Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
Paige
It’s midafternoon, and I’m scanning the entries Jack has put into the system for bricks. Wrapping my head around the costs here versus at home is still tripping me up, and I get out my calculator to see whether what he’s entered is as unreasonable as my brain thinks it is.
After doing the conversion, I click to another screen to see what other quotes he got, and the page is blank. I stare at the screen for a beat. If it was anyone else, I’d call them in and ask, but with Jack, I like to have everything exactly right before he’s standing across from me.
“Maryam?” I call to my assistant, whose desk is just outside my office door.
“How can I help?” she asks, at the threshold.
“Can you close the door?”
She shuts it and steps closer to my desk, a question in her eyes.
“Company policy is to have three quotes for any large purchases, correct?”
“Hmm,” Maryam says, shifting on her feet. “Technically, yes.”
“What does that mean?”
She purses her lips and seems to be considering something. “What’s on paper and how things have been done in the past aren’t always bang on.”
“What Jack’s entered into the system for bricks will put us over budget.”
“Within an acceptable margin?”
I lean forward and peer at the screen, checking my phone again for the conversion. “I mean, yes, but that’s not the point.”
“He’ll tell you that’s the point, I suspect.”
“I’m right that he needs three quotes. That’s company policy.”
“Technically, yes.”
“It’s a fight worth having.”
“I don’t disagree, but it hasn’t been had with Jack since I’ve been here.”
“It’s either lazy or suspicious that he’s given the contract to this company without doing his due diligence.”
“He’s been here a long time.”
“Yes, he’s mentioned that.” I stifle a sigh. “Can you ask him to come see me?”
“Will do.”
“Oh, and Maryam—lunch?”
We’ve tentatively gone out a few times for lunch together. At first, it was under the guise of me getting my bearings, but she’s good at her job and sees things in a similar way to me, so it’s starting to feel like our lunch meetings are less of a necessity and more of a burgeoning friendship.
“If Ash hasn’t introduced you to the Cornish pasty yet, it’ll be my pleasure,” she says.
“He has not.” Or if he did, he didn’t call it that.
“As long as Jack doesn’t ruin your appetite, I’ve got just the spot.” She disappears out my office door.
It’s been a month since I memorized all the building codes, regulations, and road allowances both locally and nationally with Ash’s help, and Jack has bided his time before trying to pull the wool over my eyes.
Perhaps he anticipated that I wouldn’t let him best me that way a second time, or he worried I’d report his behavior to even more senior management, but he hasn’t attempted to disrupt our progress by leading the team astray on a regulation again.
That isn’t to say he’s been cooperative.
He’s been quick to point out any time I ask him to do anything beyond his narrow job description of sourcing external building materials.
While others will take on a task or two that creeps outside the boundaries of their role within the team, Jack won’t.
No matter how small the ask, the answer is always no.
Then when our project has slipped even a hair beyond our posted timelines, he’s quick to assign blame.
The fact that he’s going to be the first one to put us over budget is both on brand and pisses me off.
“Do you know why I’ve called you in here, Jack?” I ask as he slides into the seat across from my desk, his characteristic smirk in place.
“Not a clue,” he says. “Likely to ask me to do some other work that isn’t within the scope of my job.”
“Actually, it’s well within your scope.” I turn the monitor on my desk toward him. “Did you forget to input two more quotes for the brick order?”
“Two more quotes?” The other expression he tends to wear around me—complete boredom—has fallen into place. “I’ve been doing this job long enough to know when we’re getting a good deal.”
“I need to know we’re getting a good deal, and the policy states that large purchases must have three quotes.”
“George told me getting three quotes was a waste of my time if I already knew who we’d use.”
“George has retired. I have his job now, and I’d like three quotes.”
Part of me wonders whether Jack is going to toe the line of being fired the entire time I’m here.
So far, he hasn’t done anything I can dismiss him for, at least not according to HR, but his negativity sets the climate of the office, and I’ve already grown tired of it.
He took a Friday off last week, and the way the atmosphere in the entire office changed was very telling.
It was the most productive day we’ve had, by far.
He lets out a deep sigh. “Three quotes?”
“Yes, and I’d like you to cc me on any correspondence with those companies. Their quotes will need to be uploaded into the system.” I click through to another screen and hover the mouse over the “attachment” icon. “In case you’ve forgotten, you can add those here.”
“And when I’m right and the lowest quote is the one I already got?”
“Then you’ll have done your job thoroughly and correctly, and we’ll both be happy.”
“I’ve already told Welsh Brick Holdings that they’ve got the contract, so you’ll have to call them and go back on our word.”
“No, they can’t have the contract because I have to sign off on purchases that large, and I haven’t. You’ve made the mistake. You’ll have to set it right.”
“You can’t come in here and change how things have been run, completely disregarding relationships and processes we’ve already established.”
“I’m following protocol. Written protocol. If you’re not, then I’m not the one who’s gone rogue here. If your attitude persists, I’ll have to discuss it with HR.” No need for him to know I already have.
“There’s nothing in the company code of conduct that would suit any complaint about me.”
If I wasn’t sure he was walking the line, I am now.
“We’re doing really important community work with this housing project. There are families on the waiting list hoping to get into this development, and the more we pull together as a team, the sooner we’ll break ground.”
“I’m aware of how a development works and the importance of the predevelopment phase. I’ve been with the company for twenty years and on almost every materials team.”
“Perhaps it’s your teamwork that needs a slight adjustment then.” When I meet his gaze, I hold it. He’s one of the ones, according to Maryam, who believes his experience far outweighs mine.
“Was there anything else you wanted to discuss, or can I get back to doing my important community work by gathering three useless quotes?” He gives me a fake smile.
“By all means,” I say, gesturing toward the door, “I would love for you to get some focused work done.”
Once he’s gone, I dig my planner out of my desk, and I record the notes from our meeting.
HR might not be able to do anything right now with the attitude he’s displayed so far, but I’m going to be having a chat with Penelope about the work culture overall in this branch.
Perhaps we’re due for a code of conduct overhaul.
By the time I get home, Ash is putting the kids to bed, and my dinner is in the fridge.
Spaghetti, which if I’m being honest, is one of the few things Ash cooks well.
It’s hard to complain when he’s really trying.
Though I know what I would have been like back home—trying or not, I would have fired him by now for his many missteps.
Having Gwen constantly texting me or emailing me her ideal timelines and itineraries for her trip to Kenya helps solidify my resolve to keep him.
But Ash’s attitude makes all his mistakes a lot easier too.
Given the chance to correct anything, he never hesitates.
When I mentioned we were eating too many fried foods, he started cutting up veggies for the fridge, and he bought a variety of dips for the kids as well.
Instead of serving French fries with every other meal, he’s steaming or roasting vegetables, with mixed results.
Sometimes they’re too hard and other times they’re too mushy, but he accepts and admits his failures with remarkable ease.
I take the spaghetti out and drop it into a pan on the stovetop. With somewhat limited counter space, there’s no microwave. When I turn around, Ash is leaning in the doorway watching me, and I jump.
“I didn’t mean to scare you.” A slow grin spreads across his face, and he holds up his hands. “Thought you’d hear me coming down those creaky stairs.”
“Too wrapped up in my own thoughts.”
“Bad day?”
“Same as always. Half my team is fantastic, and the other half is a bunch of half-assed workers. I’m convinced Jack is the problem. He must have been poorly socialized as a kid.”
The thought makes me realize I have no idea what Ash is doing with our kids to socialize them.
Though having Chloe in the house has forced Joey to become better at turn-taking.
Having his own nanny since he was born made him a little more spoiled than I anticipated.
After five weeks with Ash and Chloe, he’s much better at sharing an adult’s attention.
A lot of that is down to Ash’s unwavering patience.
“Do you want to see if Jack’d like to spend a week with Nanny Ash? I can try to correct his shortcomings.”
I laugh and shake my head while I stir the spaghetti on the stove, so it doesn’t stick to the pan. “Can you imagine? I’d be the one in HR over that.”
“He’s got a problem with authority or just a problem with you?”
“If I had to guess, I’d say it’s that I’m a woman and that I’m American.
Both of which, in his eyes, make me inferior.
Also, he’s been with the company for twenty years, and that doesn’t help.
He’s older than me, and according to my assistant, was one of the ones who felt they should have had a shot at the management role. ”