He puts off the review

"Not quite yet, Katie," said Mr. Cowall, his gaze continued to pierce and disarm her so Kate didn't even bother to care about how he butchered her name. "Since you've agreed to be open and honest with me, I'd like to ask you a question that has been eating at me the past couple of months. Are you happy here?"

Kate opened her mouth to speak, but was still formulating words in her mind when he added, "And I know with a question like that, the answer is usually more complicated than just yes or no, so feel free to think about your answer." He gave her a small, surprisingly comforting smile, and turned his icy gaze away from her and back to his computer monitor.

Kate breathed a silent sigh of relief. She knew it was necessary for her to be open and honest with him, but that didn't mean she couldn't be tactful. In fact, the idea of completely baring her soul to him gave her tremendous anxiety. How would he react if she told him that she hated coming to work because she thought he was abhorrent?

She had seen him take criticism before, and it had gone... poorly.

Being open and honest was good (it was downright essential), but doing it without consideration would probably be dangerous. For that, she was thankful that he was giving her time to think.

She glanced over at her boss and saw that he was, in fact, keeping himself busy with his computer. It almost surprised her. She was half expecting him to be staring back at her with those awful eyes of his. It chilled her just thinking about it. Really, it was mostly the leering that Kate hated about her job. She enjoyed the work and she didn't mind Mr. Cowall as a boss (even if she cringed everytime he called her "Katie"), but she loathed when she caught him staring at her breasts or her butt with a slack jaw and hunger in his eyes. It made her feel dirty. It flashed her back to trauma as a teenager. She could just imagine her mother reprimanding her for tempting him, even though she had done nothing wrong except exist.

She couldn't tell him that though, right? She couldn't tell him that she didn't enjoy coming to work because he creeped her out and made her feel like a hussy. There was no way that would go over well, but if that's what he was asking for, then she owed it to both of them to be honest and tell him that. Maybe she could dress it down somehow and tell him she didn't like how often she caught him staring... But wouldn't that still lead down the same road? Wouldn't that still come across as her calling him a pervert?

And what if he wasn't asking about that? What if he was more interested in her career development and whether or not she felt challenged? She could ask for clarification, that way she wouldn't accidentally call him a pervert when he really just wanted to help her develop her skills.

But that wouldn't change the fact that the leering was still an issue. She'd need to tell him eventually, because she needed to be open and honest with him. Not telling him now would only delay the inevitable, and right now he was trying to have an earnest conversation with her.

"Well, what do you think?" Mr. Cowall's voice jolted Kate from her thoughts and she realized she had continued to state at him while she completely zoned out in thought. She blushed in embarrassment and it was made worse by the fact that she felt pressured to now decide what to say. Would she tell him the truth, or would she ask him to clarify what he meant?