Page 66 of A Perfect Disaster

Several passengers laugh, relieved. I follow her with my eyes until the group crosses the terminal’s outer gate. As I turn to return to my checkpoint, I spot Arturo a few meters away. He’s wearing his ID around his neck and watching me with an indecipherable expression.

He scans the empty pier, watches the shuttles operating in order and the steady flow on the walkway. Finally, he fixes his eyes on me and nods with slow, firm approval.

“Good work, Officer.”

22

Helen

“At least everything went well today.”

Everyone has returned safe and sound from the alternative excursion, Naples has stopped behaving like a mythological creature enraged by traffic, and the shuttle buses have completed their service with more than decent coordination. The complaints at the counter have been reduced to a bearable murmur, and Arturo has offered me a sober “good job,” which, on any other occasion, I would have filed away in my mind as a small professional victory.

But it’s not enough. Because ever since Maika walked away with her team, sweeping the group along with that overwhelming energy, a strange sensation has lodged itself beneath my ribs. It’s a confusing mix of pride, relief, and, above all, fear. Not because of the port chaos, the authorities, or the logistical contingencies. It’s fear of what Maika awakens in me when I see her leading, when her eyes lock onto mine, or when I lose control as I stare at her lips.

A thought I force myself to dispel immediately when the competition becomes official after the last group returns. Arturo and Julianne summon us to the meeting room on deck six: a glass-enclosed space with views of the stern and the port of Naples, which begins to fade into the horizon as the ship starts its departure maneuver. They’ve dubbed this process a “cross-interview,” an elegant euphemism to mask the fact that they’re going to sit us face to face and cut us open with the utmost courtesy.

I arrive five minutes early, of course. Maika shows up right on time, as expected. She walks in wearing her impeccable promotional polo shirt, though the shadows under her eyes betray her accumulated fatigue, and sits across from me.

“Thanks for coming so quickly,” says Julianne. “We know the day on land has been demanding.”

Maika lets out a laugh.

“A very diplomatic way of describing a tourist riot right at the dock,” she replies, her spark intact.

Julianne smiles faintly, nodding.

“That’s precisely why we wanted to call you in now. The pressure of a live situation reveals leadership more clearly than any office interview.”

“What an encouraging perspective,” I mutter, unable to hold my tongue.

Arturo seems to flash an amused smile.

“Helen, Maika, this session won’t follow the usual one-on-one format. We want to evaluate your judgment, your objectivity, and your analytical skills by observing how you assess your partner’s performance.”

My spine tenses. Great. Now not only do I have to compete with Maika for the position, but I also have to evaluate her while trying to hide the fact that I’ve imagined her kissing me in my bed at least four times since our morning coffee. “Professionalism, Helen,” I mentally command myself.

“The intention…” Julianne continues, “isn’t for you to tear each other apart. We’re looking for maturity, honesty, and the ability to recognize each other’s strengths, even when there’s obvious tension between you.”

Maika stares at me for a second. Just one. But it’s enough to make the word “tension” seem inadequate, almost ridiculous. Certainly, considering they don’t know the details of our history, management is choosing the… appropriate words.

Arturo folds his hands on the table.

“Let’s start with something easy. What would you consider to be your colleague’s greatest professional strength?”

Maika speaks up before I do.

“Helen knows a disaster is coming before it happens,” she says. She’s not trying to flatter me, but I’m not used to people analyzing my work with such clarity. “She’s capable of managing the unloading flow, a schedule grid, or a contingency operation and pinpointing the exact spot where the system is going to go to hell. Her discipline can be exasperating at times, yes, but it saves entire contracts. Today at the dock, she did it again. While the rest of us were dealing with angry customers and a total mess, she quickly found solutions. You don’t learn that in company training courses.”

My mouth feels dry. Julianne takes notes on her screen without looking up.

“Would you define that ability to anticipate as her main strength?” she asks.

“Yes,” Maika says, forcing me to look at her. “Helen is the structure that keeps the ship afloat when the rest of us operate more on the fly or look for alternative solutions that, on paper, seem more dynamic.”

I want to look away, to break that invisible thread that binds us at the table, but my muscles won’t obey.

Arturo turns toward me.