The New Programmer

Sharon kept to herself for the next two days. Her head and heart rode a wild ride of emotions. She felt misled and lied to. She trusted this guy and opened up to him. He seemed so genuine. He listened to her and everyone else in the company. He fought for their best interests. He even took shit from Ted. The whole time he was hiding who he was. She couldn't understand why.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door. Her heart stopped thinking it was Daniel. She was not ready to face him.

A voice came from the entrance, "Sharon it's Jake and Lori. We want to make sure you're ok."

She was relieved that it was two friends. She opened the door and met each with a big hug. The three made their way to the living room and sat down.

"Are you ok?" asked Lori.

"Yes. Yes, I'm getting there. I just need time to sort through things."

Jake replied, "We understand. We were all surprised. It was like something you would see on a reality TV show or something. When are you coming back?"

"I'm not. I'm going to put in my notice. I think I'll move to Seattle or California and find another tech company," Sharon said somberly.

"Oh no Sharon, not now. Please don't," Lori said with sadness in her voice.

"What do you mean?"

Jake jumped in, "Fanex is no longer a division of Rotect. It's its own company now. Ted's gone and Daniel is CEO."

"He's making all the changes we talked about. Everything you fought for, everything you wanted, he's making it happen," Lori said.

"He had a meeting with all of us. He apologized for not being forthcoming and said that anyone who wanted to leave he would give them two weeks' pay. But then he laid out what he wanted to do with the company. After that, no one wanted to leave," Jake told her.

"It's a whole new place. Full of excitement and optimism. We'd hate to see you leave," Lori said sincerely.

Sharon sat in silence for a few moments before saying, "Well now I've even more to think about," She snickered to herself before offering her friends a glass of wine.

The next morning Sharon went into work. Everyone was excited to see her. Lori and Jake were right about the changes. There was a sense of purpose and drive in the air that hadn't been there before. There were construction workers converting one of the conference rooms into a kitchen/pantry. Jake was giving a tour to people with university staff badges.

She walked to her old workspace to find Daniel there listening to some of her other co-workers. As soon as he noticed her he asked them to come back later. They said hello to her as they filed out leaving the two of them alone.

There was a long silence before Daniel spoke, "I'm glad you came in."

"Well, I'm here to give you my notice."

He cast his eyes to the floor and slightly nodded his head, "I understand."

"You lied to me!" Sharon snapped.

"I never lied, I just didn't tell you the whole truth."

"That's the same thing! Let's not debate semantics!"

"Ok, ok, ok, fair enough. I deserve that," he said as calmly as he could, not wanting to escalate the emotional tension.

"Why? Why did you do it? Why come here? Why pretend?"

"I wanted to see and study the comet. This was the best place to do that. My brother and I are planning to sell Rotech. Fanex was not going to be part of the deal. It was going to get shut down as an asset shed to prop up operating cash and increase the selling price.

"I wanted to see it for myself. I wanted to meet the people before I made that decision. I had H.R. assign me to the open position here. The plan was to study the company by day and the comet by night."

His non-malicious answer was making it difficult to maintain her high level of anger, "And me, where was I in the plan?"

He nodded his head again, "You weren't part of the plan. You're something I never expected. I came here to see a comet that I knew I wouldn't see again in my lifetime and I found a woman that I'm sure I won't find again in a hundred lifetimes."

She snickered at his compliment dressed as a pick-up line.

"Sharon, I didn't tell you who I was, my name. But I did show you who I was, the person I am. You didn't know my real name but you saw the real me. If you had known my name from the start, how I was with you would've been no different. Can you say the same? If you knew I was an owner of the company you would have acted the same?"

She wasn't prepared for that question. She hadn't thought of it in those terms.

Daniel continued, "I'm sorry I hurt you. I am, it's the last thing I wanted. If you're going to leave because of it I understand, I'll have to live with what I did. But things have changed and I'd like you to stay."

"What's changed?"

"This is no longer a Rotech company. It's my company. My brother sold it to me. This way it's off the Rotech books and he'll get the high sell price he wants. It also prevents the liquidation of Fanex.

"I like the people here, I think we can be very successful. I want to bring Fanex to a different level. All of the ideas you had, I want to make them a reality and I think this team can do it. But I also want you here, running it all."

The last sentence stung Sharon, "What?"

"It's your vision. A vision I believe in. You need to be front and center. You need to lead the charge. Be the Director of Development and answer to no one. I'll get you everything you need to make it happen," Daniel spoke with honest conviction.

As his offer settled into her brain a doubt bobbed to the surface, "Is this because I had sex with you?"

The question made him chuckle.

"Well is it?"

He shook his head, "Not exactly."

"That's not a no."

"I know, I know. The truth is I don't want you for this job because I had sex with you. I want you for this job for the same reasons I had sex with you," Daniel detailed.

"What do you mean?"

"I had sex with you because I think you're amazing. You're intelligent, articulate and visionary. You're unapologetically honest and fiercely passionate. The person I need for this job needs to be all of those things as well."

Sharon stood there sorting through all that had been said in the last few minutes. Daniel had put everything out there. He was right, he had lied about his name but not who he was on the inside. She had developed feelings for the man, not the name. That man was still there and he was fighting to keep her in his life. On top of that, he was offering her the job she had always wanted.

"If what I did is something you cannot get past, and you still want to leave, I will understand. But I really want you running this team," Daniel added.

"If I say yes, if I take the job, does the sex stop? Do we stop?"

"That's up to you. I don't want it to. You're really great and it was some really awesome sex," he said with a smirk that made her giggle and give him a backhand slap to the chest.

"But if we have to end because of what I did, or if that is the price of you staying, then so be it."

Sharon held her breath for a moment, processing all that had been said. She realized she had been in this moment before. This was the second time she had gone from hating him to seeing a future in the course of a conversation. Her instincts told her this was like the comet, a once in a lifetime opportunity. She paused before speaking, "Okay."

"Okay what?" asked Daniel.

"Okay, yes to the job and okay, yes to us."

Daniel smiled and pulled her into his arms. She looked over his shoulder and saw that a crowd of co-workers was staring at them. She began to giggle, "We have an audience."

"Well then let's show them that you are staying," He held her close and kissed her.