After a layover in Barcelona, the flight to Oviedo, Asturias, landed just before the sunset. The dwarf-sized airport was almost empty. Macy only saw one at the airport in Asturias. Within minutes they had their bags and walked the short distance to the waiting car. The warm air outside felt good after shivering through most of the flight.
The tension in her neck throbbed. The negotiations she could handle, she’d done it before. There was only one thing dragging her down. The audit.
Avery snapped his fingers in front of her face. “Are you there? You’ve been in a zone from the moment the plane taxied to the gate.”
“I’ve got a lot of things on my mind. I checked my email and I don’t have anything from Stan saying my access to the system has been restored. And, negotiating the contract with Albabo won’t be easy. The pressure for this meeting is higher than what we will deal with at Watney.”
“Why is that?”
“Every year Albabo tries to squeeze us on price. What they can’t get on price, they try to get us on freight cost. Roxy has complained about them for years.”
Avery rubbed her arm. “You don’t sound worried.”
“I’m not. It’s like a ritualistic dance we do with them. I’d be flabbergasted if they sign the contract without giving me a hard time first. Two signed contracts puts me closer to a promotion.” Macy didn’t look at Avery.
“Roxy says good things about you. You’re probably closer to that promotion than you think.”
In her hotel room, she released a long breath. The only thing holding her together was cheap glue that threatened to burst at every seam. How could she focus on the contract until she found out where the money was? No matter how well she did on this trip, the audit could derail her whole career. What if this wasn’t a simple accounting error, where the wrong account got charged or someone added an extra zero to an entry by mistake? What if this was sabotage? With her palm on her chest, Macy forced herself to relax.
The room was small, but it was decorated in soothing shades of maroon and gold. The queen-sized bed took up most of the room, but a small desk and chair was shoved into the corner. At the window she pushed the drapes aside to see a view of the deserted main street.
She pulled her computer from the bag and set it up on the narrow desk. If her accounts were balanced last month, then she needed to examine every day’s transaction since the beginning of the month. The process might be long and tedious, but it had to lead to answers. She’d start with the first fifteen days and would ask Michelle to examine the last fifteen days. If she worked every night, together maybe they’d have an answer by the time she returned to Philadelphia. She tried to get into the accounting system again. But the same warning flashed on her screen.
The phone startled her from her thoughts.
“Yeah,” she said.
“How about dinner with me tonight?” Avery sounded upbeat.
“I can’t. Not tonight. I want to get a little work done and crawl into bed.” She continued pounding on the keyboard.
“You need to eat something. There is a small restaurant downstairs, we can eat there. It’ll be quick…”
“I can’t, Avery. I’m working.”
“Okay,” he hesitated. “How about breakfast?”
“We aren’t meeting with Albabo until three,” she said.
“Then that gives us all morning to have a nice breakfast and go over the meeting details.”
His optimism had no bounds. It must be nice to stroll through life without a worry. One day she hoped to have the same experience.
“Yeah, okay. Thanks for checking on me.”
She hung up the phone. Falling for Avery could be easy. Nobody had pursued her with this much enthusiasm in years. At least not anyone worth a second glance.
The following morning before going down to breakfast with Avery, she pulled out her phone and checked her horoscope.
Take nothing for granted today, double-check, then check again all your sources. Most of the feedback that crosses your desk will be severely tainted by several sources. Today is not the day to be trusting. Others stand to gain from your misfortune. Proceed with caution so that you’re not a pawn.
The words flashed at her like a warning sign. Today she needed good news. There was already enough doubt pushing on her shoulders. She jumped up. At least now she knew what she needed to do. If she were any more cautious, she wouldn’t trust a soul.
She tried the accounting system again. Still no access. It was too early to call Stan, so she sent him an email. If he didn’t response today, she’d have to call his boss, Celeste. This was getting ridiculous.
In the hotel dining room, seated across the table from Avery, she stared at the pork-n-beans on her plate, next to the scrambled eggs.
“I don’t get the beans with breakfast.” She pushed them aside.
“It’s a European thing,” Avery said.
“Do they eat them with dinner too?”
“Not as much as we do in the States.” He shoved a fork full of beans into his mouth and chewed like it was the best thing he’d eaten. Did you get the work done last night?”
“I’ve started.”
“Was it contract related? Does it have to do with Albabo?”
She shook her head. “I’m preparing my documentation for the audit. No matter what happens here, Roxy takes the audit result just as serious as she does these contract negotiations.”
“Was your access renewed yet?”
“No. I’ll call Celeste as soon as she gets in the office.”
He swallowed the rest of his orange juice. “Finish your breakfast. Then I’ll go pick up my computer and meet you in your room to review the Albabo contract, if that’s okay.”
She sat back. Today wasn’t the time to get sentimental because Avery was being nice. But her heart did that skipping thing anyway. His plan was a good one, but sitting on her bed next to him was more than she wanted to think about. “How about we meet at those chairs over there.” She pointed to a grouping near the exit.
“Fine.” He pointed his fork at her plate. “Eat up.”
In her room, she pressed her back against the door. As long as she stayed focused on the reason she was in Europe, she’d be fine. She just hadn’t planned on liking Avery so much. Life was so much simpler, when all she had to worry about was work and the promotion. Now she’d added Avery and the audit into the mix. She gathered her computer and her bag and hurried toward the elevator.
Avery was already seated when she reached the lobby. She took the chair across from him and turned on her computer. “Albabo is a private company. The president is involved in all parts of the business. They will try to squeeze us for every penny. But if we stand our ground, they’ll give in.” She scrolled through the contract on her computer screen without looking at Avery.
“I haven’t seen the changes they’re proposing yet. Do you have a copy?”
“Albabo never sends an advance copy. Some low-level personnel will give us their mark-up when we arrive. I’ll review the changes, take special note of the sales terms, price and termination clauses. Our thermal plate processing eliminates the need for solvents and cuts down on process time. Our product is clearly the best, so I won’t let them intimidate me. Which they’ll try.
Neither of them spoke for several moments. The only sound in the lobby was the clicking of the computer keys and a few other guests’ whispered conversations.
“I have to call Michelle.” She reached for her phone from her purse. “She’s working on some audit analysis for me.” She glanced up at the corner of her computer. “She should be at her desk now.”
She dialed Michelle’s number. “English International.” The voice was unfamiliar.
“This is Macy Rollins. Is Michelle in the office today? I need to speak with her.”
“Macy this is Pepper. Michelle is not in the office. She quit.”
Macy tilted her head. “Did you say she quit?”
“Yes. Yesterday.”
“Did she say why?”
“No one has heard from her. She called HR, said she was quitting and would send an email saying as much. That was it. Your calls are forwarded to me, and I’ll be helping you out until you get back and can hire someone else.”
Before hanging up, Macy scribbled the temporary assistant’s name on the legal pad. Her stomach contracted around the remains of her breakfast. Had something happened with Michelle? She wasn’t the kind of person to just quit her job. How many conversations had they had about living paycheck-to-paycheck? She tried to replay the last conversation she had with Michelle, had she said something to offend her?
“You don’t look too good.”
“Michelle quit yesterday.”
He pushed to the edge of his chair. “People quit all the time. You’ll hire someone else.”
“I know that.” She shook her head. “But this came out of the blue. I had no idea she was unhappy.”
“Maybe she wasn’t unhappy. Maybe she got a better offer, or maybe she won the lottery and is now independently wealthy.”
“Don’t you think that’s odd? She quit the day I left for a four-day trip and she failed to give so much as a head’s-up?”
“Your leaving for this trip and her quitting may not be related. That’s circumstantial. One doesn’t lead to the other.”
“Now you sound like a lawyer.” Macy couldn’t ignore the worried voices whispering in her head. He didn’t know about her audit issues, so he couldn’t know how much they could be connected.