Joy shrugged. “Just a weird feeling of being watched,” she said with a frown. “I’ve never noticed it before today.”
“It’s probably because the board members are here,” Doris said with a laugh. “That always gives me the creeps.”
“I wouldn’t know them myself,” Joy said.
“I think three of them are here today. It’s putting everybody on edge,” Phyllis said from the other side of Joy.
Joy nodded and tried to refocus. She would have to stop turning around and looking everywhere; otherwise she’d call more attention to herself, and that was the last thing she wanted.
As she went through her databases, doing inventory and bringing up lists for the purchaser to be working on, she got a phone call. She looked at her cell phone, an unusual place for her to receive calls when at work, only to see it was from Kai. Instead of answering it, Joy hit Ignore, hoping Kai would get the message.
“Was that your new boyfriend?” Phyllis asked with a laugh.
“No new boyfriend,” she murmured. “The last one was enough.”
“Well, that’s the idea,” Phyllis said. “Your last one is supposed to be enough.”
It took her a moment to get it, and she chuckled. “But that one wasn’t it. Exactly.” She shifted through the stack of paperwork on the side, looking for her next priority.
“If you ever get through all that work,” Doris said, “I have more that you can help me out with too.”
“Good enough,” Joy said. “I’ll let you know when I get to the bottom of this.”
“It’s so great being at the bottom of the totem pole,” Phyllis said. “We get all the crap work.”
Joy didn’t say anything, but it was true. Still it was a job, and she was grateful to have it. She hadn’t been in town for very long, so this was paying the rent, while she looked for something in her field. In the back of her mind she played around with the idea of returning to school. She liked the idea of real estate too, but it was such an up-and-down job as far as income went, so it wasn’t something she could really count on.
Heavy footsteps in the hallway had all three women looking up expectantly, when a large male entered their room. Phyllis primped in front of him. Joy wondered where he found suits big enough for him. And in those flashy colors. Not that he was overweight, just taller and broader than most men. His tie clashed with his suit. His attire could give her a headache in about ten minutes. Hopefully he would be gone soon.
He looked at her idly and then turned to the other two. “I’m looking for Joy.”
Joy swallowed hard. “I’m Joy,” she said.
His gaze locked on hers, and he nodded. “In my office, please.”
Immediately she bounced up and said, “Of course, sir.” She stared at him in shock, then looked at her coworkers, who exchanged worried glances with Joy. And she followed him out. She had no clue who he was.
As he led her to the elevator without saying a word, she did her best to stay neutral and unconcerned at his side. But she had no doubt that this was major. She either had no job at the end of today—or even in the next five minutes—or it had something to do with the two men who were even now downstairs in a room close to hers.
When the elevator doors opened on the penthouse floor, he led her through to a large corner office. Now she realized that this really was a bigwig. He motioned at a chair and told her to sit. She sat.
He walked around, sat down in the big leather chair on the other side of his desk, crossed his hands in front of him and said, “I spoke with Edward.”
She nodded mutely.
He studied her for a moment. “Do you even know who I am?”
Immediately she shook her head.
He cracked a smile. “I guess what I should have done first was introduce myself,” he said. “I’m the one who started this company.”
Her breath let out with a whoosh. “Oh, hi.”
“My name is Barlow,” he said, “and you’re Joy. The latest addition to the company.”
She winced at that because such an odd note was in his voice that she wasn’t quite sure how to react to it.
“And apparently you may prove to be the most disruptive,” he said, but no humor was in his voice.
Her shoulders sagged. “I was just doing my job.”
“And that’s a good thing,” he said. “Yet you appear to have stirred up a hornet’s nest. I’ve had people through my office all day, complaining.”
“About me?”
“Some of it, yes,” he said with a laugh. “Your boss for one.”
“Oh,” she said, sagging in place. “So does that mean I’m fired?”
His eyebrows shot up. “Fired for doing your job? No,” he said. “Obviously you’ve created a disruption that we need to take a closer look at.”
She nodded, but, in her mind, she wondered how James, who she didn’t think was all that higher above her on the totem pole, had come to Barlow’s attention. “I guess he must be really upset with me if he came to you.”
“Well, you would think so, wouldn’t you?” he said, tilting his fingers under his chin. “And I thought it was kind of strange too.”
She stared at him in surprise. “In what way?” she asked cautiously.
“In the same way that I wouldn’t have expected something like that to be brought to my attention.”
“Of course not,” she said. “You have managers below you who take care of things.”
“And I’m not even sure what all is involved,” he said, “or at least I didn’t until I spoke with Edward.”
She just nodded, not sure what she was supposed to say.
“I looked at your résumé and your employee file,” Barlow said.
She took a slow cautious breath. “Oh,” she said. “I hope nothing there upset you.”
“No, not at all,” he said. “You have a long and eclectic history.”
She winced at that. “Originally an ER nurse but burned-out. In the last couple of jobs I was considered a troubleshooter,” she said, “not a troublemaker.”
He burst out laughing at that. “You were a manager for a company not too long ago and sorted out some major problems within the organization. Is that correct?”
She nodded. “But it’s not like I was trained for 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.”