Her instinct was to ask if he was okay, to see if she could do anything to help. But he’d been so cryptic about his medical problem she could tell he valued his privacy.
He coughed, using his elbow as a barrier. “Dara has juvenile diabetes—was actually a student at one of the Limitless camps when she was a teenager. She had a difficult pregnancy and got put on bed rest two weeks ago. That’s why we had to hire someone at the last minute and don’t have anyone to train you.”
Jarrett took a long drink from his water bottle
“What happens when she comes back?” Laurie probed.
“Don’t worry. You won’t lose your job. Dara wants a position where she isn’t flying around the country all the time.”
“Flying all the time?” Laurie’s heart began to pound in her chest. They’re not getting me into one of those air-death machines.
“We have events all over the country.” His eyebrows lifted. “Didn’t you see it in the job description?”
She gulped air. How had she missed that? “I… uhm… I intend to implement some cost-saving measures. I may be traveling by train and rental car.”
“Saving money is good—more goes to the kids.” Jarrett shrugged. “LA may be too far away for ground travel, but I’ll let you figure that out with Finn.”
“Finn?” Her mouth went Sahara-dry.
“He’ll be handling my part of the LA fundraiser, at least until Cole and Branson finish the shareholder’s report for Phantom.” His dark eyes pinned her in place, eyebrows furrowing. “Is that going to be a problem? You’re not getting sick, are you? I know you were worried you’d been exposed to something.”
“No. I’m fine.” She croaked the words Jarrett needed to hear. Whatever he was dealing with was more important than her hang-ups with Finn.
“Good,” Jarrett said, as he snatched his vibrating phone from his pocket. He frowned at the screen. “Excuse me, I need to take this.” With long strides, he exited the room, his cell phone to his ear. “This is Jarrett Alverez… yes… I’m flying back tonight… CT scan… right…”
Laurie watched his retreating figure as acid swirled in her stomach. After seeing Finn during her workout that morning, any interaction would be doubly awkward. “I can handle it. I just need to go home tonight and psych myself up.”
Her computer dinged as a message flashed onto her screen.
Finn Anderson: As we will need to interact during Jarrett’s absence, we should meet to work out a few details. Are you available during lunch?
She rubbed her temples in a fruitless effort to stop her head from pounding. “This day needs a reboot button.”
Laurie could hear a baby crying in the background when Stephanie answered the phone.
“Hey. I can’t talk long,” Steph said. “How’s your first day going?”
“I’d rate it somewhere between stubbing the same toe twice and a bad stomach virus.”
“It can’t be that bad. What happened?” The baby’s cry turned into a soft coo, with a few gurgles.
For some reason, Laurie had never told Steph about her problems with Finn, so she decided to leave his part out of the rundown.
“For starters, I went to the gym this morning and discovered my heart is about as healthy as a Twinkie.”
Steph chuckled. “I’m in the same boat. But at least you went to the gym. You’re doing better than I am.”
“Then, just as I was trying to get oriented, Jarrett comes in and announces he’s leaving New York to take care of some medical issues.”
“Oh, no! He didn’t say what was wrong?”
“No, and I didn’t ask him. But that’s not the worst.”
“There’s more?”
“They expect me to fly… in an airplane.”
“That’s better than flapping your arms,” Steph said sarcastically.
“You know I’m afraid to fly. Somehow, I missed it on the job description. It’s too late to tell them I have a phobia about flying. I should’ve told them that before they hired me.”
“I bet you’ll get used to it after a few trips. It’ll be even better when you’re on a private jet. You can get up and move around.”
“You don’t understand. I’m not just a little nervous. I can’t fly. I tried. I even bought a ticket and checked my luggage in once. But when the time came to board the plane, I hid in the bathroom, hyperventilating, until it was long gone.”
“Hang on a second. Let me put you on speaker, so I can change a diaper.” After a few seconds, Steph’s voice returned. “Listen… we’ll figure something out. Maybe therapy. Or hypnosis. Or you could take a sedative.”
“I don’t think so. I’m lightheaded just thinking about it.”
“Then you’ll have to travel some other way.” Suddenly, Steph yelped, and a baby’s giggles filtered through the phone.
“What happened?” Laurie asked.
“I didn’t get the new diaper on fast enough. Ford just peed everywhere. And he thinks it’s really funny. Sorry. Gotta go. Call me later.”
Laurie disconnected, thinking she’d rather clean up gallons of baby urine than fly on a plane.
