Page 32 of An Irresistible Force (Vancouver Vice)

“And you know that, how?”

“When I began here, Coach Pankowski introduced me to the team... in the dressing room.” I hadn’t realized they had just finished practice and were still changing. He did it deliberately, to show me that women had no place in hockey management. But that just made me more determined to prove myself. It also made me determined to deal with the Coach as little as possible, which was probably what he wanted. He was Greg and Chris’s problem now.

Brenda sighed. “Some people get all the perks.”

“It wasn’t that great. I thought I was going to die from the smell.” I cleared my throat. “But regardless, a photo like that could make other people very uncomfortable. What if Eric himself came to your office and saw it?”

“He’d laugh. He has a sense of humour—unlike some people. Maybe he’d even admire what a good Photoshop job I did. Took me an hour to find the right sort of body.”

“Brenda, you’re in human resources. You’ve read our new policies on a sexual harassment-free workplace. I expect you to hold up those standards. I want that screensaver gone.”

I waited nervously. She had been a bitch from the time I got here, but would she flagrantly defy me? Brenda sighed and then made a big show of changing her screensaver to one of a sunset. Phew.

“I’m still going to use the naked Eric one at home,” she said, without even turning around.

“What you do at home is your own business,” I replied.

But I felt sorry for Eric, a person I had never even spoken to. It must be horrible to be an object of fanatical sexual desire to women you hardly knew and didn’t find attractive. But who was I to talk? I had spent way too much time fantasizing about Chris. In my defense, that was when I was a teenager. Now I was a grown woman, and grown women were beyond all that. I just needed to keep reminding myself of that fact.

14

Flying Blind

Chris

Near the endof the day, I walked into Amanda’s office. Greg was great, but Amanda was better at explaining things. We had a routine now. I’d write down all my questions and then take them to her once or twice a day. She got really cranky if I interrupted her too much.

“You got a minute?”

She nodded. I pulled the orange cloth chair over so I was sitting beside her, then laid my paper on the desk. Today’s definitions were: R.O.I., cash flow, lease value, and line of credit. She explained everything patiently, while I made notes on my phone.

“Must be nice to have an MBA and know all this stuff.”

“Want to know a secret?” she asked. “Business school is mostly common sense dressed up in jargon.”

I laughed. “So, it’s like the Emperor with no clothes?”

Amanda nodded and blushed at the mention of no clothes. Teasing her was kind of fun. Then she perked up. “Hey, you’re a guy—”

“Last time I checked,” I joked, and she blushed again.

“Yeah, sorry, that was obvious. Anyway, I have a weird question to ask you.”

I leaned back in my chair. What did she want now? Amanda was always all business, but she was also full of unexpected demands. I watched as her brows knotted as she struggled to form her question. Her face was so expressive that she signalled everything way before she said it. If she played poker, I could have won the family fortune from her. Or at least all those masculine clothes. An odd bubbling sensation rose in my chest. It didn’t feel like heartburn, but it was in the same area. I popped a ginger root capsule anyway.

Finally she spoke. “Have you noticed anything about the staff here?”

I tilted my head. “Not sure exactly what you’re asking me....”

She began wriggling her foot nervously. “Um, well, Rebecca said—no, let me start again. The women who work here... have you noticed anything special about them?”

What the hell was she talking about? “Not really. Well, they’re all nice.”

Actually, the women around here were extra-nice. If a guy was looking for action, the Vice offices were prime for picking. Except inside this office, of course. I had noticed a few players hanging around after practice or whatever, chatting up Tori at reception. And Brenda was a piece of work. She had trouble keeping her hands to herself, so I avoided being alone with her. Too bad she hadn’t studied the sexual harassment policy. I did. I wasn’t going to mess up.

Amanda let out a big sigh. “Okay, thanks. That’s all I wanted to know.”

She sounded disappointed. I got up and took a candy from the dish on her file cabinet. Amanda always had treats around. Then an idea struck me, but there was no way that was what she was talking about. Or was it?

---