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The man who rose when she entered was about forty. His hair was thinning on top, but other than that, he looked fit and energetic.
“Cath Norris, I’m Phil McIntyre. Have a seat. I’ve been reviewing things with Thomas in Brussels and with some of the other staff. I’m getting up to speed as fast as I can. I understand you’ll be leaving on maternity leave in a few months. Don’t want things to fall through the cracks, now do we?”
Trace had even told him that? No one in the company knew. She bristled. How dare he talk of her personal business before she was ready! She sat on the edge of the indicated chair.
“No.”
She seethed quietly, waiting.
“So, what can you tell me about the division? I’ve seen the recent sales results. They look very promising. Maybe we can get an upswing before the end of the next quarter. What problems do you see coming?”
Cath spoke with Phil for a half hour, wary of giving him much information, uncertain exactly what her role in the scheme of things was going to be. As far as she could tell, Trace had brought him in to replace her.
How dare he! He must have planned this for a while. Men like McIntyre didn’t instantly leave one job for another. Yet Trace had never even hinted at such a change. He had as good as told her the job would wait for her.
She could hardly sit still for the anger that grew.
As soon as Phil was finished, she rose and calmly walked out of the office, wanting to hit something.
She headed immediately for Trace’s office. She had a few things to say to him.
But he was not there, already left for a business lunch, Ellie said.
“Are you all right?” she asked Cath.
“Just peachy. Have him call me when he returns, please,” she said.
“What’s it about?” Ellie asked.
“It’s personal,” Cath said ominously.
She couldn’t eat her own lunch. She went for a walk, then returned and called Sophie. Her friend worked in Human Resources, she’d know what was going on.
“Hey, what’s up?” Sophie said.
“Tell me about Philip McIntyre.”
“What’s to tell? He started this morning. His background is impressive. He and Trace have been colleagues for a long time from what I hear.”
“Did you also hear he’s heading up the European Division and that I now report to him?”
“No! What does that mean? And why don’t I know that?”
“I have no idea, but he called me in this morning to give me the news. I may kill Trace when I see him.”
“You didn’t know in advance?”
“No. And when I went to talk to the new CEO, he’d conveniently left for lunch. I think he planned the entire thing that way. He could have told me what he planned. Is this a demotion?”
“Nothing has come through HR. I don’t think it’s a demotion. But I don’t get it. This is definitely something I should be aware of,” Sophie said.
“Phil says it’s to add a layer between me and Trace.”
“Oh, and why would he want to do that? I thought he was trying to streamline the organization, not add bureaucracy.”
There was nothing to say to that. Cath wasn’t going to explain the situation to Sophie just yet. She gave some vague response and said goodbye, then fumed at her desk. If this was the way Trace thought she should be treated, they had a serious problem.
“Ellie said you wanted to see me,” Trace said from the doorway sometime later.
