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“I don’t see what’s so funny,” I growl.
“Karma really is coming to get you.” Mac smirks, pausing his taunting long enough for us to order food when the waiter comes back around.
Once the waiter disappears, I scrub a hand down my face. “Jade Harper is nothing but the devil in a pencil skirt. She’s spent the last week interviewing current employees instead of actually working on a plan for how to save the company.”
Mac shrugs, leaning forward to slide his arms out of his suit jacket. “From a marketing standpoint, she probably wants to see how far the morale has gone before she starts digging into the actual planning.”
“The morale is fine.”
He rolls his blue eyes to the ceiling before looking back at me. “You would think that because you’re the owner’s son and nobody is going to tell you the truth.”
“You really think so?”
“I own a marketing firm, Grayson. I know that when I have my monthly all-hands meeting, there’s a percentage of the staff who are already looking for another job. You’d be a fool if you thought otherwise.”
Even though I don’t want to think about it that way, I know Mac is probably right. In a healthy business, there are always going to be people who are unhappy.
It has to be worse at a failing business.
I groan and take another long drink of my beer, then push the glass to the side as the food arrives. “All right, so maybe it makes sense that she’s talking to the employees, but she could have spent the last week doing something better. Something that might have made an immediate change.”
“Yeah, but that change is never going to work if she has to fight the employees every step of the way. Taking the time to talk to them was smart. It showed that she was willing to put in the time to get to know them. Consider their opinions.”
“She doesn’t need to take their opinions into account. She just has to make this a functional business.” I pop a few fries into my mouth.
Mac pulls the pickles off of his burger, handing them to me to put on mine. “You’re not that dense. You just want a reason to complain about her because you don’t like her.”
I slide the pickles into my burger and take a large bite, groaning at the familiar taste of crispy onions paired with the restaurant’s signature barbecue sauce.
I don’t know why I ever stopped coming here.
Well, that’s not quite true.
Jade used to come with me during our college days. When she was still new and we were caught in the situationship we were in, I thought it would be good to take her out every now and then.
She ruined the barbecue sauce for me, just like she ruined the internship.
Mac swirls his fries in the sauce that drips from his burger. “Speak of the devil.”
His gaze locks on the door. The sound of women laughing fills the restaurant, rising above the noise of the toddler who throws himself to the floor when he runs out of crayons.
Jade laughs and turns to say something to the pretty woman beside her with jet-black hair and eyes nearly as dark. The woman leans into Jade as they weave around the tables and head for the bar close to us.
Mac gets a spark of mischief in his eyes. “What if we call her and her friend over? Maybe the two of you could work out your differences.”
“Don’t you dare.” I glare at him over the edge of my glass as I finish the beer.
He nods to the small dance floor on the other side of the bar. “Looks like you don’t need to worry about that. She seems more than content to dance.”
Jade’s hips sway to the music, showing off her curves in the tight lilac dress she wears. Her sun-kissed skin glows under the colorful lights that shine from above.
Even though I want to, I can’t take my eyes off her as her hands raise above her body as she dances.
Her friend takes her hand, spinning her in a circle before the two start laughing.
I force myself to look away from her before I do something stupid, like picking another argument with her while all she’s doing is dancing.
The less interaction I have with her, the better.
