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It's been a long day at the office – with the deal we worked in Portland heading toward completion, we've had a million things to do to prepare. Pete has been in and out of my office a billion times and I've had to head up meetings with our developers, programmers, and software security teams to get us all on the same page. Because this is such an enormous deal, we need to be absolutely perfect. I've needed to stress that to my team in no uncertain terms dozens of times.
Emily has been on top of everything, anticipating my needs, and getting things done. She's busted her ass and has gone above and beyond. It's something I'm appreciative of. While things between us might still be a little awkward, she's been able to put it aside and focus on doing her job – and doing it well.
Of course, Pete has been watching us like a hawk. He trusts nobody and still thinks there's a chance that Emily's going to flip this around and threaten to file a harassment suit. He's come to me with several different settlement packages – all with legally binding public gag orders and NDAs, of course – in an attempt to get out in front of it before it becomes an issue.
While I agree that a scandal like this could damage our reputation within industry circles, it could prove fatal to us in terms of securing these government contracts. Despite all of their own scandals, the merest whiff of impropriety among their contractors will cause a knee-jerk reaction in government circles, more than likely driving a stake through the heart of any deal.
I understand and appreciate Pete's concern and diligence on the matter, but the more time I spend with Emily, the more I'm convinced it's not an issue. I can tell him a million times that I doubt she's even had the first thought about filing a lawsuit, but he won't believe me. I guess I can’t blame him. I pay him to be paranoid and to protect this company – even if it's protecting it from me.
But in this matter, he's dead wrong. He just doesn't know Emily like I do.
I've just finished reviewing some of the specs for the job and am firing off some notes to the coding teams when Emily bustles into my office. She's carrying a box full of training manuals I had her put together for our tech teams and sets them down on a table against the wall.
“Wow, I didn't expect those to be done until tomorrow,” I remark.
She shrugs. “I'm efficient.”
“That you are.”
I glance at my watch and notice that it's approaching six. “Time to knock off,” I tell her. “Come on, let's go grab some dinner.”
She stands by the table, a look of trepidation on her face. “I'm not sure that's a good idea.”
“It's not a good idea. It's a great idea,” I say and tip her a wink.
She doesn't smile or move. She just stands there, staring at me like a deer caught in the headlights. I know what she's thinking, and know I need to do something to put her at ease.
“It's almost six, I don't think you even took a lunch today,” I continue. “I want to take you out to dinner to show you my appreciation for doing such a great job and being so efficient today. Besides, I'm starving, and I hate to eat alone.”
I give her a smile, hoping to pop the balloon of tension hanging over her head, but she barely cracks a smile. Neither of us have brought up what happened in Portland. We haven't cleared the air between us which is why, I think, this is a lingering issue. It's my fault. I should have said something. I should have made some attempt to bridge that gap that grew between us. Maybe – hopefully – I can start doing that tonight.
“I promise to be on my best behavior, Emily,” I vow, raising my hand in the Boy Scout salute to show her I'm serious.
Finally, she cracks a smile – a genuine smile. “You know, I'd be able to take that a lot more seriously if you'd ever actually been a Scout.”
“Hey, you don't know I wasn't.”
She arches her eyebrow and gives me a haughty look that says she knows I'm full of shit. But that's followed by a smile and a laugh, which I take to be to be a good sign.
“Come on,” I repeat. “Let's go grab something to eat.”
“Let me grab my bag and run to the restroom.”
“Great, I'll meet you at the elevator.”
We stand there, eyes locked for a long moment before we both smile and then turn away to do what we need to do to get ready for dinner. In that moment, I feel a lot of the tension that still exists between us fade away.
It gives me hope that things will be okay. I have no idea where they're going or what's going to happen between us, but I feel pretty confident that no matter what, we'll come through it okay.
* * * * *
“What was your favorite restaurant when you were growing up around here?”
Emily turns to me and smiles. “You'll think I'm nuts.”
“Honestly, I'm probably not going to know it. You grew up around here, not me,” I chuckle. “I'm not going to know whether you're nuts or not.”
“I just mean, I'm sure being the big-shot-billionaire kinda guy, you probably like those super posh, elitist as hell places,” she giggles.
