Coming To Reason (A Long Road to Love) (20 page)

Man, he must hate the magazine. Or maybe he didn’t want
Trent’s face in his place of business. She couldn’t blame him in either case.
He had two million reasons to dislike her fiancé.

“You have my word.”

He nodded and stared out the other window so she couldn’t
see his face. Still, the slump of his shoulders indicated sadness within him.
But he could be dreading the confrontation with his thieving employee.

“Are you going to be able to fire Sandra?”

“If she arrives early enough, I’ll do it beforehand.
Otherwise, I will have to cut the proceedings short.”

“Do Jeff and Greg know?”

“No, but I intend to tell them before the meeting begins.”

“I’m sure they’ll be pleased.”

An arch of his right eyebrow alerted her she had missed the
mark.

“Jeff will be. Greg…” He shrugged his shoulders.

“Why would Greg like her?”

The car pulled to the curb.

“Doesn’t matter. The relationship has always been
one-sided.”

Sexy, stylish Sandra and rumpled, balding Greg? She frowned
realizing the magazine article
probably
presented her and Trent equal
ly
mismatched, but
in reverse, with Trent the beautiful and stylish one.

“I’ll try to help Greg out today.” She accepted the
driver’s hand in getting out.

Dan followed, placing his hand upon her back. “You’ll have
your own stuff to deal with. Focus on yourself today.”

When they arrived on the fifth floor, she headed to her
beautiful new office. Its transformation filled her with happiness and pride.
She placed the magazine in her drawer, and turned on her computer. She wrote the
project manager at Top Value an email.

Andy,

I know you want me to fill out the survey after two weeks,
but you need to know the issues I’ve incurred on first use of the chair. One is
quite serious. Even though no sane person would do it twice, the first time could
injure someone.

However, on the positive side, I’m loving the chair since
I’ve learned how to operate it.

Carrie

She attached her word doc and a note-covered diagram of the
chair to the email and sent it off.

Remembering how fast the conference room filled up, she shut
down her computer, locked her office, and hurried to the conference room twenty
minutes
early
.

To her surprise, several people had already arrived. Scott sat
on the other side of the table drawing monsters on his notepad.

He
glanced
up and smirked, then eyed her engagement ring. “You know,
wearing a giant rock could shorten your already short life. Some people can’t
tell the difference between fake and real, and some of the stupid ones carry a
knife.”

Ever since she’d mentioned her engagement, he’d become a
jerk, but given his refusal to teach an unavailable female resulted in her being
taught by Jeff, she couldn’t even rally a slight annoyance with him.

Besides, he had a good point. Some people, who walked these
civilized streets, like the pimp who wanted to be her ‘good boss or bad boss’
might want her authentic diamond.

“Thank you, for your advice. Do you think I’m safe in
here?”

He snorted. “Safe from me.”

She ignored his last comment and returned to making notes
on her paper. She wondered when her iPad would arrive. She discovered writing
longhand tedious
ly
slow.

A few other people drifted in with their coffees. They shared
weekend stories. Carrie decided she should start bonding. Once they had
finished telling about their weekends, she mentioned she’d seen Tall and Tiny.

The older woman, Doris, snorted and waved at her in contempt.
“Those freaks? Why?”

Carrie glared as she struggled to control her temper.
“Well, for one, because it’s the funniest and most fabulous show on Broadway.”

The younger woman, Claire, grinned at her. “I heard someone
else say the same thing. They’re magicians, right?”

“Magicians aren’t funny,” Doris said.

“They are extraordinary illusionists, comedians, mimes,
acrobats, and much more. However, I never once considered them freaks.”

Doris shrugged her beefy shoulders. “You wouldn’t, now
would you?”

Scott laughed as he continued to draw his monsters.

She refocused on her notepad. Claire moved to the chair
beside hers. “So, tell me something they did. I’ve been wanting to go, but my
boyfriend hates Broadway shows.”

“What does he do?”

“He’s a mechanical engineer.”

“Then he’ll love the way they fly about and disappear all
the time. There’s got to be some great engineering going on.”

“You think?”

She nodded. “I can’t imagine anyone not enjoying it. It’s
beyond belief.”

More people entered, and one of the guys spoke from the
other side of the table. “Are you talking about the Tall and Tiny show? The
stuff they did blew my mind.” He glanced at the guys he came in with. “You
gotta see it.”

The whole room demanded examples of their greatness, which,
upon hearing, they refused to believe.

Dan walked in, and the tension in his stride stopped all
conversation. Jeff followed behind him with a somber expression but a happy
jaunt. Greg didn’t accompany them.

Dan sat at the head of the table. “I apologize for being
late. I had a few matters to attend to.”

Jeff moved to a corner and leaned against the wall.

“I dismissed Sandra Parker this morning and had her
escorted from the building. If she calls any of you wishing for access to the
systems or information, you are well advised to hang up. While some of you have
been unknowing participants in her schemes and will have to testify at her
trial, we have determined you assisted in her crime without your knowledge.”

A pin drop could have been heard in the conference room.

“As of now, the commission allocations have changed.” He
passed out documents to each side of the table and soon everyone silent
ly
read.

“This isn’t right,” Scott grumbled.

Dan’s stern glare silenced the jerk.

“These new rules are far less generous if you place people who
do not intend to stay in the job. If you take the effort to fit the right
person to the position, your commission might improve.”

Carrie noticed three of the people nodding in agreement.
Only
two seemed angered
by the changes. The others seemed nervous and uncertain.

One of the uncertain ones raised his hand. “Can you tell us
what happened?”

Dan shook his head. “Due to the criminal case being brought
against Sandra, my lawyer says I cannot. An investigator will arrive today and,
when you are called to this conference room, please arrive on time and give him
your full cooperation.”

“What if I want a lawyer?” Scott asked.

Dan stretched his hands across the table as if he
contemplated strangling the jerk. “If you have active
ly
committed
crimes with Sandra then, by all means, bring a lawyer.”

“What if it takes a few days?”

“Take it up with the investigator. I have no idea how they’ll
handle the situation.” He turned to his terrified staff. “The rest of you, who
did not knowing
ly
commit crimes, are not at risk of being charged with
anything.”

The tension dropped like a rock, with several people
releasing it through nervous laughter.

Dan continued. “Last week, I fired three employees for
placing too many people who did not stay beyond one month. I offered all three
their jobs back. Two have accepted and should be starting today.”

“Which two?”

“Kayla and Shubert.”

“Shoe box. All right!” the guy who loved Tall and Tiny declared.

“And one final note. I gave Carrie permission to fix up her
office over the weekend. I offer the same deal to anyone else. If you wish to
spend your money and your effort and work over the weekends to upgrade your
office, you may do so. If you wish to paint your walls, you must clear the
color through my secretary beforehand, or risk repainting. Any artwork or
photos hung on the wall must pass Helen’s approval or be taken down. Plants
must be kept alive and in good condition.” He stared at his people.

“We have no budget for redecorating and refurnishing this
year. However, Carrie’s request made me realize some of you might wish to
improve your offices, even if you have to do it yourself. So, you may, as long
as the results are professional.”

Scott snorted. “You call the systems office ‘professional’?”

Dan
sighed
and leaned back. “Helen is now the style police. And when
I put her in charge, she informed me Systems would have to repaint the walls.”

“Nobody sees the room other than us,” Claire complained. “I
need cheering up when I have to go to Destiny.” She grimaced. “I meant to say the
only
reason I stop
by is when I’m having computer problems.”

Dan smiled. “I understand. But this is Helen’s call. We
will not argue with her and plead other people’s cases. We will accept her
rulings. The appearances of all our offices matter to our clients and candidates
as they walk through the halls.”

He rose and left the room.

They grumbled a bit about their new space-Nazi when Scott
yelled at them. “Who gives a fuck about the offices? You should be on the phone
looking for a lawyer!”

Jeff spoke up before the others became terrified again.
“Scott, you sound like the
only
person who needs a lawyer. I’m dying to find out what has
you scared shitless.”

“Fuck you!” Scott grabbed his pad and stormed from the
room.

With the meeting over, Jeff walked Carrie out. “May I see
your office again?”

When they reached it, on the door Helen had taped her
assessment of the room.

“Did she assess my room by looking through this tiny
window?”

“Helen has a key to everything,” Jeff explained and pulled
the assessment off the door as they entered. Carrie sat down and read it.

“The throw on the chair knocked my grade to 96 percent.”

Jeff rolled his eyes and sat in her guest chair.

Darn it, she’d planned to reupholster the piece, but forgot
to bring in the stuff to do so.

Jeff moved about a bit in the chair and focused on her. “As
a newbie, if you brought in a client who agreed to sign a long-term exclusivity
agreement with our company, you would have to turn the client over to me and I
would get a commission for the pre-work I do to ensure the client gets the
people he needs.”

She nodded, having sat in a few of those this week. “You
earn the commission.”

He smiled. “Thank you, but in a case in which
you
bring in a client, I can assure you, they’ll want your involvement. Nor can I
blame them. So I’ve cut a deal with Dan. You and I will split the commission 70/30.”

“How much is the commission?”

“It depends upon the number of people in the company. For
example, if you had brought in Top Value, they have fifty thousand employees,
so the commission is $50,000, thus you would have received $15,000 and I would
get $35,000.”

“Wow. And you get this before they even hire a person?”

“Yes. And it’s something you won’t find at other resource
firms. However, Dan believes getting long-term exclusivity contracts and
maintaining the relationship is critical to our success. He calls it his farm
of clients, to be nurtured and grown.”

“I think he’s right.”

“
Only
if the consultant can add value to the process. And most
of our consultants, I’m sorry to say, do not. They are not even aware the
farmer’s commission exists.”

“What happens if they bring someone in?”

“The firm will be given to either me or Dan, the consultant
will be recognized in the Monday meeting, and thrown some key openings at
whatever level they are competent to place.” Jeff shifted forward. “If you
agree to this relationship, no one else here can know. You are unique. You
think like an executive and clients trust you. You bring significant value to
the table.”

“It’s possible I won’t be a consultant long.”

“I know, Dan told me he’s going to make you our change
specialist. You’ll have two titles.”

“And Dan’s okay with this?”

“He thought it a great idea.”

She breathed out in relief. “Then I would love to be your
secret partner.”

Jeff frowned.

She hit her forehead. “That didn’t sound right.”