Lost and Found (Growing Pains #1)(3)

Krista nodded emphatically—it was a perfect explanation for her giddiness.

“Yes, well, I thought I’d take you to see the rest of the company.”

“Oh, great,” Krista said as she jumped up. Her hand, still slightly wet, hovered near her notepad and pen.

Mr. Montgomery’s brow furrowed dangerously.

Taking the cue, Krista left note taking devices behind.

“You found the break room, already?” Mr. Montgomery asked as he stopped in front of the open doorway, obviously remembering the water all over her desk. A chorus of laughter floated out as Krista nodded. “Yes, well, most of the people that hang out in there are hopeless loafers. Waste of time.”

Before Krista could replace the bewilderment on her face from that comment, an older woman with a shock of dyed red hair emerged from the doorway. “Oh, James. I thought I heard your dulcet tones. Whadda treat.” Her cynical gaze slid over Krista. “And you have yet another employee to handle your enormous workload, when I can’t even stay fully staffed. Yes, now that’s fair.”

With her nose in the air, the woman walked away, loathing on her face.

Krista tried to shrink into her sweater like a turtle.

“Don’t mind her!” Mr. Montgomery said in a huff as he stared at the woman’s rigid back. “She’s just mad that they won’t hire someone to do all her work for her!”

He turned around, his own nose in the air to rival his apparent nemesis. He kick-started his plodding speed and trudged down the hall, seemingly uninterested as to whether Krista was following. It was not a great start to the tour.

When they finally walked through the last floor, Krista couldn’t say that she was sorry. Or that she’d learned anything useful.

“This is the sales floor,” Mr. Montgomery droned. “We work with them the most. They’re pushy for the most part. They don’t think anyone else besides them works.”

A smallish man shot out of one of the offices like a torpedo, heading in their general direction.

“Ah, speak of the devil. Here’s John, the junior VP of sales.”

The man, legs and arms pumping animatedly, focused on them. Seeing Mr. Montgomery, he slightly veered his trajectory, until his eyes slid past and hit Krista. He immediately swooped back and stopped right in front of them, hand out, eyes lit up.

“Hello! My name’s John!”

Mr. Montgomery recoiled, taken aback by the amicable verbal assault. He recovered with a large sigh, and said, “John, meet Krista, our new researcher. We have high hopes for her. She—“

“Krista,” John boomed, cutting off Mr. Montgomery without so much as an apologetic flinch. “Nice to meet you. How do you find our company so far?”

“Well, it’s my first day, but so far it’s nice.”

“Great! That’s great!” John gave an energetic punch with his voice. “What have you seen—“

“John!”

As one, they all turned toward the speaker, now coming out of the same office at a much slower, more purposeful pace. Krista’s jaw clenched. Why me?

“They want to know if I can go down ten percent on price if they opt for the package,” the newcomer said in a lackadaisical manner, powerful body strolling up with the graceful slide of a fencer. “I was thinking that’s more than satisfactory. If so I can close it today.”

“Sure, sure. Get it done.” John waved his hand to shoo the man away.

“James, who is this?” the salesman asked in a sophisticated, smooth voice.

She had a brief moment to wonder about her excessive sweating problem in embarrassing situations as Mr. Montgomery dryly said, “Hello, Sean. This is our newest employee: Krista Marshall. Krista, meet Sean McAdams. Sean is a salesman here at the company.”

Sean’s intense gaze never left her. “Hello.”

“Nice to meet you.”

“Krista comes to us straight out of college,” Mr. Montgomery continued in a bored voice. “She received top marks in her class from a prestigious school in Washington. You were what, top twenty, Krista?”

“Top five percent,” she replied quietly, silently cursing him for embarrassing her. She was doing a good enough job on her own.

“Yes, top five. A real dynamo!”

And that was before he said dynamo…

Sean smiled like a cat toying with a brightly colored bug. “It’s a pleasure.”

He studied her for a moment longer before nodding to John and turning away toward his office.

“Oh, and Krista…“ Sean’s gaze found her again. “I believe you have something that belongs to me, but don’t worry about it. I reprinted it. You can shred your copy, if you don’t mind.”

Krista, realizing what he was talking about—what piece of paper she’d gotten off the printer that he was talking about—stared dumbly. He smiled and resumed his powerful stride into his office.

Oh yeah, people would notice that weird factor. Great.

“Well, Krista, you let me know if sales can do anything for you, okay?” John said earnestly, shaking her hand again.

Mr. Montgomery sighed and started walking away.

“Sur—“Krista cut off, watching her boss plod down the hall. She looked back at John in despair. “Sorry, I gotta go.”