Chapter Two
“Hello, Maxine. Keith’s expecting me,” Caitlin sidestepped the woman’s desk and any nonessential discussion.
“I don’t have that on his calendar.” Maxine’s over-made-up eyes squinted at the carafe Caitlin carried. This white-blonde, gorgon of the head office, sat sentry; no one and nothing slipped past her or her imposing desk.
“You didn’t need to bring coffee, Ms. Donnelly. I’ve just put some on. Shall I take that?” Polished nails gleaming, Maxine reached for the insulated carafe. Focusing on those fingers, Caitlin wondered how Keith’s executive assistant typed with those mandarin-length nails.
“Not necessary, but thanks. I brought my own this morning.” With the finesse of a pro-football running-back, Caitlin attained the far side of Maxine’s desk, still in possession of the coffee. A few feet from Keith’s door, she stopped, inhaled like she’d been under water for three minutes, smoothed her already wrinkle-free skirt, and entered the inner sanctum.
Compared to hers, this office exuded his power and prestige with sumptuous burgundy leather chairs and vertical fabric blinds at the windows. Tall, heavy brass torchieres emitted additional light and a deep blue and claret medieval tapestry filled the wall across from the desk. She spotted Keith Jantzen, his tarnished silver hair perfectly styled, sitting at the enormous antique cherry wood desk, hands steepled in front of his cleft chin.
“Good morning,” she said as he stood. With his basketball height, his tailoring impeccable, his manner confident, he was the total CEO package. He strode toward her side and took the carafe, setting it on the desk and clasping her hands in welcome.
“We really did miss you. You look more rested.”
“I am.” Unlike some Northland employees, she thrived on this man’s energy. “And I’ve a hunch I’ll be drawing on those reserves.”
“Bull’s eye, Cait.” He grabbed the carafe, a mug from his desk and poured, one for him and one for her. “Damn, that coffee smells great.”
A third cup sat lonely at the edge of the inlaid desktop. She glanced up at him, an eyebrow arched.
“Our new PM will join us momentarily.”
The door latch clicked. She looked up and confronted...liquid smoke, fringed with thick dark lashes. Her breath caught; her heart skittered to her toenails. Killer eyes. They always had been. Recovering quickly, she extended her slender hand. Those lapsed years had honed him into a man worthy of an appreciative look.
“Hello, Cait...” He stared right back and grinned, a heart-breaking one like she remembered. But this was not the place, or time, to walk those old paths.
“Mike...it’s been a long time.” Was that her voice, all husky, almost sultry, and foreign?
He moved toward her as though his knees bothered him. She inched closer to him, fighting his pull but losing the battle. They shook hands, but he didn’t release hers.
She didn’t object. His hand warmed hers, but it always had.
“You two know each other?” Keith asked.
“Years ago, in college,” Caitlin answered. “I wondered when I saw your memo, but thought it was too much of a coincidence. There must be several Michael Sean Raffertys in the world.”
“Cait. I...never thought we’d meet again...especially like this.” Mike still hadn’t released her hand. Was he as unwilling to break the connection as she was?
Keith eyed them, an eagle measuring his territory. “Is this going to be a problem?” His words shattered the moment.
“Not for me,” she answered with professionalism she didn’t feel. She slid into the leather chair nearest her coffee mug. She swallowed a gulp, hoping to dislodge the tightness in her throat. Mike appeared...wonderful. Calm. Mature.
And totally off limits.
“Nor me.” Mike sat in the remaining chair.
“There’s another mug, Mike, if you want coffee.” Keith pointed to carafe and cup but made no motion to pour. “We’ve a lot of ground to cover this morning.”
****
Needing no further call to work, Mike filled his mug and pulled up a chair alongside Caitlin. His heart pounded and his ears rang, but he shoved that far deep inside. He hadn’t been prepared to find her here. So much depended on his being alert and successful with this position. Why did she have to re-enter his life at this moment? She’d muck up his focus. Damn. He’d nearly lost his cool and made a freaking fool of himself. Over a brief, stupid encounter—a handshake, for God’s sake.
But damn, she looked...more beautiful than he remembered. He recalled lots. All of it hurt. Shoving away those thoughts, he shook his head, gulped his coffee, and grabbed a legal pad from his briefcase. Caitlin already had hers out, pen in hand. Calm. Prepared. Her routine hadn’t changed since college.
In the fast half-hour that followed, Jantzen outlined what he expected Mike to accomplish in the next few days. Listening to the man’s directives, he realized how different this work environment would be from what he left. No laid back, gracious, southern speech patterns. Work objectives were goals to achieve in a few months, at most. Keith spit out a series of gun-fire rapid directions to Caitlin regarding Mike’s position and his settling in. Just like those lecture classes, she scribbled as fast as Jantzen gave orders.
Unable to keep his eyes from her, he peeked over her shoulder. Yup, her hand writing had deteriorated. As he listened to Jantzen’s directives, Mike realized avoiding her wasn’t an option during the next few days. As the HR representative, Caitlin, or a member of her staff, would provide his orientation on company policies, products, problems, and personnel. Lots of opportunity for a misstep.
“About Mike’s office?” Caitlin asked. “Since mine’s being redone, should I send the decorator to his, too? It’s as deplorable as mine.”
“If that’s what he wants. Those offices remained so...” Jantzen searched for a word.
“Disgusting, depressing and inefficient?” Caitlin offered, suggesting she pushed the man often about upgrading offices.
Jantzen grinned, his first since he began the meeting. “Don’t give up, do you?”
“Never,” she answered and Mike caught the look between them.
“But Mike decides what he wants and when. Now, Cait, if you will take him under your capable wing, I’d appreciate it. The sooner he’s on board with our system, the sooner I get my money’s worth from him.”
“Consider it done,” she answered so efficiently Mike knew he’d be overwhelmed with details and demands.
“Since I have a meeting in town, I’ll leave the details to you. However, get a written notice out to all staff and the news media about Mike’s appointment. Before I leave, I’ll do a quick PA announcement telling everyone we have a new plant manager and all future details will be coming from HR. Mike, do you have any questions I need to answer?” Jantzen’s tone implied he expected none.
“Probably not until tomorrow. Then I’ll have too many.” Recognizing their dismissal, Caitlin stood and Mike followed her lead.
“Don’t be surprised when Caitlin answers most of them, but plan on seeing me tomorrow morning. Eight-thirty. Have Maxine schedule you in on your way out.” Jantzen rose and walked them both to the door.
“Is he always that abrupt?” Mike asked when the door closed.
“Usually. Once he thinks the business is completed, he’s onto another situation. I’ll show you your office. We can talk on the way.” Caitlin stopped at Maxine’s desk and introduced him.
“Eight-thirty, tomorrow,” Mike repeated Jantzen’s time.
He prided himself on his long stride, but Caitlin matched him step-for-step, despite the difference in their heights. They moved from the carpeted silence of the executive floor to the factory entrance. Its hum assaulted their ears and he knew they couldn’t talk over the noise. Their silence was companionable, though, much like their matching strides.
In a few moments, they neared an office, situated on a raised platform, above the final assembly section of the factory, between the U-shaped manufacturing cells and the computerized shipping area. He liked the factory’s cleanliness, the good lighting, the air conditioning vents.
“OSHA should approve of this,” he yelled to Caitlin, who nodded and climbed the metal risers.
Once the office door shut behind them, the noise dropped at least twelve decibels.
“Tell me you like this,” she challenged him, her distaste obvious as she swept her hand around the room.
She chewed her lip while he surveyed the office. An old wooden library table functioned as a desk. An orange plastic chair. A two-drawer file cabinet.
“No computer, printer, phone, wastebasket?” He arched his brow and turned to her. “The previous guy used smoke signals?” Then he grinned at her look of dismay.
“It’s worse than I thought. Keith’s father thought offices and computers were useless. The plant manager should be on the floor all the time. Unfortunately, when the company built the new factory twelve years ago, the elder Mr. Jantzen was still active and autocratic about his beliefs. So we have a modern building with remnants of some very archaic practices and space utilization. Keith’s biggest task since gaining control is bringing us quickly and comfortably into the twenty-first century.”
“That’s where I’ll come in.”
“I hope so. Your predecessor kept to what he knew, what he was comfortable with. Beliefs like those didn’t move us forward. Some of our current labor disputes lead directly back to his tactics. Keith needs a right-hand person who’s as forward thinking in the production end as he is. Whatever he’s paying you, you will sweat blood, tears and time for it. Your predecessor’s tenure created huge production problems and affected profits. We need those problems fixed to increase profits and to expand as Keith wants.”
He nodded at her assessments. She knew her stuff and the company. “I fought those battles in the Georgia plant. When Northland bought us out, and I heard about this opening, I contacted Jantzen. I gambled he’d see the value of a transfer within the same corporation. I knew he could easily hire a replacement for me down there since I had everything ship-shape. I also had a solid performance record. I figured that would appeal to him.”
He paused and peered at Caitlin. Devoured her with his eyes would be more accurate. “I needed to get out of the South. No challenges there for me,” he said, the last much quieter.
****
“You’re a troubleshooter, Mike?” She remembered the younger man—idealistic, full of plans, a go-getter. The mature man sounded less idealistic, but more goal-oriented and hard-driving. His youthful mental quickness had evolved into a mature, inventive, problem-solving attitude. All wrapped up with a hint of Irish melancholy.
“The best in our field, if you don’t mind my braggin’.” She caught traces of Southern grace coloring his native Wisconsin cadence.
“That I’d expect. Otherwise, you’d never have grabbed Keith’s attention. You’ll learn even his snap decisions have been carefully thought out. I wouldn’t be surprised if he may have singled you out before your idea even popped into your head.”
“Well, that certainly bursts my bubble.” He kept his eyes downcast, which was perfect. She didn’t need any liquid smoke moments.
“It shouldn’t. Northland’s cash rich at the moment, so he’s cautiously buying smaller companies to become our divisions. This means we’re overhauling our whole corporate structure. Target date for completion?”
“Yesterday. Right?” He looked up at her and she grinned.
“Yep, especially since Keith gets busier creating and sustaining Northland’s image, not just regionally but nationally. Hell, he’s probably thinking global and beyond.” She finished with a touch of friendly irony. “Sometimes keeping up with him can be difficult.”
“Then this is a great place for advancement?”
“It’s excellent. That’s why I moved over here when Keith began his program. It’s also why I’ve stayed despite some very attractive offers from larger companies in much warmer places.”
All right, he’d made his pitch and she lobbed hers right back. Now, they both knew where they stood…at least professionally.
“You never did like the cold.” His eyes started smoking again.
“Don’t remember, Mike. This is all business…and so am I.” That dampened the fire in his eyes, but left her chilled.
“You’re very businesslike. I get that message, Caitlin, but you’re here for the same reason as I am. Opportunity. The fact that I’ve found you here…” He shrugged his shoulders. “That makes my work more enjoyable and probably more difficult. Looks like you see only the difficult part.”
“Life’s difficult, Mike. Work is challenging and…” She glanced down at the legal pad she still carried. His implied compliment and the silence hung between them like an oil haze over the machining department.
“This really is my office and not a pea-green joke?” With a game show host gesture, he waved his large, thick-fingered hand around the barren room.
“Yes, and Keith knows it’s disgraceful. You’ll be moving to the executive quarters whenever an addition is completed. In the meantime…” Stay focused on the points at hand, not his eyes.
Instead she weakened.
With his well-muscled legs spread, he stood before the large window, overlooking a major section of the plant floor. He clasped his hands behind him at the small of his back and looked engrossed in the mid-morning hum of factory activity, oblivious to her scrutiny.
“Are you one who values a corner office with an exterior window?” At her question, Mike swiveled and eyed her from head to toe, yet she didn’t lose focus. “Because if you are, that’s not likely to happen for awhile.”
He shot her a torrid look, coupled with a meltdown smile. “It’s the power to make changes that’s important, Cait. Not where the damn office is located. Surely, you know that.”
Rarely looking for the right words, she licked her lips, dried from that look. “Then we understand each other. My office is in the lowlands. You get a penthouse view.”
“I do.”
“You’ve got paperwork to fill out so I’ll lend you my conference room. I need to get the release out while you fill out forms.”
“And my pea-green walls?”
“What’s your favorite color?”
“Gray-green, like your eyes, should do it.”
“Right, I’m sure the maintenance people can match that.” She laughed and headed for the door, leading the way downstairs.
After chatting and pointing things out while they walked, Caitlin poked her head into Rachel’s office and introduced Mike. She recognized the assessment process Rachel put him through and knew he’d pass with flying colors. While Rachel liked confident men, all males liked Rachel, probably because of her bubbly personality coupled with curvy good looks. Rachel would keep him occupied and Mike wouldn’t mind a whit. When Caitlin left them, he was filling out forms and providing information for Rachel to write up a news release.
In her office, Caitlin spotted the tree’s absence as soon as she entered. The corner appeared desolate without its greenery. She hadn’t thought about that tree all morning. Shrugging off those morose thoughts, she phoned the other managers and set up a one-thirty meeting to introduce Mike. Each one of them could update him about their individual departments and troublesome areas. If Mike was such a hotshot troubleshooter, he’d winnow the chaff from the substance and then come to her for what was missing. That should keep him occupied and out of her hair for a good share of the afternoon. With luck, maybe even out of her thoughts.
Tomorrow he and Keith would powwow leaving her to work on getting his computer terminal and peripherals installed in his office in peace.
Her morning passed quickly as she put together decent secretarial candidates for Mike to review. She had a few personal choices but the final decision would be up to him. She found herself sitting and catching her breath as she realized how much time had passed. Had vacation gotten her out of shape to deal with the office pace? Or was this malaise because of Mike and the energy drain of systematically eliminating those squiggles of not so professional interest?
“I did it before and I can do it again,” she muttered and attacked her phone messages.
****
Caitlin cradled the phone after the last conversation, an exasperating call from the ditzy wife of a journeyman with a fine work record. The woman was incapable of understanding why she couldn’t receive insurance benefits from her husband’s policy for a face lift and tummy tuck. Kirby Metz should have dispensed with the woman when she first called and talked to him. Instead, if Caitlin’s intuition correctly interpreted the events, her assistant had hedged his negative answer, sounded empathetic in denying the wife’s claim, and suggested his boss might override the denial. Another situation she’d have to deal with.
Worse than that situation, Kirby would be on a real tear now, with Mike’s coming on board. He had hoped for an internal reshuffling to fill the plant manager’s position. That scenario might have opened something up for him—away from her. She wanted that scenario more than he did, but they were still stuck with each other. Good for Northland, bad for her.
She took out her notebook and documented the call, along with the woman’s comments about Kirby’s responses. She asked a question or two to see if he’d sent the wife something in writing. No such luck. He was smart and covered himself like the sneaky pro he was. His professional hide was the only work related item he maintained with efficiency.
Maybe Kirby switched the trees, as a veiled threat. She closed her eyes briefly, wishing she dared to rub them, but smudged make-up wasn’t an option. Her eyes were her best feature and she always played them to their best advantage.
“Knock, knock,” Rachel popped in with the media release. “Meet your approval?”
Caitlin scanned the release and handed it back. “Fine on this. I do have one minor change, Rach, on my schedule. You’ll have to push back our department meeting to follow the manager’s one I just set up for Mike. They meet at one-thirty, but I should be able to break away shortly after I’ve gotten the thing underway.”
Rachel noted the time change on her steno pad. “Consider it done.”
“And when did you schedule Debbie?”
“Two minutes from now, okay? All I have to do is buzz her. Mr. Rafferty’s busy filling out forms and I’ve given him enough reading material to keep him busy for days. I’ve told him he gets the ’Mr. Rafferty’ bit only for today. Tomorrow, he’s Mike. By the way, Cait, he’s not married and he’s a bona fide, top-shelf hunk.”
She didn’t nibble at the bait. Rachel would never quit throwing out a matchmaker’s hook. Caitlin learned long ago that her assistant was a diehard romantic, one who never knew when a “catch” might happen. If one did, she didn’t let it swim away without a fight.
“Unusual for a man of his age.” Hadn’t she heard in an alumni newsletter he’d married?
“Unusual how? That he’s a hunk or unmarried? Don’t let those silver temples fool you, Catie Rose,” Rachel teased.
“You sound interested, Rach.” Mike Rafferty had passed Rachel’s evaluation, no question about it. “Why don’t you follow through on that?”
“That’s all I’d need in my life and you know it.” Rachel turned more formal.
“I’m sorry about that last. I wasn’t thinking and the words slipped out.”
Debbie appeared at the door, which ended the awkward moment. As head nurse, Debbie’s main characteristic was her unflappability. If the woman was concerned about a problem, Caitlin paid attention.
“I’m off to lunch out of the building.” Rachel waved and disappeared. Once alone, the two women eyed each other carefully.
“You’re concerned about a problem?” Caitlin picked up a pen and pulled a legal pad toward her.
“We had two serious drug overdoses occur during work shifts while you were gone.” Debbie pulled a chair to the desk and hunched over it as if sharing secrets. “Also in reviewing the quarterly accident reports, I see we have a much higher percentage of injuries than ever before. Especially on the second shift. So yeah, I’m very concerned. I think they’re all related.”
Caitlin leaned closer to the middle-aged woman, wearing old-school regulation white, as the nurse related more specific data. Concrete, well-documented facts screamed for attention.
“Why didn’t you go to Kirby since I was gone?”
The nurse shifted uncomfortably in her seat. “I did. He gave me the brush-off. Told me to forget the problem and wait till you returned. He also ordered me not to go to Mr. Jantzen. Said I didn’t have enough data to establish a pattern.”
“Hah! Even one instance is too much.” Caitlin drummed her fingers on her desk.
“Kirby also countermanded my memo to the night supervisor to implement the inspection procedures we discussed last fall when we had a hint of this.” Debbie recited her facts like a nurse’s shift report—facts only, never emotions.
Useful woman, Caitlin thought as she listened. “Did Kirby put any of this in writing?” She squashed a wicked surge of glee. Would he finally have slipped up, been that negligent? Could she be that lucky?
Debbie smile at Caitlin’s anticipation. “Yes, I have everything in my files. I’m sure Dan Hall does, too. We were both surprised by Kirby’s actions and attitude.”
Bingo! She’d nail him now. Oh, her nurses were marvelous. She’d give each of them a bonus. “I appreciate your honesty and quickness in coming to see me, Debbie. Right now, you sit tight and stay quiet. I’ll follow through and be in touch. But in the meantime, please, keep documenting everything and save any relevant memos. Lock them up somewhere that’s safe.” The nurse nodded gratefully, but hesitated and remained glued to her chair.
Caitlin eyed her. “Did you have something else to say?”
“Well, yes…Rachel asked us about that tree of yours. I’m very upset about what happened, Caitlin, but we would never have done anything like that. We like our little jokes, but that’s not funny. It’s creepy and malicious.”
“I hoped it was someone’s innocent attempt at failed humor. Probably still is, but not from my staff. I never considered that you wished harm. If you thought so, I’m sorry.” Caitlin patted the nurse’s arm. “Believe me, that wasn’t my intention. I just can’t figure out what happened to it.”
“Me neither. I did cut through this hall late Friday night to use the restroom. I could see into your office because the moonlight was so bright and it was fine then.”
“What time was that?”
“About eleven, I’d guess, just before shift ended.”
Caitlin rose to see the nurse out. “Again, I appreciate your attention to detail. Thanks, Debbie. I’m depending on your continued good records and vigilance. Alert the rest of your staff to be as watchful as you.”
“Right.” The nurse assessed Caitlin. “Now, my medical advice to you is to get some lunch and a short break. You look like you’ve put in a tough day already. Maybe that blood pressure should be checked.”
“Soon, on both counts. I promise.”
As the nurse walked through the door, Caitlin’s phone rang.
She reached for it, her heart sinking.
Some Irish feyness warned her bad news lurked at the other end.