Executive Affair (10 page)

Robert watched Claire rush through the office from the comfort of his leather swivel chair. She wore a sleeveless cream dress that outlined her slim figure. Her hair was a curtain of black, and he knew she would smell of shampoo and soap. She was tall. He hadn't noticed that yesterday.

A minute later she was in his office. She had collected some files on her way. She placed them on his desk and sat down with a sigh of relief.

‘I didn't think I was going to make it on time,' she said, a little out of breath. ‘I fell asleep on the couch last night and didn't wake up until forty-five minutes ago!'

Robert was amused by her honesty. He didn't point out to her that she was a few minutes late and he had been waiting, punctuality being a fetish of his. She seemed to be relaxed in his presence. He was used to, and bored with, people holding him in awe.

‘Do you normally sleep on the couch or did you have a
fight with your boyfriend?' he asked, his eyes teasing her.

‘No and no,' she replied.

‘Have you had breakfast?'

She shook her head. ‘Ignore my tummy if it starts making rude noises.'

She patted her flat stomach and he inadvertently glanced to where the dress stretched across her hips. He stood up.

‘I'll get us both some coffee.'

When he left Claire opened her files, relieved to have some time to prepare for the meeting. She wasn't sure if Robert wanted to discuss the financial results, the department or both. One of her files had job descriptions for each member of staff and she left it open on the table so they could access the information conveniently. She had also printed off the monthly results package in its extended form. She flicked through the pages, familiarising herself with the key figures so she wouldn't have to refer to the hard copy unnecessarily.

He returned some ten minutes later, juggling two cups of coffee and a brown-paper bag from Muffin Break.

She blushed, embarrassed that he had gone to such trouble. She wasn't that hungry – she had only been making conversation. ‘Thank you …'

She broke off some of the muffin to eat. ‘Where would you like to start?'

‘How about we begin with the people. What do the Finance team do, what are their strengths and weaknesses … and how are they perceived by the field?' he said, professional and serious without delay. The ‘Muffin Man' was gone.

‘I've worked closely with all of them over the last five months. I like to think that the department is held in high regard. We do have some challenges, particularly with the Sales department.
But overall, I would say that everybody is helpful, professional and better than average at what they do.'

‘That's good to know. Now I need to hear about the weaknesses.'

Claire answered him slowly, being careful with her words, aware that this was his first and so most important overview of her department. ‘The only negative thing I could say is that, with the exception of Emma, the others don't seem to be very ambitious. But that's not necessarily a weakness – ambition can bring its own problems.'

‘What kinds of problems?' he challenged immediately, studying her hard.

‘Ambitious people are always moving on and up, they don't stay in their roles for very long. So they generally don't tackle the long-term issues. And it's hard to have continuity in a role and a department if people keep moving on.' She met his penetrating gaze squarely, fighting intimidation at his directness and intensity.

He nodded some level of agreement, his eyes never leaving her face.

‘What about Alan Harris?' He changed direction with no warning.

‘What do you mean?' She made a conscious effort not to sound defensive.

‘How do you two get along?' he shrugged, as if the meaning of his question was obvious.

‘Well, now that you've brought it up, not very well.'

‘He has asked if he can report directly to me rather than through you,' Robert stated in a very matter-of-fact way.

She was furious and had trouble disguising it. She couldn't believe that Alan had approached Robert on his first day – he
was obviously a lot more politically astute than she gave him credit for.

‘Did he say why?' she asked, her voice amazingly controlled.

‘He feels that he has much more experience than you and should report to someone more senior.' Robert was watching her carefully again and she didn't flinch outwardly.

‘So, what did you say?'

‘I told him that his reporting line wouldn't be changing and to get over it,' he said, finally grinning.

The charm was back. Not usually a great admirer of charm, Claire found she was much happier to glow in its warmth than to endure the coldness of his scrutiny.

‘I also told him that I was grooming you for finance director and that he'd better stay on your good side,' he continued.

She gave him a small smile, not sure if she should take him seriously.

He took Emma's job description from the file she had left open on the table.

‘Emma has been with the company some time now,' he commented as he read the single page.

‘Ten years.'

‘Is she happy in her role?'

‘I think so. She did apply for my position when it was vacant but apparently she wasn't successful because she didn't have a formal accounting qualification.'

‘Do you have a career plan in place for her?'

Claire was impressed with his line of thought and glad that she had a positive answer for him. ‘Yes, she's now enrolled in CPA.'

He went back to the file, turning the pages slowly. ‘And James has been here a year, is that right?'

‘Yes.'

‘I remember seeing something in the external audit report about Accounts Payable. I can't quite recollect the context but I do remember there was an issue.' He was clearly expecting Claire to supply the details that eluded him.

‘That was an issue about segregation of duties. It's still a problem. James can set up vendor accounts, process invoices as well as run the payments. The auditors would like to see those functions split out amongst three independent staff. They do acknowledge, however, that complete segregation isn't practical for a Finance department of our size.'

‘I remember now. Most of our subsidiaries have the same issue. We're assessing the option of centralising Payables in Ireland after the upgrade project is rolled out. If we decide to go ahead, it would resolve this issue.'

Claire suddenly remembered what Susan had said about centralising IT and Finance in Dublin. It seemed she had been on the right track.

Robert didn't give her the opportunity to ask for more details about the proposed centralisation and if it would mean redundancies in the Australian Finance department.

‘How about Stacey?'

‘Stacey's great. She does the work of two people. I should tell you that I'm pretty flexible with her hours. She usually comes in at nine-thirty and leaves at four-thirty.' She quickly looked at him for his reaction. She continued when there was no sign of disapproval. ‘She's got four kids. She doesn't take a lunch break and she takes work home.'

‘Sounds reasonable to me.'

She was relieved. Flexitime was not officially endorsed by the company and he could have taken a harder line.

They spent the rest of the morning discussing the structure and productivity of the department. He was impressed that each individual had a formal development plan in place. He was keen to introduce some productivity measures for the group and asked her to think further on what would be some meaningful indicators of performance. At one she suggested a break so she could go out and get sandwiches for them both.

He was reading the monthly results package when she returned.

‘Who prepares this?' he asked.

‘Mostly me, but I get various people to complete the sections that are specific to their area.' She put the sandwiches on the table and took hers from its paper wrapping.

‘That's a good idea. I like to involve all levels of staff in reporting. Who do you distribute the report to?'

‘The senior management team.'

‘Do they read it?'

‘Some do. Others wouldn't read it even if I printed
Playboy
on the cover,' she said with a grin.

He laughed. ‘Do you think there is any merit in giving a copy to each employee?'

‘Maybe. I suppose I could include a glossary to help explain some of the terminology.'

‘Would it be a lot of extra work?'

‘If I could get some secretarial support it would be okay. Maybe Samantha could help.'

Samantha used to be Harry's personal assistant and now worked for Robert.

‘Okay, let's give it a try next month and see what kind of response we get.'

He was interested in the detail, interested in the people,
and at the end of the day she had a few pages of notes. He wanted her to provide extra information and her considered opinions on his suggestions for improvement. He was inspiring to work with and she left his office feeling really excited about her job.

Claire went back to her desk and set about clearing her inbox. She had dozens of unread messages. She noticed that one was from Susan and kept it until last.

Hi Claire,

How goes it? You haven't written to me in ages – I want you to know I'm taking it personally! Your replacement has fitted in well. She was fairly studious at the start and showed the rest of us up. We beat that out of her, though.

I ran into Michael in Maguire's last night. You won't believe this – the bastard is getting married. Before you ask, she isn't pregnant. He was very offended when I asked. I told him that you were having a ball in Sydney.

I hope you're over him enough by now not to be too upset …

Write soon,

Susan

Her face stung as though it had been slapped. She couldn't believe that she'd mattered that little to him. There he was, ready to marry someone else just six months later, while she'd had to go to the other side of the world to recover. It was mean not to respond to Susan but she wasn't capable of even stringing some bland lines together. She shut down her PC and locked her office door, dangerously close to tears.

Robert was the last person she wanted to see but there he was, holding the lift for her as he saw her approaching. She murmured her thanks.

Unfortunately, he seemed keen to make conversation. ‘Anything interesting planned for the rest of the evening?'

‘Just home,' she replied, her voice so subdued that it could barely be heard.

She stared into space until they reached the ground floor and then said goodbye without meeting his eyes.

By the time she got home, her emotions were seesawing between rage and despair.

‘Michael is getting married.' She marched into the kitchen and flung her bag on the table. She didn't expect James to be there.

‘Who's Michael?' he asked innocently.

‘He's an asshole,' Fiona snapped, glaring at him pointedly and he retreated to the living room to leave them alone. ‘Are you
serious
?'

‘It's from the horse's mouth. He met Susan last night and passed on the happy news. I'm so … so
furious
that he fed me all that … that …
bullshit
about having fun before he settled down!' She started to cry. ‘What is wrong with men? Either they're lying bastards, like Michael, or they pester the hell out of me, like Paul!'

‘Is she pregnant?' Fiona started.

‘No, I can't even console myself with that!' She wiped her wet face with the back of her hand, streaking mascara across her cheekbone.

‘So are you upset because you still have feelings for him or because he fed you bullshit?' Fiona asked gently, putting her arm around Claire to comfort her. She had never seen her so upset before and didn't quite know what to do.

‘I still have feelings for him … I suppose I always will … but I'm more angry that he made a fool of me than anything. He must have been seeing this woman seriously while we were going out if they're getting – married – already!' She gulped the last few words, finding it difficult to cry and talk at the same time.

Fiona gave Claire a tight hug before extracting herself and opening their ‘drinks cabinet', a long narrow cupboard under the kitchen sink.

She poured a generous vodka, adding only a little lemonade. ‘Here.'

‘I mean, how can he do a flip like that?' Claire went on. ‘One minute he's breaking up with me because he isn't ready for marriage … then surprise, surprise, with his
new
girlfriend, it seems like the right thing to do.'

Claire took a gulp of her drink, spluttering as the undiluted vodka burned its way through her system.

‘God, are you trying to kill me?' she managed to laugh.

Fiona shrugged. ‘How did your meeting with Robert go today?' she asked brightly.

Her effort to change the subject of conversation was not intended to be subtle.

‘Nice try,' Claire retorted, ‘but I'm not finished tearing strips off Michael just yet.'

Robert's phone rang when he was in the car on his way home. Home was a serviced house in Kirribilli with an expansive view of the harbour and an outdoor spa.

‘Hi, honey, it's me.'

‘Hello, Julia. How are you?' He made an effort to inject some enthusiasm into his voice.

‘I'm good … but I'm missing you. How's Sydney?'

‘Beautiful. It's winter here so it's cool in the mornings and evenings. But the days are still in the high teens and there's plenty of sun.'

‘It sounds lovely. How's the job? I hope you're not working too hard.'

‘Things are in reasonable shape, better than I expected considering the role was vacant for a few months.'

There was a pause and he knew what she would say next.