“You’re right, Lucky. This is nice. Very nice work product. I don’t even understand most of it.”
Dev speaks, his voice making me flush all over again. “So what’s the plan? What’s our next move?” I can’t look at him, afraid everyone will see in my expression how over the moon I am.
Lucky answers. “Well, I need to sit down with Jenny and have her show me all this on the computer, and then we need to invite Mr. Jorgensen to come in and show him what we’ve found. And at that point, I assume he’ll want to get the police department involved.” Lucky looks over at me. “Are you cool with that? Do you mind sitting with the client and explaining what you found? I think you’re the only one who can really explain the details.”
I’m anxious to keep the good vibes flowing. “Absolutely. I want to help however I can. You guys hired me to do this job, so I’ll do anything you need to finish it up.”
“That brings us to our next order of business,” Ozzie says. The room goes silent and Thibault puts the report down on the table, turning his attention to me.
I look around at everyone, but the only one giving me any hint as to what’s going on is Dev. He’s smiling at me and then he winks.
I have to look away because my face is turning beet red. I feel like I just caught fire.
“I think, based on this report that we’re looking at here, and the feedback that I’ve gotten from Lucky out in the field and from Dev as well, not to mention the information that Thibault was able to find, and of course May’s recommendation”—Ozzie pauses to glance at his girlfriend, making her blush—“I’d like to move forward with our earlier conversation if that’s okay with the group.”
Everybody at the table with the exception of Toni nods in agreement. She doesn’t say anything; she just stares straight ahead into space.
Ozzie turns his attention to me. “I know we had a bit of a rough start with you last week, but we’ve all been really impressed with your work product and your performance in general. Thibault, Lucky, and I have conducted an analysis of our business, and we’ve come to the conclusion that we’ve been turning down a lot of work because we’re lacking some particular skillsets in our current roster. It appears as if you could pick up some of the slack on that.”
He pauses to let that sink in and maybe to gauge my reaction. I remain as cool as possible under the circumstances. Having Dev across the table helps to remind me that I can handle myself well under pressure. I just have to remember that night in the office and how I didn’t run out the door screaming in a blind panic. I dealt with that, I dealt with Frank’s sorry ass, and I can certainly deal with this too.
“So, if you’d be willing, we’d love to have you join the team. We’d start you out on a ninety-day trial basis, to see if it’s something that’s a good fit for you and for us, but if it all works out the way we think it will, you could be a full-time employee and entitled to all the benefits that come along with that.”
I swallow a couple times trying to get my voice to work. Should I do it? Should I take the risk? Should I stop worrying about all the things that might happen and instead focus on all the things that could happen?
I look across the table at Dev and he’s staring me down with a serious expression on his face. He nods, like he has all the confidence in the world in me, like I actually could be a member of the Super Friends team. My heart soars and my courage hops up to ride shotgun.
I nod. “I’d like that. The trial basis sounds like a good idea.” That’s my out. If I hate it, no harm, no foul; I’ll back out and there’ll be no commitment to anyone that I have to blow off, and May will be safe from her team’s ire. I refuse to consider where Dev falls in this scenario.
Ozzie nods. “Great.” He looks around the table. “Does anybody else have any other business to discuss right now?”
I’m pretty sure they continue on and talk about another client at this point, but I don’t hear any of it. I sit at the table in a daze, unable to believe my good fortune. Or is it my misfortune? I have no way of knowing right now. All I do know is that I’m sitting at a table with my sister—arguably the best friend I’ve ever had—and a man with a killer dimple who’s giving me the most adorable look I could ever imagine, and I’ve just been offered a full-time job. It feels like this trial version is not just a trial for my job but also a trial for my heart.
Will I survive is the question. And if I don’t, where will I be then? What if this turns out like my last job, where I work really hard and then get destroyed and left out in the cold?
It doesn’t even bear thinking about right now. Always looking in my rearview mirror isn’t the way for me to move forward. Up, up, and away! as Superman says. I’m going to focus on my future and not the mistakes of my past.