No one argued after that, and as the meeting ended she handed me the folder and said, “Review every scenario, because our flight leaves at ten tomorrow evening and I expect you prepared.”
That night I barely slept, because pride and fear mixed inside me in equal measure while I imagined either impressing the executives in Minneapolis or embarrassing myself in front of the one person whose respect mattered most.
The next evening we met at Logan Airport while a storm rolled across the coast, and our flight faced repeated delays as rain struck the windows and thunder shook the terminal.
Vanessa worked quietly on her tablet while I reviewed spreadsheets for the tenth time, and by the time we finally landed in Minneapolis it was after one in the morning with wind whipping across the runway.
We stepped into a taxi and tried to book hotel rooms through our phones, yet every nearby property showed no availability due to a medical convention in the city.
“Call the Meridian Suites,” Vanessa said calmly.
I called and waited through hold music before a clerk finally answered and said, “We have one room left with a king bed.”