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I’ll get him back. Oh, yeah. I know he’s dating that sweet girl from the Korean grocery store. I’ll get him!
Beatrice and I discussed the possibilities all the way to her place. Trey waited for me while I walked her up to her place and saw her safely home.
When I got back in the car, all I said to Trey was, “You just wait till Carmen’s mom decides to cookyouher favorite meal, Trey!” And I gave him my best evil eye. He shrunk down in the driver’s seat at the very thought.
Gotcha!
Chapter 50
Beatrice
Itwasagoodthing that I decided to call Hendrik before turning in that night.
He had a few more good ideas about what I should ask for if offered the position. He also suggested another couple of questions to ask to get the information I would need and didn’t have now.
Yup, good thing Hendrik talked me through it—the next afternoon, HR called me in again.
I tried not to project. I tried not to imagine that they were withdrawing or offering the job to me. All the way to the office, I’m coaching myself.
Just breathe. Keep on breathing.
Roberts was there again. He was the one who spoke. “Wills, we’d like to offer you the position of not just team manager but manager of that entire department. Your team is, what? Seven people. The department is nineteen people, and they came to us, as you know, at vastly different ages and training levels. Take a few days to think it over.”
He nodded to the HR manager, “I’ve learned your current rate of pay, and want to offer you twice the amount, and a small signing bonus in the case you accept the position.” He paused. “What do you think?”
And for once, I didn’t blurt. I sat back in my seat and remembered Hendrik’s advice. I didn’t commit at all. I didn’t say thanks (yet). I calmly asked first for the information I didn’t yet have but would need to come to a decision. I went through my mental checklist and ticked off everything I asked.
Hendrik had advised me, “Just think of your questions like a punch list to check out some coding. You’ll be fine.”
Then we chatted a little longer. As I stood I said, “Roberts, I’ll let you both know by the end of the week as requested. Thanks for this opportunity!”
And, as I had a couple of weeks earlier, I returned to my work area in a daze.
Unable to put a clear thought together in my mind.
I detoured to take the elevator down and out of the building. I walked for a couple of blocks then turned left, and left for a couple more blocks, and left again. Returning to my building a little more “aired out” but still ... I sat in the main floor coffee shop for half an hour, staring out the big picture windows to the street.
I’d always been the one to ask for a job, so this offer was tables-turned on me. I needed to talk to Hendrik.
I called. He instantly picked up. As we chatted, I saw a limo pull up, he got out and flagged me down even as we continued to talk on our phones. He hugged me in our cozy lips-to-legs closeness and handed me into the back seat.
We talked, as a driver I didn’t recognize from past rides silently followed a route Hendrik must have decided on before picking me up.
He didn’t say much, just asked a few prompting questions. He just let me talk it out and when I had, I knew what to do.
He dropped me back at work, I went up to my team and told them, “Roberts has offered me the position of manager for this whole nineteen-body department. I have spent time thinking about it, and I have decided to decline the offer. I love what I do too much to change things just yet.”
Maybe in a few years.
After my small team’s initial loud protestations, Joseph, Red, and the others came around to shake my hand and (more quietly!) express their regrets about not having me as their manager, but relief that I’d still be part of their team.
Now to call Roberts and get this over with.
Chapter 51
Hendrik
Thingsweresuddenlydifferentbetween Beatrice and me. In a very good way!
