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“Now that Ryan is on board,” Staci added, “I know we can overcome the obstacles. By the way, how are the two of you getting along?” She crooked a brow with mild curiosity.
Maxi nearly choked on her latte at the unexpected question, the remembrance of searing kisses, and all that she didn’t find appropriate to share with Staci, even though they were friends. This was a work situation. Not a romantic tell-all.
“Uh, fine,” Maxi said. “Totally fine. He’s great. Super smart.”
“Scary smart,” Staci added. “But he doesn’t know all of the functional aspects of the company the way you do, Maxi.”
Not wanting to confess that she actually hadn’t been involved in the operational areas to the point that she should have been before assuming her current position, Maxi simply asked, “That’s why you didn’t offer Ryan the VP job?”
Staci leaned forward in her chair and clasped her hands together on the desk once more. She gave Maxi a serious look. “I’ve always wanted you to be an executive leader in my company. I understand you’ve had to figure out where you want to be, what you really want to do. Your family’s restaurant was always a consideration. And school had to take precedence over Staci Kay Shoes. The fact that you started here and have remained here speaks volumes. You chose this company. And I’m eternally grateful.”
Staci’s pointed expression gave way to a coy smile as she said, “I will make you chief operating officer…whenever you’re ready. I’ve never filled the position, and now that you’re VP, I hope you’ll feel more comfortable becoming my second in command.”
Maxi’s stomach flipped. “Staci.” She didn’t know what else to say. It was another fabulous compliment. And, admittedly, it was something Maxi had considered on more than one occasion. Yet she said, “I’m still trying to get my feet underneath me as the VP. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. And you just might change your mind about Ryan and move him into the position. I honestly think he’d be a great fit.” Even if it did alter Maxi’s future at the company, limiting her growth potential.
The thought was a disconcerting one. But she was a realist and had the company’s best interest at heart. If Dr. Ryan Donovan was the one for the job, Maxi would have to accept that.
“Look,” Staci said. “Ryan is fantastic at what he does, and I will not deny for a second that we need him. I think he needs us too, at the moment. He just went through a hellish breakup. So bad and wrong on the part of his fiancée that I’m now looking for a new gyno, because I simply can’t be in the same room with the woman without wanting to slap her soundly across the face. So it’s a mutually beneficial arrangement for us and for Ryan. But by no means will I discount all that you’ve contributed over the course of six years for his assistance right now.”
“Wait.” Maxi shook her head, hoping to latch on to a coherent thought, because she suddenly swam in a sea of confusing ones. Including Ryan’s disastrous breakup. Which she had no right deliberating over. She stood and paced behind her chair. “Staci, he?
?s infinitely more intelligent than I am.” Not exactly a fun thing to confess to one’s boss. “He should be your COO.”
“Sweetie.” Staci smiled again—as her friend. “Ryan is not only a phenomenal source to tap and a hero for coming to our rescue—for which I will personally bow down and kiss his feet. But come on. He’s not going to be a Staci Kay Shoes lifer. When he’s satisfied with his performance, he’s going to realize that all those NASA or whatever offers he passed up because I talked him into this gig are more his forte.”
Staci reached for her shiny silver pen and tapped the end on her leather blotter in a contemplative manner. “Kind of a bummer, I have to say. I really do like him. And I swear, he has the sort of enthusiasm that could launch us into the stratosphere once we get past the issue du jour. But…this isn’t his calling. That’s seriously easy to deduce.”
“Right.” Maxi dragged out the very last of her latte and tossed the cup into the trash next to Staci’s desk. Her heart settled somewhere around her knees at the prospect of Ryan eventually moving on from Staci Kay Shoes. “You are absolutely right,” she said with regret. “Despite him taking an actual position with the company, this can’t possibly be his future. The guy is rocket scientist material.”
“Yes, he is. And the reason he agreed to take a position is because I can’t afford his exorbitant consulting fees—though I can offer him medical, retirement, and other benefits for as long as he’s here. The fact that he agreed to help us at all…” Staci pulled in another big breath, let it out slowly. She wasn’t one to express her deepest emotions, but Maxi could see how they had gotten the best of her because of the current crisis—and likely over how Ryan truly had come to the rescue for her. “Really, I’ve been stressed to max capacity over how everything has threatened to crash down around us. It’s not just my fear of losing my dream. That has to take a backseat to reality. I have customers to think about. And employees—I don’t want them losing their jobs because we have to close our doors.”
“What about the ones who walked off the assembly line?” Maxi asked, resuming her pacing. It helped to keep her mind focused.
“They freaked over the projected spike in manufacturing. If they’re willing to come back and do their part, then of course I’m going to welcome them with open arms.”
Maxi nodded. “Ryan suggested they’re really only achieving forty-two percent production.”
“That’s because they never had to work at optimal performance, as he also explained to me. If workers at other shoe companies are pulling in fifty-eight percent more productivity, then that’s the standard we need to hold our people to in this new paradigm.”
“I don’t disagree.” Maxi halted abruptly and gripped the back of the chair, still feeling a bit on edge over the production woes. “I’m sure, though, it’ll be a tough transition from operating in second gear to punching it up to fourth or fifth for some of these people.”
Staci returned her fancy pen to its holder. “I’m willing to give everyone a chance to prove themselves. And if they can see a light at the end of the tunnel, then we just might come out of this unscathed.”
“Let’s hope.”
“Yeah.” Staci smiled, though this time it didn’t quite reach her tawny eyes. She shouldered a huge burden and her bubble could burst in nine days, according to Ryan’s calculations.
Maxi was not inclined to let that happen. She said, “I’ve got another meeting, Stace. Should we talk again tomorrow?”
“Absolutely. Let’s make a daily eight o’clock standing meeting until we’re in the clear.”
“I’ll let your assistant know. Thanks for the coffee.” Maxi collected her slim black leather folio and left the office. She took the elevator down to her floor.
* * *
Several meetings later, she felt as though a plan were truly coming together. After her lunch meeting with the department heads and Ryan, she spent an hour mapping out strategies for the late-afternoon sessions. Suspecting Ryan was busy with a reforecast of his projections, following all of the intense back-and-forthing with the functional areas, she bypassed requesting Avril’s assistance with copying and collating her latest presentation. She figured Ryan would need Avril, since his own assistant was out this week.
Maxi sent her ten-page document to the color printer in the main copy room and then headed in that direction. She gathered her papers and set up the copy machine to churn everything out, double-sided and three-hole punched so she could place them in the binders she planned to distribute so that everyone could keep track of the progress and updates.
