Even though Zanne knew it was a possibility, even though she’d felt it coming ever since he asked her how she liked working here, as if her feelings had ever entered his equation, it was still a surprise. He was going to make her an offer.

“No,” Zanne said, willing herself to be calm. “I didn’t know that.”

“Yes, I hate to lose her. She has a lot of institutional memory.”

She felt a pang of regret for Dawn, reduced to the human equivalent of a SIM card. “It’s a shame for all of us,” Zanne said.

“But I think, with the appropriate transition period, you could upload a lot of that knowledge before she leaves.”

Zanne nodded.

“It would mean a hefty bump in your salary, of course.” Ted quoted a figure two-and-a-half times what she was already making. Zanne tried to hold her face completely still, as though the money meant nothing to her. But she could pay off her student loans in a couple of months. Buy the house in Mar Vista, the one she’d found online after she caught Gaby testing out the straps of her travel backpack last week. It was listed for $1.4 million—too steep for the deputy of special projects, but no problem for the chief of staff—and a manageable commute, west of the 405. And in the yellow and blue kitchen, the tiles had little morning glories painted on them. Morning Glory, her mother’s nickname for her, because that was the exact shade of her blue eyes. Zanne could live in the kind of house her mom had always wanted, and she could wake up happy every morning next to Gaby.

Zanne couldn’t accept the position right away. Ted wouldn’t respect her if she did. They would always be unequal while he was a billionaire and she was not, but the sureness of Zanne’s footing depended on her being cautious and independent of him in her thinking—especially now, when she didn’t feel like either.

“Can I take the night to think it over?” she asked.

“Certainly. It’s a big commitment I’m asking you to make.”

“Thank you.” Zanne put her hands on her knees and stood.

She shut the door behind her and walked through the parlor and outside into the sun, eyes squeezed tight and body quivering, like a just-born animal. There was nothing to think about. She would do it.

7

Holly