I returned his smile, squeezed his hand, and said, “I’m glad to be here, Jeff. I’m really looking forward to making this work.”
He held my hand a beat longer than necessary, and I briefly wondered if he was making a pass at me or testing me. I assumed the latter, held his gaze, and acted as if I hadn’t noticed. After a beat, he gave a curt nod and indicated that I sit while he returned to his seat. I figured he had been testing me, and I had passed.
For the next two hours, Jeff laid out his plan and how I would be the key to making it work. He aimed to set up a separate office inside the finance office to interface directly with the Service Acquisition Executives (SAEs) within the several military services. These people would all be in the Pentagon so I’d be spending time there, getting to know the various offices in charge of acquisition of weapon systems for DoD.
By the time Jeff was done with his pitch, I was sold on his plan and told him that I was really looking forward to putting in the effort to make it work. When Jeff heard that, he smiled and said, “I’m glad to hear that, Anna. This will be a big shot in the arm for procuring business with DoD and should increase business and the bottom line.”
“I’m sure it will. Once we get into this, I may have some ideas to tweak it and maybe improve on it,” I said, putting Jeff on notice that I wasn’t just going to be his puppet but would be a collaborator.
Jeff smiled and nodded, indicating his approval of my desire to be a process co-owner. “That’s what I was hoping to hear from you, Anna. You didn’t disappoint me.”
Jeff sat back, relaxing, his body language agreeing with what he had just said. We were partners now in the new venture, and its success or failure was on me as much as it was on him.
Over the next three months, we worked together on setting up the new office. I traveled to the Pentagon a lot, getting used to the labyrinthine setup of the building. Jeff used his contacts in DoD to get me in to see the people we thought would be essential to make the process work, specifically the Service Acquisition Executive for each branch of the military. The fact that most of the people I was working with were male was not lost on me, and I made sure that once I had met with them that they knew I was more than just a pretty face.
There were a few Neanderthals that I had to put in their place, but word got around through the grapevine in the Pentagon that I was not someone to take lightly. Once Jeff felt I could handle things, he gradually disengaged from the project, leaving me in charge and making decisions. It wasn’t long before I reported to the CEO directly.
After the Christmas break, Jeff announced his intentions to move on to bigger and better things. He put in his notice, and the hunt for a new CFO was started. I was too new to be considered, but I was also insulated from any decisions the new CFO may make since I reported to the CEO. Unfortunately for the members of the finance office who had thrown their hats in the ring for the position, the board decided to bring in fresh blood. The new CFO, Jack Wilkinson, turned out to be someone I knew who had been the CFO for one of the companies Martin Marietta had contracted some of its missile fabrication work to.
April 1973
After a stressful afternoon meeting, I decided to blow off some steam in the gym. I loved the facility, with separate men’s and women’s locker rooms. I changed into my workout gear and headed for the free weights and Nautilus machines. I was in the middle of a set of crunches when a man came out of the locker room and started doing some sets on one of the Nautilus machines.
I had seen him before. He was from the legal department, and I had noticed him when I was there looking for a legal reading on a contract I had been working on. I ignored him and went over to the weight bench to do some lifts. As I was getting ready to start, I heard a voice ask, “Would you like to have a spotter?”
I looked up and saw the man I had noticed earlier standing there with a hesitant smile. What intrigued me was that he wasn’t perving on me like men usually do when encountering me in the gym. Despite my skimpy outfit, his eyes were on mine, not roving over my body. I decided to give him a chance to prove he was serious about helping me. “Sure,” I said, flashing him a smile. “I’d be glad to have you spot me.”
He smiled back and said, “I’m George, by the way.”
I smiled and said, “I’m Anna. It’s nice to meet you, George.”
“That’s 100 pounds you have on the bar,” George stated, double-checking to ensure I had the weight on the bar that I expected.
“That’s correct,” I said.
“Ready?” George asked as he positioned himself.
I said, “Ready.”
I arched my back and pushed up to unrack the bar. After holding it for a second to ensure control, I breathed in as I slowly lowered the bar until it was just above my chest. I then pushed up, breathing out, lifting it until my arms were straight. “That’s one,” George said, keeping his eyes on the bar and not on my body.
After ten lifts, I racked the bar and sat up.
“Thanks,” I said, smiling at George.
“No problem,” George replied. He then asked, “Want to spot me?”
“Okay, George,” I said. “But if it’s too much weight, I’ll only be able to slow it down.”
After spotting George with no incident, we went our separate ways to finish our workouts.
Over the next few weeks, we met several times at the gym, working together and spotting each other. We chatted while working out, and I discovered his name was George Watson. He had graduated from Harvard Law School the year before I graduated from Harvard Business School. Finding out we were alums of the same university brought us closer together.
June 1973
Never once did George ogle me or do anything inappropriate in the many times we worked out together. I was starting to suspect that he might be gay. To put my theory to the test, the next time we met up, I wore a skimpier outfit and did some stretches in front of him. Again, his eyes showed approval for my form and enthusiasm for my workout efforts, but I didn’t see any heat. In fact, I started thinking that he had noticed that I wasn’t coming on to him either. After another few weeks, I decided to make a proposal to him that I’d been working on in my head.
Being found out to be gay or lesbian was a career killer, especially in a business that had dealings with the DoD. I had noticed that the people I worked with were always subtly asking if I was seeing anyone, implying that as a successful businesswoman, I should have a man in my life. Several of my male co-workers had tried to make overtures from time to time. However, I always turned them away as gently and nicely as possible, mainly using the excuse that I was too busy or wasn’t ready for that yet.
Finally, when I had worked out my plan of attack, I met up with George in the gym and asked him to meet me for lunch in the executive dining room the next day. He was surprised, but when I explained that I was working on something that I wanted an informal legal opinion on and thought that talking about it over lunch would be the best way to keep it sub-rosa.
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