Tim & Chuck

CH 15:: Hanah's Heart

"The simple answer is, we don't hold on too tightly or second guess."

Tim really hated Tuesdays.

Not only did the majority of the auditor visits come on Tuesdays, he also used those days as "checklist days." Mondays were used as "deadline desperation days", in which he finished up deadlines that transferred over from the weekend, as well as attended leadership board meetings. But Tuesdays were days that he specifically used to look ahead to the upcoming week in terms of impending projects and important items that needed to be addressed.

In addition to this though, Tuesdays were the dreadful days of leftover Monday drag, which Tim also hated.

While he was not a harsh boss, there was general understanding amongst Tim's immediate leadership that he was to be left alone on Tuesdays, outside of any emergencies.

Tim sat at his desk with a frown deeply etched into his face. Perry and Clayton, the CFO of The Journal, had detected a financial deficit within the expenditures of the company that was unaccounted for, which meant one of two things: clerical error or theft. And Tim was greatly irritated at both of these options, but if he had to choose one, he would pick the former.

On top of this unpleasant issue at hand, Tim was still feeling like he was playing catch up from the week that he had been out ill, and he was not in the mood for any problems that would add to his already long task list. Being that it was the last day of August, he definitely had tasks that had to be completed that day or there would be problems heading into September.

Oh, and he was out of coffee. Again. So that was wonderful, in the most sarcastic way he could say it.

Tim leaned forward wearily and pressed the button on his intercom. "Mandy, got a minute?"

In two seconds, Mandy stood in his office, electronic tablet in hand. "What's up, Tim?"

Tim allowed his brunette head to lull to one side in an attempt to temper his thinly-veiled aggravation; she deserved better than any unwarranted anger.

"Two things. One, if you have a spare five minutes, could you possibly grab me another cup of coffee? I promise I will pay you in chocolate. Two, tell Clayton and Perry that I want to meet with them in fifteen minutes if they is available. We need to get this black hole situation rectified before the fall quarter kicks in because we won't have time to correct it once the October scheduled events start rolling in."

Mandy nodded and typed on her tablet. "Yes and I will only accept the payment if it's Godiva or Ghirardelli. Also while I'm standing here, reminder that you have a briefing with Zara regarding the photos from the Blake-Cutter shoot. She has two final comps that are up for approval before she sends them to production."

Tim nodded and a soft smile played across his lips. "Done, and done. You're the best, Mandy."

Mandy grinned and turned out of his office only to come back five minutes later with a foam cup in hand.

In Tim's opinion, coffee covered a multitude of sins, even if they were lesser sins, like a dried out pen or email typo. But in the case of a financial problem, coffee only helped to alleviate the irritation.

Tim's usually warm green eyes stared stone-faced at the screen projected onto the wall as Clayton went over what he had discovered.

By the time this was over, he would probably have a permanent trench running between his eyebrows from frowning too much, Tim thought. It was just the kind of thing Nettie would say to him which, though the situation was less than ideal, he couldn't help but chuckle dryly.