Coming To Reason (A Long Road to Love) (4 page)

“Sandra, this is Carrie.”

Carrie stepped into the door and growled at God.

Sandra Parker gave him a brilliant smile. “Go back to work,
Scott. I’ll show Carrie the ropes. But you owe me, babe.”

Once he left, her smile took on a rather dark and sinister
vibe. “I remember you.”

Carrie planned to work here for a long time, so maybe God
had done her a favor. No better time to right past problems than the present. “And
I owe you an apology for my prior behavior.”

Her response caused Sandra’s eyebrows to rise to her
hairline. She leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms. “How so?”

“You flirted with the man I love, and I didn’t take it well.”

“Wow! Didn’t see that coming. So are you doing Dan now?”

“What? No! I’m still with Trent.” She held out her hand for
Sandra to see her excessive
ly
large diamond ring.

With great intensity, Sandra examined the stone. “I’m
impressed you could land him. He’s one hot candy bar. May I?” She pointed to
the ring.

Carrie did not wish to let her look at it closer, but to
make peace between them, she pulled it off and handed it over.

Sandra attempted to slide it on her finger, but being sized
for Carrie, it wouldn’t even go on the woman’s pinky. Thwarted, she held it up
to the light. “What’s it appraised for?”

“I’ve never had it appraised. It’s possible Trent did, but
he never mentioned its value.”

“Then how do you know it’s real?”

“Because I trust him.”

Sandra Parker snorted beneath her breath, leaving no doubt she
thought Carrie an idiot, but to retain peace, Carrie ignored her rudeness.

The woman tossed the ring to Carrie and leaned back. “So,
Scott says you’re a virgin.”

Carrie almost failed to catch her ring at the woman’s
comment. She hoped Scott hadn’t used those exact words. “I’ve never been a
consultant before, if that’s what you mean.”

She rolled her eyes. “
Clearly.
But what I need to know is your stand on having sex with clients.”

“Oh… It’s not happening.”

She frowned. “May I ask why you intend to ignore a clear
skill advantage? Is it your fiancé?”

“For one. But it’s also not a skill I wish to utilize.”

Sandra rolled her eyes and hurried from the room without
another word. A moment later, she returned. A tall, thin guy with a hawkish
nose stood in the doorframe, looking pissed as hell. “Jeff, this is…” She
stared at Carrie to provide her name.

Carrie stood and extended her hand. “Carrie Hanson.”

“Jeff Bloomberg.” He shook her hand then tugged her from
the room and hurried down the hall. Two doors later, he led her into an office,
moved a chair to the corner, and pointed at it. “Sit there and watch. I’m
expecting a client any minute now.”

Upon sitting down, he opened a folder and spread the papers
inside upon his desk. “Always review your client data before a meeting. Screw
up the name of a client’s wife and you’re toast. Screw up the college his kid
attends and you’ve burned a brownie point.”

His phone rang. He answered and replied, “Be right out.” He
collected the papers into a stack, walked around his desk, and checked himself
in the mirror behind the door. “Always retrieve your client; do not have
someone else do it. And if they arrive before their appointment and you have no
client, don’t make them wait. Appreciate their time is money.”

He disappeared from the room and Carrie admired the
tidiness of his desk. Trent’s always looked like a bomb had exploded within
five minutes of his arrival.

When Jeff returned with one of Trent’s best customers,
Carrie stood and smiled. “Mr. Edwards.”

The old man chuckled and gave her a hug. “Carrie. It’s so
good to see you. Are you here selling chairs?”

“No. Trent and I decided he should run his company without
me.”

His eyes saddened. “I’m sorry, my dear. I always thought
you too good for him.”

Carrie intended to explain they hadn’t broken up, but Jeff
cleared his throat and sent her death rays from his stee
ly
eyes. “Have a
seat, Mr. Edwards.”

Mr. Edwards ignored him and remained focused on Carrie.
“Are you working here now?”

She nodded.

His smile widened. “And you’re going to be my contact?”

“No,” both Carrie and Jeff replied at once.

Jeff pointed at her chair and she sat. He then motioned Mr.
Edwards to sit…again. “Carrie joined us today. She’s observing.”

“Well, when she finishes observing, I would like her to
handle my project.”

A faint twitch in Jeff’s left eye hinted Mr. Edward’s
request had pissed him off. “She will be doing nothing more than observing for
quite some time. She’s untrained at the moment.”

Mr. Edwards shrugged. “She’s a fast learner.” He turned to
Carrie. “Give me a call when you’re ready to handle clients.”

“Thank you for the support. However, Jeff’s
really
good. You
don’t want to wait for me.” She based her commendation on the advice he gave
her before Mr. Edwards arrived.

Mr. Edwards huffed and turned back to Jeff. “Proceed.”

The more Jeff spoke, the happier Carrie became. She hadn’t
lied to Mr. Edwards. Jeff asked all the right questions to isolate what skills the
company needed. Near the end of the meeting, he asked the time parameters for
securing the logistics manager.

“Sometime in November. Larson’s leaving in December.”

Carrie leaned forward. “Excuse me, Mr. Edwards, but
shouldn’t you have the new hire learning from Larson during October. Half your
year’s product gets purchased then.”

“Yes, of course! Thank you, Carrie.” He then turned to
Jeff. “We need our logistics person before October, otherwise he’ll be in deep
water come the next year.”

“Excellent,” Jeff stated and noted the constraint. “We’ll
get your man before then.”

“Or woman,” Mr. Edwards stated. He glanced at Carrie.
“There’s some top notch women in the field now, as well.”

She rewarded him with a smile.

When Jeff escorted Mr. Edwards from the room he motioned Carrie
to follow.

Together they walked him to the elevator and saw him off.
Jeff then introduced her to the receptionist and pointed out the fax and copy
machine. On their way back, he stopped at Scott’s open door and introduced her,
not knowing they had already met. Scott played some war game on his computer.
Yeah, work buried the poor guy.

By Scott’s request, Jeff left her in the hall as he closed
the door so they could talk in private. He came out a moment later, rolling his
eyes, and continued down the hall. Most of the doors remained closed. On those,
she could peer through the narrow door window and he’d tell her the
consultant’s name.

When they walked past Sandra’s office, he hurried by, even
though the door stood open. “You might want to avoid her,” he stated in a soft
voice.

He pointed to a dark office. “If you have a computer
problem, take it here. Destiny is excellent.”

Carrie nodded in agreement. She’d met Dan’s daughter three
months ago and thought Destiny a wonderful young woman, personal
ly
and
professional
ly, albeit prone to odd hairstyles and clothing choices
.

“
Only
problem is she’s part-time, and the computers seem to wait
until she’s gone to go crazy.”

“Well, if you need help and Destiny isn’t around, give me a
call. I’m pretty good with them, too.”

“Don’t tell anyone else, or you’ll never meet your quotas.”
He knocked on the glass wall of Greg’s office. The harried man looked up. Pain
flashed on his face as he waved them in. His left hand gripped and pulled on
the small tuft of hair on the side of his otherwise bald head. “What’d she do?”

“I wanted to let you know Carrie will be observing me the
rest of the day, in case you are wondering what happened to her.”

“You? No! Dan asked Scott to train her.”

“Upon discovering she has a fiancé, he gave her to Sandra,
who upon discovering Carrie doesn’t plan to manhandle her clients, gave her to
me.”

“Sorry, I’ll find somebody else to take her.”

“No, I’m fine. Just wanted to let you know. Oh, and you
might want to reiterate the rule against playing Internet games to Scott.
Destiny says if he downloads another virus into our system, she’s going to
block his access to the Web.”

They left as Greg’s head smashed face down on his desk.

“Is he okay?”

“No, I think he’s having a breakdown.” Jeff glanced at his watch.
“I need to get back to my office. The ladies’ room is down the hall if you need
it.”

“I do.”

“Then come back to my office when you’re done. Don’t knock.
Just come in and sit down…unless you know my client. Then say hello.”

She nodded and hurried to the rest room. Contrary to first
impressions, Jeff turned out to be a great guy. She didn’t want to miss a
second of her training.

When she returned, a guy she didn’t know sat in his office.
The moment she entered, he stood up and shook her hand. Jeff gave the
introductions and then motioned for Carrie to sit so his client would do the
same.

She received a brief summary of Mr. Harman’s business and his
current situation. Due to a widespread infraction of the company’s code of
conduct, he needed to replace half of his upper management.

When they got to the sales manager, Carrie had some
practical advice on how to ensure a smooth transition.

Mr. Harmon chuckled as he studied her. “And how does a girl
bare
ly
out of
diapers know this?”

She resented the diaper remark, but forced a stiff smile to
her face. “I’m a trained change specialist and led the turnaround of Lancaster
Chairs.”

His eyebrows rose as he looked her over a bit more. His
intense stare appeared more ‘stimulated’ than ‘impressed’.

“I may wish to discuss this further with you.”

Jeff frowned at her.

“Oh, you have Jeff. He knows far more than me.”

Jeff handed her a paper. “Carrie, could you make a copy of
this, take it to Greg, and wait for him to process it.”

He looked at Mr. Harmon. “I don’t want to lose a minute in
finding you the best candidates possible.”

Carrie took the paper, shook hands with Mr. Harmon, and
left the room. While the request seemed reasonable for a trainee to do, she
still felt like she’d gotten the boot.

She handed the paper to Greg, who struggled to talk to
someone on the phone while doing something on the computer and opening his mail
at same time.

He glanced at it and threw it into a six-inch pile.

Jeff had told her to wait until he processed it, and now she
understood why. Without prompting, it might not be processed for six months.

She sat down in a chair and ignored Greg’s glares of
annoyance, waiting for him to get off the phone. Final
ly
, he lost
patience. “Can we discuss this tonight? I’m up to my ass in alligators right
now.” He hung up, took a deep breath to calm himself, and tried for a smile as
he focused on Carrie. It looked more like a grimace of pain, but she
appreciated the effort.

“You seem very busy,” she said.

He nodded once.

“Is there anything I can do to help you?”

“Did Jeff throw you out?”

“
He
told me not to return until you processed the paperwork.”

Greg’s face bloomed a brilliant red.

“I’m very good with computers, and I’m a fast learner, too.
If you’ll show me once, I expect I can process the entire pile for you.”

His hue diminished. “I’ll show you how to do Jeff’s, but if
you require more supervision than it takes me to do them, then you will need to
read the manual for the rest of the day.”

She pulled her chair next to his and focused on his
scattered explanation of how to input the data into the program.

She
could see
why
he thought she wouldn’t be able to do it.
No one
should be able to follow such a convoluted process.

Once he finished Jeff’s paper, he placed it in an empty
tray labeled COMPLETE-FILE. “Impossible, right?”

“No, I can do it.”

He shook his head.

“I can. I have a very good memory. Watch me do one and
you’ll see.”

He motioned for her to try, but his tense face and rounded
shoulders indicated he had no hope and she’d lengthened his day more.

Despite such a raincloud hanging over her, she finished the
next one in half his time. When she turned to look at him, he had a genuine
smile on his face. “You can process those until Jeff comes to retrieve you.”