She loved her job, and the fact she got to see the country, a new city every six months to a year. However, watching a place change, and coming back to it already grown were two different experiences. Sometimes she had the desire to find a place to call home base, and not have to pick up and go again just as she got comfortable. That urge usually hit right about the time she spent too long out of work, which meant she needed to remember this was a vacation, not a place to grow roots.
The buildings grew taller and closer together as she traveled nearer to the center of Salt Lake City. Nothing comparable to the large skyscrapers on the East Coast, but the older architecture here was gorgeous. Granite three-and four-story buildings sprawled with arched windows, and columns holding everything together.
Rae parked near a cluster of the century-old structures and made her way to one in the middle. She skipped the elevator—classic or not, the jerky ride scared her—and took the narrow stairs to the second floor. The etched glass on the only door in the hallway proclaimed Cord, Incorporated.
She cringed at the brown paper taped to the glass hiding something. A chemical scent singed her sinuses. Was it being updated to add A Digital Media Company? She pushed inside and paused at the empty reception desk. No one was going to mind if she wandered back to Chloe’s workstation. She knew the way.
Her earlier hesitation fluttered again, bringing her to a standstill. If Zach was here… She shoved against the thought with all her might. Chloe was right. It wasn’t as if they could avoid each other forever, and there was no way he still cared what happened all those years ago. Hell, when Rae thought about it, she didn’t care. The realization flipped a switch in her head. What had started as all those years ago as irritation and a feeling of betrayal for the way they left things, became habit as time passed. An instinct to keep him out of her life, because that was just what she did.
“Rae?” A familiar voice tickled her ears.
She grinned as she spun toward the sound. She hadn’t kept in touch with many people from high school, but Scott was one of her best friends. The person she could geek out with. Her confidant and anchor to sanity. He was also CTO—Chief Technology Officer—and co-founder of Cord.
True, last time they’d seen each other in person, almost three years ago, things were awkward. Their conversations since, chatting online and texting had grown shorter and farther apart. But he was still Scott.
When he wrapped her in a friendly hug, her trepidation faded. “Hey.” She threw her arms around his neck.
He squeezed tight, lifting her off her feet, before letting go. “You look good. I wish I’d known you were going to be in town.”
“Last minute plans. My next contract fell through, so I thought impromptu vacation.” She took a few steps back, so she didn't have to tilt her head quite as much to see him. He looked good too. Then again, he always did. Almost a foot taller than her five feet four, with broad shoulders and a flat stomach, he defied everything about the geek stereotype… Until he talked tech. He designed Cord’s graphics engine and so many other bits of underlying code for their games. When he got going on a brainstorming tangent, his ideas flew over a lot of heads.
“If you're here for Chloe, I'm sorry, but I need her working tonight. No exceptions, even for you.”
The stilted transition from friendly to business both relieved and disappointed her. She missed the friendly banter with Scott, but what if the last time they got together was her warning they couldn’t get that level of closeness back?
“She told me. I'm just borrowing a house key.” Rae wasn't surprised Chloe hadn't mentioned the trip to her coworkers. When Chloe landed the head writer job a few years back, she and Scott left any conversation about Rae off the table, especially at work. Chloe earned the position on her own merits and wanted people to know it, instead of thinking her older sister pulled strings with the boss. Rae agreed with the decision. Even though Chloe's talent was no longer in question, some habits died hard.
Scott rested a hand at the small of her back and pointed her toward the conference and meeting areas. “They’re all in the war room.”
Concern brought back the foul taste the new glass etching had left in her mouth. Almost a year ago, Cord had been subject to what Chloe referred to as a no-lube violation. Rae interpreted that to mean a hostile takeover by Digital Media. As Rae understood it, things had been all hands off from the new parent company until just a few months ago when they started to sink their claws in. “Is it that bad?” Rae asked.
“I’m stealing my people’s Friday night. What do you think?”
“Chloe’s version is the world is going to explode in the fiery death hate of DM. Give me some substance.”
Scott raked his fingers through his hair. “One of their top executives is going to be in the office interviewing everyone to see who’s vital to the group, and they’ve upped our E3 delivery from a video to a fifteen-minute playable demo.”
In other words, staff cuts on top of extra work, plus babysitting upper management. “Ouch.”