Page 38 of Nash

"Another pieceof advice?"

Nash raised hiseyebrows as he scooped up stew. "Aren't you full of them today?"

The older man grinnedat him. "It's kinda my specialty. Anyway, think carefully beforeyou do anything rash, like firing the young lady."

He inclined his head."Like you reminded me and, as I’m sure my lawyers wouldoffer the same, I’d be opening the company up for a lawsuit."

"That's not theonly thing." Jason looked at him soberly. "You need to seethis through."

Nash stared at himwith a frown. "What do you mean?"

"This might justbe what you need."

"I stronglydoubt that." He said with a snort.

"You never know,son. Life has a way of taking unexpected turns."

Chapter 10

He’d changedhis mind about the interview. A tersely worded email had been sent toher telling her he would put the trip back a day so he could do theinterview. She’d sent one back to him, telling him thanks.

No response had beenforthcoming, but she hadn’t expected one. After what hadhappened in his office, she’d been waiting on tenterhooks tofind out her fate, but it seemed as if she was still employed.

She’d sent amessage to the various departments to alert them about the interviewand had set up a viewing in the large common room on the ground floorwhere there was a flat screen television mounted on the wall.

She wanted the entirestaff to watch. She’d noticed at the Christmas party that hewas aloof and unapproachable to his staff and that had to change. Shewanted them to see the man behind the office and realize he was real.

She’d sent anemail to his dragon of an assistant and wasn’t sure she’dcome and join the others in watching the interview. The employeeswere gathered in the room and she’d just switched on the TVwhen she noticed the woman standing inside the door. At least, she’dshown her face.

She didn’t haveto ask for silence, because as soon as she switched to the station,the room was so quiet, you could hear a pin drop. The introductionswere made and Rosalyn made a few casual remarks with the intention ofputting him at ease.

"Nash Hamilton.You can’t understand how happy I am you agreed to come on myprogram. It's a pleasure to have you here with us and I know theaudience are looking forward to your wise insights."

He smiled at that, aslight lifting of his lips. "I’m not sure how wise myinsights will be. Thank you for having me." He said formally.

"You’vetaken time out of your extremely busy day to drop by and I reallyappreciate it. Let's start with the airline your company acquired.

There have been somerumors floating around that you twisted a few arms in order to getwhat you wanted. Some are saying that you’re ruthless in yourdealings with potential targets. Those aren’t my words, I’mjust letting you know."

"I’m notin the least offended. I’m a businessman. In business, thereare going to be winners and losers. It’s that simple. Theairline was running at an extreme loss and heading for bankruptcy.The owners were using sentimentality instead of sound business acumenand running the company into the ground."

Rosalyn nodded andmade a show by looking at her notes. "In just a few months, youhad it up and running. However, there was an incident with one ofyour pilots who’d worked for the original outfit. It wasdiscovered he was related by marriage to the previous owners. What doyou have to say about that and why wasn't he vetted?"

"He was and isan excellent pilot with misplaced loyalty."

"You have yourown lawyers representing him. Isn't that a conflict of interest?"

"No. He has aright to legal representation and he has seen the errors of his way.He was operating under the guidance of people he thought of asfamily."

"Speaking ofwhich," Rosalyn consulted her notes again and Allison felt herspine stiffening. "I know you don’t like to talk aboutyour personal life, but people would like to hear what went on inyour childhood. I assure you I’m not prying, but just givingyou a chance to tell your story. You were abused as a child."

Allison saw when hestiffened and then visibly tried to relax. "Yes."

"Your motherdied giving birth to you."

"She did."

"Your Dad didn’ttake it well."