Page 16 of Rebel

“You could have just sent them a registered letter,” I pointed out.

“No. Mark and Sherman have been with us for a long time. They deserved a face-to-face conversation and honesty about why we were letting them go. It’s just really hard to fire someone because it messes with their ability to support their families. I feel like I’m taking food off their table and punishing their innocent families for their wrongdoing.”

“Yeah, I can see how it might seem that way. But both of them got themselves in a situation where keeping them on would just be a cancer to your business.”

“I know what you’re saying is true. I just need to keep reminding myself that they did this to themselves.”

“Yeah, that’s exactly what happened in this case. Look, it’s just gone eleven thirty. You ready for an early lunch?”

“I don’t know if I’ll be able to eat but I’d be happy to go with you and get some coffee while you eat. Where were you thinking of going?”

“Bennigan’s. Once you start smelling good food that might trigger your hunger.”

***

It only took us about fifteen minutes to drive to Bennigan’s and be shown to our seats. Once we were face-to-face, Laceyseemed to be putting the unpleasantness of the morning behind her. If nothing else, she was resilient. I’d give her that. Seeing her operate in her own environment made her seem a lot less awkward. All that newfound confidence looked good on her.

Once we had given our orders and had our drinks, I asked, “Why is it that Harvey gets printed work orders, and I get electronic ones?”

She started to relax a little. “It’s because Harvey can’t even operate his cell phone half the time. He never quite entered the tech world. My mom found out long ago that printing out his work orders every morning was the key to helping him be successful.”

Shrugging with one shoulder, I responded, “That makes sense, I suppose.”

“You’re the opposite of Harvey. Remember in Storm’s office when I asked you to tell me a little about your work process? Even though you didn’t see fit to answer my question, I realized by the nature of your professional dilemma that you hate keeping up with paperwork. You’re the kind of guy who likes to check his phone, so electronic work orders were clearly the way to go for you.”

“I have to say you sure do seem like you know how to manage people, even people like me who don’t like the idea of being managed.”

“The whole point of managing people is for them to not feel like you’re overbearing, forcing them to do things a certain way, or harassing them about deadlines. That’s micromanaging and I try to stay away from that at all costs.”

As we ate and chatted back and forth this lunch almost started to feel like a first date for me. Then again, I couldn’t remember the last time I actually went on a date, as club girls and one night stands were more my scene, so the fact was, I didn’t know much about what a real date felt like. All I knew was that the more time I spent with Lacey, the more I was starting to like her as a person.

I particularly liked the way she kept her chin up and her wits about her when the situation got rocky and unpredictable. She still wasn’t showing any interest in me as a man, which was fine. It was enough that she was polite, respectful, and partnering up with me to increase both our earning power.

When lunch was over, we went our separate ways, her to the office to cat-sit for me and answer my business line, and me to the job I already had scheduled for the afternoon. If this worked out for me, it would be a real step in the right direction in terms of taking care of my grandmother. That was my sole focus at the moment.

Chapter 7

Lacey

After a month, I came to the conclusion that financially, partnering up with Benny was the best decision I could have made for the business. When it came to working, he was a beast. He was good at what he did and fast. He described himself as out-fucking-standing and now I could see that it was true. He also wasn’t joking about working circles around Harvey. Between the two of them, I was hoping to keep all the balls in the air.

Unfortunately, he was also a bit of a fly-by-the-seat-of-his-pants kind of guy. He never worked according to the schedule of jobs I gave him, electing instead to triage them on his own, doing the ones he thought shouldn’t wait, regardless of when the client was expecting us. He would just call and rearrange the whole day’s work schedule without asking. Since our customers seemed to love him, we hadn’t had complaints or anything, but there had been some problems with him going to pick up materials that weren’t ready because he decided to do the job in the morning instead of the late afternoon like it was scheduled. I was coping with his incessant need to control his own schedule because it hadn’t caused customer service issues yet.

Our revenue was up, and our expenditure was certainly down since Mark wasn’t here to skim off the top. He’d called for a while, trying to get his job back. When that didn’t work, he got belligerent and threatening. Since he’d been kind enough to leave threatening voicemails and text messages, getting a no-contact order hadn’t been difficult. The auditors were scheduled to come in next month and I’d frozen all our records from thetime Mark was running the business. I couldn’t wait to get the ball rolling on that. Companies that did that kind of work were usually booked solid. I was lucky to get the appointment I had made with them.

And then there was Katy Purry. At first, I was kind of standoffish, but the more she rubbed against my legs and tried to sit on my lap, the less wary I became of her and I kind of got used to having a cat in the office. When everyone was out, she was company. I wouldn’t exactly say we were fast friends, but I did allow her to lounge in the windowsill behind my desk and we played laser light a couple of times a day. Benny had been as good as his word about cleaning the litter box every evening when he picked her up. Being his cat sitter had turned out to be much less problematic than I thought it would be.

Over lunch on our first day, Benny had confessed that he’d added the kitty clause to the contract as a way to wind me up. But he had genuinely been worried about leaving her all day. Apparently, the set up was only temporary, and the person who was supposed to be rehoming Katy Purry would be collecting her in a few weeks. I had to say, after getting to know her, I was kind of hoping that the person changed their mind. Either that, or I’d have to consider advertising for the permanent position of office cat.

When my phone rang disturbing the peace, I didn’t answer it because it was the ringtone I’d assigned to my old boss. That fantasy of him begging me to come back to work for him kind of came true but it wasn’t as great as I thought it would be. I think he just didn’t want to have to train a new person.

This morning I was processing payroll. It didn’t take long because there were so few of us who work for the company. Lost in my work, the whole day slipped by before I knew it.

When my phone pinged, I almost didn’t check it because I thought it was my old boss texting me again. It was a good thing I decided to look, because it was Zoe inviting me for drinks at the Slayers’ clubhouse. I texted her back that I would, and then I wrapped up my work.

By the time Benny came to pick up his cat I was ready to go. When he saw me in my jacket with my purse on my shoulder, he asked, “You’re pretty eager to get out of here. Got a hot date or something?”

“Nope, just drinks with Zoe at the clubhouse,” I told him. I could tell by the intense way he was looking at me that he was thinking about the last time we were at the clubhouse together.

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