American Beauty – Being beautiful has its disadvantages

I looked at her sternly. “I want you to be honest with me, Karen. Are you and Peter having an affair?”

She gasped in surprise. “Oh, no! Whatever made you think that?”

I ignored her question. “Well, has he come on to you? Do you think he’s trying to start something with you?”

Now she was indignant. “Certainly not! I don’t think he’s that kind of person, and even if he were, I’m happily married and Peter knows it. He’s even met my husband.”

Watching and listening to her, I really didn’t think Karen was trying to hide anything. Still . . .

“Okay,” I told her, “but I still can’t understand why he’d go to so much trouble to try to protect you.”

She shrugged her shoulders. “I’m not really sure either – most bosses wouldn’t. I guess Peter is just a nice guy. In any case, I’m really grateful.”

Her answer didn’t sound rehearsed to me. Maybe Peter’s request was nothing more than it appeared. In any case, I didn’t want the woman sitting across from me to suffer at the hands of a bully like Scott Benson.

“Okay, Karen, here’s what we’re going to do,” I said, and her eyes shone with gratitude as I outlined the plan.

A week later I had just gotten off the phone when I spotted Peter standing there. I could tell he’d been staring at me because he hastily shifted his glance away when I looked up. “What can I do for you, Peter?” I asked.

“I just wanted to stop by and thank you for helping Karen,” he said. “I was in Scott’s office talking about Expo and noticed your memo sitting on his desk. I really appreciate your giving her a little executive cover.”

I smiled at him. “I’m glad I could help. Karen does seem to have a lot of potential, and it would be a shame for the company to lose her.”

He nodded and started to leave, but I felt a little guilty about doubting him before so I spoke up quickly. “For what it’s worth, I’m impressed that you went to so much trouble for someone who doesn’t even work for you.”

He actually blushed! “Well, it was no more than anyone else would have done.”

I nodded, but in my experience people don’t go out of their way to help others unless they want something in return. It was nice to learn there were exceptions. “I’m still impressed,” I told him.

He started to leave again but then turned back. “Listen, I was just about to go down to the cafeteria to grab some lunch. Would you care to join me?”

Ordinarily I would have turned down an invitation like that, but Peter did seem to be a genuinely nice guy and I thought it couldn’t hurt to have another friend. “Sure, that would be great.”

Over lunch I learned a number of things about Peter Hammill. The first was that he was devoted to his wife Callie. “She’s an interior designer, and a damned good one,” he told me. He pulled out his cellphone and started showing me pictures of her (she was lovely) and of some rooms she had designed (they were impressive). “She’s even done work for some of our executives,” he told me proudly.

But before he could go on, we were interrupted by one of his people who needed a decision from Peter about some collateral material for Expo. While Peter was dealing with that issue, another member of his team came up with another work question. Before long, a team meeting had convened at our table.