Page 21 of Help Wanted

Rather than break down in front of him, she squared her shoulders and pointed to the stack of invoices. “If you just want to okay those and give them back to me, I’ll enter them for payment using the old method.”

When he didn’t say anything she turned to escape.

“What is this?” he asked, stopping her in her tracks. She turned to see the invoice for the new freight company she’d hired. She thought going with a less expensive company was a no-brainer, and had made the change on her own. No doubt he wouldn’t be happy about this either.

“Um. I found a smaller independent freight company that specializes in boats. They’re actually cheaper, and don’t need as much lead time.”

“Don’t you think you should have discussed this with me?”

“I should have. I’m sorry.” Her cellphone rang from her pocket. She tried to ignore it, but he narrowed his eyes on her. So much for her thinking he was sweet under the tough exterior.

“If you could keep personal calls to a minimum while you’re at work that would be great.”

“Yes. Sorry.” She fled to the front office and answered the call.

“How’s it going with the big guy there?” Sidney asked.

“Um. Well. I think I messed up.” Her voice cracked, and she bit her lip to keep from crying.

“That son of a bitch,” Sidney said. “I knew he wasn’t going to be able to handle this. What did he do?”

“Nothing. I made some changes without discussing them with him, and he was perfectly within his right to call me out on it.”

“It is your job to make decisions that make the company more efficient, Kenley. If it were up to Zane, he’d still have a pager instead of a tablet and a smartphone.”

“Still, it’s his company.”

“What changes did you make?” she asked. For the next few minutes she briefly explained. Sidney seemed impressed, not that it helped her situation at all.

“Chin up. He’s not great with change or admitting when he’s wrong.”

“Who is?” Kenley joked.

“He’ll come around. I’m sure of it.” Something in Sidney’s voice sounded a bit ominous.

She hoped Sidney was right though. Having just spent the last six years dealing with a horrible boss, she hated to think of how awful this job would be if she couldn’t get along with Zane even for the first day he was in the office.

She’d have to find a way to win him over. It was the only option.