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Amanda made a helpless gesture. "I don't, but Mr. Kolin might."
Mrs. Tonetti's face turned stony. "What's he done?"
Amanda told her about their interview, and about the schedule change. "I didn't do anything wrong," she insisted.
Mrs. Tonetti steered her into one of the conference rooms and closed the door. "Amanda, I need you to tell me if Mr. Kolin has ever been... ungentlemanly with you."
Amanda's mouth dropped open. "I... He's been... He's been quite friendly to me in the past, though today he was angry with me for no reason that I could see." She knew what Mrs. Tonetti meant, but in all honesty couldn't say more than what she had said.
Then Mrs. Tonetti dropped the delicacy and asked straight out, "Has he ever touched you?"
"No. Never."
"All right, then. Let's go talk to him."
Even though she'd been about to bang on his door and ask for an explanation of her cut hours, Amanda now didn't want even to see his face. She felt crawly inside. "Okay." Her voice had gotten very small.
Mrs. Tonetti led the way, knocked on Kolin's office door, and stuck her head in. "Greg, do you have a minute? I have some good news."
"I could use some good news," he said. His face fell when he saw Amanda enter behind Mrs. Tonetti.
"Well, then you'll be happy to hear that Amanda has already done this company proud. I had a long conversation just now with Bill McConnell of Forlanie, and he is so impressed with Amanda that he has made me promise she will do every one of Forlanie's calls in the future." She half turned. "Well done, Amanda!" she said, then turned and stared at Kolin.
"That’s... very good, yes," he managed. "Well done."
"Thank you both."
"I ran into Amanda in the hallway and made her come in here with me so we could both see your face when you got the good news. But we got to talking, and I think there might be a mix-up. Amanda tells me that there's a scheduling problem; was that it?" she asked Amanda.
"I think there's been some confusion," Amanda replied, taking her cue from Mrs. Tonetti. I had a schedule on my desk earlier, and then it disappeared and I found this one." She handed it to Kolin who was glaring again. How was it possible for anyone's eyes to be so tiny? "I'd already started work on the first one. If it was a mistake and this is the schedule I'm supposed to have, then of course I'll handle it, but I did want to check first."
"The first one was a very heavy workload," Kolin told them. "It should have been given to a more experienced girl."
"Oh, I see," Mrs. Tonetti said. Again she turned to Amanda. "Did it seem to heavy to you?"
"It was busy," she admitted. "But nothing I didn't think I could manage."
"Well there, isn't she amazing? You just give her that schedule and let's see what our girl can do."
Kolin's lips disappeared as he swapped schedules with Amanda. "If there's any problem," he said, and it sounded more like a warning than an offer of help.
"I'm sure it'll be fine," she said. "I should go now. I'm putting together a database of call information for each company so I can have everything available to me when I need it."
"You'll go far, Amanda. Won't she Greg?"
"She sure will," Kolin replied in something just this side of a growl.
"Amanda, there's something for you at the front desk, I believe," Mrs. Tonetti told her.
Amanda thanked them both and retreated.
The "something" at the desk was a vase of miniature mauve roses. The card read, "With thanks from Forlanie Resorts Group," a nicely impersonal personal touch. "Wow," she breathed.
Gretchen, the receptionist, said, "Pretty flowers."
"I'm stunned."
Gretchen shrugged. "The account managers get them a lot. Not many operators do."
