Page 16 of Blind Date with the Boss

Sally looked about her and realised that all the others were back in their places and were watching the two of them with wry amusement.

‘We were late starting,’ Logan muttered smoothly and then he stood and was very dignified as he returned to his seat next to Hank, without a backward glance at Sally.

?CHAPTER SEVEN

NOT SURPRISINGLY, Janet now wanted everyone to introduce the person they’d interviewed to the whole group, sharing what they’d discovered about that person.

Logan hardly heard what they others said. He was too busy trying to work out why his newest employee had such a disturbing effect on him. She was pretty, certainly, but not as beautiful as many of the women he’d dated.

Those golden curls continued to intrigue him, but it was more than that. Sally Finch radiated warmth and vitality and there was something very wide-eyed and fresh about her that stirred memories of the strangest things – the first exciting day of the long summer holidays, waking as a child on Christmas morning.

He’d never met a woman quite like her. But he wasn’t going to admit that here. In the end, when it was his turn to introduce Sally, he spoke simply about her family, about her country girlhood and her desire to travel. He certainly didn’t mention the moment of spine-tingling connection while they’d been talking about the Brahms. For him, it was one of those rare experiences, like the music, that remained beyond the reach of mere words.

He wondered if Sally would mention it when she introduced him. As she got to her feet, he was on tenterhooks, fearful that this outspoken young woman might reveal toomuch about their conversation. But to his surprise, Sally was extremely circumspect. His business CV was more personally revealing than her careful introduction.

Janet Keaton caught his eye, her expression faintly bewildered. What had she expected? That Sally would spill one of his deep, dark secrets?

Perhaps, they’d both underestimated the newest employee.

For Sally, the rest of the workshop was every bit as much fun as she’d anticipated. There were all sorts of problem solving exercises which brought out different people’s strengths and weaknesses and showed the benefits of working in a team. She found that she was a lateral thinker, good at listening and at being empathetic, but she wasn’t so hot when it came to logic and spatial skills.

In groups, they hunted for errors in messages, tried to find triangles inside pentagons and to draw circle-and-dot diagrams without taking their pens off the paper. There were even moments of self disclosure where they shared fantasies.

Sally’s fantasy was to have long, straight, dark hair. The boss surprised everyone, except Sally, by claiming that he would love to have played rugby league for Australia.

Logan disappeared at lunch time and missed the rather delicious smorgasbord served in the dining room.

Maeve pounced on Sally. ‘Poor you. What was it like being grilled by the boss?’

‘Nerve-racking until he thawed out. Then he was close to normal.’

‘I must say you looked pretty into each other by the end.’

Sally tried to make light of it. ‘We were just talking about travel. How was Prince Charming?’

‘Fabulous.’ Maeve’s eyes danced with excitement. ‘I’m going out with him tonight.’

‘Tonight?’ Sally gaped at her friend. ‘Wow! That was quick work.’

Maeve grinned happily. ‘Our chat session was as good as a date. A kind of blind date in the workplace.’

In a strange way, so was mine, Sally thought.Far out. What would Logan say if he could read her thoughts?

Now she really was getting carried away.

The boss returned in time for the afternoon session. They were broken into competitive teams and given a kit of materials, and instructed to build an “anti-grenade” that would protect the shell of an egg. The time limit was thirty minutes.

Sally was hopeless at this, and happy to cheer on her team mates. After they’d built their device from reinforced cardboard and crumpled paper, they went to a “test site” in the park, where they had to throw their constructions.

Sally’s team broke their egg.

The boss’s team won, launching their device the furthest distance and keeping the egg intact.

He hadn’t been in Sally’s team for any of the day’s team activities, and he’d paid her no attention, but during the entire time she was ridiculously, super-aware of him. It was awful, like having a high school crush on a senior boy, but so much more painful, because it was so pointless.

Because it wasn’t supposed to happen.

After a scrumptious afternoon tea of scones with strawberry jam and cream, along with piping hot tea, Janet announced that it was time to draw some conclusions from the day’s activities.

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