Finally, a chance to clear things up. “What new position?”
He frowned, then said, “Oh, I suppose you didn’t get the news yet.”
“Apparently not. I only just got in the door before the meeting started.”
“Dear me, you must have been confused,” he said with a rumbling chuckle. “You’re our new director of marketing. That will be your full-time responsibility. The job is too big to be done on the side. You’ll be reporting to Mr. Hartwell in Sales, and you’ll have an office there. Of course, there will also be a commensurate salary increase.” He named a figure that I’m sure made my eyeballs pop out. It was a real, professional salary, nearly twice what I’d been making before joining MSI.
“Thank you, sir,” I said, trying not to show my shock. “I’ll do my best.”
He stood and ushered me toward the door. “I have every confidence in you.”
Mr. Hartwell was waiting for me in the hallway. “I’ll walk you to your new office,” he said. “I’m looking forward to having you in our department.”
The sales department was pretty much what I remembered from my first day at MSI. Compared to the executive suite, it was noisy and chaotic, with voices coming out of all the individual offices up and down the main hallway. Most of them appeared to be talking on the phone or into the crystal ball communicator devices the magical world used in addition to phones. Mr. Hartwell walked me all the way down the hall, almost to where his office was, before opening a door for me. There was a small outer office with a secretary’s desk and a door leading into an inner private office. Considering that I’d spent my last few months in a broom-closet-sized office behind the counter at a farm-and-ranch-supply store, this would be like going to work in the Taj Mahal.
“Here you go,” Mr. Hartwell said. “I’ll leave you to it. Let’s meet this afternoon to talk about your customer conference idea. Say, three?” He was gone before I could respond, but I didn’t have anything on my calendar to conflict with the meeting, unless there was something else they’d neglected to tell me about my new job.
My pulse quickened as I stepped across the threshold into my own office. I had moved up in the world in a big way. But my executive chair was already occupied by a redheaded elf woman. Her long legs were stretched out and propped on the desk, and her fingers laced behind her neck. She was staring into space, her eyes unfocused.
Apparently, I had the wrong office, which wasn’t the most auspicious start to my new job. I turned to sneak out and find Mr. Hartwell, but before I made it out the door there was a high-pitched squeak behind me.