Fighting Fate

by Louise Clark

  Nice fantasy, but nothing more than that. Faith was far more likely to look down her straight, narrow nose at him, even though he was a good five inches taller, than she was to kiss him back. She needed to loosen up if he was going to be seriously attracted to her.

  Giving himself a mental shake, Cody also indulged in a rueful silent chuckle. Faith Hamilton was just about the most uptight woman he’d met since he left the computer software company where he’d worked before he earned his PhD. He knew her type. She was career-focused to the extent that all else took a back seat. She made rules and demanded that they be kept, then gave no quarter if they were not. She followed a rigid schedule and liked it. Orderly and punctual, she didn’t have time to pause for a good laugh or to help another human being in trouble.

  She was everything he was not.

  Ralph was rambling toward the end of his story now. He was at the sixteenth hole and was six shots above par. That was pretty good, Cody thought, so the punch line should be coming up soon. Either Ralph won the foursome he was in by achieving some hugely difficult shot, or he ended up saving some poor sod from humiliating himself, causing Ralph to lose dramatically as a result of his good deed. It had to be one or the other because Cody couldn’t see the CEO telling a story in which he ended up being less than the best.

  Time to start paying attention to golf and stop thinking about Faith Hamilton. He knew women like Faith and he knew he couldn’t compete with the structure they created around themselves. He didn’t—couldn’t—no, wouldn’t—fit into their orderly lives and they weren’t willing, or to be fair, weren’t able, to change them. The type of woman who appealed to Cody was a free spirit who didn’t object to chaos around her, who was loving, passionate and deeply committed to what mattered—people, especially the people she loved.

  Faith Hamilton didn’t fit that description and the eighteenth hole beckoned. He had another few weeks of having the woman on his tail, demanding he pay attention to software problems, then Sue Green would be back and he’d be off the hook. He could hang on until then.

  Just.

  Chapter 6

  The next computer problem occurred at nine-forty on Monday morning—Angela’s computer again, of course! Faith was beginning to think that perhaps Angela’s computer was suffering a nervous breakdown and needed to be replaced. After her run-in with Cody, she was damned if she was going to call him and ask for his help fixing the problem, though. She’d just do it herself and save the grief.

  Disaster struck as she sat at Angela’s desk, muttering under her breath and fighting frustration. Angela was peering over her shoulder offering suggestions and helpful hints that weren’t helpful at all. Suddenly the secretarial bullpen became quiet.

  Faith wasn’t expecting the catastrophe that was about to make her next half-hour extremely unpleasant. She was plowing through all of the strategies that had corrected the problem before in a steady, though unsuccessful fashion. She didn’t wipe the hard drive and with it all of Angela’s files. Nor did she somehow manage to make the operating system delete important protocols as Angela had once done. No, it was much simpler than that. The disaster was the arrival of Ava Taylor.

  She walked up to Angela’s desk and slowly came to a stop. “Faith! I did not expect to see you here.”

  What she actually meant was, You’re supposed to call in Cody Simpson to do this sort of thing. Why haven’t you? Faith could hear the words in every nuanced tone, beneath every innocuous word.

  She straightened slowly as she abandoned the computer and its glitch. Angela would have to fend for herself. “Hi, Ava.”

  “I stopped by your office, Faith. I wanted to talk to you.” But you weren’t there. You were here doing what you are not supposed to. Nuance said so much more than a simple word could.

  Faith lifted her chin. “Then let’s go back to my office now and we can discuss what you came by to see me about. Angela, call Cody Simpson and ask him to come down and help you with this.”

  “But he won’t come. You know that, Faith.”

  Faith glanced at Ava, wondering if she was getting the picture about Cody, but Ava’s expression showed nothing but polite interest. Although her eyes…yes, her eyes burned with an expression that could only be called greed. Ava wanted to hear the company gossip. Heaven knew what she’d do with it once she had it. It was a scary thought.

  “Try Dr. Simpson,” Faith said. “I’ll check back with you later to see how it’s going.” She rose before Angela could come up with another protest and led Ava back to her office.

  “I thought you were going to alert Cody Simpson whenever there was a problem with one of the computers,” Ava said as soon as the office door closed behind them.

  “He’s busy, Ava. It’s easier to do it myself.”

  “I’m disappointed in you, Faith. That is not the kind of team spirit I know you are capable of.”

  That was a low blow. Faith could feel heat rise in her cheeks. “Ava, I am thinking about the best interests of the company. Dr. Simpson is doing important work. Why bother him with stupid little problems that are way beneath his skills?”

  “I am well aware of the value of the work Cody Simpson is doing, but he is the head of our computing department and as such repairing the computers is his responsibility.”

  That surprised Faith, though she supposed she should have expected Ava to be rigid where Cody Simpson was concerned. “I take your point.”

  Ava peered at her from under furrowed brows, as if she couldn’t quite believe Faith was giving in so easily. “So what will you do the next time one of the clerical staff has a computer problem?”

  There were moments when Ava was too cute to swallow. Faith gritted her teeth and resisted the temptation to say that she wasn’t a naughty preschooler. Instead she replied as politely as she could, “I’ll call Dr. Simpson and ask him to fix it.”

  Ava nodded. She bared her teeth in a smile that could kill, but her tone was confused when she said, “Why do you keep calling him Doctor Simpson?”

  “Because he told me that is how he should be addressed.” Not quite true, but close enough.

  Ava shot her another under brow look. “We are all on a first name basis at NIT.”

  “Of course,” Faith murmured. She was not about to admit that she was the one who had decided to be formal with Cody Simpson. Let Ava assume what she wanted to.

  “I believe you and Cody Simpson need a counseling session to help you work through your differences.”

  Alarm shot through Faith. The thought of sitting in a meeting room on one side of a table with Cody Simpson on the other and Mona, the Human Resources Manager, between them, telling them they needed to express their anxieties and be open about their conflicts, was truly terrifying. Or was it just too absurd to be contemplated? Faith didn’t know. All she was certain of was that she didn’t want to do it.

  Ava must have been watching Faith’s face and read her dismay. “There may be another way to handle the problem. In fact, it’s the reason I wandered by this morning.”

  There was a tense silence until Faith finally said, “And that reason was?”

  “You haven’t replied to your invitation to the company picnic.”

  She hadn’t? Could that be? She was certain she must have replied. She always went to NIT events and responded to the e-mail announcements as soon as they came into her mailbox. Ava had probably lost her reply and wasn’t willing to admit it. Since she didn’t want to get into an argument, she said, “Sorry about that, Ava,” in as positive a tone as she could muster.

  “Well?”

  Well what? Faith searched her mind for Ava’s meaning then suddenly realized she was talking about the invitation. “Oh, yeah. Am I coming to the picnic?”

  Ava bestowed an indulgent smile on Faith. “”Exactly. I think you should, Faith. You need to build more positive relationships with your fellow workers.”

  The last time Ava had given Faith a pep talk, she’d said that Faith was management and as su
ch had to keep herself separate from the support staff she supervised. It would be nice if Ava could sort out her priorities.

  Unaware of the negative thoughts running through Faith’s mind, Ava continued on, “The picnic is an excellent setting in which to do this. The mood is relaxed, people are enjoying themselves, they are willing to see a side of their fellow staff members that they might not otherwise notice. I do hope you will reconsider your decision.”

  There was nothing to reconsider. Faith had planned to go to the company picnic all along. “Of course I’ll come, Ava. I look forward to it.”

  Ava beamed. “Excellent! I know Cody Simpson will be attending too. I’ll make sure you two have ample opportunity to get to know each other.” She paused, tapping her lips with her forefinger as she thought. “Perhaps you could pair up in the volleyball tournament. That way you could work closely together as a team. Hmmm, I’ll have to think about that. Hot dogs or hamburgers?”

  Faith had been visualizing Cody Simpson dressed in shorts that showed off his long legs and a t-shirt that molded his chest in a very attractive way. The sudden change of subject left her bemused. “Excuse me?”

  With an airy wave of her hand, Ava said, “Would you like hot dogs or hamburgers? I’m tallying the numbers today so that we can purchase the food. “Pop or juice? Salad or chips? Cheesecake or apple pie?”

  “I’d like one hot dog, apple juice, salad and cheesecake, Ava. Anything else you need to know?”

  “I think we’ve covered everything.” Ava stood and headed for the door. There she paused and smiled, her hand on the knob. “Do try to work more effectively with Cody Simpson, Faith. I know you can do it, especially when the stakes are so very high.”

  Faith wondered about Ava’s comment for the rest of that day and into the next. On the surface it sounded as if Ava was trying make Faith feel positive about a difficult situation, but the longer Faith thought about it, the more she though Ava’s words sounded like a threat. But what kind of threat? Would she be demoted to the bullpen if she didn’t have Cody Simpson do the computer jockeying? Or would Ava actually fire her?

  You’re being paranoid, she told herself. Of course Ava was not threatening her. Why would she? Ava was responsible for ensuring that the staff utilized their time as effectively as they could and she was just reminding Faith that there was someone else who would be better suited to fixing the bullpen computers. That was all. It was Faith’s own need to do her job perfectly that was making her look over her shoulder.

  Maybe that was it. Maybe she just needed some balance. On the one hand she had Ava demanding utter conformity to procedure. On the other was Cody Simpson whose organizational style seemed to be benign anarchy. Somewhere in between was Faith, who believed in empowering people and flexibility. With two powerful personalities, each with a conflicting style, pulling at her from either direction, she wasn’t in a position to achieve balance on her own. She needed input from outside. She chose Liz.

  They met after work on Wednesday. “Great idea to take in a movie, Faith,” Liz said as they stood in line outside the multiplex theatre. She flexed her shoulders, rolling them back and forth with a sigh. “I’ve been analyzing dinosaur footprints all day, trying to determine behavior patterns and how they relate to modern herd animals. There was a moment this afternoon when I realized I’d been sitting hunched in the same position for over an hour. I thought the muscles in my shoulders and back had frozen into one solid block I was so tense. A night away from technical details is just what I need.”

  Faith laughed. The line shuffled forward. “I’m a little tense myself. There’s so much stuff going on at work I sometimes wish I could just disappear.” They reached the ticket window. “Two adults for theater number two.” She paid the cashier and collected the tickets. As they moved toward the entrance Liz thrust a bill at her. Faith shook her head. “Forget it, Liz. My treat.”

  “I’ll buy the popcorn, then,” Liz said.

  “Done.”

  Fifteen minutes later, burdened by extra large buckets of popcorn, liberally spiced with assorted seasonings, and waxed beakers of high-calorie pop, they settled into the perfect seats. Dead centre, three rows from the front, the location provided the maximum sensory overload and had been the sisters’ favorite theater seating since they’d been old enough to go to the movies on their own.

  Faith slumped in her chair, leaning her head back so she could look up at the screen. She stretched her feet under the row in front of her and began to munch her popcorn.

  All that was on the screen was advertisements for consumer products. Liz twisted in her seat so she could look at her sister. “So what’s up?” she said, before she popped a handful of popcorn in her mouth.

  Faith glanced at her, then stared at an image of women’s high fashion sandals, available only—so the ad said—at a national chain of popular shoe stores. Seen on the movie screen, each shoe was enormous and, with the high spike heels, vaguely phallic. Faith wondered if the makers of the ad had really intended for the product to relate to people on a sexual level or if her over active imagination was seeing something that wasn’t really there. She certainly seemed to be thinking about sex a lot these days.

  An image of Cody Simpson on the stairs, leaning against the wall, his torso beautifully filling out the dark blue t-shirt, slammed into her. She sat up abruptly. Her drifting thoughts had brought her to an unexpected place, one she didn’t want to go to. “I think I’m losing it at work.”

  Liz raised her eyebrows. “Sounds dire.”

  Faith laughed at her sister’s dry tone. “Doesn’t it? I suppose it’s not all that bad, but you know, Liz, I’m making mistakes. I’ve got Ava Taylor telling me that we all have our job descriptions and mine doesn’t include computer troubleshooting and then I’ve got Cody Simpson, who’s supposed to be troubleshooting, not doing it. And then there’s Angela, whose computer should probably be replaced, but hasn’t been, and that’s out of my hands too. I feel like my department is falling apart and I’m not doing my job properly. I hate that feeling.”

  Music blasted out of the sound system as the pre-movie entertainment shifted from the advertisement about shoes to one promoting the soundtrack of the film they would soon be seeing. Liz glanced at the screen, ate popcorn until it was quieter, then said, “Ava the Tyrant Lizard has been harassing you since she was hired, but what’s Cody Simpson been up to? Fill me in.”

  Faith shot her sister a disapproving look. “I’ve never described Ava as a tyrant. Or a lizard.”

  Liz laughed. “I like to call her that because she reminds me of the largest of the dinosaur predators, good old tyrannosaurus rex. He was big and dangerous but not as smart as the raptors, which were half his size. That’s the way I see Ava, mean and ruthless, but not very bright, like some corporate hatchet man out of the eighties. I thought those types had died out with the turn of the millennium.”

  “She’s not a hatchet man—person,” Faith said, not quite sure why she was defending Ava.

  Liz grinned mischievously. “I guess that means she’s mutated into another form, like birds evolving from dinosaurs. Now she’s the company tyrant.”

  Faith snorted. Liz laughed again. “Tell me something. Does Ava have a computer background?”

  “No. She’s got a business degree, like I do.”

  “Ahh,” Liz said, tilting her head back and dropping popcorn in her open mouth. Faith thought she looked remarkably like a baby bird being fed by its parent. Liz washed the popcorn down with a sip of pop. “Ava the Tyrant Lizard must hate that.”

  Faith shook her head. “You’re not making any sense, Liz. What would Ava hate?”

  “Being different.”

  “Get off it! She’s not different, not the way I’m different! She just has different skill sets than Cody Simpson’s. Why would that make her so insistent he has to be the one to do what amounts to a technician’s job? It doesn’t make sense.”

  “Back up a step,” Liz said. “How important is Cod
y Simpson to NIT?”

  Faith frowned, then shrugged. “Pretty important, I guess. Ralph used to do a lot of the software design, but he’s focused more on sales since Cody was hired. I don’t get into a lot of the technical details, but we’ve expanded and I know that there was hot competition for at least one of the contracts we recently won. Whether NIT got the contract specifically because of Cody’s work, I don’t know. I’m not part of the executive committee.”

  “But Ava the Tyrant Lizard is.” Trailers for the movies appearing on other screens in the multiplex were now being shown. It wouldn’t be long before the movie began. Urgency added impact to the rest of Liz’s words. “Sounds to me like you’ve got yourself into the middle of a power struggle between the big guys. My suggestion to you?”

  The in-complex trailers shifted to ones for upcoming films. The movie was next. Once it started their conversation was over. Faith nodded. “Tell me.”

  “Act like one of those cute little rodent-sized mammals from the dinosaur age. Burrow deep and keep your head down. Let the overgrown tyrannosaurs fight it out between themselves.”

  As advice went it was pretty sensible stuff. The trailer ended. The screen flashed dark. In the moment of silence before the new images began, Faith said quietly, “Cody Simpson isn’t a tyrant. He’s a pain, but he’s not like Ava.”

  “Whoa!” said Liz. “Where did that come from?”

  The screen burst into life as the movie started. Faith was relieved she wouldn’t have to answer her sister’s question.

  Because the only answer she had was a disturbing one.

  She wasn’t constantly thinking about Cody Simpson because he refused to do the job Ava had assigned to him. She was aware of him on another level, a personal level that had allowed physical attraction to slip past her barriers.