She walked closer to the windows, staring down the many stories to the busy road below, following the line of cars and cabs to a slivered glimpse of Central Park to her right. It had snowed last night, leaving a long expanse of white and frost-crusted trees dappled with early morning light. She imagined she could smell the candied nuts from a stand there at that corner, the owner probably just setting up for the day. She pictured herself there, buying a sleeve of honeyed pecans and a cup of bad coffee and then walking until she was either too cold or too tired to keep going. She hadn’t been to the park in weeks, maybe even months. It was her favorite place in the entire world, yet she couldn’t remember the last time she’d been, despite how close it was to work and her apartment. Assembling today’s proposal had eaten her whole life.

When she turned around, Ted was biting his lip. She had to fight to remember what they’d been talking about.

“You think I love having people scared of me?” she asked him.

He laughed, clearly relieved. “Of course you do.”

Actually, she didn’t care one way or another. She didn’t try to intimidate people, and she certainly wasn’t as cruel as some of the other CEOs she knew. Still, it never hurt to have a distinct line between herself and her employees, and she didn’t allow familiarities from anyone on her staff except Ted. Even he didn’t cross that line too far, always waiting for her lead. He also didn’t ask personal questions, despite the leeway she gave him.

“Let’s talk about the timeline on the proposal again.” She gestured at a chair behind him.

He sat, pulling out his tablet and flipping open the cover. She leaned back onto the front of her desk, half sitting, tapping her teeth with a polished nail.

“Okay, so Hong Kong and Tokyo are ready right now, Dubai will be available at the end of February, and San Francisco, Sydney, and LA should be set by then, too. What about London?”

Ted scrolled a little. “Not until the middle of March.”

Ryann cursed. “Unacceptable. We need them to move that up. See if we can get them to agree to February—even late that month would be better than March. Tell them everyone else is ready or has agreed to February. That might put some fire under their ass.”

Ted made a note and nodded.

“Do we have any other outliers?” she asked.

He scrolled and then shook his head. “No. It’s only London. Everyone else is on board for now or some time in February.”