Chapter 8 - Deanna

I walk down the hall towards my office.  However, instead of walking into my office, I stop at Nathan’s door first.  As I stand in the doorway, I softly knock on the doorframe and clear my throat. 

While sitting behind his desk, Nathan looks up from his computer and a smile instantly forms on his face.  “Good morning, Deanna.  Do you want another cup of herbal tea this morning?”

I stifle a chuckle and shake my head.  “No.  It appears that someone has been talking to Cliff about a big fish out there.  Do you happen to know who that could be?”

He swallows hard and flashing me a sheepish grin as he leans back in his chair.  “Well, that may have been me.  Did he get you to agree to go after it?”

I sigh and step into his office.  I stop right behind a chair in front of his desk and lean forward with my hands resting on the top of it.  “You can say that he has pushed me into a corner.  Do you have more information about this big fish that I can look at and see what kind of company they are?”

He smiles and turns back towards his computer.  “I have already scanned all the documents and put them on the server in a secure folder.  I’ll send you the link.”

I nod.  “Thanks.  Is there anything else I need to know about them?”

After he types a bit more, he smiles and turns his attention back towards me.  “I sent the link.  As for the company itself, it is one of the biggest in the country.  It has many branches and divisions.  I don’t even know where to start.  But what I can say is that they only associate with reliable and reputable companies.  I don’t know what their current glass partner did, besides the rumor of them getting greedy, but it is probably safe to say they will get no more business from WW Enterprises.”

WW Enterprises.  That sounds familiar, but I don’t know why.  Even the first time he said it, a little voice in my head kept telling me I know the company.

I sigh and push myself off the chair.  “And you think we can handle the additional volume if we get this deal?  What are they going to need?  Are we talking about a small uptick in production or are we talking about doubling or tripling our outputs?”

Nathan slightly cringes as he sheepishly replies, “Uhm… Triple…”  He trails off to a point where I could barely hear him, but I do. 

My eyes widen.  “What!  Triple!  You think we can handle triple the output without expanding our manufacturing facilities.  Are you crazy?”

I’ve heard enough.  Before he answers me, I shake my head and march out of his office. 

Luckily, he doesn’t follow me, but he already knows that he has messed up. 

He has got Cliff to buy in on this, but I’m sure Cliff doesn’t have any idea exactly what it means to our production line. 

I collapse into my chair and shake my head.  The man is crazy.

I quickly turn on my computer and begin pulling up the specs for our manufacturing facilities and begin analyzing places and things that we can do rather inexpensively to boost our production and our daily output for the plant. 

Just as I’m getting into the numbers, Nathan rushes into my office. 

I ignore him and continue looking through the information. 

He stops right in front of my desk and quickly asks, “Can you come to the conference room right now and discussion the big fish?  There is someone here that will help give us with some of the inside information that we need.”

I slowly turn my head towards him and raise an eyebrow.  “Someone is here who will give us an inside track.  Did you call and ask them to show up?”

Nathan waves his hand in front of him.  “No. No.  No.  I didn’t call anyone.  However, someone just showed up and requested to talk to the person in charge of making decisions and the two women that have turned the company around.”

My eyebrow raises even higher.  “What?”

He shakes his head and shrugs.  “I don’t know.  I’m just repeating what the receptionist has told me.  She has put the person in the main conference room on the first floor.”

I tilt my head and think for a moment.  Who the heck is downstairs and wanting to talk to us?  It couldn’t be any of the executives from WW Enterprises.  They don’t come out unannounced.  Right?

I sigh and push myself back from my desk.  “We need Dotty and Cliff in there too.”

Nathan nods as I pick up my phone and send a message to the others, requesting them to join Nathan and me in the conference room. 

Who would show up without an appointment and expect to have an audience with the executives of the company?  Granted, we aren’t big, but others still don’t impose on us like this. 

I take my time to gather my things and head out of my office. 

As we walk down the hall, Nathan asks, “Who do you think it is?  Maybe some manager in the company.”

I shake my head.  “I don’t know, but I don’t know if this is for the good or the bad.  I’m going to wait until after we have talked to the man before I decide.”

When we finally get to the first floor and round the corner, I spot Dotty and Cliff going into the conference room. 

At the same time, my gut keeps telling me that something is off.  However, I don’t know what. 

Nathan rushes forward and goes into the room, while I pause for a moment and take a deep breath.

The closer I get to the conference room, a little voice inside my head keeps telling me to run, but I shake it off and ignore it. 

Before I can change my mind, I plaster a smile on my face and walk into the conference room. 

A tall, handsome man in a tailored black suit greets the others while I stare at him for a moment.  He looks familiar, but I don’t know why. 

As I walk over to him, I extend my hand.  “Welcome to our company.  I’m Deanna Hunter.  I’m glad to meet you.”

He turns and smiles at me, but as soon as I say my name, his smile falters for a bit as he furrows his eyebrows.  However, he asks nothing. 

He shakes my hand, and his smile, once again, beams bright.  “I’m Ryan Smith, a VP at WW Enterprises.  Can you hold for a minute?  I need to make an important phone call to our CEO.  I’ll be right back.”

I nod.  “Sure.  Not a problem.  We will take a seat and wait for you.”

His smile widens as a spark in his eyes glimmers brightly.

I watch as he hurries out of the room. 

I glance back at the others.  “What was that all about?”