Backing You Up Page 7

  Beau laughed. He actually laughed. “Cora, you know those things are not true, so why let them bother you? Rogan knows it isn’t true either. I can talk to him if you would like.”

  “No!” I quickly answered. “Don’t do that. Then he will really think I’m a spoiled brat.”

  “You are not a spoiled brat,” he said firmly. “Never allow yourself to think that. Rogan can be a little rough around the edges. He’s really a very good man. He’s respectable and he will be your biggest ally. You guys just need to work through this initial hurdle. Soon, you will come to understand why your father depended on him so much.”

  I scoffed before grimacing. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to do that.”

  He chuckled. “I think you two are going to get along just fine. You are both stubborn and intent on being the best. Healthy competition is a very good thing in the workplace.”

  “I do like to win,” I said with a smile.

  He nodded with a big smile on his face. “I know you do. So does he.”

  “Thank you, Beau. Really, thank you for just being here for me. I know I’m going to make a lot of mistakes. I just pray none of them are so egregious that I can’t fix them.”

  “Hold on to your humility, and always try. That’s all any of us can do. I’m going to go. I have a meeting with a client and I don’t want to be late.”

  “Have we lost anyone yet?” I asked as he stood up.

  He didn’t need me to clarify. “No. I’m making sure that doesn’t happen. I’m meeting with every one of our customers to let them know nothing is going to change. They can expect the same quality service they have always gotten.”

  “Thank you,” I told him.

  “You are welcome. This is my job.”

  I nodded as he walked out. My dad had always called him the best firefighter a guy could have on his team. I understood what he was saying. Beau was busy putting out all the little fires my father’s passing caused. He was making sure customers were confident in my ability to lead the company.

  Once again, I felt like the entire weight of the world was resting on my shoulders. I couldn’t let Beau down. I couldn’t let my dad down. I had to do this, and I had to do it well.

  That meant swallowing my pride and facing Rogan. Thankfully, I had the good sense to dress in slacks and flats instead of my short, tight skirt. I realized now that Rogan’s casual dress wasn’t because he was a rebel—well, maybe a little bit because he was a rebel—but mostly, it was out of necessity. I was going to have to dress in pants unless I knew I wasn’t going to be making a visit to the yard.

  I could do this. I could be one of the team. I could show Rogan I wasn’t a spoiled little princess. I snatched my purse, wincing when I realized the bag was ridiculously expensive. I was beginning to see why Rogan said what he did.

  I needed to scale it down a notch.

  Chapter 11

  Rogan

  I sipped the last of my coffee before rinsing the mug and putting it in the dishwasher. I hoped like hell the day would go better. Things had ended on a sour note yesterday.

  I felt a little guilty for what I’d said to Cora, but it was the truth. I wasn’t going to bullshit her. She needed to know she couldn’t flit around and just look pretty all the time.

  I told myself I wasn’t being chauvinistic. I really had a hard time taking her seriously when all I could think about was how kissable her lips were. I hated that I was attracted to her. It was difficult to be serious when I wanted to push her up against a wall and shove my tongue down her throat.

  She was Ben’s daughter. She was Oakley’s sister. That was part of the frustration. I wanted her and I could not have her. I couldn’t even have her a little bit.

  I walked out the door and hopped in my truck. Cora was meeting me at the yard. I assumed she said she would meet me there because she couldn’t bring herself to be in the same vehicle as me. I didn’t mind. I didn’t really want that awkward, tense ride either. She could find her own way.

  I parked my truck and headed into the office.

  “Good morning, sunshine," Vida said with her usual bright smile.

  “Hey there, beautiful. You’re looking especially gorgeous today.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Honey, save that charm for the young ladies. I’m old enough to be your grandma.”

  “I don’t think so,” I said with a lazy grin. “Maybe my mama.”

  She threw a Post-it pad at me. “Bite your tongue.”

  I laughed, putting the pad on her desk. “How are you this morning?”

  “Good, but I can’t say everyone here is good.”

  “Uh oh. That does not sound good.”

  She shook her head. “Never is. Where’s your pretty sidekick?”

  “She’s meeting me here.”

  “How is that going?” she asked.

  I sighed, knowing I needed to be loyal to the boss, no matter who it was. “She’s got a lot to learn.”

  She smiled. “That’s a very political answer. Stay strong.”

  “I will. I’m going to head out and check things out.”

  “Good luck. You might want to wear a hardhat.”

  I chuckled and headed back down the ramp. I could hear a train pulling out. That was always a good sound to hear. I stopped when I heard raised voices coming from the mechanic shop. I watched Derek lay into one of the crew. The guy was a hard ass and had a giant chip on his shoulder. I didn’t particularly care for the man, but he did run a tight ship and rarely did he ever have any late shipments. Most of his crew respected him, but damn if he didn’t make it tough to like him.

  “He’s always like that,” Granger said, sauntering toward me with his signature leggy, cowboy walk. We’d been friends for quite some time but it had been a while since we’d seen each other.

  “I can’t believe someone hasn’t knocked him on his ass yet,” I said.

  Granger chuckled. “Derek isn’t a small man. He’s got a big mouth, and half of us aren’t sure if he can back it up and don’t want to find out.”

  “Why don’t you let me promote you?” I asked. “It would save me a lot of HR bullshit. This guy gets complaints at least once a week. He’s a lawsuit waiting to happen.”

  “Nah, he just likes to blow off steam now and again.”

  “There are other ways to blow off steam. That seems a little like overkill.”

  “He’s setting a standard,” he said.

  “It isn’t a standard that is going to earn him any loyalty,” I argued.

  “Nope. No one likes the bastard, but everyone does their job.”

  “Everyone here likes you and would love to work under you. I could make it happen. Hell, Vida would be thrilled to have you locked in that little trailer with her.”

  His deep laugh filled the area. “That woman terrifies me. I don’t think I could handle her.”

  “I don’t think anyone handles Vida,” I said with a laugh. “Come on. I’ll run it by Beau but I’m the one that makes these decisions.”

  He shook his head, his eyes squinting as he watched Derek and one of the new guys. “I like what I do, and I don’t want to climb the ladder. I’ve gone as far as I care to. I like leaving when my time is up, and I like not having responsibility.”

  I shook my head. Granger and I had started at the railyard at the same time. I knew right away that I was going to climb to the top. Granger didn’t care to. He was a lazy cowboy who enjoyed fishing, drinking, and women. He liked the simple things in life and didn’t mind his two-bedroom trailer down by the lake. That was his paradise.

  “But you could do it so much better,” I insisted. “These guys would follow you into hell.”

  “They follow him into hell every day.”

  “But they’d do it with a smile on their face for you,” I argued. “Look at him.”

  He kicked the ground in front of the other guy. If he kicked dirt on me, I would knock him on his ass. I never would have put up with that bullshit when I was a railman.


  He offered me a lazy smile, showing off a full set of perfectly white teeth that looked even whiter against his tanned skin. “He’s been extra dickish lately. Something has crawled up his ass good and high.”

  “Why? What happened?”

  “Fuck if I know.”

  “Maybe I should talk to him,” I said, hoping he would tell me that was a bad idea.

  He folded his arms over his flat stomach. The guy’s arms were cut. He was lanky but muscular. Loading freight was better than a gym workout. “And what would you say to him?”

  “I don’t know. I’d ask him why he was being such an asshole.”

  “Yeah, I’m sure he would love to hear that.”

  “Is it work? Home? I can’t keep letting this shit fly. He blamed the crew walking out on the changing of ownership, but is that true?”

  He winced, bobbing his head back and forth. “I think it’s a little bit of both.”

  “Do the guys want him gone?”

  “The guys are just happy to have a steady paycheck.”

  I blew out a breath. I didn’t like the idea of guys working just because they had to. I wanted people to like their job. I didn’t want them to have one foot out the door all the time, looking for the next job with a boss that treated them with respect. That was how we lost good employees.

  “We can do better,” I said, more to myself than him.

  “Why are you here?” he asked. “It’s early and you don’t come out here unless someone is in trouble.”

  “I was supposed to be meeting your new boss out here. We came out yesterday, but with the loss of employees, I got stuck helping load some freight. I didn’t get a chance to show her around. I told her to meet me here. I guess she’s running late.”

  “Are you trying to run her off?” he asked. “You don’t want her to be out here.”

  “No, I’m not trying to run her off,” I said defensively. “Why? Why do you ask that?”

  “You’re bringing her out here to meet him,” he said, nodding at Derek who was now laying into another guy. “She’s going to turn and run in the opposite direction. He is not exactly the best member of the welcoming committee.”

  “She’s got to meet her people, good, bad and in between.”

  “I’m good. I’ll meet her. I heard she was a looker.”

  I frowned, suddenly not appreciating the way he was talking about her. “She’s the new owner and deserves to be treated with respect.”

  He turned and looked at me with a big grin. “Hmm, sounds like someone has a little crush.”

  “She’s the boss. I don’t have a crush. She’s Ben’s daughter.”

  “All right, okay,” he said, holding up his hands. “What do you think about her?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t think anything. She’s the lady in the big chair, and that’s all there is to know.”

  “I mean, what do you think about her running the company? Is she capable?”

  “Does it matter?” I asked.

  “Damn, when did you become such a politician?” he asked.

  “I’m not trying to be a politician, but it does no good to question what is already done. All I can do is go along with it. I’m trying to do the best I can to make it go well. I’m just going with the flow.”

  “Bullshit. I heard she’s young and doesn’t know shit about trains or running a business. We could be staring down a barrel.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “It means, are we on board a sinking ship?”

  I didn’t want to badmouth her out of respect for her position. “She’s young,” I said. “Young doesn’t necessarily mean dumb. She’s been in college forever. I would think she picked something up. Plus, I’m sure she had to inherit some of her father’s smarts.”

  “She’s been spoon-fed her whole life. How is anyone like that going to handle a bunch of roughnecks like this? They will eat her for breakfast. She isn’t going to be able to run it like he did. I’m going to miss the guy.”

  I didn’t disagree with him. “I guess we’ll see. Until then, we do what we can to make sure we hold on to our jobs. I happen to like my job. I don’t want to go back to being a roughneck like you.”

  “You are far too pretty to be getting all sweaty and stinky like the rest of us.”

  “I could still beat your ass eight ways to Sunday,” I growled.

  “I doubt it. You might break a nail.”

  I heard the sweet purr of an engine coming our way. A cloud of dirt was behind the little red car. I wasn’t sure if I was happy or pissed to see her. She was late. I didn’t like tardiness. I knew her father never would have accepted it either. I got the feeling she wasn’t taking any of this seriously. She wasn’t taking her job seriously. She wasn’t going to make a good impression if she didn’t start stepping up.

  “Who in the hell is that?” he asked.

  I slapped his shoulder. “That would be your new boss.”

  He groaned, rolling his eyes. “Shit. I guess I’ll be putting in some applications around town. That is a train wreck waiting to happen. We’re all fucked.”

  I didn’t say anything. She wasn’t exactly doing herself any favors showing up in her fancy little car. If she was wearing another little skirt and heels, I was giving up. I couldn’t help her if she wasn’t going to listen.

  I knew Beau was counting on me, but I could not do it. I could not tolerate her lack of care for her job. It wasn’t just her job on the line. Hundreds of people counted on the checks the company she led paid. I needed to do my best to make her understand this was not a game.

  Granger walked away, shaking his head and mumbling under his breath. I stood and waited. She was going to have to come to me. I wasn’t going to track her down. I put my hands on my hips and watched her climb out of the little car. She was wearing pants. I supposed that was one step in the right direction, but she had a long way to go.

  Chapter 12

  Cora

  The man was looking at me like I was something he’d stepped in. I shouldn’t have expected anything different. I was late. He was lucky I’d showed up at all.

  I walked confidently, pretending like I owned the world. I needed to fake it until I made it.

  “Good morning,” I said.

  He made a big show of checking his watch. “I think we got our wires crossed. I said to be here at nine. It’s almost ten.”

  “It’s nine forty,” I corrected.

  “It isn’t nine.”

  I wasn’t going to let him bully me. I reminded myself I was the boss. “I had things to do.”

  “Have you ever seen the movie Cast Away?” he asked.

  I wrinkled my nose, searching my memory banks. “I don’t know. I think so.”

  “He was pretty set on being on time. We work for a railroad company.”

  “I think I own a railroad company.”

  He flinched. “Exactly. The reputation of the company is dependent on our ability to deliver on time. Ten minutes late, twenty minutes, forty minutes? It’s a big deal. You have to think of it as a row of dominoes. It all adds up, and in a nutshell, it pisses off clients because inevitably it costs them money.”

  His little story was nothing I had not heard before. It was my father’s story. I had heard it a hundred times. “I’m here and you standing here lecturing me is only taking more time. Let’s do this.”

  He shrugged. “Fine. We’ll start with the building over here.”

  My eyes drifted to the large open building where the action seemed to be happening. I thought he would want me to see the actual operations and meet the people who worked there. I followed along, listening as he spoke about the operations. I was glad he was showing me. I did need to know it.

  “Are we going over there or are you purposely keeping me away from them?”

  He sighed, his hands resting in the front pockets of his jeans. “You got a glimpse of Derek yesterday, but I need to warn you.”

  “Warn me about what?” My eyes were on the grou
p of men in the warehouse. They didn’t look happy.

  “Derek is in a bit of a state this morning.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “It means he is really good at his job, but he can be a little rough around the edges.”

  I bit back a laugh. If he only knew that was exactly how Beau had described him. “He’s like you?”

  He scowled at me. “No, he isn’t like me. Derek is rough. He’s good at his job. We have come to depend on him.”

  Again, he was essentially repeating what Beau had told me about him. “I didn’t think he was bad.”

  As if to prove my point, Derek began to shout at a man.

  “And that’s what I mean,” he muttered.

  I began to walk inside. I was hoping to diffuse the situation. I may not have been experienced in management, but I did have common decency. Derek was damn near spitting in the man’s face. I looked back at Rogan, who was watching the scene unfold as well.

  “You’re a piece of shit. You are trash. You will never be anything. I told you three fucking times to check this shit in. What the fuck are you doing?”

  “I needed a drink of water,” the guy protested. “You said I needed to stay hydrated.”

  “I didn’t say lounge around and drink like you are in a bar. You are such a fucking moron. Do you know this job is about the best you will ever have? You are never going to be more than what you are right now. You will be moving boxes for the rest of your days. This is as good as it gets. This job pays well. I would suggest you act like you want it.”

  “Yes, sir,” the man murmured.

  I stepped forward. Rogan reached out to grab my forearm. “Don’t,” he whispered

  Derek turned to sneer at Rogan, barely even looking at me. “I don’t need your shit right now,” he growled. “This isn’t bring your little sister to work day.”

  I heard Rogan’s sharp intake of breath and knew he was about to say something. I didn’t need him defending me. I was going to be strong. I was the boss.

  I relied on what Oakley and Beau told me. I stepped forward, pushing my way into Derek’s personal space.