BLAZE*
I sat at my desk on a Saturday morning and tried to calm my nerves. Taylor, our office manager, had left Thursday with no explanation. I don't know how the office would run smoothly without her. Jace, Tanner, Conner, and Wade would be arriving soon.
I'm so glad this happened when we were all on a break. The guys and I knew that we would hire crews to split up and run our units. We have been so busy building and landscaping that we hadn't realized just how backed up we were getting. That might be why Taylor left because we were all constantly in the field. Taylor had been here alone to cover the office. Jace had been here now and then when he worked on building designs, but other than that, Taylor must have been lonely. I've got to hand it to Taylor, though; she kept the office clean and in order. Taylor had been trying to tell us for a few months that building operations had been piling up. None of us had taken the time to listen, though. I looked at four mansions that needed to have been started, way before now, and thought about the lack of employees. We don't have anyone to handle the phones or call-in contractors. It's all just one big mess. All I could do right now was wait until the guys arrived, and instead of week two of our break, we would all get to work-hiring. We have a week to contact a new Secretary and fifteen people to help build these homes. More if we could swing it. We have the funds, that's for sure. We have nine men hired on that have helped with our builds thus far. The days of us all working together were gone.
I arrived thirty minutes early to rummage around all of the paperwork, building plans, and anything else I thought we would need. Taylor knew she was about to leave because she had everything labeled and coordinated by date and perfectly arranged to make it easy. Taylor had dates construction were to begin as well as dates for contractors and so on. Everything we would need Taylor had ready for us. I guess we all just drove her nuts. None of us took the time to get to know her either. I started to feel pretty bad about that right about now. I have tried calling her multiple times, but it would ring once and then go to voicemail. Even though she left like this, I would have Conner give her a bonus on top of her last check; Conner is the company's Treasurer. Ten thousand dollars should suffice. Taylor had been with us for almost two years now; from the very beginning, we opened Cunningham Construction and Landscaping. Taylor took a chance on us and had put up with all of our crap until now. I would also have Wade make sure Taylor's health benefits stay in place for up to one year; Wade is over the companies HR department.
***
Jace, of course, walked in first. He would be bringing Vega over tonight so that my parents could meet her. My uncle was supposed to be there as well; I guess we would need to wait and see if he showed up or not.
Jace looked exhausted. He has been up with Vega all week, and she has not been coping well with Lyra being in a coma. A week has passed, and Lyra hasn't woken up; I can't wait to meet her.
"How is Vega doing?" I asked with concern, hoping something had changed with Lyra.
"Not well, man. There's still no change with Lyra, and she can't sleep at night. She cries a lot, and I can't do anything but cuddle her." Jace said as he heaved a sigh.
"Oh man, Jace, I'm sorry, I know how close you are to Lyra. She will come out of this soon, you'll see," I said and hugged him.
Jace sat down and put his head down on the desk. I honestly don't know how to feel at this point. I have dreamt of Lyra, but had Lyra dreamt of me? I don't know, but I felt, in my gut, she was the one for me; I don't know her, I haven't even had a chance to meet her. I needed to get this business going for all our sakes. That's where my focus needed to be right now. I had to keep my head on straight.
Finally, Tanner arrived, and Wade and Conner showed up a few minutes later. They aren't hungover for once; that's awesome. Everyone sat down, and we got to business.
"Ok, the first order of business, we no longer have a secretary. Taylor has left. So we have no one to man the phones or file paperwork. She did all of the behind-the-scenes for us, like setting up roofing contractors and so on. Scheduled everything, and so on. So we're screwed on that front," I said.
"Oh, man," Conner groaned.
"Yeah, she was so cute," Wade said in a disappointed tone. Of course, he would take this horrible situation there. Keep it in your pants, man.
"Of course, that's all you guys are upset about right now," Tanner said, clearly annoyed. I'm glad I'm not the only one that was thinking that.
My face should tell everyone what I was thinking right then. When are they going to grow up? They are about to turn twenty-six years old. They are the oldest out of the four of us. I'm the youngest, but the twins, Tanner and I, were all born within a couple of months of each other. For now, we were all twenty-five years old; Conner and Wade act like teenagers. They both need to find someone to whip them into shape. They both can't be playboys forever.
"We are screwed, guys; get your heads out of your asses," I huffed.
"Taylor has been trying to tell us for a few months now that we were getting short-handed and backed up. Which brings me to the next order of business," I said while I lifted all of the building sketches.
"We have four homes that needed to have started over a month ago. I'm not sure how they slipped under the cracks. We will need to hire three crews worth, and each split up to run each build. Gone are the days of us all working together. Let's get the homes built, and then we can all work on the landscaping of each home together. Jace, no more interviews with clients for now until we get caught up," I said.
"Tanner, you can have the crew that's helped us so far, and this house will be yours," I handed Tanner the sketches.
"Conner and Wade, you get these two houses," I handed them the plans, and they nodded.
"I know we were going to take next week off as well, but that can't happen now. We have got to get these crews hired on, as well as a secretary, and get to work. Time is money, guys, and people tend to get a little impatient when it comes to their homes being built on time. I'm so sorry I let this happen. We just went from slowly getting new clients to a steady stream of them overnight. The last six months, we have built how many homes?" I asked.
"Eight, but we had how many guys that we hired on to help us. And all of these homes have been massive. We will need at least eight-nine men hired on to help with each house, to get them built and up to code on time. It's been us four and the nine guys we hired on to help us," Wade said in a questioning tone, as if afraid we may not be able to pull it off.
"Well," I trailed off. "I called the guys in that have worked for us. They know to be here Monday. You all can start at the house that Tanner has. I'll work on getting people hired, and we will start on the other homes once we have enough people to do so," I said.
"Ok, sounds like a plan," Conner said.
"Now, as far as a Secretary, does anyone know of someone reliable? We need someone pretty quick?" I asked, and Jace perked up.
"Well, I could ask Vega. She isn't taking classes this semester, and it would be good for her to have something to do, to keep her mind off of Lyra," Jace said and shrugged his shoulders.
"Do you think she would be up to it, though?" I asked. Poor girl had hardly slept in a week. Jace shrugged his shoulders again.
"The only reason why she isn't going to school is that she doesn't want to get ahead of Lyra. I think she would love a distraction right now. This would be good for Vega," Jace said while he waved his hands around in the air.
"Talk to Vega this afternoon, and then we will talk more about it tonight at dinner," I said.
"Ok, that sounds like a plan," Jace said and smiled.
"Alright, guys, let's get out of here. I'll see you all tonight at mom and Dad's, and then at seven a.m. Monday morning," I said as everyone groaned.
"Gotta beat the heat, guys," I said and shrugged. It's been getting up to one hundred and nine degrees or more every day.
"Alright, boss, see you then," Conner said and walked out the door. Then everyone else followed after him.
I sat there a few more moments and pushed a hand through my hair. How did things get so bad so quickly?
I thought about going to see Lyra. Even though she was in a coma, she still seemed to bring me comfort.