table typing in a laptop. Lisa the secretary, she assumed.
“Tara!” Joseph lurched to his feet, looking alarmed.
“I stopped in for that tour,” she said. “I wanted to say hello. I ran into Dylan in the hall.”
Joseph smiled queasily. “Everyone, this is Tara Wharton, Faye’s sister.” He stopped, as if that was it.
“Could you introduce me?” she asked politely.
He sighed, resigned to the delay, then went around the table, giving names and titles, ending with Miriam Zeller, the Human Resources manager. “Miriam gives the tours. Miriam, would you mind?”
“Of course.” Miriam rose, smiling in her direction.
“Let’s wait until the lunch break,” Tara said. “I’ll sit in, if that’s okay.”
Joseph clearly wanted her gone. “We’ve arranged for Mr. Ryland to speak to us, so we really should—”
“I’m happy to have her listen in,” Dylan said, backing Tara’s play. “Maybe you could pass these out?” He held out the stack of paper to her, his eyes twinkling in conspiracy.
As she handed out the last packet, her phone vibrated. Seeing the insurance agency’s name, she ducked out to take the call.
It was a secretary telling her the adjuster would not be available that day and, no, she didn’t know where the car might be. Another damn delay. Fuming, Tara returned to the meeting just as Dylan asked if there were questions.
“Yeah, I’ve got one,” Carl Goodman said. The factory manager wore a suit that he didn’t seem comfortable in. He’d dressed up for the meeting, which meant corporate offices had more prestige than the factory. Interesting. “What are you going to do about the backup on production?”
Dylan responded calmly, explaining that Ryland employees were working overtime to boost output. That seemed to appease Goodman.
Dylan took more questions, sounding knowledgeable and trustworthy, making eye contact all around the table. He was good, a natural leader, and Tara was reminded again how impressive he’d been in high school. She felt a surge of attraction. He’d probably do wonders for Wharton once he could give the town his full attention.
After he’d finished speaking, he thanked everyone and turned for the door, giving Tara a wink as he left. She went hot all over. From a wink, for God’s sake. She felt like she had some girlish crush on a rock star.
Mentally shaking that off, she tuned in to the dynamics of the meeting. It wasn’t going well. Joseph was clearly uncomfortable being in charge. He allowed the same point to be made repeatedly, cut off productive discussions and managed to annoy nearly everyone. There were simple techniques she could teach him for fixing that. She was champing at the bit to try.
The informal leader seemed to be Davis Mann, the VP of Manufacturing. When a question came up, they all looked to him. He oversaw the factory operations and was Carl Goodman’s boss. She needed to touch base with him for sure before she left Wharton today.
At noon, catering brought in a sandwich buffet. As people got their food, Tara moved from person to person, asking questions and listening closely to the answers as well as the interpersonal dynamics. She caught Davis Mann alone in the hall and arranged to stop by his office to talk after her tour.
At the end of the break, Miriam Zeller approached her. “Ready for that tour?”
“I don’t want to keep you from the meeting.” Women managers in a mostly male workplace had to work hard to stay in the loop.
“They’ll tread water from here on out. To tell you the truth, I’m happy to escape the tedium.”
As they headed for the elevator, she asked Miriam how she felt about being the only woman on the management team, mentioning the experiences of women she’d worked with. That started them off with a nice rapport and gave Tara a chance to explain what she did for a living.
Getting off at the second floor, they moved toward the back stairs to the factory, passing offices as they went. As they passed the bookkeeping department, a woman rushed out, stopping just before she plowed into Tara. It was Candee, Dylan’s ex-wife.
“Oh. Hi,” Candee said. “You’re Tara.”
It took her a second to respond. Why hadn’t Dylan mentioned Candee worked for Wharton? “I am.”
“Candee Ryland,” Candee said sharply, evidently assuming Tara’s delayed response meant Tara didn’t know her name.
“Yes. I know. Dylan told me...” What? She flipped through what she knew about Dylan’s ex-wife...they’d slept together since the divorce...she’d left him because she thought he still loved Tara...she’d sold him cookware he didn’t use...given him a recipe