“I’m sorry,” I said, but he was already pushing past me and out into the hall, where he quickly ducked into the bathroom. August gave me a playful little wave goodbye while chuckling to himself.
Allison said something to me, but I didn’t hear it. I followed her out of the office numbly, knowing that I had blown it.
5
Michael
“She probably thinks she blew it,” I muttered in front of the mirror. The gash in my palm had finally stopped bleeding. It wasn’t going to need stitches, I decided, but it would be tender for a few days. Poor girl was white as a bedsheet after the whole incident. I imagined her walking to the parking garage, getting into her car, and then crying. It was tough to picture. She didn’t seem like the type of woman who cried.
The interview was going great up to that point.
I continued running my palm under cold water until I was certain it was okay, then returned to the conference room. Allison was still wiping up the blood while August helped.
“Should probably be wearing gloves,” August said. “On account of Mikey’s HIV status.”
Allison froze mid-clean and cut her eyes toward me.
“I don’t have HIV,” I said, giving my friend a pointed glare. “Or any other transmittable disease.”
“Right, right,” August joked. “You only have the funnon-transmittable diseases.”
“You’re diseased in the head,” I replied while applying bandages to my palm. Ginny had left the box of Band-Aids behind as she fled the office.
“Is that any way to speak to your CFO?” he asked.
“It’s the exact proper way to speak to the walking personification of Loki, the god of bullshit,” I replied.
“Children,” Allison snapped while throwing away the paper towels. “You can bicker after hours when I’m not around to hear it. Now, what do we think of Ms. Hanover?”
“I like her,” August immediately said. “She’s definitely acutabove the rest.” He beamed at his own joke.
“She’s fine. We can compare her to the other two candidates on Monday and make a decision then.”
Allison closed the door to the room before we could leave. “Since Lisa left, I’ve been handling all of her workload. We’re two weeks behind on our grant requests, and it’s starting to reflect poorly on the entire foundation. I would like to make a hiring decision today if possible.”
“Well, she definitely made quite the impression,” August said. “More than the guy on Tuesday. What was his name again? Yawny McBoredom?”
“And John Wilkes Booth made quite the impression on Lincoln,” I muttered. “You weren’t even here for her interview.”
“No degree,” August said from memory. “Took lots of finance classes at community college. Volunteer work with one of our grant recipients. Glowing recommendation letters. What? I was CC’d on her application.”
“I didn’t expect you to actually read it,” I replied.
“The gentleman on Tuesday wasBill,” Allison said. “And the day before that we interviewed Debra.”
“More likeDolores,” August said, giving an emphatic thumbs-down gesture. “As in, Dolores Umbridge. I’d rather slice my palm open every single day for the rest of my life than work with her. Fortunately, she doesn’t have any relevant experience, so it’s a non-starter.”
“For once, I’m inclined to agree with August,” Allison said. “It’s between Bill and Ginny for the position. Bill has a more extensive education, but Ginny has better hands-on experience.”
August doubled over with laughter, then looked at each of us. “Hands-on experience? Seriously? Don’t tell me that pun was unintentional. That was really good.”
Allison ignored him and turned to me. “Both are solid candidates. I could go either way. What do you think? Does Bill have your vote?”
“Actually, I’m leaning toward Ms. Hanover.”
She gave a start. “Really? Even after everything that just happened?”
“That’s how you know I’m being objective,” I said. “And it’s not like she cut me on purpose. It was only an accident.”