to ask him to repeat himself. Which made her feel old, like she needed a hearing aid when she wasn’t even thirty.
The fourth student was a girl, who wore a brilliant smile and a pretty sweater dress. Her hair was a dirty blond, braided so that the end rested at the front of her shoulder. Her blue eyes crinkled as she sat down, and Chloe felt a momentary pang of something familiar, but pushed it aside.
“Hello, I’m Sydney,” the girl said.
Chloe smiled. “Hi, Sydney, I’m Chloe Talley.”
The girl’s eyes flicked to Chloe’s name tag on the desk. “I like your name.” Then she flushed and her fingers fluttered at the end of her braid, and then she slapped her hand back down into her lap. “Sorry, that was kind of dumb to say. I’m nervous.”
The girl’s admission of nerves was so honest, that Chloe had a hard time not hugging her. Instead, she adopted the least threatening posture she could. “I’m nervous too, actually.”
Sydney focused on Chloe. “Really?”
She wanted to be something for this girl, something…worthwhile. Sydney was bright and full of energy and damn, maybe Chloe could get it together for an hour to make a positive impact on this girl’s life. “Yeah, of course. I’m used to speaking to my computer all day and it doesn’t talk back. I think this is really brave of you to participate in this career day.”
Sydney clearly liked the praise; her smile was huge. “Yeah,” she said, clearly gaining confidence. “I mean, we didn’t have to, but I signed up.”
“See?” Chloe held out her hands. “You’re one step ahead.” Chloe leaned in and lowered her voice. “And you know what I do when I’m nervous?”
Sydney leaned in, her face open in wonder, like Chloe was about to tell her the meaning of life. “What?”
“I picture people in their pajamas.”
Sydney wrinkled her nose and giggled. “Pajamas?”
“Yep. Pajamas.”
“That sounds like something my dad would say.”
“Well, then, I’m sure your father is a smart man.”
Sydney straightened her back. “He’s so super-smart. He’s the reason I’m interested in computer science.”
Now they were getting somewhere. Chloe waved her hand. “Great, so tell me more about why you’re interested in this industry and then I’ll ask you questions and you can ask me some. Sound good?”
Sydney nodded eagerly. And the next ten minutes were spent with a talkative, full-of-life Sydney. Chloe enjoyed talking to the bright girl, hearing her hopes and dreams. She reminded her a little of herself when she was that age. So full of ideas, the future bright.
Chloe basked in the girl’s enthusiasm, hoping a little rubbed off on her.
When their time was up, Chloe didn’t want to let the girl go, and Sydney seemed to share the feeling. “So, if this isn’t okay, you can let me know, but I have more questions to ask and I’m wondering if we could do this again?”
Chloe reached into her bag and handed Sydney her business card. “My email is on there, which is the best way to reach me. And if you want to meet in person, that’s fine. I’d just ask that a parent is present since it won’t be supervised by the school.”
Sydney held the business card in her hand like it was gold, running her finger over the letters. In that moment, Chloe was glad she splurged for the raised print.
“Yes, that’s fine. I’ll ask my dad. Thank you so much. I really enjoyed meeting you!” This girl was all exclamation points and energy.
Chloe smiled. “Of course, and it was wonderful meeting you, Sydney. Keep up the good work in school.”
“Will do!” Sydney skipped off, and Chloe thought maybe, just maybe she wasn’t such a failure after all.
…
Grant shook the hand of Aaron Shivers, the head of the advertising team of one of the largest technology security firms in the country—Erotech. He grinned big, hoping it wasn’t bordering on maniacal, because it had taken him a lot of coffee and a bonus Red Bull to be coherent for this meeting.
A very important meeting.
Which he was pretty sure he’d pulled off thanks to some charm, mild professionalism, and good old-fashioned luck.
Mr. Shivers shook his hand firmly back and smiled. “Thanks a lot for meeting with us Mr. Osprey. My teenage daughter will be thrilled to hear I’ve met you. She’s quite the gamer.”
“Bring her by sometime,” Grant said cheerfully, ignoring Marley Lake’s raised eyebrows from her position in the corner. “We can always show her around. In fact, she could shadow one of my