Page 7 of Hidden Chance

Nothing met her but the sound of phones ringing outside her door.

“Fine, then if you won’t clarify this for me, could you at least open the floor and let me fall through?” She looked down at her toes. “No? Not even that?” She continued to watch the floor at her feet. “This is your last chance.”

It was hard to move to her desk. Moving meant continuing forward, and she had no idea where to go from there.

She collapsed into her chair. “Next year, it won’t matter.” That’s what her dad used to say if she was ever embarrassed or made a mistake. He would remind her that, in a year, all would be forgotten, and it wouldn’t matter so much anymore.

For a few minutes, she allowed herself the luxury of considering writing a letter of resignation. She wasn’t one to give up because of a little setback, but she wasn’t against thinking about quitting just this once. She could storm out of the office in outrageous triumph andaccomplish absolutely nothing with the act except being out of a job.

She made blew a raspberry, then woke her computer. If only Mr. Burns had been right and shewasbehind on her work, then she’d have something frantic to do to keep her mind off her failure.

After opening up the latest figures she was creating a report for, it took her a solid twenty minutes before she could keep her mind focused on it for more than thirty seconds. Then she heard a soft knock on the door. Maybe it was Marty coming to apologize and tell her what wonderful ideas she had.

“Please, God, let it be good news,” she mumbled as she wiped her fingers under her eyes to remove any makeup that had gotten smeared, then said, “Come in.”

Pike stuck his head through the door. “You have a minute? Or should I let you mourn your loss a bit longer?”

“That depends. Did you come here to gloat?”

“You know I was on your side in there. If I had any say in the matter, maybe it would have been a different outcome. But I did warn you.”

“So, no gloating, but you had to fit in an ‘I told you so’?”

“Come on, Hannah, I’m not telling you anything you didn’t already know. It was a long shot. A very long shot, and you gave it your best. You did better than anyone else would have.” He made himself comfortable in the chair across her desk.

“Maybe if my ideas rated higher against a profit-and-loss statement.”

“That’s not the only thing holding it back, and it doesn’t mean I’m not proud of you.”

“That’s not what you really think.”

“How can you say that?”

“Because you looked just as dismayed as the rest of them.”

“That wasn’t dismay on my face. I was feeling for you in there. But I’ve got to tell you, your presentation was top-notch. It was mentioned after you left. Maybe we’re not using your strengths as well as we could. Where’d you get those photos from, anyway?”

“Lots of places. I spent hours—of my own time, mind you—poring through everything I could find. I went through every nook and cranny of this company I could.”

“I bet you did more than that.”

“I’ll admit I went way above and beyond the call of duty.”

Pike sighed heavily. “You are an incredible asset to this company. If you put all that hard work into the areas you’re actually paid for, you could really get ahead.”

“I want to do what I’m passionate about.”

“But for what? You shouldn’t have gone through so much trouble when you couldn’t be confident of the outcome.”

“That’s the trouble. I was confident. I was sure I had it.”

“Okay then, why don’t we come at this from a different angle? Perhaps you should take into considerationhow much this company already does and how much they give. Asking them to do?—”

“That’s not entirely true. Most of what they do comes from donor money, not money out of their own pockets. Don’t get me wrong, I’m very impressed with what they’re able to achieve. It’s the reason I came to work here in the first place. I just think there’s more to be done.”

“TreadCraft is not a charity. Our very valuable resources are used to continue the groundbreaking work we do here. That’s what this company is about. Giving back is extra.”

“We had record profits last year and a record number of approvals for our research from the government. This company is on fire, and it may be the worst thing that’s happened to them.”

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