Lost and Found (Growing Pains #1)(62)

Chapter Thirteen

Sean looked up as Ray walked in. “Just got off the phone with Marcus,” he said by way of greeting.

Ray took a seat. “And?”

Sean leaned back and rubbed his eyes. “It seems our Researcher has been down for her second round of question-answer segments.”

“Oh? She was able to get all the information for the first installment?”

“I don’t know. She hasn’t checked in. I think she’s waiting for me to call a meeting with her. I told her to continue working until I did.”

“She hasn’t checked in?” Ray’s placid face was mildly skeptical. It meant he thought Sean was making a mistake.

Sean held up his hands. “I know what you’re thinking. I am checking in with everyone else who is experienced, why not her?”

Ray didn’t even bother to nod.

“Because her friends say this is how she works best. Also because when she was under James Montgomery, she still churned out incredibly thorough, well-thought-out reports.”

“But that is a lot of information to cover in two weeks.”

“She’s been working late almost every night.”

“Still, Sean. You should probably check in with her. It is a huge gamble on someone of her caliber.”

Sean clenched his jaw. Ray still thought Sean wanted her on the team to get close to her. He had absolutely no faith Krista was above the rest in her job performance. It galled Sean to anger, but he knew better than to show it. Ray had been around a while. He knew what he was talking about. This one time, he was wrong. Sean knew he was wrong, but he had no proof. Not yet.

“Krista is like a wild fire,” Sean tempered. “Give her a spark, fuel and a lot of open space, and she’ll burn brightly. Give her a chance.”

“You are the one giving her a chance. I am the one saying—moderation. Just check in. See what she’s got so far.”

Sean let the frustration get to him. “I know you mean well, but I know what I’m doing. I trust her. If she had a problem, she would ask. Her asking Marcus, twice, for information—actually breaking through his ideas, from what he is telling me—shows me she’s got it. I’m going to stand back and let her work. If it was about getting her naked, I would check on her constantly.”

Ray flinched back. He wasn’t the type of guy to hear that kind of sentiment. He then shook his head. “You always bet on a sure thing. Bet me she will give you what you’re looking for.”

“$100” Sean said without having to think. “$100 that she gives me what I’m looking for, and you know my expectations are high.”

“Done.”

Sean nodded and looked back at his notes. “She’s working on four of Marcus’s ideas. He says she’s got her roommate helping break them down.”

“Break them down?”

“Apparently she doesn’t understand Marcus enough to know what to research, in so many words. This roommate takes her notes, translates them for her, and she works on the research. He’s the middle man.”

“Sounds like an important asset.”

Sean looked up at Ray. “Yes, he does. If I am not mistaken, he was the genius behind her layout and colors for the presentation.”

Ray held Sean’s eye contact. “I don’t mean to push, but when do you plan to check in on her?”

Sean glanced at his calendar. “Two more weeks. We’ll all meet then. We’ll all go over it together.”

Ray just shook his head. Sean knew what he was thinking: It was a long time to let someone go unchecked. She could be doing anything up there all alone. Or nothing, which was Ray’s worry. But Sean took what her friends said to heart. They knew her best, and they were in complete agreement. He had to start trusting sometime. He’d stay the course.

~*~*~*~

When Krista got home, Ben was actually there waiting for her. He had her favorite dessert in hand—chocolate lava cake.

“Ben.”

“Hi Krista.”

He noticed the takeout. A small smile appeared on his face. “We have dinner and dessert it seems.”

They ate immediately since they were both starved, opening a bottle of wine and watching “The Big Bang Theory” reruns. After they were both sufficiently stuffed, they got to business.

It seemed Ben had cleaned his room and found a stack of bills. While Krista worked, Ben set to deciphering the latest batch of Marcus gibberish. When they were both done, Krista told him what he would need to spend to cover the bills, and what his new monthly and daily budget needed to be.

“Great, thanks Krista!” He sounded so relieved. Apparently being in debt stressed the poor guy out something awful. She knew how he felt.

“Shall we get some dessert and go over ideas a la Marcus?”

“Let’s.”

With a mouth full of lava cake, Ben explained what Marcus was probably going for. Krista made further adjustments to the explanation to encompass what was actually doable, which, surprisingly, was quite a lot. When they were done, full, and half drunk, Ben said, “But, and this comes from just working off of these ideas, but what if you merged these two ideas?” He pointed at two numbered items on the list.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, hit this younger market through this program…thing he is talking about here,” Ben stabbed at idea number two, “and let it spill over, or whatever, into this other, older market program … uh … thing. Or vice versa—whichever works best, I guess. That way you can hit two birds with one stone. You know, because the subject matter is the same, right?”