She nodded. “Yeah. She had to fake a girlfriend to get out of it.”
I laughed. The mousy woman I’d met that night clearly had hidden depths.
“Well I’m sorry that happened. Apparently my mom and April’s were in cahoots. Neither of us had any idea what was going on until we wound up at dinner together with my parents.”
“That sounds about right,” Chris said. “I know her Mom wants April to date more.”
“That’s a strange coincidence, that your friend was one of my mother’s victims.”
“The city’s not as big as people think it is,” she reminded me.
“True. Although now that I think of it, I’m surprised my mother hasn’t tried to fix me up with you too.”
Chris scoffed. “I think both of our mothers learned a long time ago that we’re not exactly compatible.”
“Yeah, maybe it was that time we got into the fight at the lake and knocked someone into the water by accident.”
We shared a smile that almost felt comfortable, then I took a long drink of my iced mocha.
“Did you have a chance to read through the materials that Gina sent us?” Chris asked.
“Yeah. I made some notes and have suggestions how we can split up the tasks, but we’re going to have to work together on the program design and logic model I think.”
“I agree. Let’s get started.”
We spent the next hour and a half going over all the details of the application packet. It wasn’t anything we hadn’t seen before, but it was a lot of information that was being requested. In addition to the narrative, they wanted descriptions of all the agency’s programs, program design, a logic model, a data collection protocol, and details on client engagement.
“I can talk to Rochelle about drafting the data collection protocol and answering the client engagement questions,” Chris said. “I have a meeting at the main office this afternoon anyway.”
Rochelle was our agency’s quality assurance manager. She was smart and thorough with a dry sense of humor that I appreciated almost as much as the fact that she always kept a giant bowl of candy in her office. I stopped by every time I visited the main office to check in – and get some sweets.
“Sounds good.”
My phone alarm beeped, reminding me that it was time for me to leave for my next meeting. I hadn’t been diagnosed with ADHD until a few years ago, and learning how my brain worked differently than a lot of people’s had been a revelation. With the help of medication and practical tips I’d learned to manage some of the more annoying aspects of my neurodivergence, but I still struggled with losing track of time, especially when I was focused on something. I pressed the snooze button – something I always did in case I immediately got distracted and forgot it had gone off – and gathered up my stuff.
“Let’s chat by email, and we can send each other drafts as we finish them,” I suggested.
Chris nodded.
“We’re going to need to sit down and map out the program components before we work on the logic model,” she pointedout. “We’ll leave a block of uninterrupted time for that. And a white board or something.”
“Agreed. Let me see what I can move around in my schedule, and I’ll email you some options later today.”
“The sooner the better. We’re on a short timeline.”
Something in her tone irritated me.
“Yeah, I know. However unlike you, I have over a dozen people reporting to me right now, so my schedule isn’t as flexible as yours is.”
It was a source of contention in the agency that some managers – like Chris – had only one or two staff reporting to them while some of us had a large number of direct reports. Given that we needed to check in with each of our team weekly as well as being available for questions and support, it meant my schedule was generally packed. We really could use another manager for the Sunrise program, but the funding just wasn’t there. Fortunately I thrived on chaos, and I had the type of job where my ADHD was a superpower, otherwise I’d be drowning.
“Who does report to you?” she asked curiously, ignoring my outburst. “The shelter staff?”
“The shelter staff, the cleaning crew, and all the case managers, including the housing retention workers who help people after they’re in housing.”
“Damn, maybe we should figure out a way to work a supervisor into this proposal. Then they can take some of your staff.”
I looked at her in surprise. “Really?”
