I nodded as he disappeared into his office, but a moment
later my stomach sunk. I hadn't actualy finished copying
the packet. I'd known I needed to do it, it was part of my
regular weekly projects, but it hadn't been on Paul's list. I
also didn't want to admit I'd been distracted.
'Paul?'
They both looked up. She had puled her chair close to
his, their heads bent over what looked like a spreadsheet.
She'd taken off her suit jacket, too, and her breasts
pushed at the front of her silk shirt.
'I'm sorry,' I said. 'I haven't finished with the copies of that packet. It wil take me about fifteen minutes, but I'l do
that packet. It wil take me about fifteen minutes, but I'l do
it right now.'
I'd been made to feel smal before, but I hadn't expected
the look both of them gave me. Different looks, neither
pleasant. Hers was cutting, an arch of brow to indicate
surprise but not too much, as though she'd expected as
much from the likes of me. Hers I could deal with.
Paul, on the other hand, looked blank for the span of some
long seconds. Then he looked disappointed. 'We need
that packet now, Paige.'
He didn't need to tel me I'd screwed up. I'd have liked it
better if he had. I could have been angry, then, at being
scolded. Instead, al I could feel was the vast wash of guilt
for knowing I hadn't done what I was supposed to do.
'Ten minutes,' I promised.
'No need to jump through hoops,' Paul said. 'Just get it done.'
I did it in seven minutes, though it meant cheating and
taking up al three copy machines at the same time. When I
handed the packets, properly colated and stapled, one
handed the packets, properly colated and stapled, one
each to her and him, I didn't expect a reward.
I didn't get one. Not even a smile. Not even a terse thank-
you. Both of them took the papers and bent back to their
work without more than a glance at me, and I slunk out of
Paul's office in disgrace.
My mood only lasted another ten minutes. I worked for a
paycheck, not approval, and I'd never given him a reason
to have any complaint about my work, not even in the first
few weeks when I hadn't known what I was doing.
'Paige, can I see you for a minute?' Paul said when Vivian left, finaly, at a quarter to five.
'Sure. Of course.'
He stepped aside to let me into his office and gestured at
the chair that had been returned to the front of his desk. I
sat. Paul sat, too, and looked across the desk at me with
his hands folded together.
'I wanted to make sure you were doing al right.'
This wasn't what I'd expected. 'I'm fine, thanks.'
'The job's not overwhelming you?'
