Page 78 of A Heart of Little Faith
On Friday, they continued their routine. Lily would have liked to catch up with old friends in the city, but she didn’t have time. The only thing she’d been able to arrange was dinner with Tom after her presentation. As the trade show wound down, she and Anne met again to compare notes from the past two days.
“I’ll meet you in the conference room, okay?” she said as they finished up. “I’m just going to run and fix my makeup.”
Lily returned to her room, brushed her hair and twisted it on top of her head. She washed her face and reapplied her makeup. Then she stood in the mirror and evaluated her appearance. Anne was right; she looked awful. Her inability to sleep caused dark circles beneath her eyes. Although makeup covered the color, it couldn’t hide their presence. Since her breakup with Gideon, she’d lost about ten pounds, pounds she could ill-afford to lose. The weight loss hollowed out her cheeks and made her clavicle and hipbones more pronounced.Well, I may be thin, but at least I look professional. She doused the light and went downstairs.
Anne waited for her in the conference room. Chairs sat around the conference table and a large screen was available for their power point presentation. They were skimming their notes when the door opened.
Lily’s stomach plummeted to her toes. Her heart pounded. She gripped the table edge for support as her knees buckled when Gideon and his boss, Joe, entered the conference room. The scent of his musky aftershave transported her six weeks into the past. Her stomach fluttered, a combination of nausea and desire, and she swallowed the bitter taste in her mouth. She flipped through her notes and searched for Gideon’s or his company name anywhere on the supporting literature. Unsuccessful, she steeled herself and approached Joe.
“Hi, Joe, it’s good to see you today.” She pulled her mouth into what she hoped was a smile and held out her hand, willing it not to shake. Anyone who didn’t know her well would see nothing more than a pleasant expression on her face.
Joe’s large palm enveloped hers. “Why, Lily, I didn’t realize you worked for this firm. What a great surprise. Isn’t it, Gideon?” His voice boomed and made the awkwardness more pronounced. Without waiting for him to answer, Joe moved toward Anne and they introduced themselves to each other.
That left her and Gideon alone.
She studied him as if through a telescopic lens. Everything else faded to a blur and every detail of his face became magnified out of proportion. Gideon’s face reddened and his dark eyes snapped with hostility. The creases she’d found so endearing became sharp weapons as he squinted at her in anger. Not bothering to speak to her, and barely touching her for more than an instant, he dismissed her and turned toward Anne.
As Joe and Gideon settled themselves around the table, Anne mouthed, “I’m sorry,” but Lily shook her head. With a deep breath—several, actually—she ignored the shuffling papers, clearing throats and whispered comments, and instead, called to mind a box. Into the box she put all of her feelings for Gideon—the desire, hurt, anger and anxiety. With those emotions packed away, she squared her shoulders and prepared for the task ahead. All she had to do was get through the presentation she and Anne rehearsed. It didn’t matter who listened. She’d spent the past six weeks on automatic pilot. She could continue for one more hour, two at the most. Then she could fall apart. The room came into focus. Everyone was ready and waiting, so she moved to the head of the table and began the presentation.
As she spoke about the history of her firm, the firm’s experience with technology clients and why her firm was perfect for their new product, she showed a polished and in-control veneer. Her tone projected confidence. She blinked, shifting her gaze from face to face; if she lingered more on the rest of audience instead of Gideon, she hoped no one noticed. She struggled to breathe, but covered her efforts with pauses, as if she wanted to make sure everyone followed along. The presentation continued, and her mind wandered – how had he not known she’d be there? From his initial reaction, she could tell he was as surprised as she was. For all her research and preparation, she hadn’t known this was his company. Nothing in the literature mentioned the parent company. She snapped her attention to the presentation and forced him from her thoughts. As she wound down her speech, Gideon motioned he had question.
“Yes?” There was no warmth in her voice, and she stared through him.
“I could tell by your reaction you hadn’t realized who you’d be presenting to. That lack of research concerns me.”
Before Lily could respond, Anne interjected. “I knew who we were presenting to. I knew your company spun off a division specifically to handle software. But other than a brief mention in one document,” and she held it up, “nothing you gave us mentioned the name of the parent company.”
At this, Lily spoke. “Actually, the lack of company awareness is a problem that should be rectified, and relates to item three, point b in our presentation. Your company is well-respected in its field and should be connected to the software you offer. If you hire us, your software will become synonymous with your company name.”
She sat with teeth clenched and toes curled in her shoes as she controlled her heartbeat and breathing. Her jaw ached and her head pounded. He had baited her and she was pissed. Lily made a fist beneath the table. His smoldering anger, stiff posture told her how angry he was. His contempt for her simmered beneath the surface. Later, she would remember this and try to mend the last of her shattered heart. At the moment though, the professional side of her cackled with glee—she was much better at hiding her feelings than he was. She drew unexpected strength from this knowledge.
Next to him, Joe took notes. He glanced at her, smiled and directed his questions to Anne. Lily let her mind wander as she prayed for this meeting to end. If they got this account, she’d convince Anne to let someone else handle it. She could not work with Gideon. She heard her name, and she perked up.
“If we hire you, I would want Lily handling this account directly,” Joe said.
Anne cleared her throat and returned her focus to Joe. “That was our original intention.”
“I don’t know about that,” Gideon interrupted. “How do I know I can trust you to carry out your promises?” Joe whipped around and Lily froze. Gideon’s words sounded professional, but he wasn’t talking about business. He was killing her, but she wouldn’t roll over and make it easy on him. Instead, she reached into her folder and pulled out a contract.
“Because if you read the contract, you’ll see in this section,” and she leaned over and pointed an elegantly polished fingernail to the paragraph she mentioned, “we can be fired, without compensation, for not delivering on certain promises we set out before we begin. And,” she raised her head and peered at him from under long lashes, until he broke eye contact with her, “we have seven references for you to interview, all of whom I’ve worked with personally. If these are not enough for you, we can find others.”
Both Anne and Joe covered their mouths to hide their grins as Gideon took the proffered documents and backed down.
Chapter 28
Ten minutes later, the meeting ended.
They said their goodbyes and Lily excused herself to go to the restroom. Gideon packed his papers. She practically ran down the hall. It was the only indication that he’d gotten to her, and it offered him less comfort than he’d expected. He still reeled from his first glimpse of her. Her presence overpowered him—the whiff of her jasmine perfume tickled his nostrils, the burn of her smooth hand in his callused one as they greeted each other, the shimmer of her lips as she smiled at him. Aside from her reaction when he’d first entered, she was completely professional. Thin, he noticed, but confident in herself and her presentation. Cold even, something she never was in the past.
An ice queen. Boy was he wrong about her.
He’d been less successful at hiding his emotions, and the result had been obvious to everyone. As Lily parried his thrusts, his virulent tone surprised even him. Her presence unnerved him, knocked him off his professional pedestal and forced him to claw back any way he could. And the only way he could do that was to attack her. He hated himself for doing it, but he hated her more for forcing this reaction out of him.
“That Lily of yours is one amazing woman.” The sound of Joe’s voice startled Gideon out of his reverie. “Remind me never to get on her bad side.”
“She’s not mine,” he said through gritted teeth, even as he silently agreed. Gideon’s jaw was tight and the tendon in his neck pulsed. “You’re going to have to work with her.”
“I don’t see…”