Page 20 of The Thorne at My Side
Sam and I trudge to the office we share in silence.
“This is about as bad as it could get.” Sam says as she sits down across from me.
This is the first time in my entire career that I’ve felt well and truly lost. There have been challenges and setbacks of course but my mind has always spun up solutions immediately. A next step appears and I move towards it. In the courtroom you can hit pause if something unexpected comes to light. In politics? The hurricane keeps coming and the eye of the storm is a false sense of security.
And I’ve never been up against a computer.
Or a man as charming as Austin Thorne.
C’mon Maggie, regroup.
I’ve worked too hard to get where I am to give up now. I’ll come through stronger. I’ll make my name being the woman who bested AI andconsideringhow white male biased AI is, my victory will be one for all womankind.
I pace back and forth, amping myself up. I've got this. I've been training for this my entire career. I'm the best damn speech writer this town has ever seen. It’s time to get to work.
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Sam and I spend the rest of the day working on the senator's opening remarks for the debate. She'll have three minutes and we need to grab attention, make people fall in love with her, and get her policy ideas across. It's a tough assignment but together we are making good progress.
After a thirty minutedebate over whether “change” or “reform” was the best word to use, we decided to call it a day. Sam met up with some friends and I went straight home and changed into my workout clothes.
Usually I run in the morning but I know if I don't hit the pavement now I'll be restless all night.
I put my headphones in and head for the river. It's further than my usual route but I need a change of pace.
CHAPTER8
Cat-like reflexes.
AUSTIN
“He’s not taking meetings right now sir,” I look up as Elizabeth tries to run interference.
“He’ll take one with me,” my back stiffens as my dad says this and appears in my door. He continues walking in and stands in front of my desk. “Good to see you working late. What are the AIM numbers?”
I share the report that I had gotten from Kevin fifteen minutes ago.
“That’s fine for the first day, but you better 20x that by Friday.”
“Yes sir,” I reply and then I stop myself from asking him how he’d do it.
The outcomes of this project are riding on me. And me alone. His expectation is that I will blow this away.
I had thought joining the company would improve my relationship with Dad. That he’d enjoy taking me under his wing.
It’s been the opposite experience. I shadowed him and then he threw me into the deep end and set huge revenue targets. He’s in his sixties and I expect him to retire soon. He hasn’t talked about it but I don’t see why he wouldn’t start transitioningresponsibility to me next year and then fully step back the year after that.He’s the same age as Grandpa when he stepped down.
After Dad leaves my office without so much as a goodbye, Elizabeth sticks her head in checks on me. I give her a reassuring smile and she nods.
“Greg is waiting to take you to yoga. I have a change of clothes for you and your mat.”
“Thank you Elizabeth.”
I change in the bathroom in my office and sit quietly while Greg drives me across town to the yoga studio. The evening class is a hot, isometric hold focused class where we move slowly but hold each pose for a full minute.
It sounds simple but it is a brutal workout. And it is exactly what I need after a surprise meeting with Dad.
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