36. 36
36
Ava strolled into the three-story, weather-worn building. Today was the day that everything would turn around.
She could feel it.
Shewas going totake life by the balls and squeeze until it surrendered. Her heels echoed through the walls of the lobby. Tile swirledin a flowery pattern on the floor. The front desk was back-lit,giving the administrative assistant a glow like an angel.
Her sweet face was framed by shoulder-length blonde hair pinned back at the temples.“Can I help you?”
“Yes,I’m here for an interviewwith Mr. Carlin.”
“Oh!” The woman bounced, typing on her keyboard stationed below the countertop. “Alright. Heknows you’rehere. You can have a seat over there.” She gestured to an area with black chairs flanked by two leggy, potted Bird-of-Paradise plants.
Beyond the benches, inan office with clear walls, a middle-aged man satbehind a metal desk. His squared goatee was accentuated by the frame of his rectangular glasses.Before she could sit, he beckoned Ava with a finger. She nodded and entered, takinga seat on the availablechair inside.
Ava smoothedthe creases in her slacks and readjusted her matching blazer.
“I’m Greg Carlin. You’re Ava, right?”
She nodded.“Yes, sir. Ava Quinn.”
He pulled thecopy of her resume up on his monitor and glanced over it.“Burton Laboratories…Chief Revenue Officer… wow, over nine years.”
Ava plastered on a smile and nodded. “Yes, sir. I moved up the ranks. I was promoted to thatposition about three years in.”
“So what does a job like that entail,exactly?” He wovehisfingers together on his lapand rocked back in his seat.
“Over the years,I did a little bit of everything in the finance department. It shrunk down,and then it grew so fast that I was doing the jobs of at least three separatepositions. Over the last decade,the company had grown from mid-size to a largerenterprise, grossing roughly seven billion annually. So, Iprovidedall the financial information for smaller proposals,put togetherforecasts, and did cost analysis. I oversaw corporate takeovers. And, eventually, acquisitions is where I really flourished.”
“I see.” His chair groaned as he leaned forward. “This position is for our Finance Director. We want someone who can help us formulate strategies, oversee budget planning,and supervise compliance. Does this sound like something you could do?”
“Yes, sir, absolutely.”
“You seem pretty confident about that.” He smiled.
“Finance is the lifeblood of any large company. If you can’t be confident in who’s involved, then they have no business being there.”
“Couldn’t agree more. After all that experience , I’m surprised you’d be interested in a position at a smaller company like Halafin .”
Oh God, please don’t say it…
“Frankly, you seem… overqualified.”
Mother fu —
Ava straightened her posture. “I’ve thought a lot about that recently. From your perspective, I see how I’d look like a bit of a flight risk, so to speak. With my degreeandexperience from such a massive company, it’s understandable. But…I want you to think about this from my perspective, sir.I want a change . I loved what I did, but I hated never knowing the people around me. In retrospect,my last job seemedlike an endless seaof faces. I want to know the people that I work with. I want to celebrate office birthdays or comfort someone crying in the break room. I want to know the name of your kid .” She gestured to the back of a picture framefacing away from her.
“Actually, I have two.”He twisted it around on the desk. A smiling family stared back, and Ava felt a pang of sadness in her heart.
She would never have that. She would never even have the next best thing : a picture of her, Starla, and Will smiling on an outing together. As a family .
“...I want to be a part of something that needs me. I don’t want to be one face in a million. I want to be one in twenty-five.”
Mr. Carlin leaned back in his seat again. “You seem very passionate.”
“I am, sir. I’m very passionate.” Sometimes too passionate, she thought, recalling the look of horror on Will’s face as he looked over her business proposal.
If she was honest with herself, she didn’t even really want thisposition.
She wanted to work with Will.
She wanted to be a part of building something amazing from the ground up, something she could nurture like a childout of its infancy until it could stand and walk on its own two legs.
Even if Will changed his mind,Ava knewthere was a grain of truth to what he said.
Thejealousy rocked her.There was a vulnerability in trusting someonewho had the power to crush her. She’d already been brokenand slowly mendedthe pieces. She didn’t think she had the strength to be shattered like thatagain.
It was time to put away foolish thoughts of Will and Man Maid .
It was time for Ava to trudge forward into the future, even if it tore her apart to do it.
“I guess I just have one last question for you, Ava.” Mr. Carlin smiledand put his hands behind his head. “When can you start?”