The Eye of the Beholder (10)

[Edith Glass]

“Fielding, my office, pronto,” Cary’s boss growled over the inter-office phone.

Cary sighed, wondering what now. For the past few weeks things had been tense at work. The company was loosing money due to the current economy and three people had already been laid off. He prayed he wasn’t the next to go. He and Hugh had finally, after a month of searching, found an apartment they both agreed was perfect for them. If he lost his job they’d be back to square one or worse. Like many financial advisors Cary was much better managing his clients’ money than his own. Not that he was poor but he did tend to live paycheck to paycheck since budgeting for himself was not a skill that he handled well.

After putting his computer on Stand-by and straightening his tie he walked down the hall to face whatever Mr. Rickerson had in store.

“Take a look at this,” Rickerson said the moment Cary entered his office, moving to one side so Cary could see his computer screen.

‘Oh boy’, was Cary’s first thought. The second was that whoever had sent the email was dead on target. Then, after glancing at Rickerson for permission, he clicked the link at the bottom of the email. “Not bad, not bad at all. A lot better than what we have now,” he said after looking at the mockup of the writer’s ideas for their website.

“I agree completely which is why I want you to handle getting this done.”

“Why me?”

Rickerson looked at him. “Because in all the time you’ve been with us you’ve proven that you have the ability to handle several tasks at once which is more than I can say for most of my employees. I know it’s not your area of expertise but you’re smart, probably smarter than the man we hired to do the original site considering what we ended up with. I’ve always wanted to change it but after that experience, considering he came highly recommended, well frankly I was leery. At least what we have works to a degree.”

“A small one,” Cary said in agreement. “Alright, I’ll get in touch with this man, or woman, hard to tell with that name, and set up a meeting.”

“Do that and then get back to me. If this Kelly person can deliver and at a reasonable price we’ll give it a go.”

Cary clicked the ‘forward’ button to send the email to his computer and then went back to shoot off a reply to Kelly Moriarty asking when it would be convenient for them to come to the office for a meeting to discuss their proposition.