Butterflies in Honey (Growing Pains #3)(34)

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.