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He grumbled something under his breath and took a big gulp of his coffee before answering my question. ‘Trisha was grabbing Gayle. You asked Gayle to be here, right?’
I nodded.
‘They should be here in a few. Ashton guy landed this time?’
I grabbed a mug and started pouring the black liquid, deeply inhaling the rich scent and enjoying the quiet. Nodding, I put the thermos back down. ‘He is on his way, he’ll be here in fifteen. He needs to take the next flight back, that’s why we changed the time.’
Turning my back to the busy city view, I closed my eyes and took a big sip. Savouring the taste, I casually glanced at Rick and found him eyeing the croissant and fruit plate that was probably made ready for Ashton.
‘And Charlie?’ I asked nonchalantly, even though I wasn’t quite sure why I was trying to appear as if I wasn’t curious.
‘I didn’t see her yet,’ Rick answered, eyes still on the plate as his hand reached for a slice of apple that was on the very edge of the carefully constructed arrangement.
I turned to Stan when he spoke up from his seat. ‘I think I saw her in Douglas’s office before I came up here.’
Having given up on the fruit and croissants, Rick sighed next to me. ‘I came up right after Stan, but I didn’t see anyone in Douglas’s office.’
‘Considering we were having trouble finding her yesterday as well… Is she always so hard to pin down?’
‘She does work a lot,’ Rick said defensively.
‘Didn’t say she wasn’t working.’ Not sure what to say, I took another sip of my coffee. ‘Can one of you call her? I don’t have her number yet. I need everyone in the room so we don’t have to go over everything with the client again.’
‘I’ll give her a call,’ Rick announced and, taking his coffee mug with him, headed towards the chair that was already pulled out next to Stan. ‘I’m sure she’ll be here before Ashton.’ He reached for his phone.
I focused on my coffee and checked the time again.
‘She isn’t answering,’ Rick commented, already raising the phone back to his ear.
We heard the elevator doors ping and a few seconds later Trisha and Gayle walked in and greeted everyone. No time left to wait for Charlie; we were roughly going over things I already knew when I received a text from Ashton saying he was coming up.
I checked my watch. Five minutes past the planned meeting time and there was still no sign of Charlie. I cleared my throat, trying not to show my annoyance. ‘Ashton is coming up. Any news from Charlie? I need everyone to be present when we’re talking to a client.’ I glanced at Rick again since he had been the one to call her.
He checked his phone and shook his head before meeting my gaze. ‘I can run downstairs and try to…’
‘No,’ I cut him off, sharper than I had intended. ‘We’re going to start without her. I’ll talk to Douglas – maybe she’ll be better off in another team.’ I knew I was being harsh, but I took my job very seriously and if she didn’t have a good reason for not showing up I wouldn’t tolerate it. When we deal with crisis situations I need to know I can depend on my colleagues. That’s the only way we could work well together.
I caught Gayle’s questioning gaze, but had to ignore it when we heard the elevator doors open again. I rose to greet Michael Ashton at the door.
‘Hello, William. Good to see you again.’
We shook hands as I smiled at him. ‘Good to see you too. Come on, I’ll introduce you to your team.’
Looking nervous, he released a big breath, let go of my hand and turned to the room. ‘I hope I didn’t make you wait for too long.’
In under a minute, I could see that he was a hit with everyone. It could be his boyish looks, or simply how sincere and awkwardly nervous he was when he was talking to people. When everyone introduced themselves and was done with the niceties, I started the meeting properly.
‘If you’re ready to start, Michael?’ I gestured for him to sit.
He gave me a timid smile, ran his hands over his pants and then took a seat.
‘I need you to go over everything you told me in our phone call yesterday for the rest of the team, but go into more details so we know all aspects of what we’re dealing with and can work towards fixing the situation.’
He nodded a few times. ‘Yes. Yes, of course.’
Everyone was scattered around the table and Gayle had chosen to stand against the coffee cart, arms crossed against her chest. As I rounded the table to take a seat, I watched her take out a small notebook and pen from her pants pocket. After giving me a small distracted smile, she focused on Michael again.
