Monday

V iolet had done some research over the weekend, and no, it wasn't about the device this time. She'd already tried to learn anything she could about it the previous week and had found literally nothing. Then again, her search terms had consisted of ‘time-traveling boomerang,' ‘hospitals of the future,' and ‘losing your damn mind,' so they weren't likely to generate a lot of helpful results. Over this past weekend, she'd looked up Rachel Bailey. Finding her on LinkedIn under Violet's recruiter profile that her assistant had set up for her, which was private and meant that Rachel wouldn't know that it was her, she checked out her work history, trying to keep this professional.

Rachel had graduated from her undergrad nine years prior, her MBA only six years prior, and she looked so young. Violet had been pushing it when she'd assumed the woman was about thirty. Getting a closer look at her by the elevators had Violet thinking that Rachel was maybe twenty-six or twenty-seven, at most, so she moved over to try to find her on social media to see if she could get an age more out of curiosity than anything because the work history on Rachel's LinkedIn page was longer than it would have been had she gone to college at eighteen.

That, of course, had led Violet to find the photos and other information the woman had publicly available on her pages. Lo and behold, Rachel Bailey was twenty-seven, making her about nine years younger than Violet. That seemed about right based on the vision Violet had had. Rachel was pretty. Violet had actually smiled at some of the photos she'd found. And while Rachel's smile was beautiful, too, it was her bright blue eyes that really got Violet's attention.

There had also been one other thing that stood out to her on LinkedIn. On her profile, Rachel had indicated that she'd worked for a well-known LGBTQ+ charity and had started a gay-straight alliance at her previous company. While that technically didn't indicate that Rachel was into women, and some of her social media information was locked to only friends and followers, Violet thought that there was a pretty high likelihood that Rachel was at least interested in women in some capacity. All of these facts lining up together made Violet feel as if the vision had been just that, a vision of her future, and not at all something her mind had made up all on its own. She recalled that interview day when she'd waited outside Mark's office, and she couldn't remember anyone saying Rachel's name, so she wouldn't have heard it then, which only gave more credence to it being a real vision of the future.

She had also looked up something else, remembering the names of the twins in her vision, and she'd discovered that the name Dora was of Greek origin and meant ‘gift.' Quickly, she'd taken a chance and looked up other names that meant ‘gift,' and sure enough, Daryn, spelled with a Y, also meant ‘gift' and had Greek roots. That had really had Violet smiling and wondering if maybe Rachel was Greek as she thought about Rachel's present-day dark-brown, nearly black hair, slightly darker skin, and bright blue eyes.

"Come on in," she said to her on morning after Courtney told her that her nine o'clock was there. "Hi, again."

"Good morning," Rachel said and held out her hand when she approached Violet's desk.

Violet stood up and shook it. Rachel's hand was soft and warm, and while it was a firm handshake, it also caused something to shift inside her body that Violet couldn't quite explain. It was as if something inside her was telling her to pay attention. She met Rachel's eyes then, trying to see if the woman had had the same reaction. Rachel swallowed, but that could've also been due to a number of reasons, like she was nervous about the interview, having nothing to do with Violet being the possible love of her future life.

"We can just chat," Violet suggested. "Over on the sofa, if you want. This desk is huge." She laughed. "And kind of formal."

"Oh, okay."

"Is that okay with you? If not–"

"No, it's fine," Rachel replied. "Sorry, I shouldn't have interrupted you."

"No, it's okay. I just thought we could talk. I'm not on the hiring committee, technically, so this is just an informal chat because we'd be working together a lot."

"Right. Okay," Rachel said again. "Sure."

Violet motioned for her to sit and then walked around her desk.

"Do you want something to drink or–"

"I'm okay." Rachel closed her eyes after sitting down. "And I just interrupted you again. I'm sorry."

"Nervous?" Violet guessed .

"I just really want this job," Rachel shared. "And, to be honest, I don't know that I was very nice to you on Friday. Now, you're the person I need to impress to get this job."

"You weren't very nice?" she asked with a small smile, trying to show Rachel that it was okay.

"No. I was upset when I didn't get your job, so when I saw you again, I think I reacted poorly."

"Because I got it over you?"

"Yeah, that," Rachel told her, but there was something else there that she, again, wasn't saying.

"Can we do something?"

"What?"

"Can we just get rid of the pretense here? I read your resume and checked our interviewing system. You have the qualifications. Everyone loved you in the interviews you've done so far. So, let's just drop the awkwardness, and you be direct with me. You didn't like that I got the job over you."

"No, I didn't."

"Why?"

"You really want me to answer that?" Rachel seemed to genuinely want to know.

"Yes."

"I know you have more experience than me. And I'm young for the experience I do have because I graduated high school and then college early, so that can throw people off, but you didn't get the job because of your experience."

"Sorry?" Violet asked as she sat down next to her and faced her.

"In the bathroom that day, I overheard Mark's assistant. She said… She said you and Mark…"

"I'm sorry; what?" Violet asked again, shaking her head.

"She said to some other woman that you and Mark… Well, she said you fucked him. Those were her words, not mine. And–"

"She said what ?!"

"She said you slept with him to make yourself look better and get the job. Then, when I didn't get it and I found out who did, I–"

"Rachel, I didn't sleep with Mark."

"I try not to judge, but you set women back decades when you–"

"Oh, my God. I'm gay," she said probably a little too loudly.

"What?"

"Rachel, I'm gay. Not that that should matter – I've never slept with anyone, regardless of their gender, to get a job. I met Mark in person that day, like I told you. I did my interview and went home. I got a call a week later telling me that I'd gotten the job. I started after that. Nothing has ever happened between Mark and me. He's married and seems to adore his wife. They have four kids together, and the guy is home every night no later than six-thirty to have dinner. I swear, he's the only C-suite guy I know who also coaches his kid's soccer team and never misses a dance recital."

"Oh," Rachel let out with a slight flush appearing on her cheeks.

"Yeah, oh ," Violet replied. "I got the job because I was qualified."

"I guess I just set women back decades by believing the gossip I overheard in the bathroom."

Violet laughed a little and said, "Mark's assistant back then was kind of a troublemaker. She got fired about two months after I joined. I swear to you, I've never tried to sleep my way to the top. And that's not just because of the fact that all of my bosses so far have been men, either; even though I have no interest in sleeping with a man."

"This is the strangest interview I've ever had." Rachel laughed.

"Me too, I think." Violet smiled at her.

"I'm sorry for believing the rumor. I should've just let it go."

"It's okay," Violet said. "Hey, when did you graduate high school?"

"Fourteen."

"What?"

"I skipped third through, well, sixth grade."

"Damn. You're smart, huh?"

"That's what they tell me."

"And college?"

"Undergrad at eighteen and my MBA at twenty-one. I worked for a little and then started working on a Ph.D. in economics. I'm still working on it." She shrugged.

"Economics?"

"I like studying the economy. It's a lifeform all its own."

"It is, yeah," Violet agreed. "So, why did you want my job? It's operations, not finance, and while there are numbers involved, it's not all about that."

"I wanted this company and, preferably, a leadership position in something related to my experience. Your company is sorely lacking in female leadership. "

"Tell me about it. I'm the only female executive here. We have a few female directors and one senior director, but that's it."

"And you were interviewing against me to replace a man. I wanted to work here and thought I had the experience and the brains to back up an SVP role at twenty-six, but it went to you, and I made some assumptions. I am sorry."

"And you're okay with a VP role?"

"I'd still be a female executive here, and I do think finance is more up my alley. At my current company, I found over two million dollars in savings for them this year alone."

"Damn," Violet said.

"We had a lot of redundancies we were able to get rid of."

"I'd love to have another woman in a leadership role here, personally."

Rachel nodded and asked, "So, you're not going to hold what I thought about you against me?"

"Oh, I didn't say that woman was you ," she teased.

Rachel looked worried. Then, Violet laughed.

"You're teasing me?"

"Had to. Call us even now," she replied.

"No, I think I'd need to buy you lunch for, like, a year or something to be even for what I assumed."

"Maybe lunch your first week or something?" Violet suggested.

Rachel smiled at her and said, "Even if I don't get it, I can at least buy you a cup of coffee sometime."

Violet nodded and wiped the smile off her face because this was a job interview and not a damn meet-cute.

"Sure. Do you want to ask me any questions about the company or the role?"

"I have a few, but you don't want to ask me anything first?"

"Um… Maybe one question. Just out of curiosity, are you Greek?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"Just thought that maybe you were. Hair and eyes. My mom's family was Greek, too. It's a random question and doesn't have anything to do with this interview, though." Violet chuckled nervously.

"Oh, okay," Rachel said, looking a little confused but also still smiling.