Chapter Two
I wasn’t late to our meeting.
Ever since that day a year and eight months ago, I was never late.
Why?
Aaron Blackford.
One time. I had been late one single time in Aaron’s presence, and yet he kept flaunting that fact every chance he got.
He never chalked it up to me being Spanish or a woman. Both unjustified stereotypes when it came to being notoriously unpunctual.
Aaron didn’t do nonsense. He pointed out facts; he stated verifiable truths. He had been disciplined to do that, just like every other engineer in the consulting company where we worked, me included. And technically, I had been late. That one time all those months ago. It was true that I had missed the first fifteen minutes of an important presentation. It was also true that it had been Aaron leading it—during his first week in InTech—and it was again true that I had made a miserably loud entrance that might have involved accidentally knocking over a coffee pitcher.
On Aaron’s stack of dossiers for the presentation.
Fine, partly on his pants too.
Not the best way to make an impression on a new colleague, but tough shit. Things like that happened all the time. Tiny, unintentional, unexpected accidents like those were common. People got over them and went on with their lives.
But not Aaron.
Instead, week after week and month after month ever since that day, he had barked stuff like, “Try not to be late to our ten o’clock meeting. It’s not cute anymore,” at me.
Instead, every single time he entered a conference room and found me sitting there, painfully early, he checked the watch on his wrist and raised his eyebrows in surprise.
Instead, he moved coffee pitchers out of my reach with a warning tilt of his head in my direction.
That was what Aaron Blackford did instead of letting go of that incident.
“Good morning, Lina.” Héctor’s kind voice reached me from the door.
I could tell he was smiling before I took in his face, just like he always did. “Buenos días, Héctor,” I told him in the mother tongue we shared.
The man that I considered like an uncle after he welcomed me into the close circle of his family placed a hand on my shoulder and squeezed lightly. “Doing good, mija?”
“Can’t complain.” I returned the smile.
“You coming over to the next barbecue? It’s next month, and Lourdes keeps telling me to remind you. She’s preparing ceviche this time, and you are the only one that will eat it.” He laughed.
It was true; no one in the Díaz family was a big fan of the fish-based Mexican dish. Which, to this day, I still couldn’t understand.
“Stop asking dumb questions, old man.” I waved my hand in the air with a chuckle. “Of course I’ll be there.”
Héctor was taking his usual place to my right when our three remaining colleagues in attendance poured into the room, mumbling their good mornings.
Lifting my gaze off Héctor’s easy smile, my eyes tracked down the men walking around the table to assemble into our ten o’clock formation.
Across from me appeared Aaron, eyebrows raised and gaze quickly meeting mine. I watched his lips tip down as he took a chair out.
Rolling my eyes, I moved onto Gerald, whose bald head glinted under the fluorescent light as he folded his rather chubby frame into the chair. Last but not least, there was Kabir, who had been recently promoted to the position everyone in this room held—team leader of the Solutions Division of the company. Which pretty much encompassed all disciplines but civil engineering. Which was a beast on its own.
“Good morning, everyone,” Kabir started with the enthusiasm only someone who had been on the job for a month would have. “This week, it’s my turn to lead and protocol the meeting, so if you could, please say present when I call your name.”
An exasperated grunt I was extremely familiar with filled the room. Glancing at the blue-eyed man across the table, I found the irritated face that went with the sound.
“Of course, Kabir,” I said with a smile even though I agreed with the scowling man. “Please call away.”