2024-08-15 “More Than Meets The Eye” by Hannah

Hannah Madison sat at a seldom used drafting table on the Re-engineering floor of NYC SysCo’s Manhattan office. She had a draft copy of a CAD drawing onto which she was jotting down a few annotations before going back to a workstation.

She heard the elevator arrive and looked up in time to see Merritt Gray come off. He saw her looking, smiled and nodded a greeting across the room, then waved to Will Roberston, the director of the department, who had come from his work area to greet Merritt. She watched as the two of them went into the small conference room and closed the door.

Hannah considered herself above average in intelligence, and every standardized test she had ever taken agreed with her view. She worked hard at everything, and played hard when the job was complete.

Her internship with NYC SysCo had ended and she had been hired into a position equivalent to Merritt’s. But, though Will was on good terms with her to be sure, she did not enjoy weekly closed-door meetings with him that were clearly unrelated to work. That he and Merritt graduated from the same university failed to convince her that they should be on such chummy terms.

She believed there was something more going on. And she thought it would behoove her and her career to find out what.

Furthermore, she was interested in Merritt. He was two years older than her with obviously similar interests. He was handsome and beyond nice.

Hannah had dated early in college and had been on a few dates in her last year and throughout her internship. She had graduated, but starting a masters degree would wait until she had a little experience to inform her decisions about concentrations. She was at a place where her mind was open to forming a meaningful, potentially permanent relationship with a man

Merritt was number one on the short list. She had all but asked him out on a date a week before, and it had been nearly perfect. He was, indeed, a perfect gentleman in every way.

Hannah decided, with regard to Merritt Gray, it was time to let her above-average intellect get to work.