Page 25 of Texas Made
Rachel had an odd expression on her face. Her COO looked nervous. Which was weird. Rachel almost never got nervous. “What’s going on?”
“I think it will be good news in the long run, but you might not be happy about it right now.”
“What is ‘it’?”
Rachel took a deep breath and blurted out, “I fired our supplier.”
“You did what?” she practically screeched, jumping up. “You fired Rod Lyons? Our manufacturing supplier?” Jaclyn rarely got upset with her COO but this was something entirely unprecedented. Especially when she’d done something without even checking with Jaclyn.
“Yes. I fired the company and made a deal with someone new. I tried to get in touch with you, but you must have been out of cell phone reach. Or you turned it off. It was last night. Kind of late.”
She’d been with Marshall. And she had silenced the ringer and hadn’t seen a missed call when she checked this morning. “You dropped Lyons?” she repeated. “Why?”
“I didn’t drop them. I fired their asses. But don’t worry. We have a new supplier. Nature by Aquarius.”
What the hell? Rachel had hired someone she’d never heard of? Jaclyn sat down on the couch and put her phone on the stand so she could see Rachel better. “Start from the beginning.”
“You know Lyons has been less than accommodating lately.”
“Yes, but I didn’t realize it was that bad.”
“They’ve been a royal pain in the ass,” Rachel said flatly. “They’ve been putting us off, not delivering in a timely fashion. And since several of our main ingredients come from them, along with a number of minor ingredients, that’s a significant problem. I’ve had to nag and call weekly and they’re still always late. So yesterday I called the manager and tried to get through to him that we needed our order on time and they needed to get with it. He was incredibly rude and basically told me they’d get it here when they got around to it. Then I talked to Rod and he was even ruder and more obnoxious. So I fired his ass.”
“Rod is a jerk, I know, I’ve had run-ins with him too. But I wish you hadn’t fired him. What are we going to do for a supplier?”
“I told you, I already hired someone.”
“So you said. Who did you say it was?”
“Nature by Aquarius.”
“I’ve never heard of them.”
“They’re small but are anxious for business. I asked if they could put a rush on the order Lyon’s was jerking me around about and they said they could. They’re dying for our business, Jaclyn. I’ve been talking to them, so this isn’t completely out of the blue.”
“It is to me.” She could see Rachel biting her lip, obviously holding back. “What? If you’ve got something to say just tell me.”
“You’ll get pissed.”
“I’m already pissed. Tell me.”
“You haven’t exactly been as available as usual since you’ve been in Whiskey River.”
Bullshit, she started to say. But honesty compelled her to admit Rachel had a point. “Okay. But couldn’t you have waited until you talked to me to get the new supplier? Do they even have a track record?”
“They have a very good track record. I decided, in my capacity as COO, that once I fired Lyons it was imperative I find someone quickly. And as I said, I’d been in talks with Aquarius. I’ve even given them some smaller orders and they came through really quickly. Just give them a chance, Jaclyn. We’ll know soon enough whether they’ll work out or not.”
“And if they don’t?”
“I’ll handle it. If I have to go to every supply company in Texas myself I’ll get what we need.”
“I don’t have any choice, do I? You’ve backed me and the company into a corner.” Jaclyn realized she wasn’t being completely fair to Rachel, but she couldn’t seem to help it.
“Do you want to fire me?”
Jaclyn rolled her eyes. “Of course not. I’m just blindsided. This is all news to me.”
“I don’t know why you’re so surprised. If you’d heard that jerk acting like we have no choice but to put up with his bullshit, you’d have fired his ass too.” Her eyes flashed angrily as she said it.
