I'm learning about her.
“Penny. She's at college.” We stand awkwardly by the door, neither of us moving. She's opening up to me, and even more surprising, I want to know about her. “And this? The food night? Why?”
“My mom used to take us to make sure we helped out when we could, at soup kitchens and at events like these. It's giving back, that's all it is.”
“You don't owe anyone anything.”
“I don't see it as owing anyone,” she replies, testily. “When my mom died, nine years ago, from pneumonia, I didn't stop doing this.”
“I'm sorry for your loss.”
“It sucks, but...” She shrugs, a sigh making her chest rise and fall. “That's life, right?”
“Yeah.”
“And you? Do you have any siblings? What's the deal with you, Hartley?”
I push off from the wall, needing to end this conversation now. Delving into my life is strictly off limits.
“No siblings.” I get out my keys and walk towards my car. “Goodnight.”
“Goodnight.”
Chapter Eighteen
KYRA
I take it all back. Employing Brad hasn’t worked out to be such a bad thing. Maybe I was just cautious about him, and he was wary of me. He was responding to my coldness. I didn’t trust him, and I didn’t care to hide it from him, but I’ve taken note of his level of commitment and how much it has helped having him around. Especially given the fact that Fredrich decided to take another week off and only returned yesterday.
Who knows how much longer Brad will stick around for? We are different in so many ways and disagree on so many things. He seems eager for us to move elsewhere if we get the chance. We clash the most on my ideas for the small business units. Redhill employs people to work in the factory but in talking to some of them, I’ve come to know of their hopes and dreams too. Take Dayna, our factory manager. She used to run a small home business making cakes, until tragedy hit and her only child was killed in a car accident. Her marriage fell apart, she and her husband divorced, and then she lost her day job. She sank into depression and it spiraled. She lost her home, her marriage, everything.
Dayna does a fantastic job here. She’s been so good that I promoted her. I can see her potential, and I see the way her eyes light up when she talks about the joy that baking cakes gave her. She is one of those people I see working in those business units I’m determined to set up. What if I could make that possible for her again?
Unlike me, Brad doesn’t seem to understand that people, when given a chance to prove themselves, can and will. He doesn’t see their true potential, or how life changing giving people a second chance can be.
I keep trying to find out what he does the other two days of the week, but he’s so vague that I wonder if he’s growing weed or doing something dodgy because he changes the subject quickly.
Still, I never thought I’d find myself being glad he’s on board.
I was wrong about him, and I can see now that having another guy on the team definitely helps. We don’t deliberately turn men away, but none have wanted to work here. With the factory being completely staffed by women, and only Fredrich in the office, I’ve come to rely on him more. I grudgingly admit that having another guy on the team is a definite bonus, even if it’s just for the muscle power.
He is willing and able, and helpful, and I should be grateful for his help. I have to learn to put my quiet frustration aside when I’m with people who don’t share my ideas.
But there is a plus side to him being here. Having Brad to bounce ideas around with isn’t such a bad thing. There is truth to the words that you often need to see things from another perspective, that you can’t always assume your point of view is the only one, or that it’s the right one.
I’m learning a lot from him being around and he and I seem to be getting on amicably enough, and we’ve put our previously cold and open hostility behind us.
Fredrich noticed this right away, perhaps because it’s cozier with the extra desk and with the four of us all in one room,
We managed to fit another small desk in the office. The space is becoming more cramped here and I did consider