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And then:
Forest: Besides, what have I got to lose? You had Elsie. He’d have to matchmake me with someone first.
Jude: I wish him the best of luck, but it’d be far easier to try Winston or Sylvester first if that’s his plan.
Jude: Glad you’re okay. Talk later.
Mandy sensed my tiredness, and to her credit was doing some of the work of filling in for my usual positivity. It wasn’t her fault that she wasn’t very good at it.
“Can’t wait to meet all the wonderful community businesses here today!” She was saying this loudly but without any convincing enthusiasm as we made our way down from the top floor to the first floor where the conference halls were. “What is it you normally say... Let’s open our doors wide and let our workers breathe in the fresh air of diversity!”
That remark deserved a smirk at least, and indeed it produced one. “I have never in my life said that.”
She resumed her usual quiet monotone. “Everything you say to me sounds like that.” She held the elevator door for me as I slunk in. “Are you hungover, Forest? I’ve not seen you drunk since the Christmas party.”
I hit the button for the first floor a little aggressively. “No. Just tired.”
I could sense her giving me the side-eye as the doors closed. She was subtle, but not that subtle.
She leaned against the metal wall. “Is this anything to do with the bits of broken drone I found in the hallway yesterday?”
I instinctively reached out for the grab rail as the elevator started moving. Was I a bit dizzy? Maybe I was a bit dizzy. “Something to do with that.”
“Say no more.” Mandy pressed her lips closed.
She sensed what the problem was, and she preferred to stay firmly out of Brock family politics. It was refreshing. When one of my brothers, even Jude, visited the offices, she always made an excuse to me in advance of them arriving that she had elsewhere to be. I’d suspect she was monitoring my communications if I didn’t have the world’s best external cyber security force working constantly to keep mine secured.
As we reached our destination, I straightened myself up. I was happy to show weakness around Mandy. She was the one who knew me best at the company. Maybe the only one who knew me personally. We’d had drinks together, and occasional outings.
But to everyone else, I had to project a strong image of leadership. It could be taxing. You see, in some aspects, I was a natural leader. I considered myself fair, compassionate, flexible. Other aspects I’d had to learn. This particular one – being a powerful-seeming figurehead – was the hardest. I’d always had a quiet confidence. But I required a loud one for the role. Thus was the difficulty of most quiet tech-bros who had accidentally become CEOs of successful companies, I suspected. That’s why they had teams of yes-men propping them up, something that I had so far tried to avoid.
I just had my no-woman, Mandy, to preserve my sanity by telling me how it was.
Our security pushed open the grand doors to the main conference hall and ushered us in.
Mandy signed off with a nod and made her way into the crowds. We socialized separately at these things. She’d show her face here and there then make an exit out of one of the side doors while I wasn’t looking.
I, however, was duty bound to make an appearance at every table here. The duty was self-decided, but it was duty nonetheless.
I liked to start at the quieter booths. These ones took more effort. They were generally more star-struck to meet me and had more to prove. And without much in the way of crowds gathered around their stalls, I would have their full attention. Then, as I was getting socially depleted, I’d show my face and give a wave at the popular booths before making my eventual exit.
I scanned around. My eyes strayed to the booth on the far left of the entrance. Normally this would be a hotspot for visitors, and as such the table fee was significantly higher. It was normally the location of the bigger, flashier displays. But this booth had no one around it. Curiously, they had little in the way of props – the robot arms, VR headsets and interactive tech favored by the showier of our guests – besides a purple tent that was erected in the free space behind the booth, embellished with colorful silks and tiny mirror jewels.
I can’t say what drove me to that booth first. Maybe working in tech drives you to a magpie-like instinct to gravitate towards shiny things. Or maybe working in tech had become so mundane to me that something tech-lite appealed.
But a large factor could have been that, after appraising the booth, I happened to lock eyes onto the proprietor. A young woman with olive skin, pulled-back raven hair (forgive the poetry), long dangling earrings and ample curves that filled out her moss green suit in a way that pinged straight to the pleasure centers of my brain.
Now, I’m not like Sylvester and Winston. Notorious playboys, they served the helpful function of drawing press attention away from Jude and me, who were in general far more content with a quiet life. It wasn’t that I’d never had entanglements. But my work gave me tunnel vision. I wasn’t particularly trying to deny myself pleasure or romance, it was just that, when I was focused on my job, which I usually was, I just didn’t see opportunities arise when they did. Oftentimes it was only after an interaction, when it was too late, that I’d realize I’d been being flirted with – or even that I’d been attracted to the person at all.
But something about this woman... well, it managed to break through my tunnel vision with the color clarity of a bulldozer driving through the wall of the tunnel and sending the entire thing falling to the ground. Which is really quite a feat, considering that now was the height of my tunnel vision, so consumed in work I had been.
Anyway, I was helpless. In the fashion of a dog following the scent of sausages, I floated over to the booth, only remembering when I had nearly arrived that I had to say something upon my arrival.
My eyes flicked between the woman and the title of her business, which I was now close enough to read.
And it was:Tarot for Success.
I usually thought before I spoke. But on this occasion, the malfunctioning of my brain bypassed such filters. And I couldn’t stop the scorn, that was forged of disappointment, entering my voice. “How didTarot for Successget approved for our technology fair?”
