Chapter 13
When Cynthia arrived at the Pipe and Straw at six o’clock on the dot that same evening, Rohit was struck by how different she looked.
The same silky, jet-black hair swept feathery kisses against the nape of her neck, and she wore her standard work dress, always in a neutral color and always sliding around all the right curves.
But a vertical wrinkle split the smooth curve of her forehead, and her stride lacked the strength of a woman who could, and would, run the world.
She appeared uncertain. Out of place. Which made Rohit feel uncertain and out of place and, like an idiot, he blurted the first words that came to mind as she approached his table.
“Thanks for not standing me up this time.”
Cynthia took her seat and fiddled with the edge of her napkin, turning it this way and that so it sat angled on the table just so.
She wasn’t the only one who was nervous.
Since he’d arrived a half hour earlier than their agreed-upon meeting time, Rohit had been tapping an unsteady beat against the scarred tabletop with a metal spoon until a neighboring table had asked him to stop.
Had Cynthia shown up five minutes earlier, she would’ve caught him checking out his appearance in the back of said spoon like an upper-primary boy on his first date.
Not that this is a date , Rohit hastened to remind himself as he cast a furtive glance at Cynthia, now half-hidden behind a laminated menu.
Her eyes, however, were anywhere but the Pipe and Straw’s British pub-style offerings; her long, graceful neck swiveled side to side as she glanced around the room.
When she tucked her hair behind her ear, Rohit’s body tightened as he remembered the softness of those strands brushing teasingly against his cheek as his tongue explored the sensitive skin behind her earlobe.
“I didn’t realize so many people from work hung out here after hours,” she said.
Rohit cleared his throat. “What?”
Cynthia lowered her menu and shot him an impatient glance. Just like that, she looked like herself again. “I said, I didn’t realize so many people from work hung out here.”
With a shrug, Rohit followed her gaze to where Yannis and several staff members from various departments had taken over the family-style high-top in the back corner. “Oh, sure. It’s kind of a casual standing-invitation thing for everyone at the office.”
“Not everyone,” Cynthia muttered, rearranging her napkin and cutlery set again before picking her menu back up. “What’s good?”
“Oh! You’re staying for food?”
Cynthia eyebrows shot up. “I thought that’s why you wanted to meet here around dinnertime?”
“Yes! I mean, sure. Food is good. I love food. I just…I didn’t know if…” Rohit rubbed his hands against his thighs, knocking his spoon onto the floor in the process. He automatically dipped to retrieve it, thought better of it, and jerked upright again while clearing his throat. “Yeah, let’s eat.”
It was Rohit’s turn to take cover behind his menu, and he ducked his head for good measure so Cynthia wouldn’t catch the heat of mortification searing across his face.
Rohit had dated plenty of confident, ambitious women before, but he’d never, ever stumbled over the right thing to say.
The ability to find the right words was the one thing he always had at his disposal, allowing him to fit in seamlessly in any kind of situation, social circle, or country.
But Cynthia was not those women. She was an ethereal force of nature whose siren call Rohit had long ago succumbed to.
It wasn’t just because of the unforgettable night they’d shared, either.
It was more than that. Being with Cynthia did strange things to Rohit’s gray matter.
Her presence heightened all his senses, and it overwhelmed him; all cylinders were firing but at the same time turning his thoughts to gibberish.
And yet, in this moment, there was no other place he’d rather be. Rohit peeked over the top of his menu and caught Cynthia’s lips lifting in a genuine smile complete with adorable little crinkles at the corners of her eyes, and he gripped the menu a little tighter as if holding on for dear life.
He should’ve known better than to pick the Pipe and Straw for this meeting—bars were dangerous places with Cynthia in near proximity. For good measure, after they’d ordered, Rohit steered them to safer ground: work.
“I think we need to present staff with some kind of engagement survey,” he said. “I’ve given this a lot of thought, and if we want to get to the root of the issue and make lasting, meaningful changes at KC, we should probably hear from the people.”
Cynthia’s lips pursed as they often did when she was thinking something over and Rohit reminded himself not to stare at her perfect Cupid’s bow, which became even more pronounced when she pouted.
“When you say, ‘the people,’ are you referring to your little boys’ club, too?” she asked.
Rohit’s brows furrowed. “Are you talking about the senior leadership team? No, of course not. This should be for entry to midlevel staff only. I had Gayle pull some HR records for me, and our junior staff turnover is a little startling.”
“A survey could invite trouble,” Cynthia mused. “There’s a chance that there are more disgruntled staff than Melanie let on…or that Melanie even knows about at this point. Maybe we should focus on finding who said what and nipping that in the bud.”
“If we start a witch hunt, morale is going to plummet even lower than it already is. Besides, our concern is fixing the problem, and pointing fingers rarely does anything to help move toward a solution.”
“That’s…smart.” Cynthia frowned and tilted her head to the side. “An engagement survey might open the floodgates, though.”
“A lot of organizations do annual staff surveys as a means of building positive office culture. We can focus on head office for now, but in the long run, this could—and should—be a regular, organization-wide thing,” Rohit said, leaning forward in his seat. “And it needs to be anonymous.”
As Cynthia nodded, a sense of pride flooded Rohit’s senses. It wasn’t so much that for once he was a step ahead of Cynthia, whose brain seemed to work triple time compared to everyone else’s, but there was respect in her eyes and maybe even a hint of admiration.
It was intoxicating having her look at him like that.
“Someone came prepared,” she said. “But I think we should be careful with how we conduct this survey.”
“I agree,” Rohit nodded. “I’ve already talked to some third-party HR consultants about how to execute something like this properly.
I want staff to feel like they’re sharing their feedback in a safe space, but I also don’t want this survey to set any weird precedents, like whatever they criticize will automatically be on the chopping block.
We just need to get a baseline for where staff are at in terms of satisfaction with the work culture and then figure out how to address it. ”
Cynthia studied him for a long moment. “You really dug deep on this one, huh?” She frowned and lowered her gaze, her hand balling into a fist on the tabletop. “I guess you had to after I royally fucked things up with my brilliant idea to bring in Sahara.”
“Hey,” Rohit said, his hand reaching to pat hers. “It wasn’t a complete fuckup—at least you got a funny story out of it.”
She glared in response. It was likely too soon to be cracking jokes, but Rohit was still riding the high of her admiration from earlier and it made him feel daring.
“C’mon, Cynthia,” he prodded. “You signed our office up for a multilevel marketing scheme. It might not have been the results you intended, but no one can say you’re not resourceful.”
She was silent for a moment before her lips gave in to the barest of twitches. “I better be at the top of the pyramid.”
“Your future with TeamStart is just beginning. ‘Work for yourself but not by yourself,’?” Rohit said with a grin. “That’s a direct quote from one of the pamphlets Sahara left behind, in case you wanted to know.”
“You would read the pamphlet.”
“You’re going to change people’s lives .”
“Better bowel movements at Kumar Construction, all thanks to me.”
“You’ll be a multimillionaire by the end of the year. Maybe you’ll qualify for one of those ‘I Did It’ Beamers or an all-expenses-paid trip to Mexico.”
Then it happened. Cynthia threw her head back and laughed, and Rohit couldn’t tear his eyes away from her.
The unsuppressed joy in her face was something else entirely.
It was a new layer he’d discovered, this beautiful lack of control wrapped in the rich huskiness of her laughter.
It was as if he’d chipped away at a flawless diamond only to find something more valuable and precious inside.
“I’m impressed with how much work you’ve put into this already,” Cynthia said once her laughter had died down.
“Your future at TeamStart?”
She leaned forward and lightly slapped his arm. She’d barely touched him and yet his skin heated. “I mean the issue at Kumar Construction,” she said.
“I’ve been giving it a lot of thought,” he admitted. “Because I really do want KC to be a great place to work for everybody.”
Cynthia tilted her head to the side. “So you don’t agree with any of the negative claims? No issues with any of the senior leaders or the work environment?”
For the first time that evening, Rohit’s brain kicked in before he said something stupid, or, worse, obliviously glib.
Thanks to the article in The Watch and his recent discussions with Cynthia, he was kind of ashamed of how ignorant he’d been of what was happening outside his own little bubble at work.
The year he’d spent hyperfocused on ingratiating himself as everyone’s best friend seemed self-centered now.
Amid the fist bumps and the coffee meetings with Rich, he’d never really stopped to look outside the protective walls he’d erected around himself.