After the snowball fight, we all went to our separate rooms and went to bed. Nothing happened between Sam and I. Nothing ever will happen between Sam and I. Saturday was a very uneventful day, in which most of us steered clear of each other. Sam and I went ice fishing (somehow mid-October was also cool enough for ice to form on the small lake out back), and Emma and Nick did who knows what in their room. I avoided the top floor to give them as much privacy as they needed, much to my despair. By Sunday morning (the events of Saturday night were also uneventful, at least in the room I shared with Sam), I had almost a complete loss of hope of ever gaining Nick's love again. It sounds lame and desperate, but it was the truth. Emma has done a great job of keeping Nick all to herself.
Once we arrived back home, Sam dropped me and my luggage off at my house, then drove away after awkwardly depositing a peck on my cheek. Although the two of us did grow closer over the weekend, and I would even now call us good friends, I made sure he was clear on my nonexistent feelings for him. I told him that maybe in the future things between us will move further, but as for now I need to get down to business and figure out my job as well as my love life, which is supposedly also nonexistent.
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The day that we found out who got the zookeeper promotion had finally arrived. I know that it sounds like the lamest excuse for a job around, but the zoo was my happy place. Always busy, always being surrounded by animals that understood me better than my friends and family, that was my real getaway. You would have to work a day in my muck boots to truly understand how peaceful my job actually is.
Anyway, I had been working in the tamarin enclosure when one of my best friends, Abbie, found me with news. "Shaye! Jessie put the new list up! It's up! It's up!" Jessie was in charge of every worker at the zoo, and even though the list wasn't supposed to come out until next week, she had said she would try and get the decision made earlier. So there I was hand-feeding monkeys that could tear my finger off with their thumbtack-sized teeth, while my future was pinned to a bulletin board a quarter mile away. Not being able to stop my job where I was, I carefully wedged my way towards the inner circle of the tamarin's play area and dumped the contents of my hand in a little food bowl. They didn't like eating lunch out of their food bowl, but they weren't going to have a choice today. I peeled off my gloves and bolted for the door, weaving my way through the crowds of people that had formed around each individual display. Right now I didn't care if I knocked over an old lady. I needed to see if I got that spot.
Once I reached the maintenance building, I slowed to a jog. I had never really thought about this moment before. If my name was on that list, I would get a huge raise, and so many more opportunities would be available to me. If my name wasn't on that list, I would just continue doing what I do everyday until my name gets on that list next year or the year after. It's not that it won't happen, just that when it will happen makes a huge difference. But if Nick or I get that promotion and the other doesn't, our relationship could wither. Not from anger or resentment of jealousy, but just because we would spend little time together. I don't know what will happen.
As expected, there was a mob around the list, so I budged and pushed my way through, until I could crane my neck and make out the names. I took a deep breath and scanned the list:
Curators
Robert Lee Landon
Pramesh Sarkar
Shelly Barnett
Naja Baig
Liam Chariva
Rosalie Case
