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We were actually laughing as we arrived at the shower, where people meandered around the main conference room, which was hung with streamers and decorated with blue and white balloons. An incredible cake sat in the center of the table, and Pamela was busily arranging packages at the back of the room.
“Hey!” she called, straightening up when she saw me.
She greeted Delia with a hug. “Thanks for all the help planning,” she said.
“My pleasure,” Delia said. “The food should be here any second.”
On cue, a man in a white apron appeared in the doorway pushing a cart full of boxes and bowls. An incredible smell of garlic and cheese wafted in behind him, and my mouth began to water.
As the food was set up, people began streaming in, and I found myself seated at the head of the long table, a plate of food in front of me and coworkers happily chatting on every side. I actually enjoyed getting to talk to someof the people I didn’t know very well, but with whom I’d worked in the last months on the MLB deal.
For a while it was noisy and festive, everyone eating and talking, dropping by the end of the table where I sat to wish me well and congratulate me. But soon, Pamela was standing next to my chair calling for everyone’s attention. It felt a bit awkward sitting while most people stood around the long conference table, filling the room so that I couldn’t even see everyone there, but my feet got tired and swollen if I stood for long.
“Can I have your attention?” Pamela asked the quieting group. “I just wanted to thank everyone for taking time to come! Holland, will you open your gifts?”
I stood, and I could feel the embarrassed heat climbing my neck. “Thank you, everyone,” I managed to say, looking around the room. “I honestly didn’t realize I knew this many people!” I saw the guys from the sales department, developers I’d been working with on the MLB technology, a few women I knew from the legal department who’d been taking care of ironing out contract details, and so many more faces I recognized. And as the room divided to allow people to pass the packages down the long table to me, I saw Oliver standing in the doorway. He wore a serious expression, the dark eyes locked on me as if maybe he was going to put a stop to this frivolous waste of company time. I froze, unsure what to do, before I recovered myself. His secretary had planned this. Surely he knew about it. For a fleeting moment I thought how strangeit must be for him to see so many of his employees celebrating his baby while he stood on the periphery.
“This is really incredible,” I said, ripping my eyes from Oliver. He’d made his choice, and I’d tried to make my peace with it. I wasn’t going to allow his dark presence to shadow what was—so far—the nicest party anyone had ever given me. I began opening the first package Delia put into my hands—from two of my coworkers in analytics—when Oliver’s familiar voice rang out above the chatter. I smiled over the pack of onesies in my hand and thanked the gift givers in quiet tones, my eyes darting to Oliver.
“I hoped I might say just a couple words,” he began. Everyone in the room hushed and turned toward him. It wasn’t his style to grandstand, and many of them had probably never heard him address a crowd unless they’d been in a meeting with him. But he was doing a bang-up job, making eye contact with everyone in the room and even smiling. I ached to stand in the radiance of that smile again, but kept my place at the far end of the table, as far from him as the room would allow.
Oliver took another step into the room. “Holland O’Dell has been an asset to Cody Technology since the day she was hired here, almost two years ago, as a sales associate. It wasn’t the most fitting position for a woman who graduated top in her graduate program in applied statistics, but Holland didn’t let that stop her. She knew what she wanted to do. She had a plan, and nothing would stand in her way. Today, Ms. O’Dell is the head of our applied analytics department, spearheadingthe formal relationship between sales and analytics. Though she didn’t ask for this position, she highlighted a need for it and made it clear—in her pursuit of the MLB technology and relationship—that it was necessary. And based on her insight and understanding of both our sales and our technology, it was equally clear she was the best fit for the job.
“I couldn’t be happier than to be here today to help her celebrate another new position in her life—that of mother.”
Clapping erupted around the room, but quickly faded as Oliver continued.
“I also owe Ms. O’Dell a debt of gratitude on a personal level,” he said, and my heart rate accelerated for no discernible reason. What was he going to say? “I lost my parents recently, as most of you know. And I found myself in a pretty dark place until Holland shined a light in to show me a way out.”
Oliver’s voice had lowered, taken on a hoarser tone that felt more intimate, and for a minute it felt like he was talking just to me.
“Holland is a brilliant analyst,” he said. “But she is also kind, genuine, loving, and the most honest woman I’ve ever met.” His emphasis on the word “honest” got my attention, considering that at one time he’d believed I’d been capable of a huge lie.
People around the room had begun raising eyebrows and muttering to each other. This was a decidedly un-corporate speech at this point. The rising chatter seemed to pull Oliver back to himself and he glanced around with a sheepish smile. “And I hope you’ll all forgive me for this,” he said. “But Ineed to ask her to forgive me, too.” He cleared his throat and looked almost nervous. I’d never seen Oliver look nervous. “I never meant to fall in love with her. I wouldn’t ever purposely fall in love with someone I work with—it certainly raises a lot of issues that are better left untouched in terms of ethics and propriety. But you can’t always choose who you love.”
“No you can’t!” someone called from the crowd. I could feel heat rising in my cheeks, and my head was beginning to swim from standing for so long.
“And for a while I let those issues—and some others—get in the way of what really matters.” Oliver’s eyes were on me again, adding to the heat glowing in my body, threatening to melt me where I stood. “Would it be possible, I wonder, if maybe I asked Holland to open my gift for the baby next?”
Everyone in the room cheered, and I felt dizzy. What the hell was he doing? What was this? I glanced at Delia, who was grinning, but whose face paled when she caught my eye. She was at my side in two seconds.
“Sit down, Holland!” She pulled my chair out and helped me into it. “Are you okay?” she whispered.
“I have no idea what’s going on right now,” I admitted. “And I’m not feeling great.”
“Not great like you think you’re about to have this baby?” she asked, her eyes going wide.
“No, like I think I might throw up. I’m so hot and dizzy. And what the hell is Oliver doing?”
Delia put a bottle of water in front of me, which I sipped as some kind of commotion erupted inthe back of the room where Oliver had been standing. People were moving around and I began to feel slightly better, though it still seemed like the room was much too hot and there were too many people here. My heart was hammering and my head hurt, and I found it easy to blame Oliver for all of it. What the hell was he doing?
Before I could think much more about it, he appeared at the front of the crowd next to Delia, a humongous box in his arms that was taller than he was. It was long and square, and I could only imagine it must have held some kind of stand-up speaker or space heater for a patio, or . . . I really had no idea what baby item might require such a box. I couldn’t help the laugh that escaped my lips as I watched him struggle with the awkward package to the front of the room and put it down, a shy smile on his face as he looked my way.
“For you,” he mouthed.
“You want help opening it?” Delia asked, still looking worried.
I was so confused and overwhelmed, dizzy and sick, that there was no way I could casually stroll over and unwrap a seven-foot-tall package without something terrible happening. I nodded.
