"Sit down, Fiona. Tell me what's happened."
I told her everything. I left nothing out. Though I'd been keeping it all a secret for a while now, I didn't see the point any longer. The situation was getting to be more than I could handle. I needed help.
"What do you think I should do?" I asked her as I finished. "I don't understand why they are being so mean. I haven't done anything to them."
"Well, for starters," she sniffed, as she straightened her posture in the bed again. "Never let them push you around, if that's what is really going on. Furthermore, the answer to their behavior is obvious, Fiona."
"It is? What do you mean?"
"Don't you see? They're jealous of you. The only question is, what are you going to do about it?"
I shrugged. Reaching down, I touched my bracelet for a moment. As I did, I felt my grandmother's thin fingers wrap around my shoulder.
"You can't let them win. You realize that don't you?"
"Yes," I said, as I let out a deep exhale. "I know."
"Okay then. I'll ask you once more. What are you going to do about it?"
"I don't know for sure. For now, I'm catching up as fast as I can. I'm doing everything in my power to avoid a huge fight with them, as it will only make things much worse. It's getting more difficult by the day though."
My grandmother reached towards my hand, wrapping hers over it until they both covered my charm bracelet. I glanced up at her, and a reassuring smile came to her face.
"Fight. Never back down."
I smiled back at her. "Now you sound like Gabe."
GABE
After the minor flare-up in the lab with Fiona's experiment, things had more or less returned to normal. Over the past several days, I'd received word from Andrew that the apparent friction between Fiona, Amanda and Melissa cooled. As I mentioned, in any other circumstance, I would have put a stop to the catty bullshit myself, but Fiona needed to rise to the challenge.
Apparently, she had.
Even better, Colin informed me at the close of business yesterday that in spite of her setback she'd logged enough hours playing catch up. With only a couple more days left to go in the competition, it looked as if everyone was doing well, including Fiona. And so it was first thing Friday morning I'd invited Colin to my office to discuss the status of things over breakfast and get his input on the eventual winner.
We spent the better part of two hours covering not only the hands-on lab results but also the intangible qualities needed in a position of leadership. Going on his fifth year at a senior level, Colin's opinion mattered to me. I had no question I could count on him to be objective and unbiased when it came to issues like this. We were wrapping up breakfast when we got down to business end of things.
"Okay," he began, as he laid three pieces of paper out in front of us. "We're down to the last three now. Amanda, Melissa and Fiona."
"Our three musketeers."
Colin chuckled. "Hardly."
Amanda and Melissa had seniority, not to mention nearly three decades of lab experience between them. Of course, Colin and I were both aware of their behavioral issues. Either way, picking between the two of them could just as easily be done with the flip of a coin. Tabling the discussion of them for the moment, we moved on to Fiona, with Colin offering up his perspective first.
"Well, as much as I would like to pick her," he began, as he slumped back into his chair with an exhale. "I think Fiona is perhaps a bit too young, not to mention inexperienced, for this position."
I nodded. "She's resilient as hell though, Colin."
He nodded. "That she is. But setbacks and stressors are one thing when it's your own work. When you're responsible for the work of a team, the errors in judgment tend to get magnified, as does the stress."
"Mmm, hmm," I said as he finished his thought. "And you don't think she's capable of making the transition yet?"
"No, she may well be. That's not my point."
"What is your point then, Colin?"
"Only that given some of the time constraints we're under with the Link Protocol, why take the risk? She could always be groomed for a management position down the line. You know, once this effort is behind us."
Colin was being pragmatic, of course. And, he had good reason to be. If I was in his situation, I would likely come to a similar conclusion. Of course, the inside information I had about Fiona put Colin at a disadvantage. Based purely on technical merits, all three women were all fairly equal. Leaving aside the childish antics of Amanda and Melissa for a moment, they did solid lab work. But … with the pressure of her grandmother's illness, not to mention the mountain of debt associated with it, no one would be more motivated to succeed than Fiona.
Just as I was about to offer a counter to his statement, Colin's cell phone started to ring. He picked it up from the table and flipped it over.
"It's our supplier in Hong Kong, Gabe. I've been waiting for this call. Do you mind if I take it?"
I shook my head and gestured for him to continue. "No, go ahead."
"Five minutes," Colin said, nodding his head. He stood from his chair and made his way out of my office.
While he chatted, I munched a bit. I alternated between crunchy strips of salted bacon and gulps of bittersweet grapefruit juice as I waited for him to return. Leafing through the results, it became clear to me I'd have to trust my instincts. As an entrepreneur, it's hard to explain hunches to non-risk takers like Colin. He evaluated things based on facts, black and white. And after all, that was his job, so it's understandable.
Yet, I had the opportunity to mold Fiona, shape her and make her believe in her potential. Even so, I wasn't a fool. Giving the newest, and youngest, team member that much responsibility would be anything but a hands-off option for me. Her authority would be challenged, there was no question in my mind about it. However, that wasn't an altogether terrible thing.
True growth comes out of adversity. She'd already had her share of it in life and managed to get through it. The real question for me was did I want to take a chance on her getting through even more when it meant my own ass on the line? In the end, Fiona could fail. After all, she'd never been subjected to this level of pressure. And since she'd been here, she'd been vulnerable on a couple of occasions.
It was by no means a done deal with her.
Swallowing down a final sip of coffee, I placed my cup back down in the saucer. I held it by the handle for a moment or two, gently clinking it against the edges of the dish while I mulled my options. As I did, my focus shifted from the pragmatic to the romantic and the moment when I'd complete my seduction of her. Now that the competition was near its end, I'd have ample opportunity to pursue my interest in Fiona.
Frankly, keeping my distance turned out to be more difficult than I anticipated.
What's more, I wasn't sure why, but until the other day, I hadn't considered the possibility she might be a virgin. Now I couldn't seem to shake the suspicion.
The last time I remembered having sex with a virgin was … well, it had been a while. I had mixed emotions about the conquest if that was the case. But in the end I decided I wouldn't veer from my objective until I found out for sure, one way or the other. Whether she turned out to be a virgin or not, I resolved to let what happened in the moment be my guide.
Around that time, I noticed Colin approach in my peripheral vision.
"Where were we, Gabe?"
Turning my head in his direction, I looked up at him. "I'll make my decision and inform the team of it on Monday."
He seemed taken aback by my sudden choice. "Okay, Gabe. I'll let them know."
FIONA
I had no idea where I stood in the competition, but based on the fact that Amanda and Melissa weren't bothering me as much in the past few days, I assumed they were probably struggling with their work. That was fine with me. It couldn't happen to a nicer couple of people as far as I was concerned. In any case, it was mid-afternoon Friday when I sat in the lab waiting for my last experiment to wrap. Once it finished, I'd be done and with any luck, still in contention.
I still had about a half hour or so until it was finished running though. Under ordinary circumstances, I would fill my time with other busywork or at the very least, organize my current workload. But ever since the ‘mishap', I had no intention of going anywhere while experiments ran. So instead, I stayed glued to a desk close by and waited. I glanced at my log book and made a few final notes until at last, I found myself with nothing to do.
Like literally, nothing.
I exhaled a deep breath, rolling my head around in a couple of small circles, relieved and proud I'd been able to recover from my earlier setback. Of course, I hadn't won anything yet, but at least I still had a chance, and no one could take that away from me.