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Nicole was tapping her goddamn foot. It was like she was a cartoon of a pissed off schoolteacher. I walked up to her, taking my time, letting her look her fill and get really steamed. I stepped a little too close, crowded her.
“So am I being called to the principal’s office?” I drawled, just short of adding ‘honey’ to the sentence.
“What?” she snapped.
“Is something the matter, darlin’?” I asked.
“You bet your ass something’s the matter, sweetie,” she shot back, eyes flashing at me. I grinned.
Then I took her by the elbow and steered her back to her office so I didn’t have to deal with her summoning demons in front of my crew. It wasn’t good for morale if they saw the boss get his ass handed to him by a raging harpy.
We marched across the street and into her office. I released her arm, and she slammed the door, not even being careful to hide how angry she was. She flicked the lock and whirled on me.
“You just got a delivery about an hour ago, hot shot. Instead of the material approved in the budget, you went ahead and ordered something that cost twice as much for the music room. Now the city council knows about it, and I can’t get approval. The mayor is up my ass about the expense and how I need to get this project under control. Why in the hell would you change what we agreed on and go over budget? Or at least submit it for approval and give a reason, let the people with the purse strings vote on it? This is unprofessional. You work for other people all the time, so you must know how to make changes to the supply list and keep up with protocol or you’d get fired. Tell me why you did this and what you intend to do about it? It can’t just be to make me look like an idiot.”
She was raging, but there was something else under there, hurt or suspicion of hurt. I was mad as hell that she questioned my judgment, but there was the way her eyes dimmed a little on that last sentence, the drop of her voice. Like I was hurting her on purpose. It was almost enough to make me think twice before I answered her.
“It’s better quality. When I install it, this will improve soundproofing so they can run other classes in the building during music class without being disturbed. It’ll keep the after-school tutoring and the senior’s flexibility classes and the first aid and everything running without noise interference. No one will have to schedule around the music room occupancy. It’s very simple,” I said, my voice loud with anger.
“You just now decided that? You didn’t research what materials you’d need before you submitted the budget for approval? The budget I defended in a three-hour special session?” she argued.
“It just went on the market two weeks ago. When it became available, I snapped it up. You wanted quality. I’m giving you quality, a community center designed for versatility and constant use.”
“We can’t have a community center at all if you keep switching materials WITHOUT APPROVAL and treating the budget like it’s a suggestion. The council will pull the supplemental funding. The grant only covers so much, and everything else has to come out of the city council and whatever donors we’ve got, which isn’t much. So now I have to smooth this over with the council and figure out what I have to do away with to make up the difference because you decided to make a change unilaterally that can’t be absorbed by the budget! So what do I do? Forget the outside play structure with accessibility for the disabled? Get rid of the landscaping and just let the community center stand in a pile of mud? There are consequences to you making impulsive choices without clearing them through the city council and answering to me!”
“I knew it was the right decision and that everyone would thank me for it. If there’s a little pushback at first, that’s because people are being short-sighted and stomping around about how they’re in charge. Exactly the way you’re doing now, darlin’,” I said with a cockeyed grin designed to piss her off even more.
“I have to figure out how to make this work inside the budget we have by eliminating something else the council agreed was important. Because you decided you know best. This makes problems for me and for everyone else just so you can act like a goddamn cowboy and refuse to be practical. The money has to come from somewhere, Noah. You don’t get it! If you keep this up, it’ll cost you the build and it’ll cost me my job!”
“If you wanted cheap and quick you should’ve hired Ray instead of me,” I said.
