“Thank you, everyone, for dropping everything to help us save the Seaport project,” Grant said. “There was a mistake with the deadline we were working under, and we have an enormous amount of work to finish by Wednesday morning.” Grant took a drink of water from a glass on the table. Meanwhile, Astrid felt all eyes on her. If the staff hadn’t expressly been told that it was her mistake, the Sterling Enterprises rumor mill had clearly kicked into high gear. “Clay and I will finish the final plans, along with help from the junior architects. Tara and Astrid will work from the administrative side to prepare the presentation and the materials that accompany that.”
Tara rose from her seat. “We’ll be working late the next two nights, and coming in early the next two mornings. But Grant and I want everyone to know just how much we appreciate your extraordinary effort. The Seaport Promenade project was a passion project for Johnathon Sterling, and it will be an important piece of his legacy if we land it. We have a good chance, but it’s going to take all of us to make it happen. Now let’s get to work.”
The noise level went up as everyone broke into conversation and began to file out of the room. Astrid pulled Tara aside. As terrible as Astrid had felt when she walked into this meeting, it was now worse. If they lost the project, it would be Astrid’s fault, and she would have let everyone down when all they were trying to do was honor Johnathon’s life and career. “I don’t even know what to say other than I’m sorry. I feel like that’s so inadequate, though.”
“We all make mistakes, Astrid. We’ll get through it.”
“I know. But it’s really important to me to do a good job, and that means helping the team. Right now, I’m hurting us.”
“Okay, then. Let’s focus on doing the opposite.”
Astrid received the message, loud and clear. “Okay. I’ll stay overnight the next two nights if I need to.”
“Good. Because that might be what we’ll need.”
Astrid ducked out of the conference room and immediately pulled up the contact information for Sandy on her phone. She called her cell, but it rang and rang. It didn’t even go to voice mail. Astrid knew there was something that wasn’t right about this, but she had nothing to go on. This phone number was the only piece of information she had about Sandy.
Astrid hurried to her office and gathered her Seaport materials, armfuls of binders and notebooks, and began carting them off to a second meeting room, where she and Tara could collaborate, along with a team of four admins. They worked straight through the day, having lunch and dinner brought in. Astrid made several more attempts at reaching Sandy, but had the same result every time—endless ringing and no answer. Another dead end.
Around 10:00 p.m., Tara sent the admins home and suggested she and Astrid go catch up with Clay and Grant. Astrid was a bundle of nerves walking down the hall, not knowing how Clay would receive her. Tara immediately went to Grant when they arrived, leaving Clay and Astrid to talk.
“Hey,” she said. “How’s it going for you guys?”
“Slow. Exhausting.” Clay’s voice was clipped and terse.
Astrid was tired, too, and his attitude toward her wasn’t making any of this easier. “I tried to call Sandy. I don’t get any answer. I guess she lied to me. I don’t really understand it.”
“I know you’re trying to dig yourself out of this hole, but I think you should probably accept where you are. I spoke to the IT department and they verified the email Miranda got came from Sterling. And since we both know that Sandy has no access to Sterling and hasn’t worked here in nearly two months now, it seems to me like those two things are unrelated.” He cast a glance at her, but quickly returned his sights to his work. “And it doesn’t change anything. It doesn’t change anything at all. Let me get back to work so I can get through these next two days, okay?”
Astrid pressed her lips together hard to ward off the tears stinging her eyes. She would not cry. She had to stay positive, even in the face of unimaginable obstacles. Everything she cared about had taken a hit today—her love for Clay, her relationship with Tara and Miranda, and the fate of Sterling Enterprises. These were also the things keeping her in San Diego. The only things.
Maybe the writing was on the wall. She’d wondered if she could build a life here, and she’d made a valiant effort. Perhaps it was time to admit defeat and return to Norway. She’d never last at Sterling beyond Wednesday if this was to be her working relationship with Clay. If she’d thought it had been strained at the beginning, this was so much worse. She loved him and she couldn’t undo her feelings. She couldn’t wish them away. But she also couldn’t do a thing to change everything else that had happened.
She could only find a way to move forward. And it looked as though she would be doing that alone.
Thirteen
Wednesday morning had arrived. Astrid’s second all-nighter at Sterling was done. She was exhausted and sad, especially as she wished Tara good luck on the presentation, which was only hours away. She didn’t have the chance to say goodbye to Clay, as he was downstairs loading the Sterling Enterprises van, but she’d planned accordingly.
“You two will do great. I know it,” Astrid said.
“You’re sure about leaving?” Tara asked. “I think we salvaged the presentation, and I know people are giving you the cold shoulder now,
