Romantic Acquisition (23 page)

“I have no idea,” David said and Kate thought she noticed a slight sneer cross his patrician features.  “But come on in, I’d like to talk to you.”

The other man, who Kate had never seen before, stood up.  “I have to get back to my office.  We’ll talk more
once the deadline gets closer
,” he said
and slipped out of David’s office leaving Kate alone with her boss
. 
For some reason,
the bad feeling she had earlier seemed to intensify
.  She tried to ignore the sensation and focused on
whatever David needed to talk to her about
. 

“Sure thing.  Thanks for the update,” David said and
wave
d goodbye to the man.

Once he had left, David focused all his attenti
on on Kate.  “Please, sit down,”
he said and
wave
d
h
is hand towards one of the chairs in front of his desk.  “Tell me what has been going on lately.  You and Carlo were gone for a long time and I didn’t hear anything from either of you.  What kinds of reports is he asking for?

“Oh, the usual things,” she said. 

An unexpected glint of anger sparked in David’s eyes, but quickly vanished behind his charming mask.  “What do
you consider the ‘usual things’?
” he asked, his tone sharper than
normal
. 

Kate was taken aback by his latent hostility. 
“
Just general reports that any auditor would ask for;
the accounting reports, purchase statements, anything
that might show a problem with our procedures
.”
  Her words seemed to relax him somewhat. 

“And is he finding anything?” David asked, playing with a pen from his desk.

Kate ignored the shiftiness of his eyes.  Something was definitely off but she couldn’t figure out what.  “No, everything is very accurate and nothing is off from the computer system so far.”

“I also heard he was talking to the employees.  What’s he asking them?  I hope he’s not causing any problems.”

Kate shook her head.  “No, nothing like that.  We’ve heard a lot about how their benefits have been reduced.   Were you aware of the low morale in the stores?” she asked. 

David rolled his eyes.  “I’ve heard some grumblings from some people but they’ll get used to it.”

Kate disagreed with him but knew she had to work him more diplomatically.  She couldn’t just come out and tell him he was wrong.  He would just dig his heels in out of spite. 
“David, there are people working full time without any health benefits.  A
r
en’t you worried that our competitors will steal the good employees away?”

His shrug told her he wasn’t overly concerned with the loss of good employees. 
“
We can always
hire new ones,” he said, dismissing the issue as unimportant. 

Kate was shocked.  “David, do you have any idea how hard it is to train a new employee?  Not to mention the need for historical information and building a clientele in certain areas of the store.”

“Sure, sure.  That’s all well and good.  And those kinds of issues will be flushed out on an individual basis.  But we’re saving a lot of money on premiums right now and we need to be cash heavy for this sale to look good.”
   He stood up impatiently and walked around his office, playing with knick knacks on the shelves or the corners of his desk. 

She watched him play with his toys, shock coming over her features at his careless attitude. 
Surely he didn’t mean what she thought he’d said. 
“You mean you cut everyone’s benefits simply to fluff up the bank accounts?”
she clarified. 

David laughed harshly. 
“No, that’s just a side benefit,” he said, smiling as if he knew a wonderfully delicious secret.

Kate sh
o
ok her head.  “I don’t understand you, David.  You have a lot of great employees and you’re not treating them well.”

“Are you happy?”

“Well…yes, for the moment,” Kate said, surprised by the question. 

“So what are you complaining about?”

“Don’t you
understand the domino affect of losing good employees
?
  Or worse, retaining the bad ones?” she leaned forward, her hands trying to emphasize her point.  “
The employees are what sell our merchandise.  If customers aren’t treated well, they’ll go find something similar at another store.”

“We get rid of employees who aren’t treating the customers well and you make sure our stores are loaded with stuff that people can only buy in our stores.  Now, back to our original conversation, what other kinds of questions are those guys asking?  Anything I need to be aware of?”

Kate just stared at him as if he’d grown a new head.  “No,” she finally answered
, sitting back in her seat defeated for the moment
.  “Everything is pretty normal.  As I said, they’re just asking for normal audit type of information.”

“Good, good.  Well, you’d better get back there and make them happy,” he said and
sat back down at his computer.  He immediately
turned towards his computer.

Kate was obviously dismissed.  She stood up and left his office, furious both with him for being so obtuse and for herself for trying to change him.  Eventually, she suspected that he’d get tired of running the stores and would let someone else take charge. 
She just hoped the stores wouldn’t be bankrupt or disbanded before that day arrived. 

She checked the conference room again, but still no sign of the three men.  Kate went back to her office and sighed at the pile of work.  She sat down and decided she would plow through as much as possible before Carlo, Jeff and Peter returned. 

Kate was making great headway.  It was the middle of the morning and, since everyone thought she was helping the
ATI
team, no one bothered her.  She was able to get a lot of work done quickly since there were no distractions.

It was a little past
one o’clock
when her phone rang.  She picked it up absently, “Kate Avril,
”
she said, glancing at an estimate for a line of clothes.

“Hey gorgeous!  Long time no see!” a familiar voice said through the line.

She hesitated, not able to
instantly place the voice.  “Ed?” she asked, thinking it could be her old boyfriend but wasn’t positive.

“The one and only.  Are you free for lunch?” he asked.

Kate looked at her desk
and all the papers piled on top of it.  She had a fleeting wish that Carlo would call and ask her to lunch but pushed that thought aside.  S
ince she hadn’t heard from
Carlo
, she agreed
to meet Ed
.  “Where and when?”
She tried to instill some enthusiasm for the outing. 

“How about our sandwich place in fifteen minutes?  I’m on your side of town for a conference.”

“Sounds great.  I’ll be there,” she said.

Kate grabbed her purse and flew into the conference room, hoping Carlo would be there so she could tell him where she was going and not to worry.  She remembered how jealous he’d been the last time he heard about Ed so she didn’t want him to worry.

But there was still no one in the conference room.  Kate thought it was strange but knew Carlo was working on several other possible acquisitions as well as the sale of Jamison’s for
ATI
. 

She met Ed in front of a little sandwich shop a few blocks from her office.  They used to meet there a few nights a week
for dinner
and go do something
fun
afterwards
like dancing or ice skating on the Mall, the strip of grass that ran from the Capital to the Lincoln Memorial
. 
Those days
seemed like another life, she thought as Ed picked her up
on the sidewalk
and spun her around
in a big bear hug
. 

“Oh, you look great!” he said
enthusiastically
as he put her down and took a look at her.  “Wow!  You have a slight tan.  What was the occasion?  Did you actually take a vacation?”

“No, well, I guess yes but not willingly,” she said, not sure if that was really an answer.  Ed also looked confused. 
She laughingly explained how she’d spent several days on a ship in the
Caribbean
. 
They walked into the restaurant, ordered at the counter, and sat down on the stools overlooking the street while they waited for their sandwiches to be delivered to them. 

“Wow!  Sounds like a fantasy vacation,” he laughed. 

“It was nice,” she replied.

Ed’s eyes widened.  “Kate, you’re the only woman I know of who would describe a free
Caribbean
vacation on a yacht as ‘nice’.”

“Well, it turned out very nice,” she corrected.
  “I wasn’t really given a choice in the matter which is why I was so angry.”

“Was?”

“Yes.  I had a good time.  And Carlo is wonderful,” she said, thinking of the dynamic man and wondering where he had been all morning.  She pushed those thoughts aside and concentrated on Ed who was talking about his latest girlfriend. 

Their sandwiches arrived and they changed the subject.  They were laughing about mutual friends and their latest escapades.  Kate had a very relaxing lunch and left feeling refreshed.  Heading back to the office, she had a smile on her face and wasn’t moving very quickly.

“Nice lunch?” Carlo asked, stepping in front of her as she passed the conference room.

She jumped and took a step back. “Carlo!  Where have you been all morning?”

“
Answer my question first,” he demanded
. 
“
Did you have a nice lunch?”

Kate sensed a great deal of anger but wasn’t sure why.  Was he angry because she left the building for lunch?  “Yes, it was very nice.”

“We have work to do,” he snapped and turned back to the conference room.  The four of them worked hard, and Kate was pulling reports, recalculating information and reconciling data all afternoon.  She’d thought Carlo was a machine before.  Now she thought he was a monster. 

She was pulling a file out of a cabinet when she stopped for a moment, trying to figure out why he seemed so angry.  What happened to the tender lover who had left her with a kiss this morning?

By
ten o’clock
that night, she was exhausted and angry.  Both Jeff and Peter had left hours ago but Carlo had ordered her to stay and finish up some information with him.  He’d been snapping orders all afternoon and evening and hadn’t taken a moment to even say please
or thank you
. 

When he asked for another report, she shoo
k her head.  “No.  I’m leaving,” she said and turned to walk out of the conference room, her frustration with his attitude was too much for her to bear. 

“No, you’re not,” he stated, not bothering to even look up from the reports he was reviewing.

“Yes, I am,” she said and turned to leave.  She walked into her office and pulled her coat down off the hook from behind her door.  When she walked out from behind her door, Carlo was standing there, looking furious.  “You’re not going anywhere,” he said and turned to walk out of her office.  “Get me the purchase orders for last May and meet me in the conference room.”

Kate fought back the tears that sprung to her eyes.  She was just overly tired and she’d missed him all day only to return from a nice lunch with a friend to a monster.  She didn’t even bother to respond.  She grabbed her purse and pulled on her coat.  She wished there was a way to avoid it, but she had to walk past the conference room to reach the elevators.  She walked by with her head held high, not even glancing inside.