into mobile too. Our zoo games are doing well but we need to see growth in other areas. The board will fire all of us if we don’t show that we can keep growing.
Voice 1: You worried about letting that new girl run the whole thing?
That new GIRL?
Voice 2: Does she even know the difference between FPS and FTP?
Yes, I knew FPS was first-person shooter. Had to google FTP, though, when I first joined the company: free-to-play. But eff you, anyway.
Ian: Look, don’t worry. I had to choose her to run the fucking thing because of the board. That’s it. No one expects it to do well. It’s just a vanity PR ploy to make this company look good to all the whiny board members who keep preaching equality. They wanted more women in here, remember? Kat’s working on the project, too, so we can market and promote it as “girl-friendly.”
Acid bubbled from the pit of my constricted stomach. I couldn’t listen anymore to those bigoted assholes. They’d given me the production lead job simply because of my gender and simultaneously assumed I couldn’t do that job because I was female.
Well, screw them.
I raced to Kat’s office, a few doors down. She was sketching zombies on her tablet. In her doorway I announced, “I’m making this apocalypse game, MY game, MY idea, a huge success.”
She nodded. “Okay. Let’s do it,” she said with a grin and went back to drawing.
The three executive jackasses left Ian’s office and walked right by me in the hallway, without any kind of acknowledgment whatsoever. I’d show them they underestimated me. That I would roll up my sleeves and lead this entire thing myself.
Collapsing on my desk chair, I closed my eyes to slow my rapid heartbeat. Opening them again, I focused my gaze on the mugs Nolan had brought me.
I had an idea. Grabbing my wallet, I took the elevator to the ground floor and evaluated my novelty mug options at the drugstore attached to our lobby. For a mere seven dollars, I bought Ian a present: a “World’s Greatest Boss” oversize coffee cup. With a Sharpie marker, I wrote on the bottom “Juuuuust kidding!” for people to see when he drank from it. I peeked inside my brown bag and admired my penmanship as the elevator took me to the office floor.
While Ian was in a meeting, I stealthily placed the mug on his desk, with no note and no card for explanation. A few hours later, I saw him in the kitchen, sipping from the boss mug while intermittently telling one of his many rotating “glory days of gaming” stories he had in his arsenal. Employees gathered around, sniggering and smirking into their lattes, savoring their warm drinks and the shared inside joke.
A small win, but a win nonetheless.
Chapter Eight
Candace called me on the way to the Bay 55 Steakhouse, the hottest restaurant in town according to Seattle Metropolitan magazine. With a several-week wait list, Jane must’ve had some serious connections to get a reservation for a large party within a few days of becoming engaged.
“Mel! I’m going to be like ten minutes late. I had to get gas. Are you there yet?”
I would be a little late, too. I had completely lost track of time working on Ian’s budget and forecast assignments and I didn’t feel like paying nine bucks for valet as extra torture that evening.
After circling around for ten or more minutes and searching well outside a comfortable parking radius from the venue, I found a spot a quarter mile from the restaurant. But damn it, I saved nine dollars. Yeah, I was aware this made absolutely no sense since this logic caused me to be late all the time. I blamed my frugal upbringing for this unsound parking rationale.
My car was at the bottom of Queen Anne Hill, with the restaurant at an 89 degree angle at the very top, so not only was it far, it was also high. I trekked two-thirds the way up before my excessive panting began. I let Candace talk while capturing my breath.
She asked, “Hey, were we supposed to bring anything? Like a gift, or flowers or something?” I personally hated getting flowers as gifts, but other people seemed to like them. To me, buying them for someone was, like, Hey, here’s something that will die in a week. Enjoy. It was depressing to see a lovely