Kat walked over with a plate full of assorted sandwiches. “This whole pro-female event had to have been planned by a guy, right? What woman in her right mind would have put something like this together?” She lowered her voice. “I hope it wasn’t Mr. Intern.”
My cheeks burned hot. “Nah, he’s doing finance stuff now.”
She rolled her eyes so far back I thought they’d get stuck in a perma-roll position. She continued her rant. “Sponsored by the morale committee that has Booze Day Tuesday, and then Thirsty Thursdays and Beer Pong Fridays back to back, and the company that has all its conference rooms named after white male science-fiction and fantasy guys.”
“All hail the unescapable bro culture at Seventeen Studios!” I took a roast beef sandwich off her plate, saluted her with it, and took a bite.
Ian came up behind me and clamped his hand firmly on my shoulder, making me flinch. “Enjoy your day, Melody. Kat. This is something that no other game company has done. We’re showing how much we appreciate women here.”
I motioned that I had food in my mouth, faking excessive chewing just to get out of speaking with him. He nodded and moved on to appreciating the next female victim.
Kat frowned. “You know, there are almost as many female gamers as guy gamers now. I really wish more women worked here.”
I sighed heavily, and we walked out the door together.
The actress in the string chain mail bikini handed me a stack of free games and said, “Thank you from Seventeen Studios for being a woman in gaming.” She shouted “Nice shirt!” as I made my way back to my desk, wearing my oversize airbrushed pie tee over my work clothes.
The stack of games she handed me featured all the women they’d showcased onstage. And the game on the very top of the pile?
Kaizen Five.
AFTER A QUICK stop in the kitchen for coffee, I walked by Nolan’s desk to find him pacing around in his tiny work space while bellowing on the phone. He had on a short-sleeved, collared black shirt. What the heck?
“You said a couple of weeks!”
Pause.
“No, Mom, I heard you right. I even put it in my calendar the day you told me.”
Pause.
“Yes, it’s problematic because I work. And I took the wrong week off. And I’ll be in New York then, because I THOUGHT YOU WERE COMING IN TWO WEEKS.” He noticed me standing there and I saluted him with my “World’s Best Grandma” mug. He smiled weakly.
“Well, don’t worry about that now. I’ll cancel my trip, or maybe you can just get a hotel and borrow my car or something if I can’t get a refund.”
He muted his phone. “My parents are coming soon. Sorry. I’m just annoyed because I might not be in town while they’re here!” He closed his eyes and a sigh escaped him. “Did you read my email? I’ll stop by later.”
“Yeah, sure.”
He held a finger up. “No, please don’t fly to New York to meet me there, I’m going to a bachelor party.” He whispered to me, “I’ll catch you later.”
Turned out that Nolan’s crazy relationship with his parents rivaled mine. Watching his situation spiral reminded me to call my parents when I got back to my office. It had been a while. Mom answered on the second ring.
“Hi, Mom.”
“Melody? Where are you?” I really hated it when she asked that. Did it really matter where I was?
I sighed. “I’m at work.”
“Why you call?” Her raised voice made me even wonder why I bothered to call, ever.
“I wanted to check in and see how things were going. Were you busy or something? And why do I sound echoey?”
“You on speakerphone. I am making kimchi and my hand have hot pepper and garlic and shrimp paste. We have church picnic next week and I making kimchi for everybody.”
“Wow, are you making it in the sink? Where do you have enough room for all that cabbage?”
“I make it in bathtub.”
“You’re marinating the kimchi in your bathtub?”
“No, michyeosseo!” She let out an exasperated sigh.
Michyeosseo. “Foolish.” She was making kimchi in a bathtub, and I was somehow the crazy one.
She explained, “I making kimchi in baby bathtub.”
What?! “You bought a baby bathtub for this?”
Another sigh. “You need to try listen! I find your old baby bathtub in closet and I clean and wash it. It is perfect size for making kimchi.”
I didn’t want to continue this discussion about making kimchi in a makeshift basin that I most certainly had pooped in as an infant twenty-six years ago. Who was the foolish one now?
“Anyway, I called to check in and make sure you weren’t getting any more weird calls from online stalkers.”
My dad shouted, “We are fine, no problem.”
I sighed with relief. “Oh, that’s good to hear!”
“You don’t sound good. Like you have froggy voice. You okay?” my mom asked.
I hesitated. “I’m okay.”
“You sound bad,” Mom said.
A hushed Korean conversation took place between my parents. They’d gotten better at putting their hand over the phone receiver. My dad shouted into the phone, “Okay, Melody, we decide we coming to visit. You sounding terrible.”
Oh, hell no. “It’s okay, Dad. You don’t have to come. I’m so busy with work. If you come another time, maybe after my game launches, I’ll have more time for a visit.”
My dad huffed, “No, we go there to make sure you eating.”
Mom added, “But not too much or you get too fat.”
A meeting reminder chimed on my computer. “Don’t worry about it, I’m eating. I need to go now. Important meeting. But glad to know that you guys aren’t still getting harassed.”
“No one call us anymore for you. Don’t worry for us,” Dad assured me.
“Good. Don’t worry about me, either.”
THE BOARD MEETING recap was excruciatingly dull. Ian had advised us to not multitask just in case some board members would be videoconferencing in, and he didn’t want anyone looking disengaged. Yawning, I tried to keep my eyes open while the finance team flipped through dozens of pie charts and line graphs.
Ding!
Five minutes later. Ding!
I snuck my phone out of my pocket and read the messages.
We hold plane ticket for trip to Seattle, we want to buy. Nashville to Seattle nonstop!
Okay we not hear from you so we go ahead and buy. No refund ticket. Can you find us hotel if you can’t fit us?
Shit. Mom and Dad were coming to visit.
I glanced up and saw Nolan looking straight at me from across the aisle. He turned beet red but didn’t break his stare. He mouthed, What’s wrong?
Shaking my head, I mouthed back, My parents, and made a choking gesture on my neck.
He laughed.
“Are those our slides up there?” I whispered, pointing at the presentation.
He nodded. Then made the choking gesture.
Stifling a giggle, I tucked my hair behind my ears and went back to watching the presentation, staring intently at the financial projections, wondering if Nolan had a girlfriend here or back home.
“I have to ask, why are you wearing that shirt?” I whispered.
He leaned toward me. “You like it?”
I shrugged. It was a nice, black button-down. It fit him. But it wasn’t very Nolan. I’d grown fond of his signature workwear. The shirts that he bought because he thought I liked them.
“I wore black because if something went wrong today, it would be my funeral. And I was mad at you so I picked a shirt I knew you’d hate,” he said with a sly grin.
A mic squawk interrupted us. “If I could take a moment of your time, I’d like to thank Nolan for making sure the A/V worked and the slides in the presentation looked good.” A smattering of clapping filled the room. Ian scanned the crowd and gestured for Nolan to stand. “He’s been working hard, and this guy is going places. He’s got the MBA brains and, of course, the MacKenzie genetics.” He pointed to the back of the room. “There are leftover croissants and cookies from the morning’s board meeting. Help yourselves.”
Dozens of dudes streamed to the back of the room to snag some free food. I noticed most of the executive team walk over to Nolan, thanking him for his prep work on the board meeting. All these higher-ups, fawning over an intern. The CEO’s nephew. And Nolan looking so comfortable with all of it. Shaking hands. Smiling. Joking around. Bitterness washed over me as this breed of people whom I felt so different from carried on like they were some exclusive club I had no business being part of.
Rage flared inside me as I stormed out of the room. Was I angry that they were like this? Or was I angry at myself for wishing I was part of it?
Maybe both.
Chapter Fourteen
“Can you help me button this?” Jane padded out of the fitting room and beelined over to the three-way mirror. Candace and I exchanged looks. We played rock, paper, scissors while Jane checked her teeth for lipstick smudges.
One, two, three, rock.
Candace was paper.
Damn it.
I stood up from the bench and Candace, seated right next to me, went down with a thud thanks to the unstable furniture. Sit down gently, Melody, lest you catapult your pregnant best friend into the ceiling fan.