Uncompromising (Age Gap, gxg)

Chapter 33

"Do you both have up to date passports?" I asked Ben and Gail, the two Business Systems Analysts that I planned to bring with me to Norway. One of the first things that we told new hires was to get their passports, as we'd done projects in both Mexico and Canada, and they never knew when they might be needed. Granted, Europe was a much bigger step, but it still applied. I'd just told them about the project now that I was back in the office, and they were trying their best not to freak out too much.

Ben nodded quickly, and Gail followed suit. Ben was older at 55 and was one of the nicest people I'd met. He was perfect for this job, as he had a way of making the client feel at ease with change, and that was important for setting a good tone for future work. Gail was newer but was attached to Ben like his surrogate daughter. She had joined us as an intern, much like Zee was going to, two years ago and had been assigned to shadow Ben. Now they formed a great duo that had both a steady hand and outside of the box thinking. They were by far my best team, and I only hoped that Ben would stick around for many years, because we'd all miss him if he wanted to retire at some point.

"I'm so excited!" Gail blurted out. "Thank you so much for picking us to go with you."

"Don't thank me. Honestly, as soon as I knew we were in the running to get the contract, I knew that you'd be the pair that I'd want to go with me. There will be a fourth too, as we're going to bring an intern along as well. That way she gets to see a project from the inception, which will really help."

"An intern? Ben wondered. "Will the client be okay with that?"

"We're not going to bill them for her. She'll go over at our expense as a learning trip, just like we did for Gail when we sent her to Atlanta with you." The best we could do would be to charge a quarter of our rate for a programmer, but I hated rushing people in without seeing them in action. A new hire generally had a little experience, but I never expected an intern to, that was our job to give them.

"That should be good. I learned a lot by being on that project early." Gail smiled over at Ben, and it made me wonder if maybe I was wrong about their relationship. Was she into him? I mean, they had an age gap about double the one that Zee and I had, but if it worked for them then who was I to say anything?

"Exactly." I cleared my throat, trying to refocus as thoughts of Zee flitted through my mind again. "Now, Telenor is a telecom company, but there is a lot more to it than that. The kickoff project will mostly be with improving customer satisfaction, which has been mediocre, but there is an opportunity to do more with them later. I already have a file put together about them on the shared drive. Look it over, try to familiarize yourselves with them. We'll have briefings before we go, probably in the week leading up to our trip, so don't feel like you have to rush. Just do a little bit at a time when you're free, okay?"

"Got it!" Ben said with a quick nod.

"We're gonna kick ass!" Gail promised.

I laughed lightly at their enthusiasm, then nodded in return. "That's what I like to hear. Oh! And just so you know, their headquarters are in a place called Fornebu, just west of Oslo, Norway. It's going to be very cold there in January, so plan accordingly! Go shopping between now and then if you need to. Us Floridians might feel like popsicles up there!"

The rest of the day went pretty smoothly. My assistant, Will, kept things running smoothly and made sure I could ease back into the office routine. He was an ex-army supply sergeant and was used to juggling schedules and getting things done. After he retired from the military, he'd just wanted something with no stress, and working for me gave him that since I never asked for anything crazy.

That meant that Monday was nice and relaxed, with nothing but some status calls, and a few client meetings where they wanted my presence. But really, I just had to be there and remain quiet because my project managers had everything under control. Just what I needed. Most of the projects we had going on were in good hands, but I had to admit that some of the more junior project managers needed more handholding than others. But looking at my calendar, those were scheduled for tomorrow along with my first therapy session so I could talk through my feelings about the attack. Will was a great assistant, and knew that I'd be working from home and could be more relaxed. Hell, I'd even had time to schedule Jashanna and Gracie for a tour of the FSU campus the Friday after the Thanksgiving break, so I had one more thing knocked off my list.