Cold As Ice by Paige Violet

Author:Paige, Violet
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Head Over Heels Press
Published: 2020-02-04T16:00:00+00:00

20

Noelle

I sat behind my desk. There was a half full cup of coffee on the corner. It was my third mug already and it wasn’t even noon. It was harder to drag myself into the office the last two weeks. It had been two weeks of late-night calls. Two weeks of trying to slow things down. Two weeks of scribbling his initials on my meeting notes. Two weeks that included buying my first hockey sweater. Dire Wolves of course. Watching games on my couch. And cooking meals that I didn’t have to pull out of the freezer.

Jack and I talked on our phones until after 1am last night. I overslept this morning. It had happened twice last week. I had to get Phoebe fed, dressed, and packed for school. I yawned through the ritual. Thank God I had shimmery undereye concealer at my disposal.

“Mommy, why are you so tired?” she asked this morning.

I dabbed at my eyes, trying to focus on tying her shoelaces in double knots. “I stayed up too late,” I explained.

“You should go to bed on time. That’s what you tell me.”

I nodded absently. “It’s good advice and you should follow it.” I gave my daughter a weak smile and handed her a rainbow unicorn backpack. “Let’s go. I don’t want to be late in carpool.”

“You forgot your coffee.” She skipped down the stairs. She was bouncing with energy.

“Ugh.” My travel tumbler was sitting on the kitchen counter next to the coffee pot.

It wasn’t a good day to start off sluggish or behind. The budget approval meeting was scheduled late in the day. I had details to prepare before the directors gathered.

This was the last chance to answer questions about the interactive program.

“Noelle, do you have a minute?” Ken Law stuck his head in my office.

“Sure. I’m just going over my notes for the meeting.”

He strolled into the room. Ken was maybe ten years older than me. He was married with three kids. We sometimes traded parenting stories. He took a seat.

“There’s something I wanted to discuss with you before we meet this afternoon with everyone.”

“What is it?” I didn’t like the way his face had a gray sheen to it. Was he coming down with something?

He exhaled. “I don’t want you to be blindsided.”

“Ken, what is it?”

“A donation was given to the museum. I think the details were finally made clear last night.”

“What kind of donation?” I asked.

“It’s a large sum. A very large sum. But there are some strings that came along with the donation, and I’m afraid they put you in the middle of an awkward situation.”

I blinked. The coffee hadn’t kicked in enough for me to muddle through what Ken was trying to tell me. “How can I be in awkward situation? I’m not aware of anything happening with the interactive project.”

“I’m just going to say it.”

“Please do,” I urged. He was tiptoeing around a landmine.

“Charlie Babcock made a donation to the museum in the amount of ten million dollars last night. I heard about it from Albert.

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