CHOICES #Wattys2016 #Hidden Gems

Chapter 7

Tina Marcos put down the telephone and gathered up the files on her desk, leaving her cubicle and walking down the hall to the manager's office.

"Come in, Tina." George Moffat cleared his throat and adjusted his chair behind his desk. She walked to the desk and set the file down in front of him. "How are you? How's your mother?"

"As well as can be expected... my mother that is."

"And you?"

"I'm finding it very difficult, Mr. Moffat. My brother has become a bit difficult and things at home are not adjusting too well."

"Do you need more time off, because if—"

"No. No, sir. I need to be here, working. I need the- the distraction. I didn't mean that this was a—"

George waved a hand, nodding. "I know what you meant. Listen, I think it might be a good idea if you joined with someone else on one of our projects. Working alone isn't going to give you the... distraction... you need."

"I'll do whatever you suggest, sir."

"Good. Your dad was well liked when he was here you know, and he did a good job, Tina. What happened was, well... unfortunate. I believe you will provide the same competence and diligence he did when he was here. I'm going to pair you with the young lady that's designing the convention display material for next month's event."

Tina brightened and smiled for a brief moment. "That's great, Sir, it's something I always felt I could do well; I love the design field."

"Swell then. Go and see Mrs. Hughes and tell her the arrangement, she'll see that you get set up properly and introduced."

"Thanks, Mr. Moffat. I won't disappoint you."

"I'm sure you won't, Tina."

******

Vincent went to Michelle's side when she called and they stared together at the events unfolding in the pond.

"That's my daughter, Tina!" Vincent wiped his wet eyes and leaned closer. "She's working at the same place I was at!"

"She just got a kind of promotion. Her boss is trying to help her get over your death." The comment was delivered with a touch of bitter sarcasm.

"Moffat was a good guy, what's wrong with that?"

"Watch."

Vincent saw his daughter being taken to the design department and over to the desk of the person she would be paired with. Vincent blinked and then a hiss of air escaped from his lungs.

"Lori!"

"So much for nice Mr. Moffat."

"How come she's still there? I was dismissed for our- our affair in the office!"

"Looks like your good guy found a good reason to keep her and now he's having fun with his new situation."

"The rotten—" Vincent pounded a fist on the soft grass, angry over his inability to curse.

"Too bad, she looks like a nice young lady." Michelle wandered away from the pond, leaving Vincent to watch as Lori greeted his daughter with the look of a hungry shark. He thought back to the entry he made in the ledger and how he had immediately ignored it, reveling in the opportunity to romp with Ginny's daughter once again. Was this a result of that violation? Was his daughter being sacrificed for his misdeeds, even now, after he's dead? Vincent turned and shouted for Meditatio.