Aaron was praying that Eliza wouldn't be the first to arrive. He was notified when her plane landed a little while ago, and even though he assumed her luggage would take at least fifteen minutes to transfer to the car he sent to pick her up, she could very well arrive in his office early.
When he heard a light rap at the door, however, he knew precisely who it was. Though he was sitting at his desk all the way across the room, he made it to the door in less than a second and opened it for her. "Hi," he said, stepping out of the way so Cadence could enter.
Over her shoulder, she said "It was nice to see you again, too," to Mrs. Carminati, Aaron's secretary as she stepped in. "Hi," she said, smiling despite the fact she'd been reluctant to agree to come.
"How was your flight?" he asked, gesturing for her to take a seat at the large table to the left of the door in what was the back of his office.
"It was good," she replied as she pulled out one of the large, black leather chairs and sat down. "This is a nice set up you've got here," she remarked, eyeing the large flat screen on the wall and the other equipment he had available for transmitting information to a larger group.
"Yeah, thanks," he replied sitting at the head of the table, to her right. She had, of course, taken the seat with the best view of the screen, other than his, perhaps. "Christian set it up for us a couple of years ago."
"I guess I didn't notice it the last time I was in here," she muttered, glancing over her shoulder at his desk area, which had been the scene of their last--and final--break up.
He ignored the comment, and asked instead, "Can I get you some water or something?"
"Oh, no, I'm fine," she replied. "Thanks." She briefly contemplated whether or not she should apologize for the comment she had made earlier, about him going away, but he didn't seem to be thinking about it just then, so she decided against it. "Oh, uhm, thanks for letting Elliott come out to get me," she said, smiling. "That made it a whole lot easier to get on that plane."
"That was the idea," he admitted. "Sure, no problem. I'm glad he had the time to do it. Listen, I just want to let you know the whole team is really grateful that you decided to help us out on this. I know you didn't have to, and that you had other plans, so it means a lot to me personally that you're here. So, thank you."
She nodded, and started to respond, wanting to assure him that she was glad to help out when he cut her off, saying, "And Eliza's here."
"What?" she asked, not sure what he had said at first. Just then, the door burst open and she understood.
"Okay, bye-bye then!" Eliza said, a sickeningly fake smile on her face, as she pushed the door closed behind her and rolled her eyes. "That woman is so unbelievably annoying!" she remarked, rolling her eyes.
"Mrs. Carminati?" Cadence asked. "She's nice..."
"All she said was have a nice day," Aaron said, equally as confused.
Eliza looked at him for a moment, as if she wondered how he knew that before shrugging and saying, "Whatever. She doesn't stop talking." Walking over to the table, she absently checked her manicure, and took the seat at the other end, though it didn't have the best view of the screen and was several chairs away from them. It was, in her mind, also the head of the table. She was dressed in a very expensive looking skirt suit, all black with a red button down shirt, the pencil-skirt hitting mid-calf, with six-inch high heeled black pumps, and her hair was much shorter than the last time Cadence had seen her.
Cadence bit her tongue, resolved to put their difference behind them and move forward for the sake of this mission. That was her initial plan anyway; she wasn't sure she would be able to stick to that.
"We're just waiting on Elliott, who will be here in a few minutes, and then Laura should be on the line shortly," Aaron explained, clearly uncomfortable.
"She's dialing in?" Cadence asked, looking for clarification.
"Yes," Eliza replied tartly. "She wasn't willing to give us a number."
"We could still trace it..." Cadence said, trying to keep her tone even.
"We're going to try, but she claims to have some sort of high-tech blocker," Aaron explained.
Cadence nodded, but before she could say anything, Eliza said, "Oh, and Daniel said to tell you he's so sorry he couldn't make it, but someone had to stay home and run the show, you know, in my absence."
"Who's Daniel?" Cadence asked, lost once again.
"He's my Hunter Leader," Eliza replied with an air of importance.
"Oh, I didn't realize San Fran had one," Cadence said, nodding slowly.
"It's a really big area," Eliza remarked with a condescending tone. "It stretches all the way from LA to Portland and then over to Reno. Oh, but I guess you know that, don't you?" she smirked.
"I guess I didn't grasp that it was that large," Cadence answered, still trying to keep her cool. She glanced at Aaron who was shaking his head no, and she wasn't sure if he was saying, "no," it isn't or don't argue with her, but either way she was sure that Eliza was exaggerating, as usual.
"Hmmm, seems like you always miss out on the large things around here that I am very familiar with," she smiled.
Cadence's mouth dropped open, and Aaron covered his face in embarrassment and disbelief. But before either one of them could respond, Eliza continued, "Oh, I heard you finally got those pesky Rogues in Reno the other night. That's great. I heard it only took your new boyfriend six months to catch them. That's pretty impressive, what with their being five of them, and all."
"Oh, do you know Cale?" Cadence asked, with as sweet a tone as she could muster, ignoring her put-down about the speed of his operation.
"Uhm, yeah," Eliza replied. "Everyone knows Cale."
Cadence took that to mean because he was so very attractive and had to take the opportunity to put Eliza in her place. "Oh, that’s right. He asked about you the other day," she mentioned nonchalantly.
Eliza stopped messing with her nails. "Really?" she asked.
"No, not even a little bit," Cadence said, dryly. "I don't think he even knows who you are."
"You are such a bitch," Eliza said, utilizing the IAC so that, possibly, Aaron wouldn't know she had completely lost her cool.
"Hey, you started it. Don't dish it out if you can't take it," Cadence replied, keeping her expression as normal as she could.
