Butterflies in Honey (Growing Pains #3) (14 page)

A scowl spread across Bob’s face. Before he
could retort, because he always did, Sean walked in. He glanced
around the table, noticed Krista segregated from the rest of the
managers, and mimicked Bob’s scowl. Instead of commenting on it, he
said, “Where’s Dean?”

Krista shrugged, unconcerned. It was no
business of hers. The boys all thought she got her job laying on
her back. She’d told Emily that once, thinking it would elicit a
laugh—it was Emily’s husband that hired Krista, after all—but
instead Emily went on a tirade of how disgusting the L.A. branch
was. It was the last time Krista mentioned something like that to
Emily.

Chapter Ten

Sean picked up the phone, got no answer, and
then slapped it back down. He had five managers: one that did great
work, one that did good work, one that did decent work, and two
that were completely useless. He’d hoped the guys would gel with
Krista and take an example, like his team in San Francisco had, but
no such luck. She was exiled and ridiculed, and time was ticking.
If he didn’t whip them into shape soon, he would never hope to get
his region producing.

“Geegee, go sit with the others,” He said to
Krista.

Sean had always thought he was a good leader.
It took this team, trying to bring them together on his own, for
him to realize he was a great judge of talent and excellent at big
picture plans, but not a leader. Krista was the one that got
stubborn workers to deliver—whether by insightful suggestions,
example, or pure bullying. She put his business plan into action.
That realization had been a hard pill to swallow.

And now she was an outsider, she wasn’t
invested, and therefore not motivational. It left him in a
bind.

What’s worse, he couldn’t bridge that gap.
Sean hadn’t realized the extent of the hurt he’d caused—not until
that Friday night when Krista slapped him, in fact. For a woman
that thought slapping a guy would get her slapped back—her abusive
ex-boyfriend could be thanked for that—her violence was testament
to how hurt and upset she was.

And if he was really honest with himself,
what she said was correct. He hadn’t wanted the long-term
commitment so soon. He hadn’t wanted to leave everything behind
with nothing but the hope that it would work out.

He hadn’t been ready.

Again with the hindsight.

He did not look forward to the mass
quantities of crow he would have to eat to sort all this out.
Krista would rake him across the coals until she was satisfied she
could trust him again.

Shaking those thoughts out of his head,
waiting for Krista to grudgingly go sit next to men that were not
her peers, or her equals, Dean walked in, a note pad and pen in one
hand, his cup of coffee in another. He was a short man, pudgy, with
big, wire rimmed glasses, and a comb over. He lazily strolled
toward the end of the table into the middle of the male managers.
He was tap-dancing on Sean’s last nerve.

“Dean, I expect you to be on time when I call
a meeting. If you can’t make it on time, call my assistant. Is that
understood?” Sean pinned Dean to his chair with his stare.

Dean’s eyebrows dipped.

Moving on immediately, Sean looked down at
his notes. “Okay, I need to see where everyone is with their
assignments. Bob, why don’t you go first?” Sean sat down and gave
Bob his attention.

Sean watched in fascination as Bob crinkled
his papers, dripped some sweat off his brow, and then reported his
half-assed attempt at meeting the goals. Sean could tell Bob put
minimal effort into his work. If Krista looked through it, with the
expertly trained eye she acquired from Tory, he was sure she’d find
all sorts of factual faults.

George went next. Oh wait, Sean was supposed
to call him Georgie. He tried not to laugh every time Krista called
him
Georgina
and got a red faced stare
.
Georgie was a
plodder. He didn’t do great work, and he didn’t move all that fast,
but he wasn’t lazy either. He might be a bit late, but he made his
goals eventually. Sean was only slightly frustrated with him.

“Great. Dean…?” Sean said, sitting back in
his chair.

Easily the biggest offender in trying to
flout authority, Dean said he had his list done. When asked about
it, it turned out he missed a couple bullets, didn’t finish what he
had information on, and didn’t put anything together. Basically, at
present, he was useless in every way, and thought it was funny.
Sean didn’t share the joke.

Next was Donald. Not Don, or Donny. Donald.
He was actually not bad, as far as this group of upper-management
went. He was particular and precise with perfectly gelled hair in a
1950’s fashion. He always had a closely shaved face and pristine
suits without any wrinkles or lint.

Donald had most of his list done, information
well organized and probably correct, and was apologetic for not
getting to the rest. Sean was satisfied with the answers to his
questions, and asked Donald to keep working on it.

Next, it was Krista’s turn. His rock-star.
His foundation. She gave a glance at one of Sean’s plans,
immediately found the holes, and started plugging. She took Sean’s
pile of clay and worked it into a masterpiece. He needed her in
order to be even remotely successful at this job.

Sean leaned back, slightly apprehensive and
tried not to show it. Krista had the opportunity to show how pissed
off she was at him. She could have totally bombed on her
information, which was the largest, most
vital
list he gave
out. If she stuck it to him here, she would cripple his entire
plan.

“Geegee, you’re up. What have you done?”

Krista looked at him in a purely professional
gaze. “The list is complete. Soft copy is on the thumb drive I gave
to your assistant, the hard copy is organized by bullet and in
binders. I can put them in books if you want—or, I can have Ben do
it actually. Whatever.”

Sean slowly let out a breath he didn’t
realize he’d been holding. “Great. Are those the binders there?” He
pointed to the neat stack off to the side.

“Yup. You want them now?”

“No. I want you to pass them to your
co-workers.”

Sean wanted the guys to see what kind of work
she did; that she was in the room because she’d
earned
the
post. Since they already hated her, and she them, he didn’t think
she’d mind about being an example. It was still wrong of him to do,
but he didn’t have much choice.

“You see, Krista,” Sean said, standing up and
walking over to stop behind Dean’s chair, “these guys don’t think
you actually do any work. You saying you finished my list makes
them think I didn’t give you as much as I gave them. Isn’t that
right, guys?”

All the guys leered at each other, except
Donald, who was already looking in one of the binders.

“When in fact,” Sean went on, walking behind
Donald and looking over his shoulder, “I gave her more to do
because I knew she would not only do it, and do it by the deadline
I set, but also that she would do a fantastic job. Go ahead and
look over her binders.”

The guys looked through the work without any
conviction. Again, except for Donald, who was looking intently at
each page, and then occasionally going back to recheck something.
When he was finished, he closed the binder.

“What’d you think, Donald?” Sean asked,
walking over behind Bob.

“Detailed and well organized. Everything
looks correct.”

“How about volume?” Sean pushed.

“She covered a lot of ground.”

“She did at that, Donald. More than I asked
for, in fact, if what she’s done in the past is any judge. And
before you guys say that she is new in her position, and therefore
had more time, I’ll save you the trouble. She is new, yes, and
therefore learning her newly expected duties in addition to doing
what I asked. She is also training someone. Let’s go a step
further—she is creating new procedures and changing her vast
department. In a word, she has taken on more than any two of you
combined.”

The managers were shifting in their seats and
looking at Krista with hate-filled eyes. Sean’s stomach twisted,
not much comforted by her complete lack of regard. His team was in
bad shape.

“Now, I don’t expect this amount of work out
of you all.” Sean crossed back to his seat. “She clearly needs a
life. But I
do
expect my goals met with at least a
basis
of information. Maybe not to this extent, but you
should at least cover the material. Is that clear?”

“I don’t see how we are supposed to get it
all done,” Bob said. “We have a full plate as it is.”

“Let me address your plates, gentlemen.” Sean
returned to his seat. “I am aware of the work load you have. I am
aware of how you spend your days. To that end, I thought I might
help you focus. Your Internet has been turned off unless it is for
company-approved sites.”

Sean had just replaced Krista as enemy number
one. He nearly smiled to himself. Except for Donald, all the guys
were looking at him like he was the worst boss they’d ever had.
He’d certainly become the one that made them work the hardest.

“That should free up about a quarter of your
work days. A little more for some of you. Next, I will be
shortening your goal times. If we need to meet daily to go over
your productivity, we will. I am not asking for the breakneck pace
Krista is giving me, but I
am
asking for you to do your job
effectively. I will warn you now—if you don’t, I will find someone
who will.”

Krista got looks of hatred again. She rolled
her eyes and looked out the window. Sean could tell he wasn’t going
about it the way she would have, but he could also see, by the
relaxed set of her shoulders and her daydreaming expression, that
she thought he’d sort it out. She seemed to think he was the
miracle worker, not her.

“Are we all speaking the same language?” Sean
prodded. He got mutters in return. “Great. Now, get back to those
lists. I’ll see you in the lobby on Thursday before the first
meeting. Check your itinerary if you don’t know what I am talking
about. Krista, sorry to make you stand out.”

“I already did stand out. I have a vagina.
You want these binders?”

Sean reached a hand out for them, wanting to
talk to her. Wanting to help her fix her life and letting her help
fix his. They both had gaping holes because they weren’t being the
team they once were. But he could see that she was afraid to get
too close. She wouldn’t meet him after hours, and he couldn’t ask
her to stay behind because the guys would assume it was special
treatment derived of a sexual nature.

It wasn’t fair, it was not how Sean liked to
work or manage, but it was how that company worked. The lines of
man versus women were clearly drawn, and usually the women were on
the bottom of the heap. It was pretty much the same in sales, with
generally the same type of small minded individuals. Very
two-dimensional.

Tory was counting on Krista to break the
mold. He’d spent so much time with her because she always rose to
his expectations, and then found a way to surpass them. He knew
that if he gave her the right tools, then stepped aside, she’d work
wonders. And she had so far.

Now Tory needed Sean to guide her to the next
level. He wanted Sean to apply more pressure, to push her harder,
to force her to hit higher and go farther, to be the pressure that
created the diamond. He wanted an entire company’s worth of
upper-management to change their opinions based on the actions of
one woman.

It was anything but fair, but unfortunately,
it was necessary. If anyone could do it, it was Krista. She had the
right formula of determination, intelligence, and plain old fear of
failure. But Sean had to give her a platform on which she could
shine. Soon, too, because they were losing her.

~*~*~*~

Krista stepped in front of Bob and slowed
down, forcing him to slam on the breaks.

“Move!” Bob sputtered, doing his best not to
touch her.

She smiled and kept walking, pretending she
didn’t hear Dean and Bob talking about her as she walked away. Like
Krista always did after a meeting with the idiots she was supposed
to be working with, she stepped into her old office and sat in
front of a harassed Kate.

Kate, seeing her enter, immediately
downshifted and leaned back, putting her skirted legs up on the
desk. “Hey!”

Krista tried to get comfortable, but the
chairs were crap.

“I hate my job sometimes,” Krista said.
“Also, you are nearly showing me your knickers.”

Kate shrugged, unperturbed. “Another meeting
with Boys ‘R Us? They aren’t relenting at all?”

“Nope. Sean just made an example of me, too.
It’s been a long time since I was teacher’s pet.”

Kate’s feet came down with a thud. “Why’d he
do that? Does he
want
to make your life harder?”

“He’s trying to get work out of them. I think
he is trying to shame them.”

“Yeah right,
those
guys?”

“I know. But I don’t know—he’s the boss. He
probably has an angle.”

Kate shook her head, jumped on her email for
a second, then returned to looking at Krista. “Well, how are you
going to endure the convention…thing?”

“Marcus is going.”

“Oh, yeah. That’s good, I guess.”

“Still.”

“Well, I talked to a woman at Doritos’s last
week when I was analyzing their stuff. Apparently they miss you.
They had everything the way you liked it,
finally
, and then
you stopped showing. They think I am easy by comparison.”

Krista gave Kate a severe look. “I hope they
don’t. That means you aren’t doing your job.”

“Oh shut up—I’m just nicer than you.”

Krista shrugged.