Finding The One Ch 04

This is the fourth chapter of an eight chapter story. I recommend starting with chapter one.

While the first few chapters could easily be categorised differently - erotic couplings - I put them into Romance because of the over-all theme. It will become more romantic in later chapters.

My thanks go to Joffa for providing his spelling and grammar expertise. His help is highly appreciated. If any errors remain, I'm sure they happened after his editing.

Please vote and/or leave comments. It is your feedback which fuels my motivation.

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Ch. 04: Hitting Rock Bottom

I fled from the mess of my private life by diving into work from early mornings to late evenings for the next four weeks. My method proved rather unsuccessful, though. Helen had noticed that something was wrong right away and when I tore a new one into the leader of the marketing team for a simple spelling mistake in a presentation, she interrupted the meeting by sending everybody on a coffee break and hauled me over the coals. In the end, I apologised to the team lead but she didn't get me to talk about the reason for my bad mood.

That very same foul mood kept my employees on their toes during this period but not because they wanted to perform well but because they were afraid of making mistakes. That's not how I wanted it to be. I wanted my staff to thrive in an encouraging environment, not choke to death in a fear inducing, poisoned atmosphere. I needed to do something; it couldn't go on like that.

Four and a half weeks after the disaster with Mia I decided it was time to act. I would start with Paul. Both he and Trisha had called me frequently and left numerous voice messages but I had ignored all attempts of contact. They both knew how I thought about cheating and had consciously sent me into a trap. That's not how friends acted but friends also forgave each other. I would, therefore, leave the office a bit earlier today and go to the studio for a workout and to talk to him.

"Hi Marc," he approached me unobtrusively. "How are you doing?"

"Hi, Paul. Not good."

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have let it happen."

"Damn right. What the hell were you thinking?"

"That you could need a fun night of unwinding and Mia was perfect for that."

"So you omitted the fact that she was in a relationship? You know how I feel about cheating."

"It was not cheating. Her girlfriend knows about these escapades."

"It's still cheating. Just with the partner tolerating it. But let's leave this behind. I had some horrible weeks and I need my friend back at my side."

"Thanks, man. I promise it will never happen again."

"Thanks. And send Trisha my apologies for ignoring her. I haven't been on my best behaviour these last few weeks. I haven't behaved like friend either and I'm sorry for that."

It turned out that this was just what I needed. He took the evening off and joined me at home for a few beers and some buddy-time. It didn't solve the basic problem that I seemed unable to have a lasting romantic relationship but Paul brought the downward spiral I had got into to a stop. After he had left I sent an email to the entire staff apologising for my rude and negative behaviour and promised them to return to better practices.

***

On Thursday morning I got delayed by an incredibly tedious meeting with the legal department. There was an 'extremely important' change in the wording of the general terms and conditions which obviously needed my approval. Paula from Legal had managed to drone on for more than three hours on a topic which was already boring when we began and overran the allocated time slot by an hour. A few urgent customer emails and phone calls not only prevented me from catching up but delayed me even further and the meeting with Charles, the CFO, started two hours late but at least he kept to the allocated time and but still ended two hours late at three pm instead of one pm. This meant that Sandra had already been waiting for two hours to meet me for her introduction and the beginning of the handover. After Charles had left I asked Helen to send Sandra in as soon as possible.

"What about your lunch?"

"I'll skip it. I'm already behind my schedule; Sandra has waited long enough to get a bad impression."

Five minutes later, I had just had the time to get an overview of the latest emails and quickly glance over the introduction plan I had prepared, Sandra came in with a plate in her hands. As I got up to welcome her she stopped me by raising her hand to the world wide stop signal.

"I have read the HR strategy papers you sent me and health is one of the main pillars of it. Consequently, I will not accept such unhealthy behaviour on my first day of work here," she said with a disarming smile on her face. "Please take your time with the salad, have a coffee and I will come back in half an hour."

She put the salad on my table, handed me the cutlery and a napkin, turned around and left my office without listening to my objection. As she left the door open I saw her high-five Helen.

'Great, another rebel who thinks for herself,' I thought to myself as I took a deep breath. It seemed as if Helen and I had chosen wisely because if this was her general attitude, she would fit in nicely. I started eating the salad and took a conscious effort not to wolf the food down but eat it slowly and chew properly. After I had finished and cleaned up using the napkin, I lifted the phone to call Helen to get Sandra back here. I had not yet pressed the speed dial button when Sandra appeared with two coffees and took the seat opposite my desk.

I rose and extended my hand, "Hi Sandra, welcome to SecurITy. I'm sorry for the chaos I created in our schedules. Too many things to do and not enough time."

"Good afternoon, Mr Columbus. It's a pleasure to be here. And don't worry about the schedule. It is the fact that you are overworked that presents me with this opportunity," she replied with a smile.

While I motioned her over to the meeting table which presented a less formal opportunity than the desk I replied, "Please, call me Marc."

After we had sat down I asked, "The meeting was originally scheduled until five. Do you have any other appointments afterwards or can I create havoc in your schedule as well?"

"It's the last meeting of the day for me so we can go on as long as necessary."

We spent the next four hours on discussing the HR strategy which so far existed mostly on paper. Sandra further proved to be a good choice for the position as she asked smart questions and proposed some interesting adaptations. I decided to throw her into the deep water without delay.

"Ok. You adapt the strategy as discussed and start implementing it. For starters, I expect bi-weekly updates on the status. Please arrange the meetings with Helen. Of course, you are welcome to come and ask questions more often if you need to but please do not feel obligated to cover every decision. I want you to take the responsibility for your department and your tasks and therefore equip you with the competencies. You have a budget and within this budget, you have almost free reign."

Sandra, despite looking tired after an intense first day in the company, beamed, "Thank you for the trust you place in me. I know I'm young for this kind of position but I promise you won't regret your choice."

"Then I have one more task for you," I said as I pulled a small file from one of my drawers. "I've toyed with this idea here for a while but never found the time to tackle it. Set up a concept, a rough budget for investments and running costs and come back to me. You can start from scratch if you think that my thoughts on it are crap, I won't mind."

She looked at the first page of the document and raised her eyebrows. "A free child-care for your staff? This will not come cheap," she said looking back at me.

"I know but it's an investment in my staff and I'm absolutely sure it will pay off."

There was a knock at the door and Helen stuck her head in.

"I'm sorry to interrupt but you have to leave in ten minutes if you want to make it to your customer meeting in time, Marc."

"Helen, why are you still here? Shouldn't you have left two hours ago?"

"I just want to make sure you treat Sandra well and that she finds her way out and to the car."

Sandra took her notes and the new project file and rose to leave.

"Sandra, I have full trust in your abilities. Tomorrow morning we have a staff meeting arranged where I will officially introduce you." I led her to the door, shook her hand and handed her over to Helen.

I quickly turned off my computer and cleaned my desk. Looking down on my crinkled clothes I also decided to change into the backup suit I always kept at the office. When I came out of the private restroom I overheard Sandra and Helen talk outside of my office.

"... until eleven? That means he'll be home by eleven thirty earliest and not get to sleep before midnight. And if he is back here tomorrow in time for the eight o'clock staff meeting he'll get a maximum of six hours sleep without any other downtime. Is that his normal schedule?"

"More like five hours, unfortunately. He'll be here by seven latest. I've been nagging him for quite some time to take a week or two off to unwind and relax but so far I'm not getting my point across."

"Is he married? Or in a relationship?"

"He's married to his company. And a few weeks ago something happened that has been depressing him ever since but so far he is not talking to me about it. As a matter of fact, today is the first time in almost a month when he's been somewhat cheerful."

"So he's working too many hours on too many days and has no way to unwind. He is running straight into a burnout. We'll have to do something about that. I have some nice single girlfriends I could try to set him up with."

"Psst!" Helen shushed Sandra and called out in my direction, "Marc, hurry or you'll be late!"

I walked out of the office and pointed my index finger at Sandra, "Don't you dare to set me up with anyone. That's probably the fastest way to get fired." I rushed past them towards the exit and my car to head to the concert to which I had invited some customers.

"Damned. What an end to my first day at work. Almost fired after one meeting."

"Don't worry. He wasn't serious and has probably already forgotten it. But we might need to wait for a few weeks before we can arrange something. That was a different suit, wasn't it? I need to get the other one to the dry cleaner then."

*******

Sandra soon proved to be a huge asset. I hadn't even realised how much of my time was used by HR topics. I even managed to squeeze in a doctor's appointment; I hadn't forgotten the unprotected sex with Claire but the test came back clean. Four weeks after the introductory meeting my workload had reduced significantly. Especially staff acquisition and staff development had been two areas which I had invested a lot of time into and those were the areas Sandra took over first. Being able to reallocate my time lead to me looking at my mailbox on Friday afternoon realising that all emails had been answered or forwarded. A check on my task list revealed that I had no open task. A view into my calendar left me disoriented as I had nothing to do for the entire weekend: no meetings to prepare, no presentations to adapt, no code to write, no candidate files to read, no customers to entertain. I sat in my chair, stunned. In the last seven years, I had not experienced a single weekend without any obligations.

I went through my ever-present mental list. Sales? We had some promising leads going. Customer relationship management? The customers seemed to be happy, no complaints were pending. Finance? Up to date. Quarterly results coming in next week. Legal? All fine. No lawsuits, contracts updated. Internal IT? All running, no security breaches reported. HR? The status meeting today proved that Helen and I had decided well when hiring Sandra. All vacancies were being worked on, the strategy was updated, the implementation started. Marketing? The PR campaign was ready for release, the latest marketing campaign being prepared. R&D? The pipeline brimmed with ideas and one project was looking especially promising, to the point that I was almost glad that the deal with Anna's father had faltered. Coding: No problems reported with the current customizations and projects.

The only downside of this was that I would be alone with my depressing thoughts for the weekend and no way to evade them. My mood certainly had improved, mostly thanks to time spent with Paul and as well as Andrea and her children but I still refused to discuss the reason for my depression with anybody. Paul had finally given up trying to set me up as he was still feeling guilty about the events surrounding Mia. He had convinced Trisha to put an end to her matchmaking as well. But as I became more and more convinced that I was destined to be alone, it was time to learn to spend weekends on my own. I could spend a bit more time on coding; an activity I had always enjoyed but had not come around to as much as I wanted in the last couple of years.

I turned off my computer and walked out of my office to Helen who was just talking to Sandra, "Helen, I'm leaving. I'll spend some time in the fitness studio on my way home and then relax the entire weekend at home without any obligations. You see? I unwind. That is unless you have something that needs my attention, Sandra."

"After that speech? I'd rather cut my tongue off with a white hot spoon than bring something to your attention. But there really isn't anything. I'm just here to invite Helen to a barbeque at my place tomorrow in the early evening. You are more than welcome as well, of course."

I eyed her suspiciously, "Is this an attempt to set me up as you threatened on your first day?"

"That was just a joke between two women. I promise that I will not try to set you up. But as I have invited mostly friends from my personal life, I must admit that there will be single women around." She quickly pondered and proceeded to count the attendants on her fingers, "If you came, there would be nine persons: two couples, one man and one woman in relationships but not with each other, two single women, one of which is Helen, and you."

"So apart from Helen it is one single woman and one single man and you tell me it's not a setup? Or are you that single woman?"

"Hey, I didn't even plan to invite you until just now, so how could it be a setup? And no, I'm not single as you well know," she smiled her disarming smile which had become her trademark in the company. I needed to learn to resist that smile.

"Ok. As it's at least partially your good work here in the company which leaves me with nothing to do on the weekend, I might as well make you responsible for my entertainment," I joked good-naturedly.

"So you do want to be set up?" she replied with a grin.

"This whole topic is approaching sexual harassment. I think I need to talk to the head of HR about you."

"It's not worth it. I heard she's a manipulating, scheming bitch who would even invite her boss for a barbeque to advance her career."

I laughed out loud. "Nice one! But on a more serious note: Would you please not introduce me as your boss but as a team leader in the coding department? People tend to tense up and try hard to impress me when they learn too much about me too early. I'd much rather they behave naturally."

"Sure, no problem. That's one of the downsides of big success, I suppose. People don't want to be seen as inferior."

"I guess. If only they understood that different people define success differently and are successful in different ways. But let's not get too philosophical and serious on a Friday afternoon. I will go home, enjoy a rare afternoon with no compulsory tasks and maybe invite my sister-in-law and her kids for a dinner."

"Have fun. You know my address, the door opens around four pm."

*******

I arrived at Sandra's place around five. I already knew a few things about her place from conversations at work. We talked about private things when we went for lunch or met for informal updates. She lived in the house her fiancée had grown up in and had inherited from his parents. It had three bedrooms and a garden which, while not being big enough for a pool, would be sufficient as a playground for two children.

I was greeted at the door by James, Sandra's fiancée, who was quick to point out he knew who I was but would, of course, support my cover as a coder. He explained all the changes Sandra had initiated when she moved in while he gave me a short tour of the house and then led me into the garden where a group of people were already gathered and holding a variety of wine and beer in their hands and chatting. I was introduced and tried my best to blend in and show interest in them. I also avoided going to deep into my job by asking questions and keep my opposite answering them.

As usual in a group of people in their twenties and thirties, the topic of partners came up rather quickly.

"I've been so busy I've not had much time to look around in between studies, work and sleep," I replied jokingly.

"And he has been showing all the typical signs of commitment phobia most men seem to suffer from these days," Helen chipped in.

"Why haven't you invited more Singles today? I'm sure most of them wouldn't mind getting a taste of him," one of the married women asked Sandra. "It doesn't always have to be a relationship. Some non-committal sex can work wonders as well."

"I'm trying to get him out of the office into the big wide world. I don't want to scare him off early by throwing him into the tiger's den."

"You do realise I'm standing right here and can hear you talk about me?" I asked playfully.

"Pssst. We're just talking about you, not with you," was the playful answer I received from the same woman.

"I had to promise him not to set him up or he wouldn't come. But Mel should be here any minute."

"You don't want to scare him and then you introduce him to Mel? Isn't this counterproductive?"

"It's not as if he is an inexperienced puppy. He doesn't commit, but from what I've heard he definitely knows his way around the sheets."

"Hello? I'm still standing here. You can see, hear and talk to me. Would you please not sell my skin without my consent?" I complained laughing.

The women in the circle smiled at my comment but chose to ignore me otherwise.

"Who told you?" Helen was asked.

"His sister-in-law. She knows quite a few of his conquests."

I would need to talk to Andrea about the information she shared about me. At least I now understood where Pat had this habit from.

"And despite his success in scoring with women, he is not in a relationship?"

"As I said, 'commitment issues'."

"As my presence is obviously not required for you to discuss me, I'll leave you to your childish and pointless gossip and go somewhere I'm more welcome," I said acting insulted as I left them and went over to where the three other guys were talking.

We had just started the never-ending discussion about sense or nonsense of the video-proof in professional football (=soccer) when the women got a bit loud and greeted the last person expected for the day. I didn't see her but understood from the earlier exchanges that this must be Mel. In order to send at least a small signal, I turned my back towards the women and continued the discussion with the lads.

After a while, James excused himself as he had to man the grill. The other two men were called away by their women in order to help with something which left me standing alone. This gave me the options to either be very rude to this mysterious Mel or go over to where she was chatting with Helen her back in my direction. Talk about sending signals. Naturally, I chose to be polite.