Chapter 4

He asked all of them, but his eyes were on me.

I started to stand. Trevor clamped a hand down hard and kept me in my seat.

He turned to Mr. Gilbert and spoke first.

"Mr. Gilbert, here's what happened. Our proposal and our plan were fully prepared, and the client had shown initial interest. But there were some delays during the bidding process, and we lost the bid."

"Who was responsible for delivering it?"

Trevor licked his lips and pointed at me.

"That was Judy."

Mr. Gilbert looked at me. "Why the delay?"

Before I could open my mouth, Trevor cut in again.

"The train was late, and it ran into morning rush hour. Traffic on the way. We were twenty minutes behind, and the client held to the rules and wouldn't accept it."

Mr. Gilbert's brows drew tight. "Train was late? Harborview is that far away, so why go by train?"

Vice President Delgado wore a bland expression. He hadn't been part of any of this, and he figured none of it was on him.

Madison sat across from me, sipping her bubble tea, looking as relaxed as if she were in her own backyard.

Trevor's throat went tight, and he pushed through the explanation.

"We'd worked out the timing and figured it was enough. If the train hadn't been late, we definitely would've gotten the bid in."

Mr. Gilbert's eyes narrowed. That was the warning sign before he blew up.

"You worked out the timing? A sixty-eight-million-dollar project, and you're going to talk to me about timing? A flight gets you there in three hours. Why take a high-speed train?"

I put in a word.

"Mr. Gilbert, it wasn't a high-speed train. It was a hard-seat coach train. Eighteen hours."

Trevor's head snapped toward me. Madison's hand jerked around her bubble tea, the pearls inside sloshing.

Mr. Gilbert's face went dark, and the anger in his voice was clearly past holding back.

"Eleven hundred miles, a sixty-eight-million-dollar project, and she rode a hard-seat coach?"

"Who decided this?"

Vice President Delgado dropped his eyes, and the calm on his face cracked a little.

Madison's lazy posture froze, and she sat up straight without meaning to.

Trevor opened his mouth to explain, but when he met Mr. Gilbert's furious eyes, his mouth shut on its own.

Nobody dared say anything.

The whole conference room held nothing but the sound of Mr. Gilbert's finger tapping the table, one beat after another.

Like a death knell being drummed out.

A full minute passed.

Mr. Gilbert read the expression on every face in the room, and at last his eyes settled on me.

Reining in the fury about to break loose, he asked, "Judy, you delivered the bid. You tell me. Who decided on the train?"

I stood up, my hand braced on the table.

"I did."

Trevor let out a clear breath of relief. Delgado lifted his eyelids. Madison's body eased back too.

Mr. Gilbert stared at me, his eyes like knives.

"You decided?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

I glanced at Madison and answered without cringing or overreaching.

"Because finance caps reimbursement approval at three hundred dollars. Anything over that doesn't get reimbursed. A hard-seat coach was all I could take."