"Excellent question, Amanda." Before I answered her, I spent a moment looking around the table. "Anyone have a similar concern?"
Within a second or two, most everyone nodded their head.
"All right then. Well, the answer is simple. Each of you will have key performance metrics specific to your role in the project upon which you will be evaluated. Whichever one of you shows the most improvement in the shortest time frame possible will be the winner. In this way, the playing field is leveled, since each of you are measured by your individual accomplishments."
As I finished, I fixed my face in an expectant gaze. "Any other questions?"
For a few seconds, I glanced around the table at them. After it became clear there weren't any more, I began to wrap things up.
"Very well, I'll get with Colin on the timeframe. Beyond that, I'll leave it to him to set your individual benchmarks. Remember, this is about speed and efficiency. I realize it's not the ideal pathway to good science but we're under the gun right now and we need some big jumps in progress. All right then, everyone, good luck. Let's get to work."
As I finished speaking, the assembled group began to stand from the conference table and exit the room. I remained at the head of it, giving nods of encouragement to the passersby until Fiona approached.
"Fiona," I said as I gestured with my head for her to follow me. "A word."
After we'd gotten out of earshot, I turned and looked at her. With fingers half-covered in her lab coat, Fiona stood before me clutching her planner at the waist. Her blond hair wrapped around her face, partially concealing her blue eyes beneath a few wayward strands. Perfect lips tinted with a rose-colored blush stood in stark contrast to her flawless, milky skin.
"Yes? What did you want to tell me?" she said after a few moments.
Even in a room half-filled with people, I couldn't stop it from happening. For another moment, I stared at her, my jaw flexing as I battled a sudden urge. Out of nowhere an instinct rose up inside of me.
Tell her? What did I want to tell her? I didn't want to tell her anything.
No.
What I wanted to do to her didn't involve words unless grunting was considered a language. Speaking was the last thing on my mind all of a sudden. Because in that instant, I wanted to grab her, throw her down on the conference room table, spread her legs and …
Easy Gabe. Easy bud.
Of course, I didn't.
Instead, I raised my hand to my face, dragging it across my lips as I beat my carnal self into submission. Once I had it controlled, I spoke.
"Yes, Fiona. There is something I wanted to say to you."
Her expression changed only a little as she looked at me. It became plain enough to see my desires went undetected, for now.
"Okay," she said as she shifted position a bit. Sliding her fingers through her hair, she tucked it behind her ears. "What was it?"
I swallowed as her neck came into view. Inhaling, I looked away from it and back towards her eyes. "Simply put. I expect you to win this competition."
"You … do?"
"Yes, absolutely. In fact, anything less would be a huge disappointment to me."
She smiled.
FIONA
For obvious reasons, I hadn't shared the details of my fainting incident with my grandmother. She'd worry and lecture me about working too hard and being stressed about money. Ultimately she'd be upset about the debt again, and I had no interest in making her go through that.
And besides, I'd worry she was worried.
Anyway, it was better left unsaid.
However, I was excited to share the news with her about the project and the promotion I'd receive if I happened to win the competition. And so, as I did most evenings, I ate dinner with her in her room and readied myself to tell her once we'd finished.
We munched on a pot roast I'd thrown together before I left for work that morning. I sat in a recliner eating off a tray while she ate in bed, as usual. About halfway finished with my meal, I swallowed a piece of the savory, tender beef. Afterward, I dabbed at the corner of my mouth with my napkin and prepared to give her the good news, when she beat me to it with a question of her own.
"So how was work today, my dear? Are you enjoying it and getting along with everyone?"
"Yes," I replied as placed my fork down on my plate. "Actually, I've got some very exciting news to share with you."
"Oh?" she replied, as she finished a bite. "Well, that's wonderful. Please, I'm all ears."
For the next several minutes, I brought her up-to-date with my work on the Link Protocol and concluded with the meeting Gabe called earlier in the day. I explained how the competition worked and how the winner would receive a big raise and a promotion.
She listened intently. At least that was the case until I got to the part when I told her Gabe spoke to me in private after the meeting wrapped. For no sooner had I done so than my grandmother looked up at me in silence over the edges of her reading glasses, lips pursed.
"What?" I asked.
With a subtle smack of her mouth she said, "Are you sure this possible promotion is the only thing your boss is interested in?"
The space between my eyebrows wrinkled in confusion as I looked at her.
"What? I don't understand what you mean."
My grandmother raised her arm, extending an accusatory index finger in my direction in the process. "Romance in the workplace isn't good idea, Fiona. In fact, it's a terrible one."
"What are you talking about? Who said anything about romance?"
As I finished speaking, she glared at me for several seconds. With her mouth closed, my grandmother slid her tongue across the front of her teeth in suspicion as I watched.
"What? Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Come sit over here Fiona," she said, as she patted on the mattress with her palm.
By now, I'd stopped eating as well. As she issued her command, I crossed my arms at my chest.
"No. I don't need a lecture, if that's what you're thinking of doing."
"It's not, dear. I just want to talk about your boss' sudden interest in you."
I groaned, tilting my head upward at the same time. Straightening my arms, I closed my fingers tight around the sleeves of my shirt.
"My boss does not have a ‘sudden interest' in me. Why don't you believe me?"
"Come. Sit," she ordered as she pointed at the mattress.
"Fine," I grumbled. Carrying my tray with me, I got up from the chair and a moment later, plopped down at the foot of her bed. "Okay. I'm listening."
"Well, let's start at the beginning," she said. Wiping at the tips of her fingers with her napkin, she laced her words with a tone of curiosity. "Why would he single you out do you suppose?"
"He told me why," I replied, without hesitation. "Because he expects me to win and was offering me encouragement. Nothing more."
"Oh, uh huh, I see," she said, tenting her eyebrows at me. Shaking her head back and forth in a deliberate manner, she continued, "And, does that seem strange to you at all? That he would do such a thing?"
I swallowed hard as she finished her thought.
"No," I scoffed. "What's strange about it? Are you suggesting he doesn't think I can do it on my own merit? Why are you assuming there's some sexual undercurrent? When has that ever been the case with me and men? Hmm?"
My grandmother eased her head back into her pillow as her expression changed once again. Through squinted eyes she said, "My, my, you're quite defensive aren't you? You're lying to me about something Fiona. Out with it."
"I am not, I … "
She cut me off and said, "Are you having an office fling with your new boss!?"
"What!" I protested. "That's... ridiculous! Of course not. It's not like that, Gabe is just … "
"Oh, it's Gabe is it?" she said with a sarcastic chuckle. "Mmm, hmm. I see."
"What do you ‘see'?"
"Oh come now, Fiona. The man goes above and beyond to encourage you over everyone else, then you're referring to him by his first name … "
"Of course I refer to him by his first name!" I exclaimed as I interrupted her. "When he introduced himself to me at the bar, he didn't do it as Mr. Hawkins and … "
As soon as the words sputtered from my lips, I reached up and slapped my palms against my mouth. As I did, my grandmother's eyes widened. She clapped her hands in front of her face in a gesture of smug victory.
I rolled my eyes.
"So you met him the night before your interview?" she said, as the memory returned to her. "When you went out with your friends?"
Although I went out with them on occasion, to say we were ‘friends' was quite a stretch.
Ellie's parents hired me as a tutor when it looked as if she would flunk out in her freshman year. She dragged me kicking and screaming into socializing with her. After a time, I got used to it but aside from the occasional evening out, I didn't spend much time with them.