Up & Out - Ariella Papa [30]
“I’m sorry,” I say. I start to pull out my wallet. She swats my hands.
“Don’t worry about it, it’s on me. You can get the next one.” I sit down and start to eat my sandwich. I am still tense from work—it wasn’t easy to just pull myself out of it and socialize.
“Have you talked to Beth lately?” Kathy asks.
“Not really, not since we went to that awful restaurant.”
“She’s been hanging with her too-cool-for-school music crowd.”
“Really. I just think she’s been weird.” I am almost done with my sandwich and haven’t tasted a bite. Kathy has barely begun. I need to relax. I still have fifteen more minutes of freedom.
“I just worry that no one is into my wedding,” Kathy says. “You’re so busy and Lauryn’s off to God knows where.”
“The Vineyard.”
“Right, and Beth is acting so strange.”
“Well, I’m into it, and I think everyone else is, too.” Sometimes white lies aren’t so bad.
“I think I’m going to ask my sister to plan my shower.”
“Are you sure?” Beth is the maid of honor. I knew Kathy couldn’t have wanted that.
“I don’t know. I just can’t deal with the drama. I’ve got drama. This is the biggest day of my life.” Kathy is a very cool friend, but when it comes to her wedding, she turns into a prima donna. I can understand Beth not wanting to deal, but she has to. I know what this is about.
“Do you want me to talk to Beth?” I shove the last piece of sandwich in my mouth. Feeling rushed is the worst way to eat.
“Could you, Rebecca? Would you?”
“I can. I will.”
“Thank you. It means so much to me.” She is gushing. I have seven more minutes.
“Do you want to split one of their cookies?” I watch her silently calculate if she can afford it on her diet. Then, she shrugs, nods and I buy one.
“So how is your new boss?”
“I don’t know yet.” I’m not going to jinx myself by giving voice to my concerns. “I have a meeting with her tonight.”
“Her? It’s a she?”
“Yeah, why?”
“How old?”
“Not very. I don’t know, maybe early thirties. Why?”
“Oh, girl,” Kathy says. “Be careful.”
For the rest of the afternoon, I couldn’t shake the hiccups I had from eating too fast. And I couldn’t stop thinking about what Kathy said. I assured her that our businesses, finance and entertainment divisions were two different animals. She kept saying it didn’t matter, women were women.
“But I’m not one of those women. I don’t care.” Kathy just shook her head and gave me a half of her half of her cookie.
Back at the office, my e-mail double-dings, which means that someone has sent me an urgent e-mail. I’ve been ignoring the single dings all day to get stuff done. I see that I have ignored twenty-three messages and the newest double-ding is from Delores Wagner.
Rebecca,
I am putting out a lot of the fires Programming started. I hope we can reschedule until seven. I am sure you recognize the importance of dealing with these urgent matters. Thanks.
Delores
It annoys me that she assumed I could just rework my schedule to accommodate her. And who is she, a fire chief? I expel a long breath and vow to not let her get to me. At seven, I print out a document Hackett had used to present to the big guys and grab my scribbled-on production calendar.
I pass Claire on the way to Hackett’s old office.
“Hey, you,” Claire says. She gestures down the hall to what is now Delores’s office. “She’s great, isn’t she? She’s got a ton of ideas.”
I nod and say good-night. This ass-kissing is going to have to be par for the course for a while. I knock on Delores’s door.
“Hi, there,” Delores says. She is perfectly welcoming. Perhaps I was judging her too quickly. She could be the mentor I’ve been longing for. Everyone always talks about mentors, but nobody ever seems to be one or know one. It is a lot like hermaphrodites; you hear about them, you just aren’t sure they exist.
“How’s it going?”
“Well it’s obviously going to be trial by fire, but that’s to be expected.” If she is going to be my mentor, I wish she would just talk like a normal person. I listen politely as she gives me a rather involved anecdote about her first days in Germany. She worked in a