in the robotics area, where they were working on rovers for space missions.
I pretty much blew up Archie’s phone at every single chance. His amusement at my excitement had me sticking my tongue out at him. But it was cool. They had to take all kinds of stuff into account, and there were so many different pieces that went into making the group work. It wasn’t just tech or design. There was someone managing all their projects and keeping them on track. There was someone who coordinated with other groups. Another person interfaced with their government liaisons.
They even showed me a test model of one they’d actually sent to Mars. It had failed. But they’d learned a lot from the data it sent back.
Standish really did have their fingers in everything.
Not long before the end of the day, I headed up for my weekly debrief with the HR rep. They liked to go over our experiences and to keep a finger on the pulse of it all. It made sense. I usually sent an email to our advisor at the program too for the same reason.
When I let myself into the conference room, I froze.
“I’m sorry,” I said to Mr. Standish. “I thought this is where I was supposed to be.”
I started to back out, but he took a step toward me and raised his hand. “You are supposed to be here, Frankie. I’m doing this week’s check-in with you.”
“Why?” The question slipped out as I stared at him. Mr. Standish raked a hand through his hair and then motioned to the table.
“Because at the end of the day, your internship is with my company. This program is highly regarded, and you are one of our top candidates. I’d like to get a feel for what you think so far, and if any of the divisions have interested you.”
My gut cramped. I did not want to have this conversation with him, but at the same time… “I like the research and development stuff. It’s been fascinating.” I moved toward the table and set my backpack down, but I didn’t sit.
Mirroring my posture, Mr. Standish stood on the other side of the table from me. “Are you interested in studying engineering? I was thinking the marketing or the educational materials might have held more interest for you.”
“I don’t know that much about engineering other than building rovers for Mars sounds cool, and I love watching Archie build stuff.” I wanted to add, remember Archie, your son? The one who does love engineering?
“He’s always been creative,” Mr. Standish said. “Driven, too. Took apart a vintage car when he was ten because he wanted to understand how the engine worked. He’d ordered all the equipment he would need. It was a mess and it took weeks for him to put it back together, but I thought that was more defiance because I’d grounded him for tearing the car apart.” Mr. Standish frowned. “I suppose I should have told him I was proud, but he was forever destroying things without regard for the time and investment. I wanted him to learn the value of it.”
Wow. I didn’t think I’d heard him put together that many words in a sentence before.
“Then again, that’s Muriel’s influence. She doesn’t value anything that she can’t replace for a more expensive brand. At least when he was with my parents, it seemed to help…” He tapped his knuckles against the table. “But that’s not the important part here.”
“Your son isn’t important?” What was wrong with him?
“My relationship with Archie is complicated.”
“Then uncomplicate it.” Was I really trying to fix this? “I can’t stand my mother.” The words just came out. “I think I hate her most days. I still love her and that makes it worse, because I hate her for her choices and for always choosing everything but me.”
Mr. Standish stared at me, his expression growing grim.
Fine. Maybe I was severely overstepping and I was about to lose this internship. Whatever.
“He deserves better than you and your wife. He’s so fucking awesome, and I don’t understand how you can’t see it.”
“I see it,” the older man said with a sigh. “It’s not his fault that we don’t get along. It’s never been his fault. It wasn’t his fault when Muriel set out to trap me in marriage, or his fault that my parents punished my hubris by making me agree to stay in the marriage if I was going to make the changes I did. I gave up