Not So Saint Nick

To The Chopper - I

Grier was putting the finishing touches on the information for her replacement for the next two weeks when Nick came out of his office swinging his coat over his shoulders. His face was hard set, his lips stretched in irritation and his forehead creased with his frustration. She ignored him praying he simply stormed past her and went do to whatever it was he was going to do because she was already behind and didn’t have time to placate his mood.

The fun they’d shared before the morning truly began, came to a screeching halt by ten when they got word one of their production facilities, their ice cream company in Syracuse, suffered a kind of catastrophic failure and production ground to a stop. It was a mess, and Nick was consuming mints by the mittfuls and she was playing intermediary. Grier admitted for a short time she’d felt like a human PEZ dispenser the way she was shoving candy into the man’s mouth.

They’d both been on the phone with the plant manager and the GM of the ice cream division and by three o’clock everything was sorted with the machinery and production was now ready to start back up the next day. Whoever said ice cream was a summer treat never put out holiday flavors and certainly didn’t work with a cranky billionaire confectionary mogul who demanded they make his product number one every season. She kept her eyes downcast and, on her monitor, not wanting to make eye contact with his grumpy ass.

“Get your coat,” he grunted at her.

She froze as she stared at the incomplete list for her vacation coverage. She wanted to scream at the universe. She wasn’t ready to hand off her work. Surely, he wasn’t expecting she was going to work late today, the last day before she was off for sixteen days.

She bit back her collection of questions and rose reluctantly from her desk. “Where are we going?”

“To the plant in Syracuse. Choppers on the roof. I’ll take you home when we’re done but we’re going to be there a while.”

“But –”

He turned slowly to face her, one dark eyebrow high in his forehead and his eyes narrowed and cold, “but what?”

There was a time his expression put fear like an electric current down her spine. Now it made her want to smack him for trying to intimidate her. She knew he’d never fire her. He made it clear more than once he couldn’t let her go. He’d fired her eight times in the last five years and each time before she’d even reached the elevator, a huge lump sum bonus was wired to her checking account followed by a grunted apology. She folded her arms over her chest.

“I don’t have everything in order for Meg to cover off. There is at least an hour left of things I need to put in order for her.” If she didn’t leave step by step instructions, Meg would be fired by noon tomorrow and Grier knew he wouldn’t be hiring her back.

“She’s covered off before. She’ll figure it out. I need you.” When she hesitated, he sighed, “Grier, I’m going to end up firing an entire team of management from a line supervisor right up to the GM of the plant because they screwed up on a massive level. You have a way of keeping me from doing such things. It is two weeks before Christmas. Do you want me to fire everyone and ruin their holidays or not? You’re already pissed off at me for firing three managers Friday.”

“I was mad because you broke up their families without a second thought,” she grumbled. “The videos to the wives seemed overkill.”

“I did for those women what your friends should have done for you with Hazel.”

What friends? She had no other friends but Hazel in the city because this man worked her like a dog. She folded her laptop and shoved it into the laptop bag, aware she was likely going to be bringing her laptop with her to Coldreach. She’d have to email Meg whatever she missed and pray she understood what wasn’t in the calendar.

“Let’s go!” he snapped at her, “I have s**t to do and people to fire and you’re dragging your damn feet!”

“You could simply not fire them,” were words on the tip of her tongue but she bit them back and grabbed her coat, leaving her scarf behind.

“She was fired today,” he waved at the scarf.

She stumbled over her feet as she chased him into the elevator. “What?”

“Her behavior in the lobby was seen by four people who all filed complaints. HR called me and let me know of the complaints. You are well liked and respected in this building,” he pushed the button to the rooftop. “A video was played to her of the way she chased you through the lobby an hour before her start time, grabbed you by the arm, accosted you and then flung herself to the floor before wrapping herself around your leg prohibiting you from going into the elevator. It was assault. HR let her know she was fortunate you weren’t pressing charges, but we have a zero-tolerance policy for harassment.” He shot her a sideways look as the doors opened near the heavy metal door to the helipad. “You don’t want to press charges, do you? I mean if you do, then by all means we will support you, but something tells me it’s not your style.”

“Not at this time,” she exhaled. “You really needed to fire her?”

“Even if you weren’t my assistant and second in command at this company then she would have been terminated for her behavior. We have a code of conduct, and she violated three different clauses with her performance.”

“What do you mean second in command?” she was confused as she followed his brisk pace to the chopper. She knew she was irritating him with all her questions because she heard his teeth click together and his molars grinding a mint.

“I mean you have signing authority, and you have for years. It’s never needed to be executed but it is in your contract. You are my right hand, Grier and you know the ins and outs of every company we own. When you told me earlier today you were organized you weren’t wrong. You are but you also are bright, and you remember everything and when I’m not in the room, you run the show as if I was in the room.” He was yelling now as they approached the helicopter where Barrett was holding the door open for them. “It makes you indispensable.”