Chapter 16
About halfway through, I got the feeling that this might have been working. We could have been pulling it off. But we had to remember the most important thing: Beau Gowan needed to keep his mouth shut.
“Mostly shut,” Ronan had recommended. “It might look weird if he’s sitting there with his lips clamped closed for the entire meeting.”
But if Mr. Gowan spoke, I was afraid that he was likely to give everything away, so I had coached him before we’d come into this conference room. “You could talk about…uh…” I had drawn a blank.
“I could say how much I love football,” he’d suggested.
“Do you?” I’d had no idea.
He had nodded vigorously, indicating that he really did. “I could also mention my former embrace of a vagabond existence, but how I’m giving that up because I’ll have a son or daughter in a few months.”
“Are you really giving it up? Wait, no. Don’t mention that,” I’d hurriedly ordered. “Save it for another time and stick to your love of the Woodsmen.”
“I’m actually a Rustlers fan—I won’t say that, either,” he’d assured me.
Somehow, during the lead-up to this meeting, we’d switched positions a little bit. He was supposed to be my boss but I’d been the one bossing more. That had developed after he’d gotten back from Madagascar, or wherever he had been, and I’d admitted what I’d done for the Junior team.
I had started at the beginning and told him every detail. “I’m very, very sorry that I was leaving you out of the loop,” I’d concluded.
At first, he had been stunned. “Maybe I should have looked at those papers I was signing,” he mentioned, and I had nodded.
I had prepared a presentation that explained all the improvements that he had okayed (without knowing he was doing it), and he’d stared at the charts on his expensive monitor.
“That’s a lot of money,” he had commented next.
“I didn’t know painting jobs cost so much.
What color did you choose for the interior? ”
“It’s the same one as in the stadium here, a nice neutral. But I did spend a lot and I’m afraid that at one point, the Woodsmen will want to check in on this. They’ll ask you about approving everything.”
“I didn’t. But you went ahead with it anyway,” he said. “That would be a problem for both of us.”
He was cannier than I’d given him credit for but luckily, he was also unfazed by the sneakiness and unprofessionalism of my prior behavior. “This is exactly how I got through college,” he had said several times. “I faked it. I never looked at a syllabus and I never saw the inside of a classroom.”
That had been shocking to me, as a person who had never missed one minute of anything school-related.
But his way of moving through life made him ready to accept that others also cut corners.
He wasn’t exactly pleased, though, because he claimed that he would have happily approved everything and that I hadn’t needed to hide all this.
When I thought about it, I realized that he was probably correct.
After all, it wouldn’t have made any additional work for him (in addition to nothing, since his output was zero).
I hadn’t needed to trick him or try to do everything in secret, like how I’d behaved with my dad.
Despite his faults, Beau wasn’t a mean person who would have stood in the way of me doing something good (as long as he hadn’t needed to do anything himself).
Ronan and I had developed a strategy to deal with the situation and I had introduced it to my boss. “We can turn this around and make it a win for you,” I’d explained. “We can make it look like it was all your idea. They’ll think you took initiative.”
“I’ve never taken that,” he’d told me.
“Yes, but now’s your chance. We’ll ask for a meeting to explain what you’ve done and your plan for the future of the Junior Woodsmen.”
“Can you tell me what that plan is?” he’d requested, and I had.
I had also set up this meeting with several top-level Woodsmen officials by dropping his name and “Whitaker” a lot.
I had shoved as much knowledge into Mr. Gowan as I could and now, here we were, seated around a large oval table on a much higher floor than our office.
His supposed output had impressed the other people in this big conference room.
We (I) had first presented the comprehensive survey of the practice facility, the old list of all the problems with the building, the equipment, the field, et cetera, along with pictures I had taken of the execrable conditions.
The next slides showed how many of those problems had been resolved and how economical we (I) had been in our choices.
We talked about the marketing plan to promote the Junior team and how to fill those cold, uncovered metal bleachers with fans.
We discussed merchandizing possibilities and community outreach. We covered a lot.
When I nudged Beau’s foot, he moved to the last slide, the new Junior Woodsmen logo.
Their previous one had been a true emblem of the team: it was ugly and had generally sucked, so Taylor had used her graphic design skills to create something a lot better.
Everything was looking better for the Juniors, especially when the Woodsmen CEO started nodding and saying that he agreed with Beau, that they had been overlooking this opportunity for much too long.
“I’m glad we put you in charge,” he told my boss.
“Thank you, but Cate was instrumental,” Mr. Gowan answered. “She was the key.”
“Thank you,” I echoed. I breathed out quietly and thought that we might have saved both of our jobs.
“And I’m going to be a father,” Beau announced, and I kicked him again but it was too late.
When the meeting was over and we had all shaken hands, I hurried out to the players’ parking lot, the special area where only they were allowed to go.
Ronan was waiting for me there, standing next to the bus that he and the team would take to the airport in just a little while.
The security guard would have stopped me but he started waving and walking to meet me as I ran.
Yes, I was actually running, and I barreled into him and threw my arms around his waist.
“What happened?” he asked. “What went wrong? Did that Gowan idiot start blabbing something?”
“He did at the end. He told everyone about his baby and how happy he is.”
“I knew he wouldn’t be able to stick to the script.” It was a script that Ronan had helped to prepare. He and I had talked through the situation many, many times, and he had argued that I was framing it wrong.
“You accomplished so much good stuff for the Junior Woodsmen. Your boss approved everything, even if he wasn’t aware of it.
That’s how you have to go at this,” he had told me.
“You announce, ‘Wow, check out how great we are!’ and make the project belong to both of you. If the Woodsmen execs have a problem with it, then they’ll have to face how they failed to supervise new employees and how they also failed to keep track of their money.
I couldn’t put in an order for a box of filters at the car dealership.
You hadn’t even been there for a year and you bought a new roof, and no one really blinked.
But as far as you’re concerned, boom, it’s done and you and Beau Gowan are awesome. Check out all the success.”
That had been my tactic for the meeting today and now I was happy to report the outcome.
“It didn’t really matter that he talked about his baby.
They loved the presentation and they loved the changes and the strategy for the future.
They’re going to start promoting everything on Woodsmen social media, showing off how good the facility looks and putting the marketing plan into action.
” I looked up at him. “It worked. I think it’s going to be ok. ”
“Hell’s bells.” I felt tension go out of his body. “I’ve been thinking all kinds of things out here. I was considering sneaking in to eavesdrop, but I had a feeling that someone might see me. I’ve never been called inconspicuous.”
“Have you been called a great hugger? Because you are.” I put my cheek against his chest. “That was more stress than I’ve felt in a long time.
” I’d been sweating, nauseated, hot, cold, close to anxious tears, and also close to hysterical laughter.
“I don’t think anyone could tell. I’m pretty good at hiding my emotions. ”
“Yeah, sure you are. I can feel you shaking right now but you’re not wearing your coats. Is it because you’re cold?” he asked, and I nodded. “Put your arms around my neck and I’ll warm you up,” he ordered as he bent down.
I did and then he stood, so that now we were eye to eye and I dangled in the air. But he held me tightly and he was smiling. “You pulled it off,” he said.
“You helped, so much. Just knowing that you were here waiting for me made it easier,” I said.
“I couldn’t have waited much longer because our bus is leaving soon. I was going to have to delay it somehow. I was planning to buy time by suggesting that we all take some golf shots.”
“You don’t have clubs and it’s snowing,” I pointed out, because delicate flakes had started to fall and land on his dark hair, tiny sparkles decorating him.
“I need the practice, though. I’m hoping to win my own crocodile.”
“You can share mine,” I said. “I’m happy to share my food, my car, my…anything. Anything you want.”
“And what’s mine is yours, Cate. Everything.”
Then he leaned forward and he kissed me. It was gentle and slightly hesitant, and I froze in surprise.
“That wasn’t due to shock, not this time,” he said when we broke apart. “Is that ok?”