Somebody’s Somebody
Damian
of our staff meeting. Everyone has been busy finishing up old projects before starting new ones and today is the closest thing to a lull we’ll get for a while.
As people file into the boardroom opposite my office, I walk across the hallway after I see Angel arrive. She’s wearing a thick wool coat and has half her hair stuffed in a beret-style hat. Her cheeks are pink from the cold, and I’d love nothing more than to warm her up. Instead, I settle for a curt nod of acknowledgement as I enter the room.
Once I’m certain everyone is here, I begin. “Good morning. Thanks for clearing your schedules to meet with me today. I’m sure you’re all wondering what this is about, but I assure you, it’s nothing scary.” I set down the manilla folder I carried in the room and stand at the head of the table in front of a projector screen, making eye contact with as many people as I can. Each one of them flinches under my gaze, aside from Elliot and Angel. This is going to be an uphill battle.
Paxton sends an encouraging smile my way, but I’m pretty sure he’s still scared of me.
To put everyone at ease, I take a seat in the lone empty chair and lean back, resting my feet on the leg under the table. “It seems we’ve gotten off on the wrong foot—a foot that didn’t belong to any of us—and it’s time we make it right.”
The employees around the table look at each other, more terrified than before. I am horrible at this.
“What I mean to say is that I’m not the same man as Mr. Woodward. I understand I’m the new guy; I’m unfamiliar, and I’ve failed at expressing my intentions with you all, but that ends today.” Carefully calculating my words, I take a deep breath. “Mr. Hannon and I had a chat about what the work environment was like before I arrived, and I’m sorry I didn’t address it sooner. I want you all to know that isn’t my style. We need to work as a team, and I value your input as much as I hope you’d value mine.”
People’s faces have started relaxing and, for the first time in the ten months since I took over this position, tension releases from the room.
“So I’m having Paxton distribute new informal policies and procedures. Obviously, the company has policies of their own and we have to respect those, but these are internally for our department.”
I give everyone a few moments to read over the sheet of paper, and a few of them smile.
“So, what I expect from you all is to work hard while you’re here. Don’t waste time if you’re stuck on something. Please come see me or someone else, if that’s the case. My door will remain open at all times unless I’m in a meeting, so don’t hesitate to stop in. And for goodness’ sake, please don’t be afraid of me when we run into each other in the lobby. You guys are killing me.”
Every employee in the room chuckles, and I feel like an idiot for not having this conversation sooner. Why is being honest such a hard concept to grasp? I’ve made things difficult for me and everyone else when I could have adopted Angel’s strategy and put this to rest months ago.
“Now, in the interest of being ultra cheesy”—I glance at Angel and catch her smirk—“and wanting to get to know each of you a little better, we’re going to go around the room like the first day of summer camp and you’re going to tell me something about yourselves that’s not on your resume. I don’t want to know where you went to school or what your GPA was. Trust me, I know that already. What I want to know is if you like camping or basketball. Do you have any meaningful tattoos? But for HR’s sake, please don’t show me. Whatever not-job related thing you want to share, I want to know it because for us to build a foundation as a team, we need to understand each other. So tell me what’s important to you.”
I stand from my chair, making sure I have everyone’s attention; especially Angel’s. My hands are shaking because I’m not sure how she’s going to respond to this, but I have mentally committed to it and intend to follow through. “As you all know, my name is Damian, and I’ve been working at Harbour Campaigns for six years, though I was in the product marketing department for more than five of them.”
“We don’t want your resume!” Elliot shouts from across the table. Him badgering me is progress.
I laugh at his comment and reply, “I’m getting to the important part.” I take a slow breath to steady my voice because I will lose all credibility if I sing these next words like a schoolgirl choir. “A few months ago, I went into a restaurant nearby, looking for lunch. That was all I expected. What I got was a salad and an introduction to our newest team member, Angel Blake. Now, to be clear, I had no part in hiring Miss Blake, so she is here by her own merit, as I’m sure you’ve all noticed.”
“Cut to the good part.” Mitchell chimes in with a huge smile on his face.
So far, so good. “Right. Well, the best part is that I fell in love with this woman, and I can’t go another minute without telling her.”
Myself and everyone else in the room focuses on Angel, trying to gauge her reaction. Her face is stoic. That’s not the face of someone who is happy to hear a declaration of love.
“Can I speak with you for a moment, Mr. Taylor?” Angel asks, still no clarification in her expression.
The rest of the staff either gasp or snicker, and I now feel like this was the dumbest idea I’ve ever had. And I once jumped off my neighbour’s roof into a kiddie pool. I respond with a simple nod and step toward the door. “I’ll return in a moment, and I expect something juicy from all of you. You… uh… don’t have to top this, though.”
Angel steps out of the room in front of me, and to my surprise, reaches back to grab my hand before dragging me down the hall.
“Where are we going? My office is right there.”
“I see that, but it’s got glass walls. We’ll have more privacy in ‘the pit’.”
Privacy? Is she going to slap me? Or kiss me? Tell me she hates me? My brain is sorting through a hundred different scenarios, and I’m not leaning toward any of them.
We stop in a random cubicle, which one of my staffers decorated with a few photos of her friends or family and a lot of pictures of a tuxedo cat. Angel leans back on the desk with her arms crossed. For a woman barely over five feet tall, she can be intimidating. I love that about her.
“Did you mean what you said, or are you just trying to make yourself more human to the staff to win them over?”
“What?” I step forward, placing my hands on her hips. “Angel, I’d never say something like that for any reason other than because I meant it. I’ve fallen hopelessly in love with you. Truer words have never left my mouth.”
She stares at me with an intensity that makes me regret my decision to declare my love for her publicly. I wish I could read her thoughts. I could ask her what she’s thinking, and she’d tell me, but I don’t want to play with her like that. Whatever she wants to say, it needs to be because she feels inclined to say it.
She surprises me with, “Why?”
Asking that question makes me realize she doesn’t see everything amazing about herself that I do. “Why do I love you?”
She nods.
“You don’t make apologies for who you are or what’s important to you. You’re honest and trustworthy, and I, for one, appreciate that more than anything. Even more than your remarkable beauty. More than your incomparable wit and sense of humour. More than your kissable lips, and trust me, I love those a lot.”
She doesn’t respond with words. In a flash, she grabs the back of my neck, pulls my face to meet hers and gives me a taste of those kissable lips. Somehow, kissing Angel Blake after confessing my love for her makes her even more delectable. Kissing her now is a whole other realm of intimacy because my soul is communicating with hers.
When she pulls her head away, her cheeks are flushed like they were when she walked in from the cold, and her hair looks wild. I didn’t realize I was attempting to run my hand through it until seeing the aftereffects.
“We need to get back to the meeting.” Her eyes are staring down at the floor to my left.
I lift her chin to look at me, wanting to get some insight into what she’s thinking, but again, she gives nothing away. “What’s on your mind?” Immediately, I’m flooded with regret. “Never mind. You don’t have to. I’m sorry.”
“No. Don’t be. I was… I was thinking I love you too, but this isn’t how”—she waves her hand around gesturing to the room we’re in—“or where I wanted to tell you.”
My smile grows exponentially hearing those words. “I’m sorry for ruining your plans. Can you ever forgive me?”
She smirks, playfully swatting my chest. “I suppose I’ll have to, since I love you and all.”
I wrap my arms around her, lifting her off the ground and spinning in a circle. “You are my angel, you know that? I love you, Angel Blake.”
“I love y—”
“What are you two doing out here? We’ve all been waiting for ten minutes.” Elliot peeks his head around the corner into “the pit”, catching my eyes. He tucks his head back behind a cubicle, probably feeling awkward for walking in on his boss twirling his girlfriend around.
“We’re coming back now. Sorry about that.” Angel slides out of my hold and walks toward Elliot, who is standing with a stupid grin on his face. Okay, maybe it’s not awkwardness he’s feeling.
How he feels is none of my concern, though. I can’t tame my smile as I follow behind Angel and Elliot to return to the boardroom. All eyes are on us as we walk back in, but I really couldn’t care less. This euphoric feeling I have can’t be crushed by anything.