She placed her suitcase in the trunk of her car, slipped in the front seat, and took off. Where she was headed, she had no idea other than far away from Thedia Province.
“I promise I will look into it right away, Mr. Danton,” Tanner McCarson said. Gerard Danton, the managing director for EcoWide Corporation, was driving Tanner crazy with his incessant nitpicking phone calls. “The supplier was caught in a snow storm yesterday, and the road was closed. It’s not anyone’s fault but nature’s that the material won’t arrive on time.”
“Then find another supplier,” the man shouted through the line.
“I’ll check around, but it might be faster to wait until the roads clear.”
“We have a deadline to meet, and that means you’ll need to put all of your men on this job.” Tanner could imagine the man shaking his fist.
He wanted to remind this client that he was the McCarson in LaMont, Sanders, and McCarson Construction, but he didn’t. Jace Sanders—the man who gave him his big break in this business—had pounded into his head that the customer was always right.
Tanner had been running the Plux, Grindale division of the company for almost a year now. He didn’t need some rich developer telling him how to run his crew, but he swallowed his retort. “Yes, sir, I will.”
“See that you do.”
Once Mr. Danton disconnected, Tanner dragged a hand down his cheeks. Damn, he needed a shave, a shower, and some food. Before he could mentally regroup, his office door opened. Clint Singletary, his second-in-command, came in, carrying coffee with the New Frontier Diner logo on it. Relief from the intense, rich smell, eased some of the tension in his shoulders.
“I hope that’s for me,” Tanner said.
“Yes, but I’m not sure it will be enough. You look like shit. You need sleep. And a shower.”
“I’ll get some rest when this project is complete.” Which would be in about two years.
“Did you even go home last night?”
They had a breakroom with a sofa, and Tanner had been sleeping there more than at his home. “Not last night.”
“You can’t go on like this, Tanner.”
“I know, but there have been delays in getting the wood from Thedia Province and the cement from Hearndon Province. Sometimes, it’s the roads, and at other times, it’s just bad timing. I have to keep on top of things.”
“How about hiring some office help?”
Tanner kept his business on line as much as possible, but invoices seemed to arrive in paper form. The number of documents he needed to scan and then shred was piling up to the point where he wasn’t able to find anything. Gone was the time when he was super organized and efficient. He wanted those days back.
Tanner attempted to set the coffee on his desk, but there was no room. Crap. He swallowed some first and then placed the cup on top of a stack of papers. “I put an ad in the paper last month, but the candidates who showed up were not qualified.”
Clint pulled up a chair. “Not qualified? How hard is it to scan some documents, answer the phone, and take a message?”
“It’s more than that. Just last week, we were supposed to meet with that window salesman, but you and I had other commitments. That might have cost us a good deal.”
Clint’s eyes widened. “You want someone who can do data entry, answer the phone, and who can take some supplier out to dinner?”
“That’s exactly what I want. You know I hate going to those shindigs to schmooze. Remember when I hired Melinda Albert’s mom to help out in the office three days a week? She was so curt with everyone that it took months to smooth things over.”
“What you’re saying is that you’re looking for a dedicated, gorgeous, and technically talented secretary? One who can be the poster child for LaMont, Sanders, and McCarson?”
Clint finally understood. “Yes!”
His second-in-command laughed. “What realm do you live in? Someone like that doesn’t exist.”
He was right. “Then I guess I will continue to work one hundred hours a week until this project is done.”
“You’ll be dead before that if you don’t take a break. When was the last time you went to Edendale to visit Jace and Slade?”
“My associates came here last month, remember?”
“If I recall, it wasn’t much of a social call. The four of us worked throughout the night.”
Crap. Tanner sipped the coffee, but the smooth drink didn’t soothe like it usually did. “You sound like my mother. You work too much,” he mimicked.
“A wise woman.” Clint slapped his thighs and stood. “I just came to tell you the zipline attraction passed inspection.”
He sank back in his chair. “Thank goodness for something going right for a change.”
“I’ll put the word out that we are looking for a super woman.”
“Or man. Either is good for me.”
Clint tapped two fingers to his forehead and left.
Tanner’s brain was tired, and his body ached. Dragon shifters were supposed to be super heroes. With the roads closed around Thedia, there wouldn’t be much progress at the site today anyway. Maybe he should take a break. Leaving the office for one day wouldn’t hurt. Actually, it might help.
He finished off his coffee, shoved back his office chair, and headed out. When he stepped into the fresh air, the bright sun actually hurt his eyes. Maybe he had spent too much time inside. There had been a light sprinkling of snow in Plux last night, but this morning the sky was a deep cerulean blue, and the air was almost warm. It was the perfect day for a flight.
Needing space to shift, he walked to the alleyway behind his building. Down the road, a warehouse had been demolished a few months
