So now I have nothing to do, and even though that might seem like a good thing, it isn’t. It seems like only a matter of time before someone realizes I’m not adding value, and I lose my job.
I’m surfing the internet for lunch recipe ideas when Heather Larkin walks in. I quickly close the browser window and stand up to greet her.
“Hi Alexandra,” Heather says warmly. She’s got a smear of lipstick on her teeth again. “I wanted to check in and see how your first week went.”
“It’s been great, thanks,” I lie.
“Dr. Malone’s keeping you busy?”
“Busy enough, yes.” Another lie.
“I wanted to follow-up about the upcoming meetings,” she continues. “As I mentioned, Wednesday’s meeting is the most important. Have you had a chance to confirm that one with Dr. Malone?”
I should just tell her he said no. She must know there’s no way I can get Dr. Malone to do something he doesn’t want to do.
“I mentioned it, but he’s really busy. I’m not sure he’s going to be able to make it.”
Heather’s disappointment is plain on her face. “As I said, if Wednesday doesn’t work we can move the date.”
“Right. Yes. He’s in the clinic today, but I’ll discuss it with him if he comes back to the office.”
Heather smiles. “Wonderful. Thank you, Alexandra. Let me know, okay?”
“Of course.”
Damn. I’ll have to ask Dr. Malone about the meeting again, and that’ll probably go about as well as it did the last time.
Heather leaves, and I spend the rest of the morning giving myself a pep talk. Dr. Malone is gruff, but he isn’t an ogre. He’s not going to bite my head off for nagging him to come to a meeting.
At least, I hope he isn’t.
Dr. Malone appears in the early afternoon, and his eyes immediately drop to the open package of Sour Patch Kids on my desk.
“Pure sugar, and very unhealthy,” I admit, before he can say anything. “But good for the soul.”
He nods and hands me the lunch bag, then turns to leave again. I screw up my courage.
“Uh, Dr. Malone, Heather Larkin dropped by this morning. She’s really hoping you can make the meeting next Wednesday? About strategic communication?”
He takes his hand off the doorknob and turns around, then sits on top of Celine’s desk and crosses his legs at the ankle. I wonder what Celine would think if she saw him perched beside her computer monitor.
But Celine’s not here; there’s just Dr. Malone and me, in an office that suddenly feels very small.
“Alexandra,” he says with a sigh. “When I took the chief job, I made my conditions clear. The first one was that I wouldn’t do meetings.”
“Like, none at all?”
He rolls his eyes. “I chair a department meeting every month and attend a Medical Affairs Committee meeting every quarter. But I won’t go to a bunch of meetings with management to talk about useless shit. I don’t have time.”
“I think it’s only supposed to last an hour. And Heather’s willing to reschedule it to a time that’s convenient for you.”
“Yeah, but it’s an hour of my life I’ll never get back. You know how it’ll go, right?”
“Well . . . I guess you’ll discuss strategic communication?”
The corner of his mouth hitches in a smirk. “There will be at least twenty managers in the room, and we’ll start with introductions. As an icebreaker, Heather will ask everyone to share an interesting personal fact. Half the group will talk about their pets, and the other half will talk about their last vacation. This will take, on average, one minute per person. So twenty minutes will pass before we can even talk about strategic communication. Whatever that even means.”
He pauses and scrubs a hand through his hair, and I rack my brain for a rebuttal. Before I come up with anything, Dr. Malone keeps going.
