She knew that name. She'd typed it a hundred times in emails. She'd signed off on it in spreadsheets. She'd argued about it in board meetings not 12 hours ago. It wasn't some small roadside farm with a couple of chickens and a hand-painted sign.
It was Halbrook's sole supplier for their entire specialty grain line. A $350 million contract. Her contract. The one she personally managed. The man sitting beside her.
The one she'd tried to have moved. The one she'd called the gentleman like it was a slur. The one she'd told to sit somewhere else for comfort reasons was Julian Marrow. The Julian Marrow. "You all right? " Julian asked.
Though his tone made it clear he already knew the answer. He wasn't asking out of concern. He was asking because he wanted to watch her squirm. I Haley's mouth went dry. I didn't realize.
"Didn't realize what? " Julian said, voice even, unhurried. "That I own the farm or that I was somebody worth being polite to? " The words landed like a slap. Haley's face burned hot with humiliation. And beneath that, something colder. Fear.
Real fear. The kind that came from realizing you'd just handed a loaded gun to someone you'd spent the last hour insulting. "Mr. Marrow, I" She stopped, swallowed hard, tried again. "I owe you an apology.
A real one. What happened back there, the seating thing, that was that was inappropriate. Unprofessional. It won't happen again. " Julian studied her for a long moment, saying nothing, letting the silence stretch until it felt unbearable. "You know," he said finally, "funny thing about apologies.
The good ones don't usually show up right after somebody finds out there's money on the line. " "That's not that's not what this is," Haley said quickly, though even she could hear how hollow it sounded. "No? " Julian raised an eyebrow. "So, if I was just some farmer, no big contract, no fancy numbers attached to my name, you'd still be sitting here apologizing right now? " Haley didn't answer. She couldn't. Because they both knew the truth, and lying about it would only make things worse.
"That's what I thought," Julian said quietly. He turned his gaze back toward the window, done with the conversation for now, leaving Haley to sit there and stew in the mess she'd made of her own morning. She replayed the scene over and over in her head. Sandra checking the boarding pass, the passengers staring, the phone camera pointed their way. Her stomach twisted into a hard knot.