Coming To Reason (A Long Road to Love) (10 page)

The entire way her mind worried over Trent. Something had gone
serious
ly
wrong.

Once seated on the top of the double-decker commuter train
headed into the city, Carrie pulled out a note pad and made a list of things to
do.

First, she needed to ask Dan if consultants could use
electronic devices to improve their efficiency. Jeff wrote his client notes on
paper and used a large leather scheduler. She didn’t know if he followed company
policy or personal preference. While Jeff looked to be in his thirties, he had an
old-fashioned air about him.

When she arrived at the office at 6:50 a.m., the doors would
not open.
She
took out her pad and added to her list of things to ask
for. Then a worry caused her to frown. Dan might think all her requests a bit
presumptuous, given her two-day employment.

A familiar hand landed on her back. “Making a list?” Dan
asked.

She closed her notepad before he could read anything. “Yes,
but I think I may have overreached. At what point do you invest in your new
hires?”

He led her to the door and unlocked it. “Depends upon the
hire.” As they entered the elevator, he tugged at her notepad. “May I?”

“I’d rather you didn’t until I ask you a few questions.”

He grinned and leaned against the elevator wall.
“Interrogate away.”

“I noticed Jeff doesn’t use electronic devices. Is this
company policy or personal preference?”

“Religious preference, I think.”

“So you’re okay if I use electronic devices?”

His head tilted as he smiled. “What device do you have in
mind?”

“I like the new iPad. Trent let me buy one when I worked
for him, and it can do a lot.”

A flicker of pain on Dan’s face required Carrie to clarify
something. “I don’t expect you to pay for it, but for it to be useful, I would
need to connect it to the system. Then it could keep my schedule, assist me in
researching candidates, get updates on clients, stay on top of emails, and read
résumé
s wherever I
am. Plus, I could perform a match search on client specs to candidates, present
visuals to help clients understand hiring and promotion concepts and do other
stuff I’m not thinking of right now.“

“Well, you can’t attach personal devices to the system. My
lawyer would have an issue there. However, I will buy two iPads. One for me and
one for you. You will set my device up the same as yours and show me how to do
all the things you mentioned.”

“I bet Destiny would like one, too.”

“She has one for school. She purchases all her textbooks in
digital formats and swears it’s a hundred times better than the archaic use of printed
books, which she likens to animal skin scrolls.”

The elevators doors opened as Carrie responded. “I
really
like
Destiny.”

On the other side of the doors stood the girl in question. Today,
coal-black pigtails aimed straight out from the sides of her head. Carrie could
only imagine the amount of hairspray needed to achieve this electrocuted look. The
girl smiled from ear to ear.

“You’re in
early
.” Dan reached out to pat her head, but she stepped back.
“Don’t touch. It took me an hour to get them to stick out.”

Dan’s mouth pursed and wiggled about as if it warred
against his brain, trying to prevent him from saying something, no doubt the
same thing dying to come out of Carrie’s mouth:
Why?

Carrie decided to save him by changing the topic. “Did you
have a systems problem?”

“Somebody tried to enter the system using the passwords of
all three of the people fired on Monday.” She then looked at her father. “Note,
I said
tried
. They did not succeed.”

Dan’s expression didn’t lighten. “How would somebody get
all three of their passwords?”

“Don’t know, but if anyone tries again, I’ll be able to
capture their IP address.” She kissed her dad on his cheek. “Gotta go to
class.” After shooing them from the elevator, Destiny smiled at Carrie. “I
really
like you,
too.” She waved good-bye as the doors closed.

Dan smiled with father
ly
pride and happiness.

Carrie patted his arm. “You did well.”

“Not sure I can take the credit. She arrived perfect.”

His words brought tears to Carrie’s eyes. If only her
parents had thought the same of her. But from the moment out of the womb, they
had one perfect child named Caroline and a difficult one named Carrie.

Dan’s comforting hand pressed against her back. It amazed
her how his touch could remove her negative thoughts and stress. No wonder
Destiny turned out so well-balanced and happy. Her dad had removed all the bad vibes
from her life since the first day she breathed.

Over the next two days, Carrie focused on learning Jeff’s
fabulous ability to discern what a client needed, versus what he or she thought
they wanted. Observing Jeff reminded her of Ian Goodman’s change specialist training,
except no actors played a role here, and Jeff didn’t get ‘re-dos’. However, he
didn’t need them. He managed his clients flawless
ly
.

If Jeff had decided to become an old-fashioned matchmaker,
instead of a resource consultant, divorce would not exist, because he’d match
everyone to their perfect mate.

Her mind turned to Trent. She couldn’t make sense of him
this week. His desire to run Lancaster Chairs without her had sent him over the
edge. Nor had she spoken to him, even after she’d had the cell company port her
old numbers to her new phone.

The silence of the last two days worried her as much as the
pathetic phone calls Trent had made last night.

She suspected if Jeff had found her a match, he’d be very
different from the one she’d chosen. Had she picked Trent? Or had he chosen her
and she’d just gone along?

When Carrie arrived at work Friday morning, Dan had pinned
a note on her door to see him ASAP.

She rushed to his office and knocked. He waved her in and
led her to the couch, taking a seat across from her. “Against Jeff’s wishes,
starting Monday you’re flying solo.”

His words struck her hard. “Does Jeff think I’m not ready?”

Dan shook his head. “He thinks you’re more valuable working
with him, which is no doubt true.”

A sense of relief came with his rep
ly
. “But I’ll
never solve your problem working for Jeff.”

He gave her an appreciative nod. “During our Monday morning
staff meeting, I will ask the other consultants to toss candidates your way if
they’ve more than they can handle. Normal
ly
, I advise the new hire to contact any good people from his
or her previous company to see if they want a better job.”

Carrie shook her head. “I would never raid Lancaster Chairs.”

“I understand. You worked very hard to put a cohesive team
together. Those people are more yours than Trent’s.”

She rewarded him with a smile. It felt good to have her
work recognized. Trent’s recent barbs had damaged her confidence more than she
wished. He thought her skills warranted no more than being a secretary for a
distribution center in a city no sane person would work in.

Dan eyed her notepad. “Do you have a new list of questions
for me?”

Carrie appreciated his happy tone while asking. “I do. Is
it okay if I fix my office up? I’d be embarrassed to bring people into it as it
is.”

“Do you want a better office?”

“No. But may I order a chair? The one I inherited is
horrible.”

Dan’s jaw clenched.

“Or not. I can adjust…”

“I have no problem ordering you a chair. However, it cannot
come from Lancaster.”

“Why not?”

“I refuse to give Trent my business. In fact, I’m about to
sue him for breach of contract. He hasn’t paid me a dime for the people I
placed there.”

“What? Something’s gone wrong then. I asked him about your
bill. He promised me he took care of it.”

“It didn’t mean he intended to pay it. He claims the people
I sent him nearly destroyed his business and thus, he’s not obligated to honor
our contract.”

“How could he say that? Oh…he must be referring to Coco and
Grant.”

“I did not send Grant and as far as I knew, he asked for Coco.”

“I’ll talk to him. He bears the blame in the matter.
He
allowed Coco to run amok. And he knows Grant was hers, not yours. And he’s
ignoring the thirty-seven excellent people you found.” She shook her head. “I’m
afraid he’s having some sort of breakdown right now. Nothing he does makes
sense.”

“I agree with your conclusion, but as far as talking to
Trent about the matter, I must insist you stay out of it. It’s going to get
ugly and I don’t want you caught in the middle.”

Nor did she. Trent would see it as a huge betrayal when she
took Dan’s side. Coco had forged an email from Trent to Dan, demanding he place
her as their HR advisor. Dan had no way of knowing the message hadn’t come from
Trent, since her former boss never once objected to Coco’s arrival.

Instead, Trent did everything the she-bitch asked, such as
moving Carrie from her critical role of executive assistant to change specialist.
Coco had meant the new job to be a dead-end position while she pushed Carrie
out of the company. Fortunate
ly
, Trent had seen real value in the role, given they needed a
whole new staff. So Carrie went off to San Francisco and received training from
the best change specialist in the world. Her new skills had made all the
difference in turning Lancaster Chairs around.

And, for a short while, life went according to plan. Then
Trent decided he needed to run his company on his own and he’d been crazy ever
since.

“When did you send Trent the bill?”

“Two weeks after we placed the last person.”

“The last hire occurred two months ago.”
When Trent remained
happy and well behaved.

Dan massaged his temple. “What else is on your list?”

“I’ve still more questions about my office. The carpet is
horrible. May I bring in a throw rug and put it down?”

“Would you like me to replace the carpet?”

“I have a nice rug, which will fit. I measured the space.”

“And how do you plan to bring it to work?”

She grimaced and stared up at him. “May I have an entrance
key so when I drive in Saturday morning, I can get in?”

His frown did not portend a positive reply. “What time are
you planning to come in?”

“
Early
, before the traffic gets bad.”

“What time?”

“I’m not sure how long it takes to get here on a weekend. I
planned to leave home at six.”

“To put a rug down?”

“Well, the room could use a paint job. Is light taupe an
acceptable color? Oh, and the desk needs some serious work.”

“How much work?”

“The understructure of the bottom drawer needs rebuilt, the
handle ripped out, which means I need to drill holes in a back plate and refit
it, plus the whole thing needs to be sanded down to remove the dents, gashes,
and splinters, then stained and coated with polyurethane.”

His stare worried her, but she decided to keep going. “And
then I wanted to hang pictures and bring in a desk lamp. Which reminds me, is
it okay if I call maintenance and have the fluorescent light replaced? It flickers.”

He stood up. “Can I see your office? Last time I stopped by,
I
clearly
did not pay
attention.”

Carrie led the way.

When she entered the tiny room, she walked to her desk and
tugged at the bottom drawer, pulling it from the sides, since it no longer had
a handle.

He knelt down and stopped her. “I can get you a new desk.”

“Small enough to fit in here?” she asked. “Can’t I try to
fix it first? I think it’ll be pretty once I finish.”

“I can at least have maintenance do the lights and paint
the walls.”

“This weekend?”

A faint snort erupted from him. “Not a chance. They are as
responsive as a glacier.”

“Do you have rules against me bringing in a gallon of paint
and doing it myself? It’s very small. I can have it done within an hour.”

He smiled. “You want to fix this dump up yourself, don’t
you?”

She nodded.

“How can I help you?”

“Well, can I use your parking place this Saturday? I’m
afraid, if I unload on the street, someone will steal half my stuff.”

“Use Jeff’s.”

“Are you sure he won’t want it?”