He found out about the lunch during a budget review meeting at two thirty on Thursday afternoon, from Gerald, who mentioned it in passing as a context note while discussing the quarterly projections, not knowing it was information that landed with the specific weight of a stone dropped into still water.
Valdris finished the meeting.
He covered the remaining forty minutes of the budget review with his usual precision and said the correct things at the correct moments and gave Gerald the decisions he needed and wrapped the meeting cleanly and shook hands with the appropriate warmth. He was completely present for forty minutes. He was completely professional for forty minutes.
He returned to the executive floor at three forty and walked past her desk.
She was working. She looked up when h
