Chapter 4
Chapter Four
Rachel
Reference for MonDex, the email title read.
It was the day after the lemur funeral, and Rachel was working her way slowly through an inbox with two hundred messages, labeling, sorting, deleting, and archiving.
This one popped in, fresh.
Rachel opened it, her email address nowhere on the header.
“Hmmm. Bcc?” she muttered to herself, confused. You used bcc–blind carbon copy–when you didn’t want the message recipient to know you were cc’ing someone else.
It was addressed to Alissa, whose last name started with HAR, just like Rachel’s. Harrington and Hart. Their EEC email addresses were similar enough that this happened once in a while–getting the other's emails–but something about this didn’t make sense.
Why would Karen bcc Rachel? And on a topic like MonDex, one of the worst, most environmentally destructive oil companies in the world?
Rachel opened the email and felt her eyes bug out as she read with increasing horror.
Alissa had applied for a job at MonDex.
Alissa,
I’ve sent the reference to MonDex’s HR department as requested. While I do congratulate you on your success, and understand your perspective, I can’t say I agree that this is a good career move. I worry you’re hurting your long-term prospects with environmental NGOs.
No matter what, I wish you well. If you change course, please reach out.
Regards,
Karen
Reeling, Rachel worked to digest what she’d just read. Alissa was trying to work for the devil incarnate.
That wasn’t hyperbole at EEC. It was like a fellow for an anti-smoking foundation being hired by Philip Morris.
Alissa hadn’t said a word. Neither had Kell. Unlike her co-workers, Rachel wasn’t scrambling for jobs, her spot in the Stanford MBA program secured a while ago.
She was grateful to avoid the stress they were all experiencing, although of course she’d have a different kind of pressure once the program began in the fall. But at least she’d have no debt–her parents were paying for it–and that gave her a slight sense of guilt she didn’t quite understand.
But this? This was like learning that Alissa was Benedict Arnold. Who signed on for a job with Big Oil after interning with an environmental NGO? It was the ultimate in hypocrisy.
And the bcc meant Karen wanted Rachel to know but didn’t want Alissa to know she knew.
Putting Rachel right in the middle of a huge mess.
Did Kell know? Know that his girlfriend had accepted a job with the Evil Empire?
“Hey.” Rachel looked up to find Alissa standing right there, smiling at her warmly. “Great work on all those sign-ups at the rally, even if Leo died.” She shook her head slowly. “That funeral yesterday was hilariously stupid.”
Rachel resisted the urge to slap her laptop shut. “Yeah. But you know this place. The pay is crap, but the staff are entertaining.”
“We’re all going to leave soon,” Alissa said, surprisingly pensive. She’d always been unsentimental and a bit standoffish. Rachel was surprised when she and Kell started dating, but you could never judge what attracted someone to another person.
“Where do you think you’ll end up?” she asked nervously, hoping Alissa would spill the beans herself so Rachel wouldn’t have to deal with confrontation.
“No idea.”
“Hopefully, somewhere in Maine,” Rachel teased.
Alissa’s face went blank. “Why would I want to be in Maine?”
“Because Kell’s family is there. The whole family’s all about that state. You know. The Love You town, state government…”
“Oh. Right.” Alissa sounded bored, her earlier friendliness diminished. “You re-organized the Dropbox and got all the old forms into the archive on the Argentina project, right?”
“Yes. I checked it off as done in Microsoft Planner.”
“Aren’t you efficient?”
“I am.”
“They’re going to love you at Stanford,” Alissa said, suddenly bright and perky again. “When I have a few years in the workforce under my belt, I hope to get my MBA at Harvard.”
“Really? They don’t have the environmental focus Stanford has.”
“But they’re the best.” Alissa winked.
Ugh. Alissa’s words echoed her father’s exactly. Her dad was a Harvard Law grad, and Rachel had sensed her father’s disappointment that she was “just” going to Stanford.
Between his reaction and her baby brother going to the Air Force Academy, she had to be careful not to become the family slacker.
Or maybe she already was.
“They are the best, especially for corporate work,” Rachel agreed.
Alissa tilted her head. “What’s wrong with that?”
“Nothing, unless you’re working for Big Oil,” Rachel said with a laugh, testing the waters.
Alissa’s eyes flashed. “Right.”
Huh. She wasn’t going to tell Rachel, was she?
Okay, then. Confrontation it was.
She turned her laptop toward Alissa and steeled herself for the reaction. “It looks like Karen accidentally sent me an email about your job offer from MonDex.”
Alissa cursed, then moved closer to Rachel, dropping her voice. “Swear you won’t say a word.”
“To other people? Of course not. To you? Yes. Yes, I will. Are you trying to ruin your career?”
“No, I’m–”
“You could have any job in the environmental field! You’re talented. Smart. Good at networking. Why would you choose this, Alissa?” Rachel’s tone had more than a hint of begging in it.
Begging for a rational explanation.
“Rachel,” Alissa replied, touching her shoulder. “I know how this looks, but it’s really different. I’m on a mission.”
“A mission?”
“To change the system from within.”
A long, pain-filled groan vibrated up from deep in Rachel’s core. “Come on, Alissa! You sound like a high schooler.”
“I’m not! It’s the way to effect true change.”
“You can’t change an enormous, entrenched system like that.”
“Watch me.”
“You’ll be selling your soul, working for an industry that harms people and wildlife and the Earth.”
“Plenty of other fellows have gone into corporate jobs.”
“Not with Big Oil!”
“Then I’m a trailblazer.”
“What’s the job?”
“Regional policy coordinator for New England.”
“New England! So you are trying to stay near Maine.” Rachel stood, walking three steps, pivoting, then walking back. A natural pacer, she did it less from nervousness and more from an itchy feeling inside when her thoughts and emotions tumbled together into a pile she needed to sort, but couldn’t.
“Right. But not because of Kell. He’s in the running for jobs in Chicago and L.A.” Alissa squinted as she tracked Rachel. “Your hometown.”
Rachel halted. “I won’t be there. Palo Alto is another world compared to L.A.”
“I think he should go back home and focus on forestry in Maine. The pipeline going through the northern part of the state is a huge opportunity,” Alissa said in a confidential tone, as if she were trying to convince Rachel.
“Opportunity? I think you mean potential disaster!”
Pacing resumed.
“I just heard the word Maine, my bat signal.” Kell came up from behind them, making Rachel jump slightly, then return to her seat. A tight smile on Alissa’s face made it clear she was bothered by his presence.
Why?
“We were talking about–” Rachel started.
“Replacing the Leo costume,” Alissa said loudly, giving Rachel a glare that meant Shut up about my Big Oil job.
“Really? You two seemed pretty intense in your conversation. I don’t think old Leo ever generated that much enthusiasm, alive or dead,” he said, looking toward the table where yesterday’s funeral had taken place. All that was left were the limericks, taped to the wall by the microwave.
Which Rachel planned to remove after work when no one was looking.
“Just passionate about work,” Alissa said softly, giving Rachel a hard stare.
“I love to see you so passionate,” Kell said quietly, looking at Alissa with questions in his eyes.
Alissa glanced back at Rachel, then above the cubicles.
“Not here,” she said curtly.
He turned red and looked at his feet. Rachel felt bad for him.
He could have walked away, but he stood his ground. “My Uncle Ted called. Said he’d love to have me join you next week.”
“Join me?” Alissa squeaked, her appalled face making Rachel feel woozy. Alissa had always kept her emotions in check at all times.
This was bizarre.
“Yes. He said he and Aunt Patty want to take us out to dinner. If you’re going to Augusta, I might as well tag along.”
Rachel’s heart grabbed her conscience and began shaking it like it was trying to make it see common sense. Between what Alissa had just told her and the scene unfolding before her eyes, it was becoming sickeningly clear that Alissa was using Kell.
For what?
“Tag along?” Alissa repeated flatly.
Kell’s eyebrows furrowed with concern. “Are you okay, Liss?”
“Me?” She shot Rachel a look of warning, designed to keep her quiet.
“I’m fine. I think it’s very sweet of them to want to turn this into a social event, but I thought it would just be business.
Fly to Augusta, come back. One afternoon.
Simple. I have all these other interviews scheduled. You know.”
Rachel’s eyebrow cocked at the words you know.
Because it was all such a lie. A bald-faced lie.
One weakness Rachel had–one that she was self-aware about, though goodness knows there were plenty of others she had blinders on–was lying. If someone lied to her and she knew it, they were dead to her. Watching someone lie, especially to a friend, was one of the worst transgressions ever.
It required a call out.
“You don’t want me to go with you,” Kell said dully. It was a statement, not a question.
“Not this time,” Alissa gushed. “Next time.”
“Next time,” he echoed, but his eyes were troubled. Avoiding looking at Rachel, he focused all his attention on Lyin’ Alissa, who didn’t even break a sweat.
“Let's talk later, okay? Rachel and I are finishing up some data analysis here.” She gave his elbow a squeeze.
Kell’s eyes narrowed. “Sure.”
And then he left.
Alissa let out a long sigh, but said nothing. Rachel, on the other hand, was ready to explode.
“What was that?” she yell-hissed.
“Shhhh.”
“Don’t shush me! You lied to him! Job interviews? You don’t have more job interviews, do you? You took a job working for Emperor Palpatine!”
“Oh, stop, Rachel. You’re so naive.”
“Did you take the job?”
Alissa let out a huff. “I’m about to. And someday, you’ll do exactly what I’m doing.”
“Selling out?”
“Only someone who doesn’t understand business would say it that way.”
“I understand subterfuge all too well. Why are you lying to Kell? He’s such a good guy.”
Alissa peered at Rachel, her face hardening more.
“Don’t tell me how to treat my boyfriend.”
“He isn’t just your boyfriend. He’s my friend.”
“So that’s what this is about? Your obvious jealousy?”
“My WHAT?”
“Oh, please. You’ve wanted Kell Luview since the day he asked me out.”
“I have not!”
“You’re jealous of me, Rachel. I’m the head fellow. I’m dating a guy you never had the guts to go for. I’m about to have a job that your father would approve of. I’m everything you wish you could be.”
Ouch.
Alissa wasn’t entirely wrong, which is why Rachel couldn’t easily protest.
It wasn’t that she was jealous of Alissa; it was really more that she admired her. Watched how she handled people, imitated how she navigated unspoken rules. There were worse people to mimic. If anyone at EEC knew how to work a system, it was Alissa.
But her morals when it came to working relationships left a bad taste in Rachel’s mouth. Second by second, her opinion of her mentor was disintegrating. Rachel felt unmoored, unbalanced, and distinctly unimpressed.
“I’m your friend, too,” she said slowly, earning nothing but contempt from Alissa, who rolled her eyes like dice at a Vegas casino, coming up snake eyes. “I think you’re making a series of bad mistakes, even if you feel like you’re doing it for all the right reasons.”
“Says the pampered, well-connected daughter of Portia Starman and Stanley Hart, two power players in Hollywood. The silver spoon in your mouth is distracting me from your accomplishments, Rachel.”
Double ouch.
Rachel wanted to retort that she was just saying those things to distract and deflect from the fact that she was lying to Kell, but Karen approached, giving them both a questioning look.
“You two okay? What’s going on?”
The way her eyes jumped briefly to Rachel made it clear Karen was feeling them both out. That email wasn’t accidentally sent to Rachel.
Was it?
Damned if she asked Karen, damned if she didn’t. Rachel gave Alissa a full smile and said, “Just wrapping up the Argentina project.”
“Great.” Karen turned to Alissa. “Have a minute? We need to talk about that expense report you submitted.”
“Something wrong?” Alissa asked.
“Just a technicality.”
They disappeared, leaving Rachel with more questions than answers, but one thing was clear: She had to tell Kell that Alissa might be using him to gain access to his well-connected family in Maine.
With a sinking feeling in her gut, she closed her eyes and formed a plan.
A plan that might break his heart.