this over the phone,” he said, his look earnest. “I was really hoping to change minds or I never would have had you fly all the way out here.”

“I understand. Really.”

“It’s tough for everybody these days.”

Kevin nodded, forced a smile, and then shifted, ready to bolt. The last thing he wanted was to be talked down to in pity.

“I appreciate your business,” Kevin said. “It’s meant a lot.”

He stood and shook hands with Dan.

There was one thing he’d learned years ago. Don’t burn a bridge. Especially when that bridge accounted for most of his revenue.

The walk back to the not-so-friendly receptionist felt excruciating. Yet in a strange way, Kevin felt he’d rather be there under her Nazi rule than enduring Dan’s sympathetic, sad stare.

A large hand clapped his shoulder in a way that surely was intended as brotherly. Instead, it made Kevin feel like a little boy.

“Man, I’m sorry. Really, truly sorry.”

Kevin nodded. “Me too. You’ve got my number. You know where to call if you need anything. Anything.”

So this is it. This is how it goes.

Dan walked back to his desk and his job and his life while Kevin stood in the lobby for a moment. He glanced at the receptionist and smiled at her. She gave a polite but quick smile, then looked back down at whatever was down there in front of her to look at.