“They ought to have another entrance or something,” Evan groused impatiently.
Oh right, that’s what the two of them needed—yet another cutoff from the world at large, another secret entrance into their special little universe. When Robin didn’t readily agree, Evan sighed loudly. “Look, Robin, you really don’t have to go if you are that miserable. I can wrap the deal up with Lou.”
Oh, hell no—he wasn’t going to take that away from her. She would have her acquisition if it killed her, would prove once—
Wait.
Robin stopped, mid-stride. Evan stopped, too, looked down at her with one brow cocked in question. “Wrap the deal up?” she repeated.
“Watch out,” Evan said, nodding at an approaching, full courtesy cart. “Come on—”
“No.” Robin instinctively slapped at his hand as he tried to take her arm. “Why did you say ‘wrap the deal up with Lou’?”
“Because, sweetheart,” he said, furtively glancing around, “that is what we are doing—wrapping the deal up with Lou. I told you.”
“You said he had a new twist we needed to consider. You did not say ‘wrap the deal up with Lou.’”
“Well, then you misunderstood me,” he said, grabbing her elbow and pulling her aside. “Why do you have to be so difficult?”
“I didn’t misunderstand, Evan,” she interrupted him. “Tell me what you mean by that.”
“Oh for God’s sake!” he exploded. “Let me spell it out for you—for all intents and purposes, I have made an offer to Lou, contingent upon this last bit of information.”
Somewhere, a plane took off; the floor beneath Robin shifted as it lumbered skyward. She stared at Evan, trying to comprehend. “You made an offer?” she asked weakly, her mind slowly coming to grips with the truth.
“Yes, a very good one, too. If he can show me the numbers I want on the hazmat containers, we’ve got a deal.”
It was all beginning to make sense. All crystal clear now. His phone calls to Girt, to Lou . . . the papers in the file duplicating everything she had done. Evan had cut this deal behind her back. He’d been negotiating all the while and humoring her attempts to do what he had already done. Robin felt suddenly and ridiculously small and inconsequential. And stupid. Na?ve. “You cut a deal,” she echoed incredulously, the betrayal sinking even deeper. “What about Girt?”
Evan smiled in that condescending way of his that twisted Robin’s gut. “Girt got an offer from American Motorfreight, remember?”
She jerked her arm up and away, out of Evan’s grip. “Yes, I remember. They lowballed her, Evan. It’s not enough for what she needs to care for David—”
“Robin, don’t be absurd!” he said hotly. “We don’t do business on the basis of who needs day care. Christ, you can be such a child!”
In that moment, Robin had never despised anyone as much as she did Evan. She thought of Girt, of David. Thought of Jake, his distrust of this bastard before her, his warnings that she had refused to hear or heed. He had known Evan was a snake, had tried to tell her, but she had to be bit to believe it. Robin felt her heart constrict in her chest and stepped back, away from Evan, disgusted. “Is that all you care about, Evan? The best deal? We could have offered Girt what she needed and still made a very good deal. And I suppose it was okay to cut Lou Harvey’s offer to the bone, too, because he needs the cash, right? Whatever works for you, it doesn’t matter if it’s fair or decent or—”
“Spare me your bourgeoisie working-man crap,” Evan hotly interjected. “You lost your mind the moment you ever took up with the handyman.” He reached for her arm again, but Robin stepped back, out of his reach, shaking her head.
“You asshole,” she breathed. “What about me?”
Evan’s face colored; he glared at her, now oblivious to the milling crowd and the few heads turned in their direction. “What about you? Aaron is right about you, you know that? You don’t know what you are doing—you’re a spoiled little girl playing at grown-up games. Well, go back to your Ken, Barbie doll. I don’t need the aggravation and neither does LTI.”
“I get it,” she said in wonderment. “I finally get it.” It was a clarion moment in which everything suddenly fell into place. She took another step back, oblivious to the people stepping around her. “Guess what, Evan? You can have LTI! I don’t want it—I quit.”
Evan rolled his eyes. “Stop pouting—”
“Oh no, I’m not pouting!” She laughed. “For once, I know what I am doing!” She laughed again, turned around, and started walking.
“Robin!” Evan called after her. “Stop acting so childish! We have a plane to catch!”