Love Under the Mistletoe: A Small Town Christmas Love Story

“What did you hear?” he asked. It would be nice to know what the other employees were saying. No one seemed to give him real answers since he was the big boss. They always told him what they thought he wanted to hear.

“Just that the staff of ECT isn’t excited about the move. There’s a lot of talk about a lot of the main staff quitting,” she replied. “And, some of the other department heads are wondering why Paradigm is adding another division here.”

Nathan nodded listening. He’d heard similar rumors, but his course was set. He couldn’t change things now even if he wanted to.

“And what do you think?” Nathan asked her, leaning back in his chair. He found that he liked her. It was nice to have someone to talk to today. The rest of the office was empty and he was tired of being alone. Talking with Fauna would be better than sitting and thinking of Holly and the things he couldn’t have.

“You want my opinion?” Fauna looked thoughtful. “If I were in charge, I’d sell Elements to someone else. Paradigm already has three other divisions that do that work. It’s overkill for the company and will just lead to resentment and redundancy. If you sold it to a smaller buyer, you wouldn’t have to worry about it as competition. You could probably even sell it at a profit right now.”

“I have to say I haven’t heard that advice yet,” Nathan told her.

She grinned. “I think outside of the box.”

“Who do you think Paradigm should sell to?” Nathan asked. “Since you seem to have thought this out.”

“You’re going to laugh at my idea,” she told him. “But, I’m going to tell you anyway.”

“Go for it. I’ll do my best not to laugh,” he promised.

She looked at him with pale green eyes full of old knowledge. “You. You should buy it.”

He couldn’t help it. He did laugh. “Me? But I’m the CEO of Paradigm.”

“You’re also the creator of the Quad-Ram. Elements is known for new and unique solutions. Can you imagine if you were the owner? You wouldn’t have to be the CEO and run things.” She grinned at him.. “You could work in the company as and create things like the Quad-Ram again. It would be a perfect match.”

Nathan shook his head. “And in your fantasy world, what happens to Paradigm?”

“They get a new CEO. There’s plenty of people gunning for your job,” she told him. “Some of the rumors, especially about RentTech, don’t sound so good for you.”

“Thanks for the warning,” he said dryly. It wasn’t anything he hadn’t heard before. Everyone wanted to be the CEO. It was part of why he had to be ruthless.

She held up her hands. “Don’t shoot the messenger,” she said. “I’m just telling you what I’ve heard. Interns hear a lot of gossip since everyone seems to forget we’re there until it’s time for coffee.”

Nathan had to agree. It was easy to forget that the interns were there, quietly working in the background.

“You hear anything else interesting?” he asked her.

“The board is meeting in an hour,” she told him. “They say it’s just for an end of the year thing.”

Anxiety balled up in Nathan’s stomach. He knew he had no reason to be nervous, yet there it was anyway. He pushed it away. He was making Paradigm money again. He had no reason to be nervous.

“Well, I should be getting back to work,” Fauna said, rising gracefully to her feet. “Anyway, thanks for listening to my crazy idea. I’m actually a really big fan of the Quad-Ram. I’d love to see something like that again.”

“Thanks for the files, and the crazy idea,” Nathan told her, picking up the folder.

“Any time,” Fauna replied. “Merry Christmas, Mr. Reed. I hope you get what you want.”

“Thank you. You too.”

She gave him one last smile before exiting his office.

He played with the folder in his hands, thinking over the conversation. His thoughts drifted to the laptop back at the Elements’ R&D department. He still had ideas he wanted to try. Things that would change laptops forever.

What if...

He closed his eyes and let himself imagine what it might look like if he followed Fauna’s idea. He could afford to purchase Elements easily. He even knew a couple of people who’d would make an excellent CEO. He imagined being able to go to the R&D department and simply work on new technologies without the stress and worry of running a company.

Granted, his bank account would suffer, but he was a billionaire. He had more money than he could really spend at this point, even with the purchase of Elements.