Gamer Girl by Carmen Willow Page A

other. “Look. I’m going to take Rainwhite apart. You know that, I know that, and the employees know that. But I don’t know yet exactly how much of the company I want to keep, how many people I want to keep. You can help me sort that out. You know more about the personnel than we do—”
    “We’ve only been th ere three months. I don’t know—”
    “Ye t, you know them better than we do. And you haven’t been there long enough to make decisions based on emotion. Take Wickerworld for example. You’re right. I think the title has possibilities, but I don’t have the writing resources inside Gryphon to apply to it. Help me figure out if there’s a writer or writers on the Rainwhite team who could make that title into something worth keeping.”
    “What if I say no?” Sarah asked, but she could already guess the answer.
    Eamon leaned closer. “Then I take the game engine and the hardware and some of the other programming that Rainwhite has and I dump the rest including the staff. I don’t have time to sort it out, my people don’t have time to sort it out; and frankly, I don’t trust anyone else in your shop to do this.”
    Eamon watched Sarah’s face as she thought about what he’d said. Doubt, mis trust were there but he knew that, by appealing to Sarah’s desire to help the employees at Rainwhite keep their jobs, he probably hooked her.
    “How is this going to work?” Sarah eyes met his.
    Gotcha Sarah! Eamon kept his poker face. “You’ll be my assistant project manager. Don’t let the title go to your head. Most of the time, you’ll be my personal assistant. We’ll set up a desk opposite Nicole out there. I’ll be available for questions and you can keep me informed.”
    “What do you want me to do first?”
    “Evaluate the staff. Evaluate Wickerworld . Is there a way to save it without spending a fortune? Figure it out.”
    Sarah walked to the windows overlooking the city. Sarah came here expecting to be fired, but instead he offered her a chance to enter the world of video game creation and have an impact there. Sarah distrusted Eamon’s reasons: she knew nothing about the nuts and bolts of making a video game; she was a paralegal, and a consumer, so why did Eamon seem eager to have her do this? She glanced back in his direction. He was behind his desk once more, looking at something on his tablet. What were his motives? Sarah turned back to the windows. She could worry about it all day, but it didn’t matter. She had a chance to help some of the people she’d worked with for the past three months. So, she had to try. Sarah turned around again. Her expression was grim. “When do you want me to start?”
    Eam on studied her. “Don’t you want to know how much I plan to pay you? What your hours are to be? How much vacation you will receive?”
    Sarah remained serious. “I’ll need some time off around Memorial Day so that I can fly home and see my family. As to my salary, if you are paying me what I was already earning, I’ll be satisfied. ”
    “ I see. Then be in the office tomorrow by nine.”
    Sarah continued, “ Before I go home today, may I have a tour? I’d like to start becoming familiar with everything.”
    Eamon stood up and came around the desk. “ Sure. Come on, I’ll take you myself.” Eamon led the way out to Nicole’s desk. “Nicole, this is Sarah Adams. She’s going to be my assistant project manager.”
    Nicole smiled. “Hi!”
    “Nicole’s my administrative assistant, my gatekeeper among other things.”
    “D o you have a steno pad or a legal pad by chance? I need to take notes,” Sarah asked.
    “Sure .” Nicole pulled out a green steno pad, ripped the used pages out and gave it to her. “Here you go. Welcome to the club.”
    “Thanks.” Sarah took the pad and followed Eamon out to the elevator. They rode down to the second floor and Eamon opened the doors with a key card. The room was filled with cubicles adorned with a myriad of personal items,