Page 2 of The Dangers of Daydreaming

Of course, Gary was there, grinning at me as he spun his chair back and forth at the table. And next to him sat another colleague of ours. One so new I hadn’t even learned her name… but she always smiled when I saw her.

Why were they here in my promotion meeting? Maybe they were part of the new program I would be in charge of? I didn’t know a ton about it, only that it had to do with a new service our travel company would be offering. I lowered my confused self into a chair. A buzz indicated my phone was going off in my purse. Cheeks heating, I reached in and silenced the call.

Shannon ignored the interruption, sitting back in her seat at the head of the conference table and smiling at us from behind red, horn-rimmed glasses. “Now that you’re here, we can get started.”

My face went hot again, probably starting to match my hair. Had they been waiting? I wasn’t late. I was probably even a few minutes early still.

“Some of you may have heard that we’ll be expanding our company, but I wanted to give you a general idea of what that will entail before I get into the rest.” She pulled out a paper, holding it in front of her, a little closer to her face than was normal due to her aging eyes. I sat a little straighter.

“Apex Travels has decided to offer literary tours. Tours where avid readers can truly immerse themselves in the world of their favorite books. We’re thinking England tours specific to Jane Austen or Sherlock Holmes, Pennsylvania tours for Louisa May Alcott. Any and all of the greats: Edgar Allen Poe, Ernest Hemingway, Shakespeare—you get the idea. Tours of where they lived and the places that inspired their stories.”

My mind spun into action at the same moment my heart picked up pace. Planning these kinds of tours would be a dream. Tours to locations like Prince Edward Island forAnne of Green Gables.

I pressed my lips together to hold back my smile at the thought. She wasn’t kidding. This wasn’t just a promotion. This wasthepromotion. I was made for this. Years of reading, being raised on the classics… who said your hobbies couldn’t make you money? This was absolutely perfect. I couldn’t keep the fantasies at bay—of researching every little detail and planning every perfect excursion for my fellow book lovers—as Shannon continued explaining that, while this wasn’t a new concept, none of our competitors in Salt Lake were offering an option like it. With the resurgence of brick-and-mortar bookstores and the growth of BookTok and Bookstagram, it was only a matter of time until someone else decided to dip their toes in this possibility.

“Which is why,” Shannon continued, her gray bob swinging as she surveyed us, “we want to get going as soon as possible.” The creases around her lips became more pronounced as she beamed at each of us.

Now it made sense that my coworkers were here. If she wanted us to start immediately, I wouldn’t have time to build an entire team on my own. Better to get a few in now and then prep me with a hiring budget to grow the rest of the team. Gary might not have been my first choice, but he did know what he was doing. My mind wouldn’t quiet down—it was bursting with possibilities. Did I have to plan tours in a specific order, or could I do as I pleased? How soon was soon? Frankly, I wouldn’t mind working a little overtime to get a project like this off the ground.

I forced myself to focus.

“I’ve pulled each of you in here because I feel that you could bring something incredible to this job,” Shannon said.

I scooted to the edge of my chair, ready to bolt as soon as possible and dive straight into this new project. My hand itched to reach down and grab my purse even though the meeting had barely started.

“So, I’ve decided to give each of you an opportunity to head up the project. A little competition of sorts, if you will.”

Each of us? Competition?

Understanding—horrible, ice-cold understanding—dawned on me, and my spine went rigid. My proverbial sails deflated. What? My eyes shot to Shannon’s, but she was looking at the other two employees. When her gaze swung back to me, her glance was so quick I’m sure she couldn’t have computed the expression of terror glazing over my features. A moment later and she looking at her stack of papers, thumbing through them.

After a few more seconds, in which it felt like the room was spinning and I was falling down anAlice in Wonderland-type hole, she found the paper and pulled it out with a flourish.

“I have a list of seven locations we’d like to have prepped by mid-July for the pilot of this program… and I’ve decided to let each of you pick one location to head up. I’m talking two weeks to physically scout, plan, and prepare an entire literary tour. Completely paid for by the company.”

“Oh my gosh, isn’t that a dream?” the coworker I didn’t know said, leaning back in her chair with an easy, excited expression that clearly stated she, at least, had not had the rug of a promised promotion pulled out from under her.

Gary was nodding along, his hand extending for the paper Shannon held. She offered it to him, and the woman I didn’t know—Brooke, maybe? Bryn?—leaned to read it over his shoulder. As I watched, Gary pointed at something on the list, and Maybe-Bryn nodded her head enthusiastically. That dumb competitiveness rose in me.Garymight get my promotion?

I tried to swallow my frustration. This was not my promotion. Clearly.

Shannon’s eyes fell on me, and her smile was broad. Not at all Disney-villainy like I would have expected after she pulled a move like this. My bracelet slid up my arm as I grabbed the papers–I should have worn the one that gave luck.

Shannon had said I wasperfectfor this position. She had said I would bethrilledand she couldn’t wait to talk more about it with me.

“Didn’t I say you would be thrilled?” she said, smile not wavering.

Well, yeah. I was just remembering that, actually.

“Once you see this list, you’ll understand why I thought you’d be perfect as a candidate for this position. A certain location might be an option on there.” She winked.Winked!And turned back to the other two.

“I need your acceptance of whether or not you’ll be putting your hat in the ring for this position by the end of today. I know, I know—it’s short notice. I wish I had more time to give, but we’ve been rushing to get to this point as is… and I’m hoping to have you flown out late next week. By the end of June, I want each of you to be back and giving your proposals to me and a few company executives. In the meantime, we’ll review your work history with the company. Then, we’ll decide who seems best fitted for the manager position on the team, and, bonus, we’ll already have three locations planned.”

“Could my wife come with me?” Gary asked, looking up from the paper.

“She would have to pay her own airfare, but otherwise I don’t see why not.” Shannon was clearly loving this, eating it all up. They all were. Except me.

Logically, I could see where it had all gone wrong in my head.

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