“Michael is finishing up a call,” Cassie explains. “Can I get you a fresh tea or cup of coffee? Water?”
“Oh no, I’m good, thank you,” I say. Cold air washes over me. Why are conference rooms so cold? The temperature is only adding to my nerves.
“I will let Aaron on as soon as Michael is here,” Cassie says, typing on her laptop.
“Okay.”
Then, as all good Brits do, the conversation immediately turns to the day’s weather. That we’re supposed to get rain this afternoon, it’s been so hot, blah, blah, blah. I nod in agreement, but they pretty much discuss it amongst themselves until Michael walks in.
“My apologies,” he says, shutting the door behind him. “Isla, welcome back to London. How was Montreal?”
“It was excellent, thank you,” I say.
He nods and takes a seat at the head of the very long table. “Cassie, is Aaron on?”
“I’ll put him on right now,” she says.
There’s a flat-screen TV on the wall at the other end of the table, and soon my agent appears.
“Aaron, thank you for joining us,” Michael says. “I know it’s very early in Chicago.”
“My pleasure, Michael.”
There’s a brief pause. It makes me want to vomit all over the table. Will this go well for me? Or will it be awful? I have to talk about my personal life with my bosses—it doesn’t get more humiliating than that.
They could make me feel like I’m doing something wrong. Taboo, even. Their opinions of me could completely change based on their belief systems.
In this brief pause, though, something hits me.
The old me, the rules Isla, would never have taken this leap for Caleb. He was out of bounds. Against the unspoken rules. I couldn’t have a career in motorsport if I had him.
But meeting Caleb changed me. Not everything is black and white, no matter how much we want it to be. Some people are worth risks.
I took the leap for him. For love.
How can I regret that? Or be ashamed of it? As long as I can’t influence anything with my reporting, I don’t see how it’s wrong.
It’s a hill I’m willing to die on. And I’m ready to do it.
“I think we can get started,” Michael says, reaching for the cup of tea Cassie has placed in front of him. “We’re all here today at your request, Isla. Would you get us up to speed on your situation?”
Here we go. My words matter, as does my body language and expression. My career hinges on whether I can get this right and whether I can convince everyone that there is no conflict of interest when it comes to Caleb.
“I met Caleb Collings when I was assigned to do a tour of the Collings Motors motorhome for the Miami Grand Prix,” I begin. “A member of the Collings Motors communications team was supposed to give me the tour, but after he said some sexist things about female reporters, and felt compelled to add mansplaining to the mix, I told him I didn’t find his commentary acceptable.”
I’m met with wide eyes around the table. I continue. “Caleb was there. He said the comments had no place at Collings Motors and reported the incident to their HR.”
“Did you report this to us?” Lydia asks.
“I reported it to my assignment editor. But I felt that Collings Motors would handle it appropriately. And I still got the interview I wanted.”
“With Caleb Collings,” Michael says, taking another sip of his tea.
“Yes. Caleb wanted to give me the tour after that.”
“You also received subsequent interviews from Caleb. Was there anything promised in exchange for those interviews?” Lydia asks.
“No. I’m not going to lie. Caleb expressed an interest in me right away, but I told him I couldn’t date a driver. I was determined to do what was expected of me, and to keep that afirm line that I would never cross. I made it clear I would not do any interviews if there was an exchange in mind. And there wasn’t. I did not agree to have a date with him until after the interview at Imola.”