Chapter 27

Damn. Traumatic brain injury symptoms included mood swings and irritability. I’d usually let it slide. but Doctor Jekyll sure had picked the day to go all Hyde on me.

“Everything all right, Chef Lund?” Anders asked, looking worried.

“Oh, absolutely.” I leaned in and dialed Derek’s number on the huge ugly phone in the middle of the table. Put it on speaker. When Derek picked up, his voice was calmer, but there was impatience in his tone I was sure everyone in the room heard. We went ahead with the discussions, and he rarely intervened, only asking for certain things to be repeated or clarified. Twenty minutes into the call and I was finally starting to breathe. He wasn’t going to let me down. He was sharp, and as we got deeper into the issues, Derek took control of the conversation. I sat back and watched the room. He was making some serious points, and I could tell Berjit liked him. She’d stopped interrupting and was listening and glancing down at her papers with vivid interest.