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“You have a good eye, and I need someone with a keen sense of composition and design. I’ll make sure we schedule it so you aren’t too missed by your team. We can get them to the point where they don’t need their lead designer every moment.”
April scrambled for something to say, but she could only feel herself burning again, like she might torch the chair around her. For most of her life, she had sought this very kind of attention. She wanted someone who valued her, looked at her as worthwhile and competent, and maybe even special. How strange that it would come now, from a man like this, who she had all but swatted away from her.
“I would like that a lot. I moved around a lot as a kid, but I can’t say that I’ve been anywhere special,” April admitted. “Even if it is just for business, it would be different.”
“You moved around, where? Was your family in the military?”
“No.” April felt her stomach churning as the topic of her background came up again. The scent of ginger seemed oppressive as she considered how to word this. He’d been pressing for more details about her life ever since her interview. It was surprising that he hadn’t just had someone get him a file full of information on her.
“I grew up in foster care. I don’t really have a family.”
Samson’s eyes softened. “Really.”
“I was dropped off at a hospital. Probably my family didn’t want me, or couldn’t afford me, or whatever. Babies that young usually get adopted, but the doctors found a heart defect and had to give me surgery. It’s a pretty minor thing to me now—the scar is barely visible—but then it basically meant I stayed in the hospital longer, and people don’t want to adopt defective babies.” April shrugged. “Or maybe they do, but they didn’t want me. So I ended up in the system and stayed there until I went to college.”
“I see. That must have been very difficult for you.”
April covered her lips, but a giggle escaped.
“Did I say something funny?”
“No, it’s just… It’s odd to see you fumble for words. I feel like that’s usually how everyone else acts around you, right?
“I just wasn’t expecting that kind of story from you. Kids in the foster system, they generally tend to be...”
“...Losers? Damaged? I had the damage down before I even entered the system.”
“That isn’t what I meant.”
“You just can’t create any kind of stability when you don’t have a foundation. So we have to make our own, or we flounder. People need a foundation. They need something to come back to, something that’s constant, that’s always there. You know that they’ve done stress studies that suggest moving has as much stress as losing a loved one? I don’t know if that’s exactly true, but I’d believe it.” April sighed heavily. “Limbo isn’t an easy place for a person to exist.”
“You don’t think there are any decent foster parents out there?”
“Probably. I never met one, but I’ve also never met Steven Hawking, and presumably he’s out there, too.”
Samson quietly put his hand on her should, very gently. Then, after a few minutes, he said, “It is very difficult to exist in limbo.”
April gazed up at him questioningly, but he said nothing more as he rubbed her back just a bit.
When the door cracked open, Samson moved his hand back to his lap. Babette peeked in, scowling deeply. “Sir, your 2pm is here. You weren’t answering your phone.”
Samson reached into his pocket and looked at the phone. “Ah. Turned it on silent for the meeting this morning. Give me ten and then send him in.”
April rose. “I’ll get back to the team now.”
“You do that. Get them to work. I want to show you what it’s like to really travel.”
***
After getting a drink with Jessie after work, April found herself back at her apartment, staring at her closet full of clothes with a needy pug trying to climb on top of her.
“Go away, Damien.”
In reply, he just yipped and butted his head into her left breast.
“Ow! Stop. I love you, too.” April grabbed him, held him to her side, and ruffled his black fur. “I’m going on a trip. And official business trip. What do you think about that?”
Damien, unsurprisingly, had nothing to say, aside from a questioning, “Borf?” when she stopped petting him for a moment.
“I do like him. I want to go. He’s just so… Well, you know I’ve never been with anyone, and it’s more than a little nerve-wracking to spend time with him every day. Is this what it’s like when you really…?”
