Windward Whisperings Read Online Free

with its cost. A
complete waste of time, she knew. At Naiad, her work situation was pure stagnation. She had
proved herself as a design engineer in the production department, but she’d never get a raise without
an open position above her. On Friday, her boss, Edgar Wedemeyer, had recommended a lateral
move into finance. A big break, he’d said, and even set up her interview. She agreed with his
reasoning.
Now headed by Garrett, the financial department was spotty with resignations. Fear of
bankruptcy had closed in. Financial analysts were first to see the numbers in red.
Working for the cutter of costs, my heart won’t have to be an insurmountable problem , she thought. At Naiad,
she’d earned every notch she’d climbed. She didn’t care how handsome or successful he’d become. “We’ll talk about it.” He’d actually said that.
She pressed her lips together. Growing up, she’d worked hard in a different area than him,
extracurricular activities. She’d headed to U.S.C. with partying in mind and joined the Black sorority,
Delta Sigma Theta. With networking capability, it wasn’t long until she’d also joined the sailing team,
racing an international class boat.
Somehow an intro class in kinetics had hooked her natural curiosity. Because it’d fit with sailing,
she’d gravitated into mechanical engineering and had found ways to apply her knowledge of fluid
dynamics. It wasn’t like she got her diploma from Online College of Make-Believe. She doubted
Garrett knew anything about that.
Fuming, she wanted to give the file cabinet a swift boot with her pointed alligator pumps. In
midswing, she thought of the consequence of her kicking habit and let her foot drop. She eased her
foot from her shoe, massaged her toes which still ached from the punt to the yacht club door, and
then slipped her foot back into her shoe. The sight of a belly interrupted her sulking.
It belonged to her boss. Edgar Wedemeyer loomed around the corner like a spinnaker,
swaggered a bit and stood with his arms akimbo. “Kitzie, you deserve a raise. To get that, you’d
need to be promoted.”
Spinning in her chair, the kicking urge remained. She doubted Garrett would take her seriously.
“Why not just give me your job?”
He let out a snort-laugh and glanced at his watch. “It’s interview time. Try to live up to my
recommendation with our new ‘head.’ Get it?”
“I do. Head is a nautical term for bathroom, located in the forward compartment. Nicely done,
Edgar.” Anal humor was his forte.
Thin hair raked streaks across his nearly hairless crown. “You read my memo to Mackenzie,
right?”
“It was glowing. Thank you for your kind words.” She pushed aside her completed draft.
He looked down at it. “Naiad’s in the red. Just because that project ate up six months of
overtime, it ain’t goin’ nowhere. Naiad is at ass-end.” With a glint of humor in his eyes, he slammed
her folder shut and sat on it. One of his knees bounced.
“Believe me, I know. Remove yourself. Let me file this.” Sometimes she enjoyed his pubescent
funniness. This wasn’t one of those moments.
He slid off the desk and handed her the folder. She grabbed it, rolled her chair to her file
cabinet, pulled a low drawer, and lifted out a heavy accordion file to her lap. She slipped in her
folder. When she dropped it in, it made a thud.
Edgar drew his features into a frown.
Leaning back in her chair, she empathized with his desperation. Every managerial position was
under review. “You’ll be fine, Edgar.”
“I’d feel better if you took this lateral move. I need a friend working for him .”
“If it’s offered, I’ll take it.” Otherwise, good luck, amigo. She knew something of office politics.
Edgar wanted her to put in a good word for him and feed him discreet information at the same
time.
He pulled at a loose button on his starched denim shirt. “From your resume, Mackenzie will
know you’re trained as a design engineer. Of