by Elena Armas
“… and that would be Lina.”
My name broke into my brain, making everything else vanish.
I dropped my pen on the table and cleared my throat. “Yes, here.” I tried to reinsert myself in the conversation. “Listening. I’m listening.”
“Isn’t that what someone who wasn’t listening would say?”
My gaze shot across the room, meeting a pair of blue eyes on the verge of showing amusement if the man behind them was capable of human emotions.
I straightened my back and turned a page of my planner. “I was writing down something for a call I have with a client later and lost track of the conversation,” I lied. “Something important.”
Aaron hummed, nodding his head.
Thankfully, he let it go.
“Let’s recap a little bit. Just so we are all clear on where we stand,” Kabir offered in a gentle voice.
He’d be getting a muffin tomorrow.
“Thank you, Kabir.” I gave him a bright smile.
To which he blushed and reciprocated with a wobbly one.
I heard an impatient exhale coming from across the room. Now, he would not be getting a muffin tomorrow. Or ever.
“So,” Kabir finally said, “Jeff wanted to attend today’s meeting to tell you personally, but you know how busy the schedule of a head of division is. Lots of parallel appointments. He will forward you all the info you need anyway, but I thought it would be a good idea to give you a heads-up before.”
I blinked. What the hell are we talking about? “Thank you again for that, Kabir.”
“You are welcome, Lina.” He nodded. “I think that communication between all five of us is key to accomplish—”
“Kabir”—Aaron’s voice filled the room—“your point.”
Kabir’s eyes jumped to him, and he appeared a little startled. “Yes, thanks, Aaron.” Then, he had to clear his throat twice before he could continue, “InTech will host an Open Day in a few weeks. A big group of people will attend, mostly potential clients who are curious about what we offer but also some of the biggest projects we are working on. Jeff mentioned that all attendants are pretty high in management, too, which makes sense because this is an initiative to expand and strengthen our network and to do it face-to-face. He wants InTech to show off. To look good. Modern. To demonstrate that we are up-to-date with the current markets. But at the same time, show all prospective and current clients that we are not all about working.” He chuckled nervously. “That’s why Open Day will last from eight a.m., when the attendants will be welcomed here at our headquarters, until midnight.”
“Midnight?” I murmured, barely able to conceal my surprise.
“Yes.” Kabir nodded enthusiastically. “Isn’t it refreshing? It will be a full-blown event. All kinds of workshops on new technologies, knowledge-exchange sessions, activities to get to know our clients and their needs. And of course, we’ll have breakfast, lunch, and dinner catered. Oh, and after-work drinks too. You know, to lighten things up.”
My eyes had gradually widened as Kabir delivered his explanation.
“That …” Héctor started. “That sounds different.”
It did. And it sounded like a complex event to plan in only a few weeks.
“Yes,” Gerald answered, sounding suspiciously smug. “It will definitely put InTech ahead in the game.”
Kabir nodded as his gaze met mine. “Absolutely. And Jeff wants you to be in charge of everything, Lina. How amazing is that?”
I blinked, resting my back against the seat. “He wants me to organize it? All of it?”
“Yes.” My colleague smiled at me, like he was giving me good news. “And host it too. Out of the five of us, you are our most attractive option.”
Blinking very slowly, I watched his lips fall down, probably because of the expression coating my face.
Attractive. Taking a deep breath, I tried to steady myself. “Well, I’m flattered to be considered the most attractive option,” I lied, willing myself not to focus on how my blood had started swirling. “But I hardly have the time or the experience to organize something like this.”
“But Jeff insisted,” Kabir countered back. “And it’s important for InTech to have someone like you representing the company.”
I should ask what someone like me was supposed to mean, but I didn’t think I wanted to hear the answer. My throat dried up, making it harder for me to swallow. “Wouldn’t any of us accomplish the same objective? Shouldn’t someone with experience in what sounds like a public relations affair throw together an event this important?”
Kabir deflected, not answering my question. “Jeff said you would be fine with the organization. That we don’t need to spend extra resources, hiring someone. Plus, you are …” He trailed off, looking like he’d rather be anywhere else. “Social. Perky.”
Clenching my fist under the table, I tried my best to hide my inner turmoil. “Sure,” I gritted out. That was every person’s dream, being referred to as perky by their boss. “But I also have a job to do. I also have projects that I’m working on the clock for. How is this … event more important than my own clients and current responsibilities?”
I remained silent for a long moment, waiting for my colleagues’ support.
Any kind of support.
And … nothing, just the usual loaded silence that followed these kinds of situations.
I shifted in my chair, feeling my cheeks heat up with frustration. “Kabir,” I said as calmly as I could, “I know Jeff might have suggested that I be in charge of this, but you guys understand that this doesn’t even make sense, right? I … wouldn’t even know where to start.” This wasn’t a thing I had been hired or was paid for.
But no one was going to admit that, even when their support would make a difference. That would lead to the real reason why I had been given this task.
“I’m already covering for two of my best team members, Linda and Patricia. I don’t have hours in the week as it is.” I hated complaining and fishing for some—or at this point, any—kind of understanding, but what else could I do?
Gerald snorted, making my head swivel in his direction. “Well, that’s a drawback of hiring women in their thirties.”
I scoffed, not wanting to believe that he had just said that. But he had. I opened my mouth, but Héctor stopped me from saying anything.
“All right, how about we all help you?” Héctor suggested. I looked at him, finding him with a resigned expression. “We could maybe all pitch in with something.”
I loved the man, but his soft heart and lack of confrontational spirit weren’t helping all that much. He was only tiptoeing around the real issue.
“This is not high school, Héctor,” Gerald snapped back. “We are professionals, and we won’t be pitching in with anything.” Shaking his greasy, bald head, he followed that with another snort.
Héctor’s mouth clamped shut.
Kabir spoke again, “I’ll forward you the list of people Jeff put together, Lina.”
I shook my head again, feeling my cheeks heat up further, biting my tongue so I wouldn’t tell my colleague something I’d regret.
“Oh,” Kabir added, “Jeff also had a few ideas for the catering. That’s in a separate email that I will forward to you too. But he wants you to do a little research on that. Maybe even think of a theme. He said you’d know what to do.”
My lips parted with a silent curse word that would make my abuela take me to church by the ear. I’d know what to do? How would I know?
Reaching for my pen and holding it with both hands so I could squeeze some of the growing frustration away, I took a deep breath. “I’m going to talk to Jeff myself,” I said through pressed teeth that formed a tight smile. “I’d usually not bother him but—”
“Would you just stop wasting our time already?” Gerald said, making the blood in my face drop to my feet. “You don’t have to take this to our boss.” Gerald’s chubby finger waved through the air. “Stop making excuses and jus
t do it. You can smile and be extra friendly for a whole day, can’t you?”
The words extra and friendly echoed in my head as I stared at him with wide eyes.
The sweaty man, crammed into a dress shirt designed for someone who had a class he’d never achieve, would take any chance he could get to bring anyone down. Even more so if that happened to be a woman. I knew.
“Gerald”—I gentled my voice and increased the pressure on my pen, praying it wouldn’t break and give away how outraged I really felt—“the purpose of this meeting is to discuss issues like this one. So, I’m sorry, but you are going to have to listen to me do exactly—”
“Sweetheart,” Gerald interrupted me, a sneer breaking across his face, “think of it as a party. Women know about those, don’t they? Just prepare some activities, get some food delivered here, put on nice clothes, and crack some jokes. You are young and cute; you won’t even have to use your brain all that much. They’ll be eating right out of your hand.” He chuckled. “I’m sure you know how to do that, don’t you?”
I choked on my own words. The air that was supposed to be getting in and out of my lungs was stuck somewhere in between.
Not able to control what my body was doing, I felt my legs straighten, bringing me up. My chair screeched back, the noise loud and sudden. Smacking both hands on the surface of the desk, I felt my head blank for a second, and I saw red. Literally. In that precise moment, I understood where the expression had come from. I saw fucking red, as if I had slipped on a pair of glasses with crimson lenses.
Somewhere to my right, I heard Héctor exhaling heavily. Muttering under his breath.
Then, I heard nothing. Only my heart hammering in my chest.
There it was. The truth. The real reason why I, among the four other people sitting in this room, had been handpicked to do this damn thing. I was a woman—the only woman in the division, leading a team—and I had the goods, no matter how generous my curves were or not. Perky, cute, female. I was the attractive option, apparently. I was being showcased to our clients as the golden token that proved that InTech was not stuck in the past.
“Lina.” I willed my voice to remain firm and calm, hating that it hadn’t. Hating that I wanted to turn around and let my legs carry me out of the room. “Not sweetheart. My name is Lina.” I sat back on my chair very slowly, clearing my throat and taking one extra moment to rein it in. I have this. I need to have this. “Next time, make sure to use my name, please. And address me with the decency and professionalism you do with everyone else.” My voice reached my ears in a way I didn’t like one bit. Making me feel that weak version of myself that I didn’t want to be. But at least I had managed to get it all out without flipping or running away. “Thanks.”
Sensing how my eyes were starting to feel glassy out of pure outrage and frustration, I blinked a few times, willing that and everything else away from my face. Wishing that the lump in my throat had nothing to do with embarrassment, even when it did. Because how could I not feel embarrassed when I had snapped like that? When—even after what had happened all that time ago, even being that this wasn’t the first time I’d had to deal with this kind of crap—I still didn’t know how?
Gerald rolled his eyes. “Don’t take it so seriously, Lina.” He shot me a condescending look. “I was just joking around. Right, guys?”
He looked over at our colleagues, searching the room for their support.
He didn’t find any.
Out of the corner of my eye, I watched Héctor deflating in his chair. “Gerald …” he said, sounding tired and discouraged. “Come on, man.”
Keeping my eyes on Gerald and trying to stop my chest from heaving with building helplessness, I refused to look at the other two men, Kabir and Aaron, who remained silent.
They probably thought they were not taking any side, but they were. Their silence was doing exactly that.
“Oh, come on what?” Gerald scoffed. “It’s not like I said anything that’s not true. The girl doesn’t even need to try—”
Before I could muster the courage to stop him, the last person in the room I had expected to speak beat me to it. “We are done here.”
My head snapped in his direction then, finding him looking at Gerald with something so thick and chilling that I could almost feel the air in the room drop a couple of degrees.
Shaking my head, I snagged my gaze off Aaron. He could have said anything in the last ten minutes, and he had chosen not to. He could remain silent for all I cared.
Gerald’s chair scraped against the floor, allowing him to stand up. “Yes, we are certainly done,” he said flatly, gathering his things. “I don’t have time for this either. She knows what to do anyway.”
And with that little pearl, Gerald walked to the door and left the room.
My heart was still hammering in my chest, pummeling in my temples.
Kabir followed suit, standing up and looking at me apologetically. “I am not taking his side, okay?” His eyes moved in Aaron’s direction quickly, returning to me just as fast. “This whole thing came from Jeff; he wants you to do this. Don’t think too much about it. Take it as a compliment.”
Not bothering to answer, I watched him leave the room.
The man who had almost taken me in and treated me as one more of the Díaz clan looked at me and shook his head. He mouthed, Qué pendejo, which plucked a weak smile out of me because even if that wasn’t something we would ever say in Spain, I knew exactly what he meant.
And Héctor was right. What a total asshat Gerald was.
And then there was Aaron. Who hadn’t even bothered to look at me yet. His long fingers methodically gathered his things, and his even longer legs pushed the chair back, making it possible for him to straighten to his full height.
While I glanced at him, still out of sorts by everything that had just gone down, I watched how his gaze bounced from his hands to me. His eyes, which I could tell had sobered up and returned to that aloof semblance, remained on me for a heartbeat and then dismissed me just as quickly.
Just like he always did.
My gaze followed his oddly large and sturdy figure walk to the door and into the hallway, the hammering in my chest somehow speeding up and settling down, all at once.
“Let’s go, mija,” Héctor said, now standing and looking down on me. “I have a bag of chicharrones in my office. Ximena slipped it into my laptop bag the other day, and I’ve been saving it.” He followed that with a wink.
Standing from my chair, I laughed lightly. Héctor’s little girl was getting a bear hug from me the next time I saw her.
“You need to raise that girl’s weekly allowance.” I followed him out, trying my best to return the smile.
Although I couldn’t help but notice that after only a few steps, the corners of my lips wavered, breaking into something that didn’t quite reach my eyes.
Chapter Three
This wasn’t how I had pictured my evening going.
It was late, InTech’s headquarters had mostly emptied, I had at least four or five hours of work ahead of me, and my stomach was rumbling so loudly that I suspected it was about to start eating itself.
“Estoy jodida,” I said under my breath, realizing how screwed I really was.
One, because the last thing I had eaten was a sad green salad that clearly turned out to be a big mistake as much as it had seemed the most sensible idea, having the wedding a total of four weeks away. Two, I didn’t have any snacks at hand and no change for the vending machine downstairs. And three, the PowerPoint slide on my laptop screen was still blinking at me, half-empty.
My hands fell on my keyboard, hesitating over the keys for a full minute.
A text pinged from my phone, drawing my attention. Rosie’s name flashed on the screen. I unlocked it, and an image immediately popped open.
It was a photo of a luscious flat white, topped by a beautiful milk foam rosette. Beside it, there was a triple-chocolate brownie that shamelessly glinted under the light.
Rosie: You in?
She didn’t need to specify the plan or send me the address. That feast could only belong to Around the Corner, our favorite coffee shop in the city. My mouth started immediately salivating at the thought of being in that caffeinated safe haven on Madison Avenue.
Muffling a groan, I wrote back.
Lina: I’d love to, but I’m stuck at work.
Three dots jumped on the screen.
Rosie: You sure? I saved you a seat.
Before I could type back a reply, another text came through.
Rosie: I got the last brownie, but I’ll share. Only if you get here quickly. I’m not made of steel.
I sighed. Definitely better than the reality of working extra time on a Wednesday evening but …
Lina: I can’t. I’m working on the Open Day stuff I told you about. I’m deleting that photo, BTW. Too tempting.
Rosie: Oh no. You didn’t tell me more than the fact that you were stuck with it. When’s it taking place?
Lina: Right after I’m back from Spain. *bride emoji* *skull emoji*
Rosie: I still don’t get why you have to do it. Aren’t you swamped with work?
Yep. That was exactly what I should have been doing, the job I was paid to do. Not organizing an open-doors day that served as an excuse to show around a bunch of suits that I’d have to feed, babysit, and be extra nice to. Whatever the hell that meant. But complaining wouldn’t get me anywhere.
Lina: *unamused emoji* It is what it is.
Rosie: Yeah, well, I don’t like Jeff all that much right now.
Lina: I thought you said he was a silver fox. *smirking emoji*