Page 9 of On the Fly
“Everything is on account with Rora Airlines.”
Of course, it was. He stood, pulling out his wallet for a tip then reached for her untouched glass of wine before heading for his room. If he were paying for this drink, he’d drink it.
Chapter 5
His fingers raced over the outdated calculator on his father’s desk as he listened to the mechanical ticking with each press of the addition key, totaling the numbers he entered. He shifted the fingers of his other hand down the column of numbers on the ledger. When he got to the end, he hit the equal sign and narrowed his eyes at the small screen. What the hell was wrong with his old man? How did he operate in this old-fashioned way? It was the fifth time he’d entered all these numbers into this calculator and the fifth time he’d received a different total. Ander blew out a breath. This was ridiculous.
He reached over for the equally old phone setup and pressed the intercom, ringing his assistant.
“Yes?”
“Can you come in here for a minute?”
“Sure thing.”
Ander leaned back in his seat with his gaze focused on the door. Within seconds, Mandy walked through.
“You rang?” The casualness set his teeth on edge, but he’d pick that battle another day.
“Can you create a spreadsheet with this information?” he asked, swinging a hand across all the paperwork on his desk. She looked over curiously then meandered closer to peer at the ledgers he’d been working from. She tilted her head to the side then nodded.
“Sure thing, but we have these on our internal database,” she said as she gathered the stacks of paper on his desk.
“Then why in the world did you hand me these hand-written maintenance reports like this?” he asked, snapping his seat to an upright position, irritated as hell that she’d wasted his time.
“Don’t get mad at me. This was the way your dad wanted them. He never trusted technology. Here, I’ll show you.” The assistant pushed the pages aside and leaned over his desk to the keyboard. She entered his personal security code before quickly and efficiently—something he didn’t know she had in her—brought forward a screen with line after line of assorted reports.
“What else is here?” he asked, quickly scanning the list of reports.
“Type in the search bar for whatever you want. Your security code has full access, so it’s all here. What do you want?” she asked.
“I want a bullet-point list of total expenditures by department for the last year.”
“By month?” she asked halfway through typing her search requirements.
“Yes, and by expense.”
She ran her fingers over the keys until the screen processed the request. Ander was shocked at how much such a simple act, something so basic to the success of a company, filled his heart with hope.
“Rosie in bookkeeping loads all the spreadsheet as far as I know.”
“Set up a meeting with her as soon as possible.” When Mandy just blinked at him, he asked, “Is there a problem?”
“Well, no, but Rosie won’t be back for another two and a half months. She left last month to fly home to have her baby and she’s got maternity leave now. It’s the most adorable baby girl. Do you want to see a picture?” Mandy pulled her phone out of her back pocket and opened it.
“No. Who’s in charge in Rosie’s absence?” Getting a full picture of anything in this company was akin to pulling teeth.
“Oh.” Mandy lowered her phone and blinked at him again. “No one. I mean, she set up people who handle the payroll and taxes and stuff, so we all get paid while she’s gone. But they don’t deal with the spreadsheets. Mr. J didn’t like anyone but Rosie touching his numbers, as he called them. She’ll update them when she gets back.” She waved a hand in the air as though having no one running company finances for four months seemed like the most reasonable thing in the world.
What on earth was his father up to? Had he exhibited signs of dementia without anyone realizing? Ander hadn’t noticed his father acting oddly. But then again, he’d never allowed any of his children to work at the airline or take part in anything having to do with it. So maybe this was par for the course.
The moment of unbridled joy at the possibility of a functioning company vanished. Luckily for them both, he was saved from responding or inquiring further when his cell phone alarm buzzed. He reached over, silencing the thing as he pushed out of his seat, crowding Mandy when she didn’t move out of his way.
“I’m going to the state of affairs meeting. Call me if you need me.”
Her constant state of casual disregard slipped as she reared away from him when he almost walked through her to get to the door. He wanted a team that could work cohesively and productively and anticipated his needs. He needed Lyla. Ander rubbed his forehead. Well, that decision just got made.
He’d follow through on his final clients with his consulting company, then he’d take an extended sabbatical. If he could make Rora a success, he’d offer to remain as a figurehead and investor for the consulting company. Otherwise, his partners would have to buy him out. Luckily, while Lyla worked for his company, she was loyal to him. He’d start transitioning her from Georgia to Sacramento for the time being.
