by Lauren Wood
“When…? And don’t say soon, I really hate when you say that.”
I was going to say soon. That was my answer to that question. I liked ambiguous answers that I couldn’t be held to. If I told her a day or a week and I didn’t call, she would pop up at my work again. “Very soon.”
Bella pouted, but I ignored the look. She did that a lot when she didn’t get her way. I would have stopped seeing her a long time ago, but Bella was talented in other ways. She was a great girl, but just not for me. I told her that one day she would find who it was she was looking for. I knew when that day came, it wouldn’t be me.
I jumped in the shower and checked the time. I had about twenty minutes to get to work and start a major meeting. The company wasn’t in trouble, but we were going to be soon enough if we didn’t get some more staff in to take care of all of the new clients. My little consulting firm had really taken off, but staffing it had become a big problem. I hoped for all of our sakes that Caroline had found a couple employees for me.
The drive to work was relaxing. After the orgasm with Bella and the jazz on the stereo, I was ready for another day. I parked in the same spot I had for several years and made my way to the elevator. All the way up to the top, I got out and stopped by the conference room. Everyone was already in there because they know how I hated tardiness. Waving at a few, I told them I would be back in a minute. I needed a cup of coffee in my hand, one that my assistant already had ready for me. It was times like this that she was a real lifesaver.
“Busy day Karen?”
“Not too bad. You have the meeting in a few minutes and then a couple of consults with Jerry Adkins. I don’t know how long that will run. You know how long-winded he is, so I left the afternoon open. If you get back from lunch before three, I have something else lined up for you. We will just see how everything is going.”
I thanked her and looked back towards the conference room. “Any new faces?”
“Caroline hired a girl yesterday. She has a great education, but no experience.”
I was not sure how that would go. It would either go really good, or it would be a disaster. I never knew which way it was going to go. “I didn’t see her in there. When does she start?”
“Today I think. Not really sure. I can find out if you want me to boss.”
I declined the offer and made my way to the conference room at the end of the hall. I was there with a handful of my best consultants, as well as the hiring manager. I looked around the room. I didn’t see anyone new and I thought that maybe Karen had been mistaken.
“Good morning everyone. How was your evening?”
Everyone gave a nod or a short answer. I wasn’t the only one that looked like they needed coffee, so I sent Karen to get a cup for everyone. We had a lot to cover and a lot of new clients that had to be given a consultant. It was going to be a long meeting and the last thing I needed was people unable to pay attention.
When Karen came back, she was the savior to most and I pulled Caroline to the side.
“I heard you hired someone yesterday?”
She nodded and I could tell that the question made her uncomfortable.
“Did she not show up?”
“Not yet, Sir. I told her nine. I didn’t think that she would be late. You should see her resume and she was actually almost a half an hour early for the interview.”
“Give her a few more minutes and if she doesn’t show up, keep looking.”
“Of course, Sir.”
I went to the front of the long table and sat down. I was clearing my thoughts, trying to figure out what I was going to say first, when the side door opened and a young blonde walked in. She was tall and petite, nothing special in my world. Her eyes were a blazing blue that really stuck out to me and it was hard to look away when I met her gaze. That was a little different and made her unique.
Caroline introduced her to the group and while I thought she was pretty, she was also almost fifteen minutes late. She tried to give an excuse but I stopped her. I just didn’t want to hear why. I wanted to hear that it would never happen again.
“Just sit down Miss…”
“Claire Adams.”
“Well Miss Adams, find a seat and try to keep up.”
I was slightly irritated by the new employee being late on her first day. I was sure it was to make sure that her shoes and her black bag matched, or that her makeup was perfect. I didn’t think she was going to last long.
The meeting went as expected. There was a lot to cover, namely several new clients that had set up consultations. It was more than I could take on and that is why I was building the consulting team. I eyed the young blonde that was staring wistfully out the window.
“Am I boring you Miss Adams?”
Her name jolted her up from her seat and she shook her head that I wasn’t.
“This is where I give out assignments. Do you think you are ready for one?”
I expected her to get a nervous look on her face, wide eyes, but she just nodded her head that she was ready. I was surprised, shocked even, but I had to begrudgingly admit to myself that I liked her spunk. She looked me right in the eyes, accepting the challenge. I had thrown down the gauntlet and that didn’t seem to bother her one bit.
Caroline interjected that it was literally her first day and I remembered her saying she was fresh out of college with no experience, but I couldn’t back down from a challenge any more than she could apparently.
“I think that if Miss Adams wants to give it a shot, we should let her. Our reputation is not so fragile.”
I wasn’t even going to pretend that I had faith in her. I didn’t have much, but I wanted to see how it would all turn out. My aggravation had turned to intrigue. I usually knew what was going to happen next, but this time I was left in the dark. It was a nice change of pace from everything that was so predictable.
“You can have Baker’s Food. I will need a report on my desk by the end of the week. Since it is only three days away, I suggest you get started.”
She thanked me, but didn’t budge. “Now Miss Adams, you need to get started now.”
“You want me to leave the meeting?”
The exasperated feelings were coming back and I shook my head up and down slowly like she was an idiot. I don’t know what possessed me to, but there was something about that woman that put me on edge. I didn’t like inconsistency and surprises and she was both.
***
“You were kind of harsh on her, don’t you think?”
I shook my head that I didn’t know what she was talking about, but we both know that I did. She was talking about Miss Adams. Caroline didn’t usually say anything to me in this way, but she seemed to have a protective feel for her.
“She was late. You know I don’t tolerate tardiness.”
“Her only cat died this morning. She had to dispose of the body before she came in.”
Still I didn’t see what had caused her to be so late. “As cold as it is outside, you would think she would have just chucked it in the bin.”
“That was even worse.”
I tried to look innocent. “What? I don’t like cats.”
Caroline just shook her head at me like there was no hope for me and I had to admit that she could have been onto something. Was I that rough on her?
“Well, be a little nicer. It took me weeks to find her. You keep scheduling all these consults and it is going to be me and you doing them all.”
“You aren’t going to leave me because I am too mean?”
She nodded that she wouldn’t. “You are like a little puppy. Your bark is worse than your bite. They just don’t know it yet.”
I watched the young woman leave and I had to admit that she made me pause. I didn’t look at what I was doing all that much, not really. There wasn’t a lot of time for self-reflection and I can’t say that I really liked it all that much. I didn’t want to think about how I was perceived by the rest of the world.
“Well you will ju
st have to wait and see.”
I had a feeling that I was going to be proven right. I don’t think the young girl was going to be up to snuff. Caroline had faith in her, but I didn’t. I think for all of her bravado, I would have to go back over the numbers and find out where Baker’s Food was bleeding money. It is what I did after all.
The idea that I would be wrong, never actually crossed my mind.
Chapter 4
Claire
“Ugh, you should have heard him Amy. I swear that if I didn’t need this job, I would have walked out right there. I can’t help it if I was late. What was I supposed to do with Rosco?”
“Did you tell him what was going on?”
“He didn’t want to hear it.”
I felt close to tears and I was so very glad that Amy was off and available to listen to my rant that switched to tears several times. I had one of the worst first days of my life. In less than two hours, I had lost all hope for Future Plans being in my future. The owner was a jerk.
Rosco died, still not sure how. I found him when I woke up and even though my alarm clock had been set early, it had taken me a considerable amount of time to get myself together. I did my best, but to have heard Rick talk about it, I was the lowest form of scum for being late.
“Then don’t go back.”
“Oh I am going to, just to prove it to him. Caroline told me that Baker’s Foods is huge, I mean really big and they are losing a lot of money. It is a big client and Rick thinks I am going to fail. I won’t though and then I will show him.”
Amy sat back in the patio seat and just shrugged. “There is always a spot at the diner. It is a lot less drama than your job already is. You take orders and give out food. The living is okay.”
“No, it wouldn’t be enough. I have student loans.”
Amy told me that she was just throwing it out there, but I really wasn’t ready for that. I know that I made it sound like it was a horrible job and maybe it would turn out to be, but really it was just Rick. He had been so rude that I still wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do to handle him. All I could do was do the best job that I could and prove him wrong.
“I don’t know. Sorry I am bitching so much. You just should have seen it. The sad part is that the guy was really hot. I mean rich and handsome, so of course he is a total jerk. Caroline talked about Rick like he was this great guy, but I just don’t see it.”
“What did he look like?”
“Tall, dark and handsome with the greenest eyes I have ever seen. They look like little emeralds or something.”
She looked at me a little queer, so I shut up. Okay, he was really hot and even thinking about him got me a little warm under the collar. It seemed like a waste that he was such a jerk because he was just so damn cute.
“That sounds like it has some potential.”
I scoffed. “He was just named the richest man in Atlanta. I don’t think he is worried about me and there is certainly no potential there.”
Amy was a dreamer, but one of us had to keep their feet planted firmly on the ground. It wasn’t going to be her.
“I am just saying Claire, could you imagine?”
I couldn’t and I ignored the next five minutes of conversation that came out of her mouth. I didn’t need help thinking about him in that way. It was literally the first thing that I thought of when I saw him. Now she was helping me fill in some details and that was not helping at all.
When Amy left that night, I was a little tired but I couldn’t sleep. She had put more crap in my head and it wasn’t helping my state of mind. I didn’t want to think of him that way, but I knew when I saw him next I was going to check out a particular part of him, just to see.
I giggled to myself thinking about what Amy had said earlier. “What, you haven’t bulge-checked him yet!?”
She was incredulous and all I could do was laugh. Amy was a little crazy, but man she made me laugh.
***
Caroline gave me a file about as thick as my arm and told me to have at it. “I know this is a lot, but I am sure you will do fine.”
We went over briefly what they were looking to find and I sat down to do just that. It was Wednesday and I only had a couple of days until I had to turn in my report. I was supposed to somehow find where the company was bleeding money and profits.
It didn’t take long to conclude that I was going to need more time. The sheer volume of paperwork to go through was too much for such a short time. I tried to categorize and go through the numbers like I had learned in all of those college classes, but in the end I decided to go about it another way. This was a challenge and so was the time line. I had a feeling that they had given me till Friday to figure out, so there would be ample time for someone else to go over it.
I wasn’t going to let that happen. I was going to surprise them all, namely Rick that thought so little of me so far. I wanted to prove myself, still thinking that if I did, he would see me more as an equal, than a lemming that he can turn his nose up at.
So instead of going over the numbers until I was blue in the face, in an amount of time that wasn’t going to be sufficient for the kind of report I wanted to turn in, I decided that I would do something a little unconventional. I found out where the closest factory was a few hours outside of Atlanta and I called to set up an appointment. They sounded surprised that I wanted to come there, but the factory manager was actually on site and eager to talk. He was eager to help in any way that he could. The stockholders were not happy with the last quarter earnings and the whole year had seen far too much in waste and labor. Something was going on and I promised him that we were going to get to the bottom of it.
When I got off of the phone, I was feeling a little more optimistic than before, but I still wasn’t sure what was going to happen. I felt like it was a now or never kind of situation and I wanted to make sure that I was able to rise to the occasion. I just had to.
I made my way down to the factory and met with Johnson Grey. He was a nice man, but he wasn’t sure where to start. I wasn’t either, but I had made some notes of certain product lines that were suffering the most. It had to be somewhere and since the factory was tens of thousands of square foot, I decided that it would be easier to check there, than needle in the haystack style.
“Are you going to look at the books?”
“I have Sir. Now I wanted to get a sense of how everything works here and see if I can spot any areas that can be changed to give you a better result. That is why I’m here.”
Johnson smiled at me and asked me again if I was single. This wouldn’t happen if I was a man, but I just smiled and told him that I wasn’t. I didn’t want to lie, but I needed time to get productive. I didn’t have time to make goo-goo eyes with the factory manager.
I started with a couple of the production lines that showed the most loss. I didn’t know much about all of it, but soon I had several helpful gentlemen helping me understand everything. Scott walked me through every machine that he worked in the area of French fries. I would never have known how much went into making a fry. I would never look at them the same again, that much I knew for sure. Apparently there was an art to them.
“So where do you think the waste is coming from? This area was the highest percentage wise.”
He shrugged and told me that all of the waste was the same as before. “We have tons of scraps left over, but the boss isn’t interested in trying to use it. If we chipped it up in the T-32, we could make tater tots or even hash browns.”
“Introducing another product to use up the waste is a great idea Scott. I will make a note of that.”
Scott blushed a little and his face almost was the same color as his shirt. I thanked him for his time and went on to the next area that was causing trouble. There was a strange amount of maintenance going on in one area and there were several wrecked fork lifts that were years from scrapping.
It didn’t take long to see why that was. The man driving one almost ran me over. He was smoking
a cigarette and talking on his phone. He wasn’t paying attention at all and once I noted his name on a notepad, I knew that he was going to be the name I found on the incident reports.
Maintenance in general was an issue, but I saw that by the lack of maintenance on some machines, the ones doing poorly, they were actually losing money from losing the machine way before it was supposed to become useless. This was due to a low labor cost in that sector. The loss of production made it impossible for the same amount of people to keep up. It was all starting to make sense to me.
I found Johnson and asked to see his journals for the last year. He didn’t ask any questions, but he did seem anxious when he handed them over. I don’t know why he was worried, but I had a feeling that if he was audited right now, there would be a lot of discrepancies that would be found.
“Is there any problem areas that you would like me to look at?”
He shook his head and I had to wonder how he seemed to know so little about his factory all of a sudden. I talked to him about the labor costs, but again he was very ambiguous with his answers. He only made me look harder, though I am sure he was hoping for the opposite to occur.
I left the factory and instead of going straight back to Atlanta I took the evening off in a hotel close by. I had found some things in their accounting that was questionable at best, but I didn’t know what I was supposed to do about it. I couldn’t tell the boss that he was getting reamed by his own employees, but yet that was very much my job to do that very thing.
So I spent most of Thursday pouring over everything that I had gone over and then I made another trip to the factory. Caroline called me about mid-day, worried that I had already quit, but I told her where I was. She was surprised, but happy to hear that I would be back in the morning with results.
“Did you find the problem?”