Cancelled by Elizabeth Ann West Read Free Book Online

Top and cranked up a band he worshiped in high school that was still making music, more than a decade later. His late father hated the Seattle grunge and West Coast geek rock that had frequented Johnathan's CD stereo. It was mostly Johnathan's shaggy hairstyle that his father griped about. Even doing six and out, a few quirks of Daniel Michael's Army days lingered in Johnathan's childhood.
    Johnathan was still jamming when he cruised into his paid spot in the parking garage. Slinging his black bag over his shoulder, he strolled into work on cloud nine. Eric stood sentry outside of Johnathan's office door.
    “You're early,” Johnathan said as he noticed him.
    “You're late.”
    Johnathan fumbled with his keys to unlock his door. Docking into his work station, he checked for a flashing light on his phone, a signal for voice mail. He looked at Eric, waiting for the reason for his pouncing.
    “We have a problem with the hydraulic lines for the Hedis prototype.”
    “What kind of problem? I'm expecting final approval today.”
    “I know. I know. I forgot you cut costs by allocating the lines we already had in inventory. You didn't resource them out.”
    Johnathan opened the company's job tracking software and sure enough, Eric was right. He had forgotten to add them to the resource list for the project because they were already in inventory, not a new purchase.
    “You used them, didn't you?”
    “No one allocated them in the system. They were from an old job. Our deal was anything left over...” Eric took a few steps backwards in defense. He tried to spread the blame.
    “So it wasn't in the damn computer. You've had the Hedis paperwork for two months. Didn't you think it'd be a good idea to familiarize yourself with the budget and cost-analysis?”
    Eric crossed his arms in front of him. Johnathan rarely pushed back when it came to accountability. “You know I don't look at that stuff–“
    “When are you going to realize all of this, everything you see here, is because Alex and I turn a profit? We aren't a charity for wayward engineers.” He paused to let his last statement sink in. “You have to start paying attention to the dollars and cents of your actions.” Johnathan rubbed his temples, trying to think of any other way to get a hold of more cables without re-ordering them. Visions of his company ten years down the road flashed through his mind, with Eric still mucking up his best laid plans.
    Eric's eyes wandered around Johnathan's small, but neat office. He stared at all of the blueprints on the wall; projects that he and Johnathan worked on together. “You know, there was a time before Alex when we had more fun and you weren't such an ass.” Eric laid a paper clip sculpture on Johnathan's desk before turning aroound to return to the Cave.
    Johnathan picked up the mangled office supply and held it between his finger and thumb. From the pliability of the joints, he figured Eric stood outside of his office a good fifteen to twenty minutes. A physical manifestation of his guilt over the screw up. Johnathan set the little star back on his desk and tried to think of a feasible solution. He'd cover for Eric and say he didn't realize the cables were already allocated on another project. But he wasn't going to face Alex until he had a plan to recoup the costs.
     
     
    By eleven o'clock, Johnathan still hadn't caught up with Alex about the Hedis headache. She was either on the phone or mysteriously out of her office. He figured he'd tell he at lunch, but was surprised to see her office dark and locked at 11:05, a sure sign she was already gone.
    Johnathan ordered in and kept plugging away at the Hedis budget, anticipating the call this afternoon to start prototyping. By sliding commissions on a few flexible items in the contract, he made up the cost of ordering the hydraulic cables. He immediately called the manufacturer's sales office and put in a rush order. Finishing that call, he noticed the light on in Alex's