Johan's Joy (Heroes for Hire #22) - Dale Mayer Page 0,11
it. I just fell into the job, found some issues, and brought them up. The company was restructured to fix some of the problems.”
“Do you care to explain?”
She hesitated, then shrugged. “As long as I don’t give away any secrets, we’re fine,” she said with a smile. Then she explained how the process that the company ran had been extremely inefficient, causing several pinch points and problems within the system.
“If what you saw helped the company, then good for you.”
“Then they loaned me to another company,” she said in a quiet voice.
He smiled. “Did you help them too?”
She nodded slowly. “I did.”
“So then, why are you here?”
“Because all of that was in Boston,” she said, “and I decided that the Texas weather might suit me better.”
“Now that’s understandable,” he said. “So you’ve only been here in town a little while?”
“Three months,” she said.
“And this was the only job that you could get?”
“I didn’t have any business contacts locally, and I have rent to pay,” she said. “So I did try to get jobs that were more closely aligned to the work that I used to do, but I don’t exactly have that job title per se, just the experience.”
“No, it’s not like you have process engineer or something as a title, do you?” he said with a questioning glance. “Any training or certifications in that field?”
She shook her head. “No, I think I’m just observant,” she said quietly.
“Well, it’s obviously a good skill to have but a little hard to market.”
“Exactly.” By now she was relaxed enough to be curious as to why he was grilling her, but, at the same time, she didn’t know what the outcome of this was supposed to be. “Am I in trouble?” she asked boldly.
“No, not at all,” Barlow said. “I did want to ask you just what you were doing after I saw your application form,” he said, “because we do have some issues here in the company, as you are already aware. And I was contemplating using some of your skills to help us solve some of them.”
She stared at him in surprise. “Oh.” She didn’t know what else to say. She’d sounded like a nitwit the entire time.
“And I also took it upon myself to contact a couple of your references.”
She stared at him in shock. “Normally that’s done before somebody’s hired.”
He chuckled, the waves of his silver hair rippled smoothly along his head, but she couldn’t decide if he was too smooth or just somebody who saw an opportunity and wondered how he could take advantage of it.
“You should be happy to know that your references are sorry to have lost you.”
“I’ve had several calls, wanting me back,” she said.
“That’s a huge compliment,” he said in surprise.
She shot him a grin. “I told them they could fly me back and forth if they wanted to keep me, or they could open up satellite offices, but I was not interested in dealing with the Boston weather on a daily basis anymore.”
“Both of which are potential options,” he said.
She nodded. “Yes, there were some discussions about it, but, as of yet, nobody had decided to take me up on it.”
“Well, that is to our advantage then,” he said smoothly. “So let me just think about this. I did want to ask you just what stuff you had dealt with before. I’m glad you told me,” he said, “and glad you’re not upset that I contacted your references.”
“Not at all,” she said. Seeing that the interview was almost at an end, she stood. “If you have any other questions, just let me know.”
“And I might,” he said. “It will depend on the outcome of the investigation that’s getting underway.”
She nodded in understanding, then walked to the door and said, “Thanks for not firing me.”
“No, just forgive me for giving you a heart attack, right?” And again he shot her a bright used-car-salesman smile.
She gave a small laugh. “Exactly.” And, with that, she slipped out and shut the door behind her.
She stood there for a long moment, letting her breath ease from her chest, not at all surprised when she heard him as he picked up the phone and called somebody. She couldn’t hear anything about the conversation, but, as she walked down the hallway, she wondered if Barlow was speaking with Edward or maybe even her section boss, James. She had no clue how her boss would handle her being here now. Would he be awkward, or would he be resentful? Or maybe