ShortFiction Decision Time

Despite the weatherman’s predictions for rain the night before, the sky was clear and Paul felt great. It had been a rough night with Joey in town, but Paul had that vitality that came with being twenty-four years old. There wasn’t much he couldn’t recover from after a couple of hours of sleep and double-shot espresso. Briefcase in one hand and Starbucks in the other he snagged the closing door with a foot and slipped into the office lobby. Striding across the marble floor he made it onto the elevator just before the doors slid closed.

“Fifteen please.”

Staring at his own reflection in the elevator door, Paul looked into the eyes of a man he barely recognized. Ignoring the wrinkled shirt and day-old scruff on his chin, Paul marveled at how much he looked the part with his hair cut short and a tie on. Almost a year on the job and he could still hardly believe it. A shirt and tie everyday, a briefcase, getting to work before nine, he thought to himself, glancing at his watch, well, before ten, anyway. This gig isn’t so hard.

Dropping his brief case at his cube Paul spotted Carla heading to the break room. Following her he noticed Jim Zimmerman’s office was dark and breathed a small sigh of relief. If his boss wasn’t in yet, then he wouldn’t have noticed Paul’s late arrival. Paul liked it when things fell into place like that for him.

“Last night was crazy, Carla. You should have been there.”

Filling up her water bottle, Carla smiled at Paul. “Worth ducking out at early yesterday?”

“Definitely. I don’t get to see Joey that often, so I had to. Same with tonight. It’s his last night in town, you up for it?”

“Wish I could.”

“Aww, come on, Carla. One night won’t hurt you. There’s a party at our place. Everyone will be there. You better have a good excuse this time.”

Smiling at her old friend, she shrugged. “Marriage, kids, the usual. Speaking of responsibility, Jim was looking for you yesterday after you left. Catch up with him today if you can.”

“More like hide from him,” Paul said as he headed back to his cube, “He’s not even in yet.”

* * *

Taking a sip of the espresso, Paul turned on his computer, the dull whirl of the fan lost in the general hum of the office. “Did you catch the weather report this morning?” he heard from over his shoulder. “Looks like it’s going to pour this afternoon.”

Not caring to wipe the look of annoyance off his face, Paul turned towards George. “I just went ahead and left the bike at home today. I can’t ride it in the rain or my wife will never let me hear the end of it.” The tall man stood before Paul, his poor attempt to match shirt and tie an utter failure once again.

Working to get George out of there as quickly a possible, Paul responded, “Can’t listen to those guys, George, last night they said it was going to rain this morning and look how clear it is out there.” Not pausing to give George even the slightest opening, for Paul knew that was all he needed to launch into some story about his motorcycle or whatever, he continued, “Listen, Jim’s given me a pretty big assignment that I need to get done ASAP. I gotta get back to it here.” The excuse of work, some made up big assignment, did the trick every time when he got cornered by George.

“Sure, no problem. I heard Jim won’t be in until noon today, so you’ve got some time. I think he was here pretty late last night.”

“Great. Hey, hope it stays clear out there for you today, George.”

“Thanks, you too, Paul,” George said as he wandered off.

“It always does, my man.”

* * *

Firing up his instant messenger, Paul saw Joey online.

You up already, buddy, Paul wrote.

Barely. What did you get me into last night? Flashed the response.

Nothing compared to tonight.

Really?

Yep…plan to start the party early. My place at 7!

Arranging his papers and flipping back and forth between ESPN.com and some presentation he needed to have done sometime soon, Paul proceeded to look busy. The rest of the morning slid by with Paul checking every now and then to be sure Jim’s light was still off. He puttered from one project to another, browsed his emails without really reading any and checked the baseball scores from the night before. His thoughts were consumed with the party he had planned for that night, though. They were going to fire up the grill and cook steaks in honor of Joey’s last day. Then, who could say for sure, but he would be willing to bet it would involve a complaint from at least two of his neighbors. He put together an email to everyone he knew that would want to be there and sent it out, highlighting the most outrageous possibilities for the night. This, of course, was sent from his personal email, not his corporate account.

As lunch time approached Paul felt his cell phone vibrate on his belt. Snatching it on the second buzz, Paul flipped open the receiver.

“Hey babe, it’s me,” the voice from the other end said.

“What’s up?”

“Well, I’m getting ready to drop the paperwork off at the bank. Are you sure you want to do this? I mean, it’s a lot of money.” Paul recognized that tone in her voice. He’d heard it a lot recently, and it was starting to get on her nerves. He stepped out into the hallway for a bit of privacy.

“Listen, we’ve been over this, Jen. We’re buying the place. We’re ready for this. We both want it and we’re finally on the right track.”

“I know, just gotta make sure. You’ve only had the job for a few months….”

“A year,” Paul interrupted.

“Well, I just wanted to be sure you haven’t changed you mind about that clean cut look you famously said you’d never have.”

“I’m here to stay, baby. I’m loving that paycheck.”

“I’m so excited Paul…our first place together.”

“Yep. We’re moving on up.” Smiling to himself, Paul pictured Jen’s face when he told her he wanted to buy the house. It wasn’t much, but it would be theirs. Besides, he knew had to clean himself up if he wanted to keep her. If he had any doubts, all he had to do was think back to that conversation last year when it almost ended. He’d promised her then that he would change, that he would grow with her. Getting this job was his first step. He didn’t completely leave his old self behind, especially when Joey was in town, but he proud of how far he had come, and with such little effort, it seemed.

“Oh, gotta run, Paul. It looks like it’s going to rain.”

After lunch, while he was walking back into the office, Paul noticed Jim’s office light was on. Settling himself back at his desk, Paul checked his work email. There were a number of emails in his inbox from Jim that were sent as late as ten o’clock the night before. He hadn’t bothered to open them before lunch, but now that Jim was here, Paul became more interested. Paul opened the first one.

Paul,

I’ll need that presentation by noon. It needs to look good as we’re showing it Sales at the end of the day. Let’s talk when I get in.

Jim

Presentation? Paul thought to himself as he started flipping through his notebook. When is this thing due again? Finding the right page, Paul scanned his notes. Nearly illegible, Paul saw that he had jotted down February 23^rd. A bad feeling swept over Paul as he suddenly remembered the details of the assignment. Somehow, inexplicably, he had let this slip his mind. Pressing his now sweaty palms to his forehead, Paul’s mind raced. Could he get it done in time, could he delay, could he find an excuse?

The phone rang, temporarily halting the whirlwind of thoughts in his head. It was Jim. Picking up the phone, “Hello, this is Paul.”

“Paul, Jim here. Please come down to my office.”

“Sure.” Heart pounding in his chest, Paul felt flushed. He was thrust back into his college days, walking into a test he had forgotten to study for or going to the office of a professor to ask for an extension on a paper. He might be wearing a tie and have short hair now, but that didn’t change the fact that he didn’t have his work done. Forcing down the sense of panic, Paul walked to the office. Passing the large windows that overlooked the intersection below Paul saw the first smattering of rain against the glass. The wind had picked up and was blowing a storm in. What had promised to be a clear, sunny day was turning out to be anything but.

Shutting the door behind him, he took a seat in front of Jim’s desk. The look on Jim’s face wasn’t good. Typically a level-headed manager, his tense lips and furrowed brow communicated his agitation.

“I thought you were going to send me the presentation last night, Paul. I’m getting nervous.”

Trying to look at ease, Paul responded, “Sorry, I meant to get it to you last night. I’m just finishing it up right now.”

“Hmm. I was looking for you yesterday. I needed your help. We’re on the hook here, Paul. Where were you?”

Trying not to squirm, Paul ran his thumb down his cheek to wipe away a drop of sweat that was working its way to his chin. “I had to cut out early. I’m sorry I didn’t let you know first.”

“Not good, Paul.” Taking a deep breath, Jim continued, “How quickly can you be done with the presentation? By two-thirty?”

Without thinking, he answered, “Yes.” Paul couldn’t bear to admit the presentation was less than halfway done. Worse yet, he knew he had wasted half the day. He felt his cell phone buzzing on his hip but did his best to ignore it. “Two-thirty is no problem, sir.”

He was in a daze as he headed back to his desk. He didn’t think there was any way he could get this presentation done in time. That left just a little more than one hour, and there were still numbers to crunch and graphs to make. At least the meeting wasn’t until four that afternoon. Maybe he had enough time.

His hip buzzed again, and Paul took the call. It was Joey.

“Paul, my man, you gotta get out of there.”

“What…why.”

“With the rain comes the mud, which means it’s time for mud football! We need one more to make even teams. Can you meet us at the park in 15 minutes?”

Paul could hear clamoring in the background as Joey shouted something about Paul being in the game. “Listen, Joey, I can’t. Something just came up at the office.”

“The office? I thought you said you had all that worked out.”

“Well, I gotta take care of this.”

“You better not be flaking out on me for tonight. You don’t want to miss my last night in town.”

“Don’t worry, Joey, I’ll see you tonight.” As Paul moved the receiver away from his ear he could hear Joey trying to convince him to come to the game. Sitting back down at his desk, Paul tried to gather his thoughts. He closed the ESPN.com window that was still open and brought up the half-finished presentation. Scrolling through it he tried to figure out where to start.

In almost perfect unison his phone buzzed again and he heard the first roll of thunder outside. Glancing outside he saw that the dark clouds that had been looming in the distance on his way to Jim’s office were getting closer. Looking at his phone, he saw that it was Joey again. Without answering the call he turned his cell phone off. He needed to concentrate on this and debating the merits of work versus mud football with Joey wasn’t going to help. It was tempting, though. He knew that in the old days he would have blown off work to join the game. He’d lost a lot of jobs that way. But he’d promised Jen to straighten up. Maybe it was harder than he thought.

For the next thirty minutes he worked as fast as he could to pull together the rest of the presentation. He went through emails and notes to find the topics that had been requested and did his best to organize them. More than once he found himself wishing he had been paying less attention to Joey’s visit this week and more attention to his work.

* * *

Just as he was getting into the grove his desk phone rang. It was Jen.

“Hello?”

“Why is your cell phone off? I’ve been trying to call.”

Feeling the pressure of his deadline, Paul was impatient. It came through in his voice. “I just needed to concentrate. Did everything go okay with the bank?”

“It sure did. Sorry to bother you,” Jen replied, her voice carrying an edge. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” he replied, trying to sound cooler. “I just have to go, okay? We can talk tonight.”

They hung up and Paul returned to his work. For the rest of the hour he continued to scramble. The thunder outside was rumbling almost constantly now as the dark clouds descended. Heavy raindrops began to fall in earnest and an occasional crack of lightning split the sky. The fifteenth floor gave a spectacular view of the storm, which under normal circumstances Paul would have enjoyed watching. As the hour approached two-thirty he knew that the work he had was not complete. Looking up from his desk he saw Jim approaching. “Let’s have a look, Paul.” Standing over his shoulder, Jim watched the slides of the presentation scroll across the screen. Again, Paul’s heart was pounding. “Let’s finish reviewing it in my office.”

Closing the door behind him, Jim turned to face Paul. He did not look happy. “I took a chance in hiring you, Paul.” Here it came, the inevitable. He’d heard this speech, or variations of it from nearly every boss he’d ever had. But this time he actually cared whether or not he kept the job. Closing his eyes he tried to not think about how he was going to break the news to Jen. Was it too late to cancel with the bank?

“This job is a serious one, and I need serious people to work for me. I hired you because I like the way you think. I almost didn’t hire you because I questioned your commitment to the job. Can you tell me why isn’t the presentation done?”

Stammering a little in his reply, “I just, just didn’t get to it, Jim. I’m sorry, it was my fault.”

“Well, here’s the good news, Paul. The Sales meeting is pushed off until tomorrow morning at eleven. I’ll make a deal with you. You get that presentation to me before nine tomorrow morning and you keep your job.”

Blinking in surprise, Paul looked at Jim. This was a first. At best he hoped to be paid through the end of the day. He couldn’t find words to answer.

“What do you say, Paul? Is it a deal?”

* * *

Three hours later, back at his desk, Paul paused in his work. The presentation was getting there. It was a huge improvement from what he had before but still needed hours of work before it could be shown at the Sales meeting. Carla stopped by his desk on her way to the door. “It’s five-thirty, Paul. You don’t want to keep Joey waiting, do you? Don’t you have a big night planned?”

“You’re right, Carla, big plans. I need to give him a call.” As she joined the others on their way out of the office, Paul turned his cell phone back on and walked to the window overlooking the intersection. He saw that he had missed six calls from Joey. The storm outside had moved on, leaving the streets slick and sidewalks puddled, but the sky was clear and held promise for a beautiful evening.

“Joey, buddy, listen, I’m not going to be able to make it tonight…”