The Mistake – 3

That Friday evening, they met as they had agreed, arriving at a nearby restaurant just past five.

They ordered bowls of soup, then coffee, just to ‘pay’ for the space.

Amy found herself liking Jeremy.  Liked the way he spoke, his sense of humour, and felt comfortable with him. He had a sweet shyness so she held herself back a bit not to scare him.

At a number of points, where there could have been a ‘me & you’tilt, he moved it back to the changes at work.

As a toss away, she said that come Monday, they should discuss their ideas with others, bring more people into the discussion.

Jeremy said some people were afraid to talk up, and Amy said,

“Do it offhand in private. For example, you know this person in your section, make a kind of question, such as, “Wouldn’t you feel that you aren’t trusted if you have to sign for everything?”

Jeremy gave a quick shy smile, nodded; then softly,

“That’s a good idea. You know funnily enough, just earlier today I was talking to a woman about the same thing and she was joking about it, but I could see she was trying to spin it. Spin it away from ‘we don’t trust you’ to ‘keeping records,’ but I think I can talk to her.”

“That is exactly my point. When we hand in these recommendations it would be great if there were at least ten of us who would ‘champion’ them.”

“Amy,you are brilliant! I know exactly how to go about getting more support!”

She smiled at him, meeting his eyes, and for a moment they connected,then, shyly, he dropped his eyes.

It was past eight when they parted.