Page 8 of The Law of Attraction
Adam, on the other hand, was nowhere to be seen. Not that she was eager to spend time with him or awkwardly attempt to make small talk and pretend she could stand the sight of him. But as the minutes ticked toward their scheduled boarding time, Olivia grew increasingly worried.
She couldn’t do any of this without him, and the schedule was already so tight they couldn’t afford any delays. Once they got to Austin, they’d have to rent a car and drive another seventy miles to Fayette County, where the plant was located, before they could get started on the integration. If Adam missed this flight it would throw off everything. Even a few lost hours could mean the difference between success or failure with a schedule this tight.
And Olivia needed this assignment to be a success. It would bolster her application to the leadership program. Not to mention, if she botched her very first field assignment, she probably wouldn’t be given a second one. She’d carry this failure with her for as long as she stayed on her current team.
That was why she was so pissed about having her concerns dismissed. No, they weren’t even dismissed—she hadn’t been allowed to voice them at all. You couldn’t dismiss something until you’d actually heard it. She’d just been silenced.
Olivia had a bad feeling this assignment was doomed from the get-go, and she was pissed about it. It was fine for Adam. He’d done enough of these and pulled enough unlikely wins out of his ass that he was golden no matter what. One little failure amidst a long string of successes wouldn’t tarnish his reputation. But if this went south, Olivia’s official record would be zero for one.
Adam was the control in this experiment, so it couldn’t possibly be his fault. She was the variable, so everyone would assume she couldn’t carry her weight, that she wasn’t up to the challenge. And there would go all her hopes of being a future leader, or getting any other plum assignments.
Five minutes to boarding now, and still no Adam. Their plane was at the gate, the previous flight’s passengers had exited, and the cleaning crew was making their pass. All signs pointed to an on-time boarding and departure.
Olivia stared at her phone, wondering if she should try calling Adam. Was that what a future leader would do? Or would it make her seem like a Nervous Nellie?
Damn Adam for getting her into this situation. And for being late to the airport. But most of all damn him for making her doubt herself. She’d trusted her instincts before he’d come along and punctured her confidence. Now she was second-guessing everything.
Screw him; he was on his own. She wasn’t his mother. If he’d overslept or broken down on his way to the airport, or whatever had happened, it was his problem. She was here on time, dammit.
“Hey, Woerner,” Adam said, elbowing his way through the crowd beside her at exactly one minute to boarding. He was wearing faded jeans and a soft chambray shirt that made Olivia feel overdressed in her stretchy dress pants and blouse.
“Hey.” She tried to offer him a smile, but it came out thin. “I was starting to wonder if you were going to make it.” Dammit, now she sounded passive aggressive.
He shrugged as he glanced around the terminal. “They never start boarding on time.” His eyes landed on her with a smug glint. “Let me guess: you got here seven hours ago, just to be safe.”
“No.” Only two, which was the amount recommended on the airport website. Seven hours was crazy. The earliest she’d ever arrived for a flight was four hours in advance—but in her defense it was an international flight at Christmastime.
“I wasn’t going to miss the plane, if that’s what you were nervous about.”
“I wasn’t nervous,” Olivia lied, feeling her irritation rise.
He nodded like he didn’t believe her. “I made it in plenty of time, so all that negative energy you expended fretting about it was wasted.”
“I said I wasn’t nervous.”
“But you were though. I can see it on your face.”
“You don’t know anything about my face. Maybe I’m just annoyed about spending an entire week in your company.”
Was that amusement that she detected in his expression? It couldn’t be, because Adam didn’t smile, ever, and he certainly wouldn’t be smiling at her.
His eyes fell on her large black purse. “Are you sure that bag’s going to fit under the seat in front of you?”
“Yes.”
“It’s practically bursting at the seams. What the hell’s in there?”
“Just some essentials.” Olivia’s fingers tightened around the shoulder strap as she stared at the gate agent, telepathically willing her to start the boarding process. What she wouldn’t give for Professor Xavier’s mind control powers right now. She could get on the plane and make Adam stop talking. Forever.
“What kind of essentials?” Adam leaned closer like he was trying to look inside her bag.
“Essentials,” she repeated through gritted teeth as she shifted her purse to her other shoulder, away from his nosy peeping. Why was he so interested in her goddamn purse, anyway? Why was he talking to her at all when he didn’t have to? He never talked this much at work. “Just basic stuff like my laptop, phone charger, a bottle of water, some snacks for the plane, my knitting—”
His eyebrows shot up. “I’m sorry, your what?”
“Knitting.”
“Are you an eighty-year-old grandmother?” That was definitely amusement on his face now—at her expense—and it made her teeth clench.
