This is the fourth part in a series, so if you have not already done so, you might want to read Part I, Part II, and Part III before continuing.
Tony wasn’t thinking about anything much as he drove Hugh home from the office late that night. Hugh was usually so absorbed in his phone that Tony didn’t have to think about anything other than where they were going. But tonight Hugh said, out of nowhere, “What do you think of Chris?”
Tony was taken aback by the sudden change in their routine. “Who? Me, sir?”
“Do you see anyone else in this car?”
“No, sir. I just – Sorry, sir. I just wasn’t expecting you to ask me, that’s all. Actually, I was just thinking today that he’s a lot like you.”
Tony saw in the rearview mirror that Hugh’s head jerked backward in surprise and his brow crinkled. “Really? How so?”
“All he ever does is work, sir. You keep sending him on all these errands all over town, and never give him a break. Then he has to go to school during the day. He probably does his homework at midnight. I’m afraid one of these days he’s just going to drop dead.”
“Really? He never complained to me about feeling overworked.”
“Like I said, he’s a lot like you. He has energy the rest of us just don’t have.”
Hugh looked out the window for a while, apparently lost in thought. After a while he said, “You don’t think I’m too hard on him, do you?”
Tony hated these questions. How was he supposed to answer without either losing his job or sounding like a brownnoser? He deliberated for a minute before saying, “I think the guy could use a break.”
Never one to waste time once he had made a decision, Hugh broached the subject with Chris the very next day. He waited until Chris was bringing him his lunch before saying, “Chris, you’ve been doing well. How about you take the afternoon off?”
It was a test, even though Hugh himself wasn’t aware it was a test. Consciously, he was only aware of wanting to be seen as a good boss who occasionally gives his employees time off. Subconsciously, he knew he would have written off Chris forever if he had accepted.
Fortunately for Chris, he was still thinking about Sandra and those lips of hers. He was also thinking about other parts of her body, but he tried to keep it to just her lips when he was in Hugh’s presence, even if they were just thoughts. Better safe than sorry.
By this time Chris knew his boss well enough to know he didn’t normally offer time off, so the question put him on edge. “Did I do something wrong?”
“On the contrary. You’ve been working hard and doing everything asked of you. I just thought you might like to take a break.”
Chris scrambled for something to say as Hugh unwrapped his chopsticks and started rubbing them together. “This is such a busy time for you. Why don’t we wait until things have slowed down? I’ll take time off when you take time off.”
Hugh smiled. He hadn’t realized that was the answer he had wanted to hear until he heard it. “Very well. In that case I have another errand for you.”
To be continued…