After Eleven: Liv & Callum

Thanks for Dinner (Callum)

Callum

It's almost 6:00 before we come up for air. Jaime and the rest of the team are either out grabbing dinner or on a break; Emily and I have moved to one of the larger conference rooms to spread out and run through the deck on the large screen. The air of urgency we had this morning has eased a bit, now that we're all seeing the evidence of how hard we have worked on this pitch in the last few weeks. We're in a good place and everyone has been able to take their first deep breath since we heard that we needed to present this proposal in person and a week ahead of schedule.

"Thank you for what you said last week."

"Hmm?" I'm a bit absentminded when I reply to Emily, trying to think about the last time that I ate."

"My little meltdown that you caught. I appreciate that you were nice about it and didn't make anything weird." Emily seems almost shy, which is at odds with her usually confident personality.

"Don't worry about it. Changing jobs and then immediately jumping into a stressful project is rough."

"Either way, I just wanted to say thank you. You've really helped to make the transition easier." She puts her hand on my bicep and looks me in the eye to drive her point home.

"Hey," I hear from the doorway behind us. It catches me off guard and I jerk my arm from underneath Emily's hand before jumping out of my chair.

I turn to my wife, who standing in the doorway with a takeout bag. Her gaze jumps from me to Emily, who is still seated at the table.

"Am I interrupting? Jaime said that you all had broken for the night but I couldn't get ahold of you. I figured you were into something and would need dinner." She doesn't move to come any closer to me, and the distance feels cavernous, instead of a few feet.

"Of course not. Yeah, most people headed home and we were just getting ready to head out." I move towards her but before I can reach her she holds the takeout bag straight between us and I'm left with no choice but to take it and remain standing a foot or so away from her.

"Hi! I'm Emily, it's nice to meet you." Emily is standing beside me now and offering a wave to Liv.

Liv nods her head, "Ahh yes, it's very nice to meet you. Were you one of the people brought on for this project?"

"Yeah, it's been crazy but such a great opportunity. Working with Callum as much as we have been on this project has been great. It's nice to be in an environment with coworkers who are as intense and dedicated as he is, and who spend the necessary time to make these projects successful." I look down and Emily has her hand on my arm again. I subtly shift away under the pretense of moving the food bag to my other arm.

"Yes, he certainly is dedicated to his work. I'm glad to hear that he's been working with you. Callum has always been patient about helping people who need a little extra."

I frown at that because Liv's voice feels uncomfortably close to patronizing, and I don't like being discussed as if I'm not here. At the same time, there's something in the tone or body language between Liv and Emily that cautions me not to get in between them.

"Anyway, I'll head out. I also found this near the sink, and wanted to make sure that you had it."

Liv grabs something from her pockets and my face flushes. In her hand is my wedding ring, forgotten when I took it off to wash dishes this morning.

"You're married?" Emily asks me, almost accusingly, at the same time that I say, "I forgot to grab it after I showered." Liv raises her eyebrows at me and I can feel the flush on my face get worse.

"Yeah, I'm married. This is my wife, Liv, and I know that you've heard that name before." Everyone I work with knows about Liv, and most of them are friendly with her or ask me about her and Annie on a regular basis.