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She stares me down.
“What? It’s true.” I finish the last of my tea and set the cup in the saucer. It jitters a little, but I’m relishing all the caffeine at the moment. “I’m a pescatarian. It’s heart healthy.”
She eyes my shaky hand accusingly as I lower the cup to the table. “Jacqueline, haven’t we had this conversation already?”
I gasp. “Really Mari?” How dare she? She knows I’ve gone by Jack since my sophomore year of high school. About the same time I decided to stop eating land animals. My doctor-parents most often served fish at home, except for the occasional tamales Nana made with chicken. That’s my one exception.
She gives me the “I’m over the diet talk” look, and I relent.
“Fine, but don’t call me Jacqueline. It makes me feel like a little old lady with blue hair and a mailbox shaped purse.”
Ryan brings our drinks and two glasses of ice water. We both take a drink.
Mari sighs after her first sip and pins me with her gaze. “Fine.Jack. What’s got you in a tizzy today? I’m usually the one calling you to go out on the town. And judging by that shake, you’ve had a full pot of this tea all on your own. Which one is it, anyway?”
Scratching my jaw just below my ear, I make a face. Mari knows me too well and that I’m usually more reserved, not willing to keep myself up with caffeine on Friday nights when I usually get most of my office work done early Saturday mornings.
“Out with it,” she demands.
“I have to plan a team-building event for all themaledirectors on Geoff’s product development team.”
Mari fishes the orange out of her glass and takes a bite. “And? What’s the problem?”
She’s always been the more risqué one of us and I saved her more than once from a drunken night in college. She’s definitely not one to be concerned with equality issues, and sometimes I envy her ability to be so aloof about it all. But then again, she works at a female owned startup company doing independent product testing and reviews. She doesn’t experience the same types of discrimination as I do at the old-boys club where I work.
“It’s insulting. Just because I have curves, Geoff assumes I am excited to do the girly thing and plan a big party.”
“Big?”
“Yeah. He gave me a budget of three thousand a head.”
Mari’s jaw drops.
“Tell me about it. Insane, right? But whatever I decide, I’m stuck with eight men, most of whom don’t value what I bring to the business table.”
Mari sits back, looking at me as if what I’m saying is an issue with my overactive imagination. “Don’t you get more attention being the only girl?”
“It’s not about attention, Mari.” I wish it was easier to explain that success, or lack thereof, because of my sex is insulting. “Maybe I should start wearing pants suits. The kind with a sports coat and tie. I mean, I already go by Jack and have short hair. It’d basically be switching out my wardrobe and forgoing the makeup.” I shiver at the last part. Even though I want them to treat me equally, I have no desire to forsake makeup and adorable shoes. I like my pencil skirts, heels, and a good spa day from time to time.
“Back the truck up a bit.” Mari shakes her head and waves a hand in the air. “You get to spend three-thousand dollars on something fun for the team? And you’re complaining?”
I raise my brows and nod.
“Geez, we can’t spend ten dollars per person on lunch for the team at my work.” Mari puts aside an orange peel and takes another sip. When she finishes, a devilish blue light flashes in her eyes. “Maybe...”
Shoot! I know that shift. That slide into her famous “I have a brilliant idea” look on her face. “What are you cooking up?”
Mari leans closer to me. “Just hear me out, ’kay?”
This is scary, but she usually does have imaginative ideas. Crass sometimes but creative nonetheless.
“I saw this thing come across our potential project list at work. A vacation. It’s all-inclusive and runs about twenty-five hundred a head, if I remember correctly.”
“I’m listening.” I eye her sideways. An all-inclusive vacation sounds fantastic. Spa, beach, sand. Heaven. So, there’s gotta be a catch.
“It’s in New Mexico. Hang on.” She grabs her phone. “I’m sure I can find it.”
My brow furrows. “New Mexico? There isn’t anything in New Mexico except tumbleweeds and abandoned roads. Has to be Mexico, right?”
