The Other Side of Greed by Lily Zante
Chapter Sixteen
KYRA
“That man annoys the hell out of me. I can’t stand him. He’s a ... He’s a ... UGH.” I stamp my foot like a child having a tantrum. I’ve come to check on Fredrich. It’s also because I need to vent my fury, because I’ve just finished telling him about my conversation with Brad earlier today.
“Whoa.” Fredrich leans back on the couch, his arm still in a sling, resting on his thigh. “He really gets to you.”
“I was trying to be nice. I thought I’d let him in on our vision and future plans to see what he thought of it.”
Fredrich blows out a loud breath, but he doesn’t say anything, and that irritates me even more.
“Don’t you agree?” I press him for an answer. “He doesn’t see our vision. He thinks that letting vulnerable people open their own businesses is a waste of time and money. This surprises me because I would have expected him to be more understanding given that he helped people when he was on his travels. There’s a disconnect between what he says and what he does.”
“Have you been watching him closely the entire time?” Fredrich runs his good hand through his hair. I don’t like the way he hesitates, as if he’s trying to find an excuse for Brad’s behavior, for his point of view, for who he is. “You can be quite scary at times.”
“Me? You think I’d make Brad Hartley scared?” This is ridiculous.
“Maybe he hasn’t seen first-hand what a difference Redhill has made because he hasn’t seen how people have benefitted. We know, because we’ve seen our employees’ lives transform. He hasn’t had that vantage point. If he doesn’t know what people are capable of, then you can’t blame him for being ignorant.”
Fredrich has a point. Part of the reason I do what I do is because transforming people’s lives brings me such a sense of accomplishment. It gives me immense joy to know that someone who lived in fear of her husband, and could barely look me in the eye when talking to me, is now one of our model employees and a team leader. I’ve seen this many times over.
“But he was convinced that we’d be wasting our time and money setting up small business units.”
“You told him about that?”
“I told him about that. Simona told me to be nice, so I was being nice, or so I thought, by sharing our future vision.”
“He’s only been with us for a few days, Kyra. Give the guy a chance. Have his references checked out?”
“I only got one. His resume looked good.”
“Maybe it’s something else then.” Fredrich looks at me oddly.
“What?”
“I sense a love-hate thing going on between you both.”
“Oh, for the love of all things sparkly. Not you too.”
He roars with laughter. “Who else has noticed?”
“Please stop.” I place my palms together, prayer-like, and point them at him. “Please.”
“Simona?” he guesses.
“Who else?” The woman has come to see it as a personal crusade, trying to get me paired up.
“You have been more uptight than usual,” Fredrich comments.
We are not going to have this conversation. “He’s bossy. Don’t you find him to be bossier than our usual hires?” I say this having observed Brad for a few days. He has an air about him that is not submissive, but more dominant.
Fredrich considers this. “You have to remember that he was in a different industry before, working with start-ups in San Jose. This is probably his first time working for a nonprofit.”
“He does have a way about him. Like he wants to be in charge,” I challenge. I can’t explain it in words. “Maybe it’s a man thing.”
“A. Man. Thing?” Fredrich rests his plastered arm on his lap. “Which reminds me, I’ll be fine and back to work in time for Elias’s fight event. Don’t you worry about a thing. I’ve been taking care of everything.”
Elias’s fight. I haven’t thought about it at all. We have an event organized for the night of Elias’s next fight against Trent Garrison, the guy Elias first won the title from, and then subsequently lost the rematch to.
It was Fredrich’s idea to have some sort of bigger food night on the night of the fight. We’re having a big screen put up, and more food, and security. It’s our way of making the fight accessible to people who ordinarily might not get a chance to see it, but it’s also a way of doing our bit to support Elias after all the support he has given us. All of it has been genuine and under the radar rather than for the benefit of the TV cameras.
This is why I need people like Fredrich in my team. Even when he’s not fully able-bodied, he’s still pulling his weight.
I get up to leave. “This is why I want you rested and well, so that you can run with this when you get back.”
“We’ll still need all hands on deck.”
“Everyone at the factory is pitching in that night.”
“And our newest recruit?” Fredrich asks. “Will he be there?”
I roll my eyes. “I haven’t told him yet. I suppose I should.”
“Yeah, damn right you should. It’s a big event for us.” Fredrich gets up and sees me to the door. “I’m definitely getting the love-hate vibe.”
“You’re delusional.” There’s definitely a hate vibe effect going on. Brad Hartley has opinions and a way about him that borders on presumptive.