Chapter 39: Stuck
As it turned out, once the people of the Joy solar panel plant got over the whole...he's the CEO, attack! Thing that they were on. They were actually quite lovely people. Derek certainly liked them a whole lot better than the people he was forced to interact with on a daily basis at work.
Their smiles, when they shook his hand and expressed their thanks were real. When they told him how grateful they were, he could not detect any dishonesty from them. And when they finally went outside, and he and Emily posed for a group photo with them so that the reporters could see that everything had been resolved, Derek felt zero ill will, not even the kind that was hidden by too much enthusiasm coming from them.
He was so glad to have met them in person. He was also very happy that despite burning tyres and the like, they had not burned down their place of work, nor had they burned either him or Emily.
Good times indeed.
But even though he was having a blast after not getting beaten up and set alight, Derek had still come there on a mission. End the strike before it spreads and becomes uncontrollable, costing Haven Group truck loads of money. He had done that, and now it was time to head back to the city. He had Emily cancel their bookings to the town's two star hotel-nothing in such a rural area could ever go over three stars in his humble opinion.
"Cheer up, Emily, this way you get to see your bed for a few hours before heading back to work," He told his PA as they got back into the car. She looked ready to drop, and Derek was certain he looked much the same ( pity for him he would at most be getting thirty minutes of sleep).
The ride to the airport was silent, the exhaustion of the past hours now weighing down on them as they had nothing to do. When they got to the airport, he got out first, heading inside while Emily got the bags out- she was remarkably strong for someone who was so tiny. Maybe some day he would ask about her workout routine. There had to be one given all the weight that she was carrying. Derek did not like to travel light, but she was pulling his bags like they weighed nothing. She was even looking at him with fire in her eyes, amazing.
Humming a happy tune under his breath, Derek went to inquire on the next flight to the city. The response from the bored looking young man had his good mood plummeting.
"What do you mean all flights for tonight have been cancelled?" He was a bit loud in his questioning, but to be fair it was a situation that required loudness.