Whatever the next step was, it was still going to be just as hard as it had been before, only now they'd have two new plants, and they'd have created four hundred jobs. It would be a little feather in her cap, no doubt about it. But compared to her father, compared to the man who had built the company from the ground up, it was only a little thing.
Morgan swallows her thoughts as footsteps outside approach the door. A knock.
"Yes?"
Brad Lang's been back at work for two days, and to her very real surprise, he's been as helpful as he's ever been. Maybe more.
"You wanted to get a report?"
"Come in."
The door opens. He's not any different than he was before. But at least now he's doing his job instead of trying to do hers.
"Just got done with a walk-around. No problems. Still thirty minutes until lunch, so they're just…" He makes a wave with his hand. "Workin'."
"The new guys are settling in alright?"
"Sure. No problems. You want me to go check the other location? Get any information they've got?"
Morgan shuts her eyes. "Yeah, sure."
"Oh, one more thing," he says. He steps up to the desk. Her office isn't large. There's not much point in building large offices, before the factory's even finished going up. And even once it is
up, the larger office won't be in this plant. But this is the location with the new guys, and that means it's the place she ought to watch more closely.
"Is there something wrong?"
"Well, ain't nothing wrong, per se." He's close to her, now. A little too close, but maybe she's just imagining things.
"What is it, then?"
"You want to go out some time, little lady?"
She looks at him. He's not a bad-looking man. Some women would even find him attractive, Morgan figures. Not that he's her type, but she could find something to like about him.
There's a lot she could find not to like about him, though. Not the least of all being that he's her direct subordinate. Nor the fact that he seems to think that it's his personal mission to 'set her straight,' whatever the hell that's supposed to mean.
There's a lot she could find to like about him, if she put in the effort.
And there's a lot more that she could find not to like, and with a lot less effort.
She keeps her face as straight as she can. She's rejecting the man, not trying to humiliate him. "No, thanks."
"Some other time, maybe?"
"No, not some other time. But if you leave, I'll forget this happened."
He looks at her. His lips pinch together like a man who doesn't like to be told 'no.'
"Yeah. I'll get to the eastern campus. Give you a call when I get there."
"Brad?"
"Yeah?"
"Don't ever come to me like this again."
He doesn't slam the door. But that doesn't mean that Morgan can't see how angry he is about it.