Read Online An Executive Decision by Grace Marshall - Free Book Online Page B

briefing her on her new responsibilities – especially the more urgent client files she was expected to be up to speed on immediately. Thanks to the connections Dee had made while working with Jasper and McDowell she was familiar with most of the customers. Without such an advantage she was sure she would have been completely overwhelmed.
    ‘Are you finding everything you need all right in Beverly’s office –’ Ellis caught himself and forced a pained smile. ‘Your office. As for Beverly’s jungle –’ He cleared his throat and blinked. For a second, he drifted away. His eyes were dark and unreadable, half hidden behind glasses that reflected the bright sunlight bathing the room. Then his attention returned. With a controlled intake of breath, the lines of his face dissolved back into neutrality. ‘We can have these plants removed whenever you like.’
    She felt a tightness in her own throat, empathy mixed with her own pain of loss as she remembered the last time she had sat in the office with Beverly. She swallowed hard and squared her shoulders. ‘If it’s all the same to you, I’d rather keep them. They remind me of Beverly, and I like that. Sandra can show me how to take care of the more exotic plants. Besides, Beverly told me once that photosynthesis increases the oxygen content.’ She nodded to the teetering mountain of files that now graced her side of the conference table. ‘These days my brain can use all the oxygen it can get.’
    Just then Sandra brought in sandwiches so the two could continue their efforts through lunch.
    ‘You’ll like working with Sandra,’ Ellis said as they watched her leave. ‘She was Beverly’s secretary even before there was a Pneuma Inc. She knows the company better that I do. She must have been a psychologist in a previous life, or possibly a psychic. If you’re ever in doubt about anything, ask Sandra. And –’ he shuffled through the stacks of files in front of him ‘– she can also help you negotiate some of the more difficult personnel problems you may face.’
    ‘Personnel problems?’
    ‘Oh, it’s nothing, really. A few people here were unhappy I hired an outsider.’ He watched her as though he was sizing up an athlete for strength and endurance, and she held his gaze in spite of the clench in her stomach at one more problem she could do without. ‘Nothing you can’t handle after being Jasper and McDowell’s only female rep. That place has a reputation for being a good ole boys’ club.’
    It was true, the early days at Jasper and McDowell had been challenging. But she had overcome that personnel issue by being the best in her field. Problem solved. She doubted it would be that easy at Pneuma Inc.

    Aside from attending several meetings together, Dee hardly saw Ellis those first three weeks. But the growing mountain of files on her computer was proof he was always just an email away. Even when he was in, what he couldn’t pass on through the miracle of IT, he sent through the secretaries. She had long since resigned herself to the fact that he had totally forgotten what had happened between the two of them in his office after Beverly went missing. He was definitely not giving her preferential treatment. He wasn’t giving her any treatment at all, actually. The secretaries got way more of his attention than she did, though she seldom had time to dwell on what now seemed like the distant past.
    She arrived at the office early and stayed late. The working day was only over when she fell asleep with whichever client file she had taken to bed that night. And even then the job invaded her dreams, often with Alan Marston berating her in front of all of Pneuma Inc., while Ellis stood by, shaking his head in disappointment and commenting repeatedly on how she had let Beverly down. Then she would wake up in a cold sweat, unable to go back to sleep. It was just as well. There was always plenty of work to do. She woke up groggy every morning before the