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The fact that my carefully built house of cards had come down on me not too long ago and it would take me twice as long to work toward another promotion was a different story.
That was something I blamed on Troy, but there was no use crying about the past and everything I couldn’t change.
I walked to Stein’s office, nodding at his personal secretary, who eyed me dubiously. My stomach twisted—was this a bad meeting? Why did she look so worried on my behalf?
After I’d lost the contract, Stein had shouted at me so much that everyone on the floor—maybe everyone in the building—had heard it. Was this going to be a repeat? It wasn’t that I couldn’t take criticism, but there had to be a limit to how much was fair for one person to deal with.
“Close the door,” Stein said.
His black hair was graying at his temples, and he wore a suit that didn’t fit him right—as if it had been tailor made once upon a time but since then, he’d lost a lot of weight.
“Sit down,” he said when I waited for the invitation. The one thing I would never do was take liberties in Stein’s office. He had a reputation for being a beast, and he made sure he stuck with the program to keep that reputation going.
I took a deep breath and let it out slowly so I didn’t look as irritated as I felt. I was always willing to accept a tongue-lashing if it was due, but lately, things had been tough, and I wasn’t in the mood for another lecture. I was emotionally drained, and I just wanted to do my work, keeping my head down until the next good thing came along.
“I just got a call from Elecoms,” Stein said, sitting down behind his desk. He was a large man despite the weight he must have lost at some point and he dwarfed his desk.
“Oh?”
“It looks like they want you on the Toussaint project after all.”
“Oh,” I said again.
“Is that all you have to say to that?” Stein asked, narrowing his eyes at me.
I didn’t know what he wanted me to say. I couldn’t say thank you since he wasn’t the one that had made that happen, but it looked almost like that was what he expected.
“I’m ready to get started the moment you give the go-ahead,” I said.
“You’re still interested in it?” Stein asked.
“I didn’t realize I had a choice in the matter,” I said carefully.
“You don’t,” Stein said, shaking his head and interlinking his fingers in front of him on his desk. “I just wanted to know if you’ll do a good job if I decide to put you on the project.”
“Were you going to consider someone else?” I asked.
“Since when do you ask so many questions?” Stein snapped, and I pursed my lips, knotting my fingers together in my lap. Stein was unpredictable on a good day and full of shit on a bad day.
Today was not a good day.
“You’re going to the offices tomorrow to take care of it,” Stein said with a grunt. “I’ll clear it with HR that you get what you’re due for this. Looks like you didn’t screw this up as much as you thought, eh?”
As much asyouthought.
I didn’t say that. Instead, I offered a polite smile.
Stein returned it for a split-second before his scowl slipped back in place. That was the best I would ever get out of him—very few people in the office had gotten a smile from Stein.
“Get out of my office,” Stein said, waving me away as if I were a fly.
“Thank you, sir,” I said.
I left his office, and when I was around the corner, I broke out into a smile. I’d gotten the contract! This changed everything—the pay raise and promotion would help me so much with the baby, and the prospect of moving forward was amazing.
The smile faded quickly.
Had I gotten the project because I really deserved it? Or because Troy had effectively given it to me? Did it matter?
