just a touch of fear.
Somewhere beyond the crowd he can sense Serena, standing there, smiling the biggest, sweetest smile she can manufacture. Waiting for him to acknowledge that he turned down her advances, and that the penalty for such rejection was very nearly his life. Somehow he feels as if they all know what really happened, and it makes him want to run from this place. Now that he’s back here, it seems absurd to think that he would return to a normal life. That he would continue this charade. This illusion of reality.
Because now his eyes are open.
Now he knows the truth.
5
“I didn’t expect you back so soon, Steve.”
Jim Mannheim sits across the desk, fingers laced behind his head as he smiles at Steve, eyebrows arched with inquiry.
“I’m fine,” Steve lies. “Really.”
“You can have any time you need to recover. You know that.”
“I appreciate that, Jim. I do. But I can’t just sit at home, not when there’s work to be done.”
Mannheim absorbs this information by unlacing his fingers and then crossing his arms over his chest. Steve can just make out the real point of conversation, the marketing VP job, hovering in the field between them.
“Your mother is a sweet woman,” Mannheim says.
“She and my father were both really worried for me. You can imagine how she might exaggerate the severity of my accident.”
“You were in a coma, Steve. For four days.”
“I know. But the doctor says I’ve made remarkable progress.”
“And here you are,” Mannheim admits. “We’re thankful to have you back.”
“Thank you.”
“What about Janine? How is she taking all this?”
Steve grins stupidly. Though it was easy not to think about Janine in the alien environment of the hospital, ignoring her during this attempted return to familiarity has been something altogether different. But to discuss Janine with Mannheim is to introduce even more instability, something Steve doesn’t need before his interview.
“She’s fine,” he says.
“She must have been really upset,” Mannheim adds. “Especially since you guys have been talking about getting married.”
“Of course.”
“A double-edged sword to love a woman so independent, you know. Earns her own money and develops business contacts. Hell of a one-two punch you guys are. But then again, considering how much AE values mobility . . . the next step after VP will likely be something overseas. You know this, of course.”
“I do.”
“And that’s okay with Janine? Turning her firm over to someone else so she can follow you to Europe?”
A fleeting interruption in his consciousness. A sliver of time. A Zurich-bound Boeing 777 sailing above the clouds, polluting the sky with thousands of gallons of jet fuel exhaust. What sort of craft, he wonders, could be fashioned to move passengers across oceans and through the field without burning inconvenient fossil fuels?
“She welcomes the opportunity,” Steve says.
Janine’s smiling face as she might have accepted his ring.
“Good,” says Mannheim. “So what are your plans for the week?”
Serena’s heaving breasts.
“Catch up on e-mail, of course. Evaluate the download rate from the MX launch and the BMW subsite. Reschedule the Monday staff meeting for tomorrow so I can actively participate.”
The blinding white presence.
“Maybe you should push the meeting back to Wednesday.”
“Why? Do you want be there?”
“No,” Mannheim says. “But I was thinking, if you’ll be ready, we could hold your interview tomorrow. At ten. What do you think?”
“Tomorrow?”
“Wolfgang Rix is in from Zurich this week. The boys back in Switzerland like to evaluate all officer-level candidates, so it’s a great chance to move this thing forward.”
“The sooner the better,” Steve says. “I know you guys wanted someone in place by now.”
Mannheim smiles. “But sometimes things change. Don’t they, Steve?”
Regression of the field into periphery. The office
Somewhere beyond the crowd he can sense Serena, standing there, smiling the biggest, sweetest smile she can manufacture. Waiting for him to acknowledge that he turned down her advances, and that the penalty for such rejection was very nearly his life. Somehow he feels as if they all know what really happened, and it makes him want to run from this place. Now that he’s back here, it seems absurd to think that he would return to a normal life. That he would continue this charade. This illusion of reality.
Because now his eyes are open.
Now he knows the truth.
5
“I didn’t expect you back so soon, Steve.”
Jim Mannheim sits across the desk, fingers laced behind his head as he smiles at Steve, eyebrows arched with inquiry.
“I’m fine,” Steve lies. “Really.”
“You can have any time you need to recover. You know that.”
“I appreciate that, Jim. I do. But I can’t just sit at home, not when there’s work to be done.”
Mannheim absorbs this information by unlacing his fingers and then crossing his arms over his chest. Steve can just make out the real point of conversation, the marketing VP job, hovering in the field between them.
“Your mother is a sweet woman,” Mannheim says.
“She and my father were both really worried for me. You can imagine how she might exaggerate the severity of my accident.”
“You were in a coma, Steve. For four days.”
“I know. But the doctor says I’ve made remarkable progress.”
“And here you are,” Mannheim admits. “We’re thankful to have you back.”
“Thank you.”
“What about Janine? How is she taking all this?”
Steve grins stupidly. Though it was easy not to think about Janine in the alien environment of the hospital, ignoring her during this attempted return to familiarity has been something altogether different. But to discuss Janine with Mannheim is to introduce even more instability, something Steve doesn’t need before his interview.
“She’s fine,” he says.
“She must have been really upset,” Mannheim adds. “Especially since you guys have been talking about getting married.”
“Of course.”
“A double-edged sword to love a woman so independent, you know. Earns her own money and develops business contacts. Hell of a one-two punch you guys are. But then again, considering how much AE values mobility . . . the next step after VP will likely be something overseas. You know this, of course.”
“I do.”
“And that’s okay with Janine? Turning her firm over to someone else so she can follow you to Europe?”
A fleeting interruption in his consciousness. A sliver of time. A Zurich-bound Boeing 777 sailing above the clouds, polluting the sky with thousands of gallons of jet fuel exhaust. What sort of craft, he wonders, could be fashioned to move passengers across oceans and through the field without burning inconvenient fossil fuels?
“She welcomes the opportunity,” Steve says.
Janine’s smiling face as she might have accepted his ring.
“Good,” says Mannheim. “So what are your plans for the week?”
Serena’s heaving breasts.
“Catch up on e-mail, of course. Evaluate the download rate from the MX launch and the BMW subsite. Reschedule the Monday staff meeting for tomorrow so I can actively participate.”
The blinding white presence.
“Maybe you should push the meeting back to Wednesday.”
“Why? Do you want be there?”
“No,” Mannheim says. “But I was thinking, if you’ll be ready, we could hold your interview tomorrow. At ten. What do you think?”
“Tomorrow?”
“Wolfgang Rix is in from Zurich this week. The boys back in Switzerland like to evaluate all officer-level candidates, so it’s a great chance to move this thing forward.”
“The sooner the better,” Steve says. “I know you guys wanted someone in place by now.”
Mannheim smiles. “But sometimes things change. Don’t they, Steve?”
Regression of the field into periphery. The office
Similar Books
