Page 2 of Snowed In With the Maverick
“Bronco Heights, actually,” said Seth. “But I’ve been paying attention to the area recently. I can see the potential here. So, like I was saying, given the fact that in this very area there have been discoveries of several T. rexes, not to mention triceratops, ankylosaurs, hadrosaurs and edmontosauruses…”
“You think there’s more to be found in that field.”
“Exactly.”
“So, what is it that you’re looking for from me?” Andrea said, closing her eyes. Seth clearly knew some fundamental facts related to archeology. But hearing the terminology churned something in her stomach. Was she ready to even dip a toe back into this world again?
“I’d like to meet you in person to discuss it one day, if you’re open to it,” said Seth. Part of Andrea was intrigued, and part of her felt like hanging up and blocking his number. But as always, the scientist’s instinct in her won out, and an offer to speak with him was on the tip of her tongue. “I think this could be really intriguing,” he continued.
Andrea hesitated. “I’m pretty busy these days, unfortunately.”
There was quiet on the other end of the line for a moment. “Listen, why don’t I text you a few photos of the discovery. There’s an article from area newspapers too. You can have a look, and then maybe we can chat sometime soon,” he said.
“Sure,” said Andrea.
“I appreciate it.”
Andrea slid her phone in her pocket, then slid down the floor and sat down, head in her hands. What was she thinking?Sure?Why had she saidsure? It wasn’t like she had loads of free time suddenly materialize. Maybe she could just…not respond to the texts? No, that would be rude. But engaging felt…fraught.
She sighed. This was probably nothing, just a casual offer. Still, a knot of unease tightened in her stomach.
She knew exactly why she’d agreed. Because try as she might, she missed her work deeply, and even the distraction of the construction wasn’t enough to fill the void of what she’d walked away from not too long ago. It had been her choice, but somehow, she’d felt powerless to make any other decision.
It had all started two years earlier, shortly after Andrea was promoted to senior curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Colorado Institute of Natural History, a position she’d been vying for over several years, which would add a new dimension to the research and teaching she was doing at the University of Colorado Boulder.
She absolutely loved her work, and was so energized every morning as she walked through the doors of the museum, greeting her team in the collections and fossil preparations departments and the tour guides and museum volunteers, all fellow dinosaur enthusiasts so excited to share their passion with the visiting families and school groups, to alight minds of all ages with the absolute astonishing wonder of knowing that these majestic beasts had once walked the earth right where they were standing. Through decades of scientific research and the development of new tools and techniques, humankind was privy to more knowledge about them than ever before.
She loved devising fundraising strategies. Collaborating with other museums to plan traveling exhibitions. Hosting guest lecturers and authors. But mostly, she loved the wonder in children’s eyes when she shared interesting facts about the skeletons on display, like that microraptor likely had shimmery, iridescent feathers, or that spinosaurus had dense bones, kind of like penguins, that allowed it to submerge and hunt in the water. She could so vividly remember being in the children’s shoes, knowing that she wanted to spend her life learning about dinosaurs.
And then one man had taken away that dream.
The arrival of Dr. Harold Davies from the UK was regarded as a real coup for the museum. Internationally recognized, with multiple publications to his name, Dr. Davies was highly charismatic and was the go-to expert consulted by television programs around the world. Handsome, charming, self-deprecating in just the right way. When Andrea met Harold at a welcoming dinner that the museum threw for major donors, museum executives and local dignitaries, she’d been seated across from him, and was immediately pulled in.
At first, she’d resisted her feelings. After all, he was her new boss, and she was far from established in her role. But late one evening after the rest of the staff had departed, Harold had paused in the doorway of her office and asked if she wanted to accompany him to dinner. “I still haven’t gotten the lay of the land of the grocery stores here,” he admitted, in his posh British accent that added to his charm. “So I’ve been dining out a lot. It would be nice to eat with someone, rather than alone.”
In the moment, Andrea had felt for him. She knew he didn’t have a wife or partner, and surely it was challenging to move to a new country and start a highly demanding job, and also integrate into the community at the same time.
He’d taken her to Braggio’s, a fine Italian restaurant in downtown Denver, where they were seated at the best table, and where the gorgeous waitress seemed to know him by name. But he only had eyes for Andrea, and over the course of the meal, he’d been attentive, funny and kind, and suddenly Andrea wasn’t thinking about him as her boss. She saw him only as a potential lover, someone she connected with easily and she could easily see herself with.
They started dating, although they both agreed it would be in their best interest to keep the relationship a secret. For a few blissful weeks, Andrea got lost in the sweeping romance.
It wasn’t long before the perfect, charming, charismatic Harold started to show his true colors. He became demanding, possessive and wanted to know where she was at all times, even going as far as to reassign her to a different project so she would no longer be working side by side with another male employee who was around her age, and was a decent and relatively attractive man, but whom Andrea had always simply regarded as a colleague.
Although she was concerned about what it would do to her job, she decided she had to break it off with him, and hoped he would behave as professionally as she intended to.
But that wasn’t Harold. He was vindictive and nasty, and found any opportunity to undermine her comments in meetings or brush off her ideas as uninspired or cliché.
On her one-year job performance evaluation, his comments were so harsh that HR called her in and shared their intention to put her on a performance improvement plan, which she knew very well was the step they needed to take before they could legally fire her.
Despite the hurt and embarrassment, Andrea pushed back. She revealed her relationship with Harold to the director of HR, who downplayed Harold’s actions and pointed out her involvement in the situation.
Then, after a new shipment of artifacts that Andrea was responsible for overseeing were discovered to be damaged after she’d unpacked and inspected them and given the green light, she got blamed for it, and was hauled back into the HR office, where the manager and Harold, with a sneering satisfaction on his face, fired her.
Andrea was unceremoniously led out of the museum, clutching the few items she was able to pack in a cardboard banker’s box under the supervision of HR, fighting back tears and staring straight ahead to avoid the confused and appalled expressions of her fellow employees.
While she couldn’t prove it, she was certain that Harold had figured out a way to damage the artifacts so that the museum could blame it on her.
With the help of her college roommate, who worked at a large downtown law firm, she hired a lawyer and sued the museum and, remarkably, after an almost two-year battle, not only won the case but was offered her job back by the museum’s board chair.
