“Six months!” I echo, almost unable to believe what they’re saying.
“At … at least six months.” Steve is still having trouble getting their words out.
“And you agreed to this?”
Steve looks down at their hands, which are both shaking as they wrap around the cup of water I press into them. “Yes.” But they say the word as if they’ve only just begun to understand it.
Then they put the water undrunk on my desk.
“I’ve got to go. I have to tell Ahmed and my team.”
I watch Steve walk away, a little like a zombie. How could this happen?
Anders. I know him too well.
Without knocking, I barge into his office. He’s on the floor doing push-ups, his biceps flexing as he moves smoothly downwards. Then he gives one massive heave, the fingers of his broad hands spreading as he springs to his feet to face me.
I tamp down any admiration of his upper body strength and pull myself up to my full height. I’m still a whole head and a bit shorter than him but I tilt my chin and let him see how angry I am. “Why are you sending Steve to Siberia?” I demand.
“Well, I hear it’s nice this time of year.” Anders smirks, but that just makes me even angrier.
“Is it because I went on a date with them?” I challenge.
“So, youdidgo on a date?” Anders looks as innocent as the day he was born but I’m not fooled. “And how did it go?”
“None of your business.”
“That good, eh?” He gives a broad grin, his lopsided dimple making its appearance. He looks especially pleased with himself.
“Funny. I go on a date with Steve and suddenly you’re sending them to the other side of the world. No coincidence there.”
“It’s Kuala Lumpur,” he corrects my earlier claim. “Not Novosibirsk. I think you’ll find it’s a great deal more pleasant and far warmer.”
“This is extreme, even for you. They came out of here shellshocked. You plainly steamrollered them into something they weren’t totally onboard with.”
Anders's eyebrows rise at my accusation, but I don’t care. If he wants to marry me, he should appreciate everything he’s asking for. Including my plain-speaking.
“I offered them a promotion. They took it. That simple.”
“What promotion? We don’t have anything in Kuala Lumpur.”
“We don’t have anything in Kuala Lumpur yet. Steve is going to set it up. But you are correct on one point. Itisall your fault.”
“What?” I can’t believe he’s just agreed with me.
“Youidentified we wouldn’t finish testing in time for release. Our development cycle is just too long to be able to hit a summer release deadline, and I don’t need to tell you how much we need to hit that deadline. I’ve been puzzling it over and the only way we can reach our target is to work a twenty-four-hour cycle.
“But no-one here is going to want to do nights, and I can’t force them to do so, even if I wanted to. Still, we need more testing time. And that’s where Steve comes in. The best way to do it is to have a team in a different time zone. I talked it over with Ahmed and he agrees. Steve was the first choice for both of us. They’re single, with no dependents, competent and, above all, trustworthy. This is a massive opportunity for them. They’d be head of Cerium Malaysia. And I can see us having a big team there in the future.”
Suddenly I’m less sure of myself. Everything Anders is saying is true. I know most of the senior staff and Steveisthe best fit to set up a new team from scratch in a foreign country where wehave no contacts. I actually can’t think of anyone better except Anders himself and that’s out of the question as we canter to the launch date.
But I need to check. “And there were no other considerations?”
Anders lifts his azure eyes to mine. “If you’re asking me if I would prefer you didn’t go out with them, then you already know my answer. But let’s just say that’s a happy coincidence. You should know, though, if you want to go out on dates, I will happily take you whenever, wherever you want. And I will guarantee that you will have a great time. I thought that was understood. But in case you missed it last time, I will say it again. I will always be there for you. Every time, everywhere.”
“No, thank you.” I muster what self-possession I’m left with and head for the door.
The lunchtime chat is all abuzz with the news. Most people assume this has been in planning for ages. And I don’t disabuse them of the idea. Better they think that is true than Anders making major decisions on the fly in a fit of jealousy. Of course, he would say rapid action is a feature of a tech CEO. You don’t last long in a fast-changing world if you dilly-dally.
