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“I’d breathe. Find my zone. Make sure I was in the right headspace before that call connected. And then I’d have a conversation and see where it went.” I smiled. “No pressure, Katie. The pressure is all in your head.”
I unclipped my seatbelt, but she put her hand on my arm. I stilled, watching her as she reached for the dash controls.
“Don’t laugh,” she said, and there was a blush on her cheeks.
I smiled as I realised what she was doing. “I’d never laugh,” I said. “Never.”
She took a breath and closed her eyes as the opening bars sounded. “Will you do it with me?”
“Always,” I said, and I took her hand.
We sang the Rocky theme in the car park until she was giggling too hard to get the words out, until her tension was gone and her eyes were bright and her breath was ragged but free.
And then my blue-eyed girl nailed it. She found her groove, delivered the right call at the right time, and got her tick on the leaderboard just five calls in after lunch.
I couldn’t have been more proud.
Half of the trainees had a tick on the board by Friday afternoon, and those that hadn’t were getting close. Verity was one of those getting close, but there was still an empty white space next to her name.
Conversations were getting slicker, more skilled. The atmosphere was buzzing as everyone pushed for that final result before end of play, and Katie was on fire, animated and smooth-talking with one eye on the clock.
I thought we had a winner for the week when Ryan ticked his second lead up on the board, but I was ahead of myself. I was sitting at his desk to transfer his lead details when Katie’s call connected with the CTO of a big Welsh agricultural supplier. I heard the whole thing play out, from her faultless introduction, to the merry dance of questioning and rapport building, and finally through to the close.
I watched the excitement sparkle in her eyes, the bright smile of someone who knows they’re onto a winner.
It thrilled me.
Intoxicated me.
Made my heart thump in my chest.
“I did it!” she said as she disconnected. “He wants a meeting! They have budget allocated and everything!”
She shot like a rocket to make that second tick, the one that put her in joint first position and marked her as a real contender. Ryan took it well, congratulating her with genuine pleasure at her success. It made me like him even more.
Katie could hardly contain herself as I got to my feet, she did a little jump on the spot and her hands were gripped in victory fists. I took a step towards her to shake her hand, but she bypassed that completely, forgetting our surroundings long enough to throw her arms around my neck.
“I did it!” A breathy giggle right in my ear.
I put my hands on her waist to guide her back to a professional distance, and she looked around at the other callers, her eyes wide as she registered her over familiarity. But it didn’t matter, because nobody was looking at us.
They were too busy looking at David Faverley.
He stood at the front of the training suite, flanked by two senior members of Human Resources, his eyes roving the whiteboard and soaking in the scores.
A hush descended as he prepared to address the group, the chatter of calls easing off as people wrapped up their conversations and took off their headsets. Big boss man had an aura about him, he was dressed in navy with a dark maroon tie, and his silver hair was slick and styled. He nodded his approval as he totted up the totals, realising, as I had long since done, that our team was on track to be a solid performer.
And so was our sweet little Katie.
I pulled her to my side, be damned with professional distance, and her body had become tense, her excitement drying up to nothing.
“Good afternoon,” David said to the room. “My apologies I haven’t been around sooner, but I assure you I’ve been hearing a great deal about your progress from Carl. I hope you’ve enjoyed your first few weeks with us, we know the learning curve is intense, and the adjustment is hard, but I promise the effort will pay off.”
He did the usual introductions, a bit of a company overview, a talk about opportunities post the training programme and a motivational speech about how proud he was of the work everyone was putting in. He was well-practised, his eyes moving steadily across the desks, making eye contact to convey his sincerity, but I knew him too well. Well enough to realise that he was fighting the compulsion to stare in our direction, stare at Katie, at his little star performer.
I was glad he fought it, because Katie’s eyes were narrow, her lips tight, her gaze anywhere but on him. I brushed her fingers with mine, hooked them gently and pulled her hand behind my back out of view where I could hold it properly. I squeezed and she squeezed, pressing that little bit tighter to my side.
It felt so wrong to hide the way I felt from her father, even in the heart of my corporate surroundings. I wanted nothing more than to wrap my arm around her waist and hold her, encourage her to broach the distance and speak with him. I’d hold her hand and I’d tell him how wonderful she was, how hard she was working, how great she was doing. How proud I was, how proud he should be.
