The Other Side of Greed (The Seven Sins #5) - Lily Zante Page 0,14
smart.” Fredrich, like Simona, seems irritated that I didn’t take on that Brad guy who came here last week. I throw my hands up and tsk. Both he and Simona have been telling me at every chance what a great opportunity I threw away.
“Hiring more people at our level is not our number one priority.” We don’t need a new guy. Especially not in the office. We have enough people in the management team with three of us. We’re not managers sitting at our desks watching everyone do the grunt work; we get on with things.
We are doers.
I’m not sure that this guy they both seem to like so much is a doer. He seems to me like someone who can talk a good talk. He looked too slick. Too salesman-y, even in his ripped jeans.
But, Fredrich being out of commission is going to set me back a lot. “How will you manage?” he asks.
“We’ll manage.”
“You could use that guy now,” Fredrich insists, before pushing off with a grimace.
I ignore that comment. “You should go home and get some rest.”
“I need to go load up the truck.”
I’m about to sit and reply to my emails, but I can’t. Fredrich is stupid enough to think he still has his Herculean powers and that he can continue one-armed with his duties. “No, you don’t.” I march towards him. “I’ll do that.” I gasp. “Did you drive here?”
“I didn’t fly.”
I tilt my head and flash my disapproving look at him. “You’re in pain, and you’re grumpy. Go home, Fredrich.”
“Who’s going to get the food?”
“I will.”
“It’s not going to fit into your car,” he points out. He’s right. It won’t.
“I’ll just have to use the old van,” I mutter to myself. I’ve been meaning to buy a better van for our factory but as usual, it’s not our top priority. I’ve relied on Fredrich to drive his pickup truck to get the food from the restaurants. We have most of the other supplies in the storage room here in the factory—cans of soup, water bottles, crackers, sanitary products and so on. “Go home, Fredrich. You’re no good to me injured.”
“And let you do this alone?” He raises himself to his full height, his face and body posture indicating that he is in pain.
“I’m not doing it alone. There are plenty of us here to help out.”
“Let me help a little,” he insists.
“No. Go home. Please.” I can’t have him be even more injured than he is. He’s the one who moves things around and lift things, not just for the food night but whenever a heavy hand is needed, it’s Fredrich I turn to.
Yvette is here and the employees on the schedule for tonight are all here. I refuse to let the lack of Fredrich’s muscle power be our weakness, even though it has highlighted something to me; if anything should happen to me or Fredrich, or Simona, this business is on shaky ground, and I can’t afford for that to happen. Many already vulnerable people are depending on us and we can’t let them down.
There’s no time to waste. I pick up the keys to the van and decide to make the restaurant run myself. “I’m going to get the food.” I mumble some instructions to the others letting them know what’s happened and that they need to band together and make sure Fredrich doesn’t make his injury worse.
Rubbing my aching lower back, I climb into the rumbling old van. My back has been acting up lately, because, like Fredrich, I also think I have superhuman strength and can do everything. I cross my arms on the steering wheel, then lean forward and rest my head. I could fall asleep here, and the thought of the next four hours makes me want to go to sleep. I am so bone-tired. It’s a good thing Simona isn’t here to see me like this. She already hates that I work so hard and play so little, and she would have something to say if she saw me like this.
I turn the ignition and the van splutters to life on the first try. Phew. I’ve known for months that we need something more reliable, but as with most things, and me, I squeeze every last gasp of usage out of it.
Tonight will be hard work. I’m going to have to return the pots and containers to the restaurants, and then make sure everything is put back in the storeroom.