Hot Chips and Sand
Copyright © 2012 Mary Hughes
All rights reserved
Vickie
broughtheld
her hand back toat her
midriff, where it would be safe. She did not look up once during the time the
waiters were in the room; she was far too embarrassed. So againOkay, maybe
she did not seecut a few glances at
Cliff, who was not. He wasn’t
embarrassed in the least, observing her minutely, seeing her
embarrassment. If she had, she would not
have been so puzzled by.
But he’d obviously seen
she was because his first words when they were again alone.
She
nodded hesitantly, but without looking at him. .
“Then
why do you need us?” Vickie was not only puzzled by the
sudden change in his attitude, she was genuinely baffled by his
insistence on bringing in her company; Fitzwater employees—they
were smart, but certainly not geniuses.
“I’m
getting to that. As I was saying, I have talented employees. I have enough
money to fund theirthe work,
and enough equipment to support it. InMy job, in
all modesty, I haveis to say I
havecraft the vision to sustain theirthe
future and growth within theof my
company. So I have workers and I have vision.”
“Sounds
perfect.”
“Almost. What
I lack is the talent to make themthese geniuses
want to pull together.
“Vickie,
I
haveI’ve read your records. Five employer’s
worth. In each case, you haveyou’ve
performed your work well.”
“Hear
me out. What I noticed in each case was that while you were at thata
particular company, the department you were in, and sometimes the whole company,
operated much more smoothly. And after you left, often within a year, the
company’s profits took a nose‑dive. nosedive. Do
you know what that tells me?”
“That
I’m a good‑luck charm? Listen, you don’t have to pay me big bucks to be
ornamental. I’ll…”.”
“No.
That’s not it at all. Let’s approach it from another angle. Do you like working
with your team?”
“Sure.
They’re great people. Fun, bright, always ready with a joke.”
“And
you work well together?”
Vickie
laughed. “I was just thinking of that. Yes, we work very well together. Sometimes
it seems we can read each other’s minds, we know each other so well.”
“And
have you ever worked with people like that before?”
“Oh,
sure. I’ve been really lucky. The last job, well, we were like family. And back
at the hospitalmy first job,
we were all just a bunch of kids together, learning, discovering. Since we
learned about life together, naturally we worked well together.”. At
least to start.”
“Vickie,
I have never worked on a team like that.”
She
stared at him a second. Then she nodded. “Well, of course. You’re a genius. You
can’t expect people to keep up towith your
level of thinking.” She took a bite of her very expensive entree, and had to
admit that maybe it was a little better than McDonald’sMcHamburger’s.
Vickie
put her fork down. “You want me to act as a go‑between? A conduit of
information? I don’t have to be head of the
project to do that, either. In fact, it would be better
if I weren’tdidn’t.”
“No,
Vickie. .” He
met her eyes and his were on fire. “I want you to jellgel
my team. And I want you to have the position that deserves.”
“I
disagree. I’ve seen your records, I’ve talked with co‑workers, both present and
past. You are the key in all cases. You are the catalyst.”
Vickie chewed on that a while.
She
washed it down with a sip of complex red wine. “All right. Let’s
say that’s true. I still don’t know how
I did it. My only idea of managing people is letting them wear blue jeans and programwrite
code in lotus position. Cliff, I have to be honest with you. I’m really a closet anarchist .” She
shifted uncomfortably. “Even if you’re right about me, I
haven’t done too well when it comes to professionalism, and.
I don’t think you want that kind of person as a boss.” She shifted uncomfortably.
“But
it doesn’t have never short‑changed my people,to be
as manager—”
“It
does. I don’t hire a secretary expecting the work of an office manager
and I don’t intend to start now. hire
a programmer to do the work of a team leader. I won’t joggle
your elbow; shortchange you by hiring you for less than what I
expect of you follow your own style. I’m betting it will work. .
“But
if
you fail, well, we I might screw up!”
He
shrugged. “We all fail at some point. People forget failure unless you wave it in
their faces at every opportunity. So It’s
usually forgotten in the next success. I don’t think you will, but if
it doesn’t work this time, we’ll happens,
we sit down, we look at it, and we learn
how to do it better the next time. And we’ll keep at it until it works, and it
will be the best.”
The
next time? And more importantly, we sit down? But this thought wasthese
thoughts were crowded out by the concept of Cliff, Sir
Humphrey Hawkesclyffe, failing at anything. “What do you mean we all fail? “I don’t
get the impression you’ve ever failed at anything.”
He
raised one sleek eyebrow at her. “Don’t be fooled by what I am right now. We
often have to endure quite a bit of pain to learn life’s little lessons.”
Now,
what did he mean by that? Surely the Cliff thatwho
had rescued her with such aplomb in Middle Yemen had never failed in his life. But
before she could say somethingask, the
waiter returned, and the topic was dropped.
The
drive back was completed in silencesilent,
Vickie ponderingmulling over
the things Cliff had told her and, Cliff seemingapparently
content to let her.
When
he pulled the car up in front of her flatapartment,
she felt a little awkward. Now, shouldShould
she give him a firm, client‑to‑vendor handshake, a
friendly hug, or a sisterly kiss? She was leaning in favor oftoward
the handshake, with her body voting loudly for the
kiss, when the decision was
forestalled by Cliff’sCliff opened her car
door[MH2] .
She’d been
opening her car door.
“Which
you hardly ate anything,” he pointed outsaid.
“Yes,
you and my tie are having a very nice conversation now.”
He
apparently got tired of waiting, for the next thing she knew, his fingertips
were under her chin, urging her to look up. The gentle pressure strangely
excited her.
So
she gave in to his fingers, allowing them to tilt her head back so that she
could see his face. He was looking down at her, their bodies so close that
their height difference was very apparent.
[MH1]I
think in some draft way back when I had
her stomach so upset by Cliff’s nearness that she couldn’t eat. Ha. No longer
plays for me so I changed this.
[MH3]While
I don’t care for heroines who “can’t resist” a hero’s advances because her body
betrays her, I do think there are times even the strongest of heroines doesn’t
know whether to listen to their body or their mind, especially in an instant of
shock or surprise
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