Moving On

Chapter 7 - Part 4

Tim Russell was sitting in his office when he heard the quick raps on the door. He glanced toward the door just as his a member of his staff, Marc, pushed the door ajar and popped his head in.

"Tim, Mr. Hayes is here."

"Here?"

"Yeah, he's in our department."

"What?" Tim got up from his seat and went over to the door. Marc stepped aside for him to take a look. Tim's eyes widened and he turned to Marc. "What's he doing here?"

"I don't know," his staff mumbled and hastily returned to his desk as Mr. Hayes neared.

Tim took a glance around and saw the question on everyone's face, the same question he had just asked Marc.

Though Mr. Hayes was the one who improved upon his parents' equipment and knew how to install each and every one on his own, he'd never ventured into the installation department. Not even when there was a major project in progress.

Barely anyone in the office ever spoke much to him. There was plenty of gossip about him, but no one ever had a real conversation with Mr. Hayes.

The company had many events for the staff, but he never attended any of them except for the annual company dinner. And even for that, he never stayed long. He would sit, not talking to anyone, for an hour or so before disappearing.

All the staff knew him as a man of less than a few words.

"Mr. Hayes, is something wrong? What can I do for you?" He couldn't help wondering what he'd done to bring their elusive boss down to his department.

"Do you have a spare team for an installation tomorrow?" Mr. Hayes asked, strolling into his office. He settled casually onto the available chair and waited for Tim to return to his.

Tim sighed quietly, glad that Mr. Hayes hadn't come down to fire him. "How many men do you need? What scale of installation would it be?" He figured it must be an extremely big and important project for Mr. Hayes to see to it himself.

In all the years he'd worked here, Tim had never seen Mr. Hayes personally handling a project. The sales department would liaise with his installation department. Mr. Hayes was never involved.

"A two-story house."

Tim's face blanked. "You bought a new house?"

He regretted his question the moment it was out of his mouth.

"Do you have a team to spare?" Mr. Hayes asked, ignoring his question.

"Yes, of course. I just need to know the system to install, the address, and the time for the installation."

After giving Tim the details he needed, Mr. Hayes told Tim to get all the equipment ready by the end of the day so that he could inspect it personally.

Inspect it personally?

It wasn't a huge project, but it was undoubtedly an important one.

"Not a problem. I'll have it ready and personally see to the installation."

He'd already made up his mind about going down to the installation site the moment Mr. Hayes had asked. It obviously mattered enough for the boss to take care of it himself, so he had to make sure that his men would be on their best performance.

Besides, he wanted to prove himself right. He was betting that this had something to do with a woman.

Mr. Hayes nodded and left.

Tim leaned back in his chair and thought about the gossip that his wife had told him. He'd heard quite a few rumors about how some of the female staff had shamelessly tried to throw themselves at Mr. Hayes, but he never gave any of them a second look.

The more Tim thought about it, the more interested he was in seeing with his own eyes the woman who had moved the ice mountain.

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