Page 77 of Heart of Stone

However she managed to juggle her schedule was no real concern to me. What mattered was that she was here, and that Krystina’s office would be completed before Monday.

“I appreciate that. Now, if you’ll follow me this way, I have a large space that I want you to take a look at. The thirty-seventh floor vacated about six months ago, and the old tenants left a bit of a mess. Rather than clean it up, I had the floor gutted until I could decide what to do with it. That being said, you’ll have a fairly clean slate to work with.”

Together, we headed to the elevator and began the decent down to the floor that would soon house the marketing division of Stone Enterprise.

When the doors opened, a dusty construction site was revealed. Plastic sheets hung from the ceiling, blocking off certain areas where work was already underway. The loud vibrations of machine sanders could be heard from various points of the floor.

“I didn’t realize you had already begun work, Mr. Stone,” Kimberly said, seeming somewhat surprised by the mess before us.

“Only the walls, Kimberly. I wasn’t kidding when I said I had the floor gutted. I had my construction engineer get started on the basic drywall work, since that takes some time. Rooms still need to be divided, flooring has to be picked out, paint, the works.”

“And that’s where I come in,” she finished with a smile. “You’ve given me a blank canvas, Mr. Stone. I’m looking forward to the design.”

“Before you leave today, I’ll get you in touch with all parties needed for the job. Very little will be brought over from the existing offices. I’ve already instructed Gavin, my computer technician, to purchase the workstations that will be needed. And as for the blank canvas, you’ll also have a blank check. My accountant will see to it that you have everything you need on this project.”

She didn’t even flinch at that, having worked for me in the past.

“Perfect. Any thoughts on what your Marketing Director might like?”

“Her name is Krystina Cole. And honestly, I don’t know much about her décor preferences,” I said with a frown. “She loves music. I think its safe to assume that she will use it often in her radio or television advertising strategies. Whatever you decide, her office needs to incorporate a high end sound system at the very least.”

“That will be easy enough. What about the other areas of the floor? Do you think Miss Cole would want the space divided up into separate office spaces? Or perhaps cubicles?”

“No cubicles. I detest them,” I told her.

“I didn’t think so, but I thought I’d ask just in case. Since this floor will be for marketing, separate offices will most likely work out better. They will allow people to think creatively, without any interruptions from the person at the next desk over.”

“My thoughts exactly,” I agreed. Kimberly placed a finger on her chin and looked around contemplatively.

“Any preference on room sizes?”

“Miss Cole’s office should be spacious. You can’t see them from here due to the plastic that’s hanging, but there are large windows at the far end of the floor. Incorporate those in her personal space. She’ll need a sizable conference room of sorts, a place for meetings and design planning. As for the other areas, I think eight to ten offices should be sufficient enough. You’ll have to get with Josh Swanson on the space layout. He’s here somewhere…” I trailed off, scanning the floor for the whereabouts of the construction engineer.

As if on cue, Josh came out from behind a hanging plastic sheet, his dark hair, shoulders, and arms completely covered with drywall dust. He removed a pair of safety glasses from his face, giving him a raccoon-like appearance. He looked surprised to see us standing there.

“Mr. Stone, I didn’t realize you were here. You’ll have to pardon my appearance,” he joked casually, attempting to remove some of the dust that covered him. “What can I do for you sir?”

“Josh, I’d like you to meet Kimberly Melborne. She will be the designer on the project. Kimberly, this is Josh Swanson, my construction engineer.”

“It’s nice to meet you ma’am,” Josh told her with a nod. “I’d shake your hand, but as you can see, I’m full of dust and drywall mud.”

“That’s okay! You can keep the mud to yourself,” Kimberly said with an easy laugh.

“We just started work. So far, we’ve managed to get the drywall up and seamed. We’re just finishing up with the sanding today.”

“You’ve made great time, Josh. I’m happy with the progress,” I appreciated. “From this point forward, you can take direction from Kimberly. I trust her judgment. Whatever she wants, build it.”

“I have a tight time frame to work with. I promise not to come up with anything too extravagant,” Kimberly assured him.

“Do you want to take a look around? I can show you what we’ve done so far?” Josh asked us.

“Absolutely. I want to get a good look at the space that I have to work with, as well as take some measurements,” Kimberly said. She reached into her oversized shoulder bag and pulled out a tape measure and a pad of paper.

“The two of you can go on ahead. I’ll catch up with you momentarily,” I told them.

Once they had stepped away, pulled out my cell to call Krystina and ask her about any specifications that she might have for the office. I dialed her number, but paused before hitting the send button.

If I called her, she would know what I was doing. As of right now, she had no idea that I was giving her an entire floor in my building. She didn’t know that she would have her own domain, her own world within mine, and full access to every convenience Cornerstone Tower had to offer. I wanted her to be surprised.

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