Chapter 5
CHAPTER 5
CALLUM
“You’re no’ just going to leave me here.” I recognized the faint desperation in my voice but couldn’t quite pull it back as I watched Alex and Finn gather gear.
Alex pulled one of the mountain bikes down from the rack. “We have clients booked. This whole thing was your idea, so you’re in charge of onboarding Parker and getting her up to speed on where we are and what we need.”
Finn grinned from where he was checking climbing rope. “Dinna tell me you’re afraid of a wee lassie.”
That put my back up, as he’d probably meant it to. “Of course not. I just thought there’d be more than me to welcome her on her first day.”
“It’s the nature of our business that we’re out of the office a lot. She might as well get used to it.” Alex’s lips quirked into a smirk. “Besides, you seemed perfectly ready to welcome her all by yourself the day she walked in here.”
He said it as if there’d been something going on besides the professional, and I didn’t appreciate it. “That was pure desperation because she took over the phone.” I wasn’t ashamed to admit it. They knew how much I hated to people.
“And she’ll take over the rest of it. But she’s got to be oriented to what we have going on here before she can do it properly, so don’t think you can hand off everything just yet.”
That was logical. I guess I’d just thought one of them would be the one to do this bit, as they were both considerably better with people than I was. Parker hadn’t shown any fear or discomfort with me the day we’d met, but that had been a relatively short interaction. Maybe it would change when she got stuck up close and personal with me and realized that my lack of sociability wasn’t just in the face of entitled rich twats.
I didn’t relish the idea of it.
But neither did I want to give my mates any more fodder for ribbing me. “I can handle it. But anything other than the basics of the booking system, I’m referring back to you.”
Alex nodded. “Fair enough. I doubt she’ll get that far today. I expect it’ll take her all week just to make sense of our filing system.”
“Lack of filing system,” Finn corrected. “I really hope she works out. We’re shite at the paper trail components of this business.”
“You just want to play outside all day and get paid for it,” I pointed out.
“That would be the high point of this job. Anyway, I’ve got to get going. I’m meeting my client for a rock climb in forty-five minutes, and I’ve got a drive.”
Alex was right behind him after loading up three mountain bikes for his excursion. Then I was alone in the empty office. At least I’d have half an hour to get my head on straight before Parker arrived. She’d been told the workday started at nine. In truth, we kept variable hours, depending on bookings, but we had to put official hours on the website. After years in the military, none of us were late risers, so one or more of us were usually here by eight or earlier. Now that Alex had Ciara, it was more typically me and Finn.
I supposed if I’d had a beautiful woman in my bed, I’d prefer to start my day there, too. But there was definitely no one warming my sheets but me, and that was only when I managed to sleep. Sometime in the past many months, that balance had shifted to sleeping more often than not. Improvement, if not as much as I’d have hoped for. I wasn’t a patient man under the best of circumstances. Not when it came to my expectations for myself. All the doctors and physiotherapists and the mandatory psychological professionals I’d had to meet with after the accident, while I transitioned to civilian life, had cautioned me to be patient, warning that these things took time. But I’d spent my entire military career demanding the most from my body and mind, and getting it. I refused to accept that I no longer had that degree of mastery. Because if I didn’t, what did that make me?
I’d just sat down at my computer when I heard the bell over the door jingle. I closed my eyes. All I wanted was some peace and quiet. Couldn’t the walk-ins wait until someone else was here to deal with them? I should’ve locked the door.
“Hello?”
My head snapped up. Not a random walk-in. Parker.
Shoving back from the desk, I strode out to meet her. “You’re early.” I realized after the words left my mouth that they’d sounded like an accusation.
“I know, but I brought coffee and pastries for everybody, and didn’t want to slow anybody down from starting work, in case y’all had appointments first thing.”
I stared at the little caddy of drinks and the box she carried under one arm. She’d brought us breakfast on her first day. I mean… it was nice. But who did that? Actually, we probably should’ve done something for her to welcome her to the office. I felt a little like a bawbag for not thinking of it.
Apparently undeterred by my lack of reply, she set the box on the counter and flipped back the top. “None of y’all struck me as the vegetarian type, so I figured sausage rolls would be a safe bet. I didn’t know how anybody took their coffee, so I got two black and two flat whites. One of those is mine, though. The lady at the counter told me that’s basically what we drink in America.” As she spoke, she uncapped one of the to-go cups and began to add sugar.
The cheer fairly rolled off her. It was way too bloody early for that.
When I still didn’t speak, she finally looked directly at me, studying my face. Then she passed me one of the coffees. “I can hush until you’ve had yours, if it helps.”
The cup was warm in my palm, and the aroma wafting up urged me to take a sip. She’d handed me black. I probably seemed the type. Gruff. No frills. Certainly, I could and did drink it this way when it was the only thing on offer, but I preferred it with milk and a nigh ridiculous amount of sugar.
“Thank you.”
The word came out rusty, but Parker beamed as if I’d done more than utter the barest of replies. “You’re welcome! Where are Alex and Finley?”
“Out already.”
“Oh.”
A little bit of the smile dropped, so I grabbed a sausage roll. “Their loss. More for me.”
That seemed to please her. I don’t know why I gave a shite, other than she’d done this nice thing for us, and I didn’t want her to feel unappreciated on her first day.
She took a sausage roll for herself and carefully bit in. The little moan she made struck me low in the gut. “I’ve been in the UK for less than a week, and I’m already addicted to the pastries. Do you have any idea how lucky y’all are to have this?”
“They dinna have breakfast pastries in the US?”
“Not like this. And not as widely available. The options skew more toward the sweet breakfast pastries, like donuts, or bagels and croissants. I tried crumpets when I first got here because I wondered what the heck they were, and I’m obsessed. I think English muffins are supposed to sort of be that for us, but they just don’t compare. Toasted with a swipe of good butter and some berry jam? Perfection.” She made a chef’s kiss gesture with her fingers, and I found my attention drawn to her mouth, pretty and pink and oh so appealing.
No, nope. No way. She’s an employee.
I dragged my errant brain back to what she’d said. Had I ever given that much thought to breakfast food? Probably not. I certainly hadn’t ever been that excited about it.
Her cheeks pinked, and she flashed a self-conscious smile. “Sorry, I promised to hush until you’d finished your coffee.”
“It’s… fine.”
She moved around to the back of the counter. “I assume I’ll be stationed out here to handle walk-in traffic and answer phones?”
When I grunted an affirmative, she put down her purse and began to explore the drawers. She found the post-it with login information that Alex had left for her and took care of that on her own, while I finished my first sausage roll and took another.
“Are there any rules or limitations around software I’m allowed to download?”
I must have looked confused, because she added, “More than likely I’ll be downloading and customizing some project management software, unless y’all already have one you use.”
“We don’t.”
“Okay, then. I’m familiar with several. After I have a clearer notion of y’all’s needs, I’ll decide which one makes the most sense. It can be done for free, but there are, of course, more options on the paid plans. Those vary by number of users. Since it’s a small company, the cost should be minimal, but if budget is a concern, I can stick to the free tier.”
I didn’t even know what project management software was. “That’s an Alex question.”
“I’ll check with him when he gets back.” She pulled a legal pad out of her bag. I noted the first few pages were already filled with what appeared to be neat, color-coded lists. “I took the time last night to do a more thorough review of y’all’s social media presence. I’ve got notes on ways that could be improved or expanded to get you more organic reach. I need to do a bit more research on targeting, but I’m also familiar with Facebook ads, if you want to expand into that variety of marketing.”
Already overwhelmed with everything she’d just said, I polished off the last of the coffee. “Let’s start with the filing stuff first, aye?”
Again, she flashed that easy smile. “Of course. If you could give me an overview of the kinds of things you’re keeping records for, how you’re keeping them, where your friction points are, what you’re getting behind on, that kind of thing, that’ll be a great starting point.”
Wanting to get this over with, I dove in to take her through it. In less than fifteen minutes, I was embarrassed by the state of things. She’d asked a half dozen questions I didn’t know the answers to. Our version of organization had been more like vaguely themed piles we intended to get to later. Except later hadn’t happened. Though she said nothing critical, the many, many more notations she’d added to that legal pad of hers seemed to call out our incompetence. I hated that, even as I felt like this underscored exactly how badly we needed her.
After we got through the paperwork, I pointed at the computer. “I can show you the basics of the booking system, but any major questions you’ll have to direct to Alex. He’s the one who designed it.”
Parker blinked. “Designed it? He wrote the software?”
“Aye. He’s got a lot of skills in computers.” That was underselling him. Alex was an extremely talented hacker. But that life was largely behind him now.
“Good to know. Well, I think this is certainly enough to get me started. Unless there’s something else you’d like me to prioritize, I’m going to work on an improved organizational system.”
“Godspeed.” And without another word, I escaped into the back. Our whole interaction had used up at least a month’s quota of words, and I needed some silence.
I settled in to check the sheaths of a pile of climbing ropes waiting to be rewound and added back into the rotation. I kept expecting to be interrupted with questions, especially when I heard the phone ring at least three times. But she left me alone. Eventually, I got curious enough to go check on her.
She’d emptied the file cabinets entirely. There were multiple piles spread out along the front desk counter, as well as on the seat of a couple of chairs she’d dragged over from the visitor’s area.
“Oh, hey, how do y’all feel about purchasing some more filing supplies? I think I can come up with a better system than what you have going on here.”
“Sure. I’ll get you into the Amazon Business account.”
“If you could go ahead and do that, I’ll let you get back to whatever you were doing.” She edged her chair to the side so I could access her keyboard.
“Aye, right.” When I bent over to enter the credentials, I caught a whiff of coffee and something floral—her shampoo, maybe. My brain stuttered, and I found myself holding my breath, struggling to maintain some professional distance in the tight space because all I wanted to do was lean closer and bury my nose in her hair. “There we go.”
“Great.” As soon as I stood, she reached for the mouse and immediately began adding a lot of eye wateringly bright colored folders and post-its instead of the generic manilla we’d gone for. When it became clear she didn’t need me, I left her alone again.
The next time I came out, she was dealing with a walk-in customer come to lease one of our mountain bikes.
“I know. It’s so gorgeous here, isn’t it? If I can just get you to fill out this contract here. It spells out the terms. I’ll work on pulling everything else together.”
As the man across the counter began reading through the paperwork I hadn’t even shown her, she turned to me. “Oh good. This gentleman here is renting a mountain bike. If you could get him squared away with the equipment, I’d appreciate it.”
“Of course.”
I sized the guy up and went to the back to retrieve a bike and helmet, then circled it around front, where Parker already had the man checked out and laughing.
“Have a good ride!”
“I’m sure I will!”
I felt like a bumbling idiot after their easy interaction, but it was simple enough to make sure the bike was adjusted to his height and that the helmet fit properly. Then he was off, apparently electing to ride straight from here.
Back inside, Parker looked up from where she was making yet another notation. “Do any of y’all have allergies?”
“Allergies?” I repeated. “Why?”
“I just thought some plants would perk up the place.”
“Plants?” She wasn’t the first person to suggest it, but none of us had leapt at the idea because that meant we had to keep them alive.
“Yeah.”
“I dinna think anybody has any allergies. I dinna really know. You’ll have to ask Finn and Alex.”
“Cool. If there’s time tomorrow, when Alex and Finley get back, I’d really like to have a group staff meeting to go over my thoughts before I start just implementing things willy-nilly.”
She’d been here less than eight hours, and she was already ready for all that? It had been a long time since I’d seen anyone approach a task with such quiet competence. The woman left me with a sense of awe, appreciation, and dread all at once. The need for control itched under my skin, but for once, I forced myself to step back and let someone else take the lead. I’d asked for this.
“Aye, right. I’m sure we can make that happen.”