Page 14 of Basil

We reviewed the agenda she had prepared for our discussions. When I asked her about the communication plans for an upcoming software release, she informed me, “I just spoke to the Director of Product Management, and that launch is going to be delayed.”

I frowned. “That has not been communicated to me.”

She nodded. “You’re going to find out at the prioritization meeting later today.”

“That’s two delays.”

“Yes.”

This was not good news, and I was more than a little pissed that Drew hadn’t said a damn thing to me about it. She was the head of engineering, this was her department and team.

Jessie crossed one leg over the other. “Are you okay?”

I hesitated, then nodded. “Yeah.”

Fuck no, I wasn’t okay. I was replaying Saturday night on a loop—hating myself for the things I said to Summer each time I recalled them.

Drew had kissed me on the lips. If I ever saw another man do that to Summer, I’d lose it. She had male friends—Ocean, Bodhi—but I’d never once seen them cross a line with her. Never seen them touch her in a way that could be misinterpreted.

But here I was, only now realizing that what Drew had done—what I had let happen—wasn’t just inappropriate, it was disrespectful, as Summer had said. And worse, it had been designed to hurt Summer by Drew and I’d participated wholeheartedly like a fool.

Running through the what ifs—what if Summer had done X, Y, or Z with Bodhi, how would I have felt?—was a revelation. The answer was clear. I wouldn’t have just felt uncomfortable, I would have felt betrayed, which was how Summer had felt.

I needed to get my head back into my work, I thought, when I looked at Jessie, who seemed to be waiting for me to say something.

“What’s next on the agenda?” I asked Jessie.

“You said you had some personnel changes to discuss,” she reminded me.

I straightened in my chair. “Drew’s promotion. We need an internal announcement and a press release. We will also be introducing her to the board next month.”

Jessie’s expression barely flickered, but something passed over her face—there and gone again—but I caught it.

“What?” I asked.

“Nothing.” She shook her head.

I let out a sigh of pure irritation. “Jessie?”

She was one of the people on the team who always gave me stuff straight up. When I asked her how the mood was about some change we were making, she told me what she thought and didn’t sugarcoat it. I appreciated that about her.

She gave me a measured look. “From a comms perspective, we need to be careful about how we message this. There’s already a lot of talk.”

“Tell me.”

She shifted in her chair. It was apparent whatever she had on her mind was making her uncomfortable. “People at Stratos think you promote your friends.”

I scoffed. “That’s ridiculous.”

She tilted her head, her voice thoughtful. “There have been three big promotions in the past six months. You made Felix CHRO. You promoted Kunal in the quality department, and now Drew. All three of you were in university together, and you see Felix and Drew socially. This is well known. People follow Drew on Instagram, and she posts pictures of when you all go on ski trips and have parties.”

I wanted to roll my eyes and say something pithy, like they were the best people for the job, but I knew and learned that perception was everything in the workplace.

“Doyouthink I’m promoting my friends?”

She regarded me thoughtfully and then cleared her throat. “Yes.”

That shocked the hell out of me. I had always thought Jessie considered me a good leader, and now….

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