(Eric's POV)
The Denver trip, I could have sent Marcus. The supplier renegotiation in Austin, definitely Marcus, he's handled harder rooms than that one solo and come out ahead. The site visit in Phoenix — that one's mine, technically, but even that has a version where I do it over video and save myself four days.
I take all three anyway.
I tell myself it's timing. Bad luck, all three landing in the same six-week stretch, nothing I can shift without costing the company something real. I've gotten good, lately, at telling myself things and almost believing them for the length of a packed suitcase.
Rebecca watches me pack for Denver from the doorway, arms crossed loose, not saying anything, and something in the specific quality of her silence tells me she's not just watching — she's read
