Leaving Colette’s office, Audrey ran into Tim. Sometimes she wondered if he spent the entire day walking around, chatting with partners, working that good old boy network. She internally chastised herself for that unkind thought.

“Hey, you look flushed. Are you okay?” Tim asked.

Audrey honestly didn’t know if she could trust Tim. It felt awkward between them now that she was dating Jake. “I just had it out with Colette.”

“What do you mean?” Tim followed her into her office.

“Close the door,” Audrey said. “I know you warned me, but I just didn’t think it would be this bad. She wrote a memo contradicting my strategy.”

A pained I don’t want to hear this look crossed his face. “She’s just trying to show her stuff to Hunter. I’m sure she didn’t add anything you hadn’t already thought of.”

Seeing that expression, Audrey stopped talking about Colette. Had Tim known that Colette was writing a counter-strategy memo? “You know, I just need to blow off some steam. I’m going to go work out.” She circled back around Tim to open the drawers in the credenza and pulled out a bag of gym clothes. Then she turned around, looked at Tim, and made a shooing motion with her hand.

“Oh, uh.” Tim looked surprised at being thrown out so quickly. He’d just settled into the chair. “Right now?”

“Yes.” She was about to elaborate, but decided she didn’t have to explain.

Tim stood up. Audrey held the door open for him and followed him, pulling on her coat and slinging her gym bag over her shoulder.

“Wish I could go with you.”

“Probably better if you don’t. I’ve some thinking to do.”

Tim walked with her towards the elevator. As they entered the elevator, Tim turned to Audrey and said: “Remember The Godfather: this is business, it’s not personal.”

“I prefer: ‘Leave the gun. Take the cannolis.’”

“Really? I wouldn’t think you’d like that scene,” Tim said.

“I like cannolis.” Perplexed that he had come with her into the elevator instead of walking down one flight of stairs to his office, she asked, “Are you going downstairs with me?”

“I’ll just walk you out and grab a coffee; I haven’t seen you in a while, and it’s not every day I get to analyze The Godfather with you. I thought you didn’t see violent movies,” Tim said. This was classic Tim—he’d realized she was upset with him, and he was going to rectify that. “But isn’t the cannoli/gun scene the same approach: that it’s just business and not personal?”

“What do you mean? Isn’t that scene saying ‘don’t use force: leave the gun’ and let’s use persuasion and sweets or, in other words, the cannoli?” she asked as they exited into the marble lobby.