Chapter 7 - The Fifty-Fifth Floor Picnic
The sun was setting behind the Chicago skyline, turning Lake Michigan into a vast sheet of hammered copper and bruised purple.
On the fifty-fifth floor, the open-plan bullpen was completely empty. The financial analysts had gone home hours ago; the board members had retreated to their respective clubs and country estates; and the only sound in the entire suite was the muffled scratching of a purple crayon against a fresh piece of legal paper.
In Daniel’s office, the walnut desk had been cleared of blueprints. In their place sat an open box of deep-dish pepperoni pizza from Lou Malnati’s, two cans of root beer, and a half-empty bag of potato chips.
Daniel was sitting on the edge of his leather desk chair, wiping a smear of tomato sauce off his thumb with a paper napkin, while Lily lay sprawled out on the rug near the floor-to-ceiling window, fast asleep beneath Elena’s cashmere travel blanket.
The door was open.
Elena walked in, carrying two paper cups of black coffee. She was no longer wearing her jacket; her sleeves were rolled up to her elbows, and her hair was slightly disheveled from a long day of emergency shareholder calls.
She stopped when she saw Lily sleeping on the floor.
“Is she out?” Elena asked softly, walking over and setting the coffee cups down on the desk.
“Cold,” Daniel whispered, smiling down at the small, steady rise and fall of his daughter’s chest. “She hasn’t stopped moving since six this morning. I’m amazed she didn't try to recalibrate the executive elevator while we were in the boardroom.”
Elena leaned against the edge of the desk, looking down at Lily, then over at Daniel.
“Julian Vance resigned from Apex’s board an hour ago,” she said quietly. “His firm is divesting all their shares in Hartwell Systems by the end of the week. We’re officially independent again.”
Daniel picked up his coffee cup, taking a slow sip. “And the municipal audit?”
“The city inspector came by at two o’clock,” Elena said, a faint smile touching the corners of her mouth. “He spent three hours in Bank A with your lead mechanic. He called it the cleanest, most meticulously rebuilt vertical system he’s seen in the Loop in twenty years.”
She turned her head, her dark eyes meeting his in the amber glow of the single desk lamp.
“You saved the company, Daniel.”
“I just fixed the elevators,” Daniel said, shaking his head. “Machines make sense, remember? A cable is either worn or it isn't. A relay works or it fails.”
“And people?” Elena asked softly. “Do people make sense?”
Daniel went very quiet. He looked down at the grease still stubborn beneath his fingernails, then up at the CEO of Hartwell Systems—the woman who had stood in a damp sub-basement twenty-four hours earlier and offered a single dad a second chance because she knew what it meant to fight for a place in the world.
“People are harder,” Daniel said, his voice dropping an octave. “Especially people who don't run away when things get complicated.”
Elena didn't look away. She stepped closer—just a few inches—until the scent of rosemary and cedar filled the small space between them.
“I was never afraid of complications, Daniel,” she said. “I was just tired of people who only cared about the countertops.”
Daniel set his coffee cup down on the walnut desk with a soft click. He reached out, his rough, grease-stained hand brushing gently against her knuckles.
Before either of them could say anything else, a small, sleepy voice broke the silence from the floor.
“Dad?”
Daniel immediately pulled his hand back, kneeling down beside the sleeping bag.
“Yeah, bug? You awake?”
Lily rubbed her eyes with both fists, her dark blond hair sticking up in every direction. She looked up past Daniel’s shoulder at Elena, then back down at her father.
“Can we get ice cream now?” she asked sleepily. “We’re emotionally vulnerable, remember?”
Daniel let out a sudden, barking laugh, looking up at Elena, whose face had broken into a wide, unreserved smile.
May you like
“Yeah, bug,” Daniel said, scooping his daughter up into his arms and pulling her close against his frayed work jacket. “We can get all the ice cream you want.”
***
