The interview was going well. Ben could feel it.

He was clicking with Howard, the hiring coordinator. His answers had been tight, focused, but still conversational.

Ben looked through the glass windows of the small conference room and saw the bustle. Row after row of beige desks topped with flickering dual monitors, coworkers in business casual chattering back and forth, phone headsets either on their heads or loosely hung around their necks.

Ben wanted this.

“All right,” Howard said, drawing Ben’s gaze back to him.

Howard has a nice face, Ben thought. Friendly. A tidy beard. A little gray showing up in the black. Classy.

“Just one final question,” Howard said, pulling the papers in front of him into a neat stack. He looked at Ben, who had already impressed him and said: “When you get out of the shower, tell me how you dry yourself off.”