Page 103 of Ten Years and Then…
Mr. Kincaid laughed. “I like that. All you need is a big cigar and a black van, and you sound like Hannibal from The A-Team.”
It took Daniel a moment to get it, but then it clicked. At the end of each episode, he always said, I love it when a plan comes together. “I guess so.” He laughed. “I always liked Knight Rider better, though. I’d much rather have a talking car than an old van.”
“Well, they were a team, too. The old guy in the suit, and the mechanic, I don’t remember her name.” Daniel resisted the urge to point out their names—Devon and Bonnie. “The point is, I have another opportunity for you coming up at the end of the year. There’s a big show in December in Minneapolis—God knows who thought that was a good idea. But it’s an important show. The National Communications and Connectivity Expo. The job is yours if you want it. You can pick who goes—within reason, of course. And we’re going to be redesigning our booth, so you’ll be involved in that. What do you think?”
He didn’t need to think at all. “Yes, sir. I’ll do it.”
Except—what if Nora was assigned to cover that show, too?
Nora, July 22
Nora was at her desk, typing away. A shadow fell over her, and she knew who it was, but she did her best to ignore it. If Jack Elliott wanted her attention, he could speak to her like a normal person, rather than looming over her like something from a horror movie.
“Ahem,” Jack said, finally. He actually said the word. Who did that?
“Yes, Mr. Elliott?”
“The boss wants to see you.” She knew he was hoping she’d blubber in fear. He’d been nothing but hostile to her from the moment she walked in the office Monday morning. But Nora knew—well, she was pretty sure—she had nothing to fear from Mr. Brooks. If he was going to fire her, or demote or discipline her some other way, he’d have done it already. He wouldn’t wait four days, letting her go about her work the whole time.
“Thank you, Mr. Elliott.” She stood up and headed off to Mr. Brooks’ office, making a point of not looking at Jack as she did.
When she got to her boss’ office, he told her to close the door, which he never did.
Maybe she’d been wrong. Maybe Mr. Brooks had been planning to fire her, and the delay was just him working through the paperwork with Human Resources. He was the kind of man who made sure every “i” was dotted and every “t” was crossed. If he were going to let someone go, it made perfect sense he’d take four days to make sure it was done by the book.
“You should know Jack has been in here telling me to fire you every day this week. He says it was insubordination, and no matter how good your story is, I can’t permit reporters to go rogue like you did. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him this angry.”
Why was he telling her this? It wasn’t surprising; Jack had been cold—beyond cold—to her ever since she got back.
“I’m not sure what to say, Mr. Brooks.”
Her boss didn’t quite smile. “What I’m about to say does not leave this office. If you ever repeat it, it will be insubordination, and I will fire you. The reason Jack wants you fired is because he’s jealous. It’s because he recognizes—as I do—just how good a story you brought back. And because he knows he would never have had the nerve to do what you did to get it. Which is why he will never be in my chair, but—one day, several years from now, if you continue to produce excellent work, and create stories where other reporters would not, you may be.”
It took her a moment to process that. Was he really saying what she thought he was?
“Thank you. I think.”
Now he was smiling properly. “I don’t say any of that to swell your ego. Just to let you know you’ve taken your first step on the path I hoped you would follow. But it is only a first step. You’ve raised the bar for yourself, Nora. I will expect the same quality of work every time from you, and the same good judgment.”
“I’ll do my best,” she said.
He talked to her a few minutes more, and she did her best to stay engaged with him. But it was difficult; she couldn’t stop thinking about Daniel.
About how, by opening the door towards one day sitting in Mr. Brooks’ chair she’d also maybe closed the door to the man she still loved, forever.
Daniel, August 28th
Daniel stopped by the bookstore when he got home from work and bought the new issue of Modern Computing.
And now he knew what had happened to Nora.
He couldn’t blame her—a massive opportunity had presented itself, and she’d done the only thing she could have. He could picture how it had probably happened: she would have been interviewing the Gateway CEO when he got an urgent call to return home to deal with a crisis. And she’d invited herself along—not thinking about the consequences or the downside, just seeing her big chance and acting in the moment.
And it had paid off. How many reporters got a cover story and twenty-four pages inside the magazine when they’d been working for less than a year? He’d been right when he told her she was going to be a star, but even he didn’t think it would happen this fast.
She wouldn’t have had any way to let him know in the moment, and then came the cell phone mix-up, so when she tried to call him from South Dakota, she was really calling the phone that Thomas had drowned to death.
But she hadn’t tried to contact him since then. She knew where he worked, it would be easy for her to get his phone number, or his email address.
