A Picture – Worth A Thousand Words Pt. 02

"Yeah, I kinda figured you might be hiding something," George continued to sip on his coffee.

"Well, long story short, I just got divorced. It was final about 2 weeks ago. My staff told me to get the hell out of the office and take a vacation. I didn't have plans, just started driving this house and ended up here. That first night, I talked to Jeff and as much as he loves you and his grandmother and likes working here, he's pretty discouraged about working that hard with not much to show for it. My company is looking, or were going to be when I got back, for a network technician. When I saw what Jeff had done here, and with how little technical support he really has, I was, well, I am very impressed. Anyone with a background in networking would be if they took the time to see what he had done."

"So, you think he'll get the job in Kent?" George still had his doubts but was warming to me.

"Well, I'd prefer that this go no further than you or me, but if he shows up to see the office manager on Monday, he's almost guaranteed the job. I told him that there might be other applicants. Just a little white lie, since if he waited until I get back to work, there might have been. Let's just say, the fix is in."

George smiled, then laughed, "Damn, I knew it. You're not just some guy interested in computer 'n stuff."

I grinned back, "Guilty. I'm the JA of JAC Consulting, LLC. The name actually is Jack Ames Computer Consulting, LLC. I own the place. I talked to my office manager yesterday and like I said, Jeff will get hired if he shows up on Monday. Of course, you don't know any of this, right?"

"Right. Now that we have that out of the way, do you ever do any fishin'?"

"I haven't for years. I don't think I even have any gear left. Probably got rid of it over the years when it wasn't getting used. All work and no play, you know how it goes."

"Well, after lunch we'll get some gear together and go down and see if we can get some trout for dinner. You'll need a license. Selma can do that for you when you come up to the office."

"Why thanks, George. I think I'd like to go drown some worms. If we catch anything, it will be a bonus."

"Oh, we don't use worms. We use grasshoppers around here. There's move of them and they're easier to find, or you can try fly fishing, but if you've never done it, it's a bit of a learning curve," with that he finished his coffee and confirmed that I would be at the office right after lunch.

"George, please do as I asked. Don't tell anyone about the job, or about me. I'd like to be sort of inconspicuous if you get my drift."

"Not a problem Jack. What was it we didn't discuss, anyway?" he laughed and headed back to the office.

1:30 saw us fishing in a creek downstream from the campground. George and I didn't talk much, just enjoyed casting into the water hoping that maybe an unwary trout would grab the bait. Four hours later we straggled back to the campground with four nice sized rainbows. We took them to the cook shack and cleaned them. George said that Selma would look after the cooking. I could come over whenever I was ready. I left him with a large platter of fish for Selma and went back to the motorhome. After being out in the bush, cleaning fish, and all the rest of it I decided that a shower was in order. The hot water felt good.

I grabbed a couple of bottles of wine, a nice Merlot and a nice, crisp Pinot Gris, and headed over to the office. George and Selma lived upstairs and you could get there from the office by stairs behind the desk, or the outside stairs leading up to their deck. I went up the outside and found George and Selma sitting in deck chairs, watching the birds and other wildlife. Selma was ostensibly cooking the fish, but the barbeque was doing the actual work. It smelled delicious.

They were waiting for Jeff, his mother, and her friend to join us so I poured myself a glass of Merlot and sat and chatted about nothing in particular. I noticed that Selma was giving me a look every once in awhile and since the others hadn't arrived yet, asked George, "Did you tell Selma about our little discussion this morning?"

"Well, yeah. I've never been able to keep anything from her. But she gave me her word," he had the grace to look very uncomfortable when confessing.

I laughed, "Okay, I'll let you off the hook. But no further, either of you."

Selma came over and gave me a quick hug. "You'll never know how much we appreciate this. Jeff has been over the moon since yesterday. Mary tells me he's packed and unpacked about 20 times today. She finally convinced him that dress casual is good enough and that he doesn't need a suit."

"You have that right. If someone showed up in a suit the girls would panic and think it's either a tax audit or a lawyer with bad news." I laughed. "Anyway, here they come. Enough about this, and mum is the word."

"For sure, Jack."

We continued chatting about nothing in particular. Mary, Jeff and her friend Dave made the normal appreciative comments about the fish we had caught, and talk turned to fishing and where the best holes were in the creek. It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening, and I was feeling pretty relaxed as I went back to my mobile house. I wasn't looking forward to leaving here; they had become good friends, but it would be good to get back home.

Chapter 6

I was back on the road a couple of days later, winding my way toward home. I had been reluctant to leave that little campground and the people I'd met there. I was already planning a return visit, but this time in my own RV. If I was going to jump into this lifestyle then I had to have my own rig. Food for thought as the miles (kilometers?) unwound towards home.

In actuality, it wasn't far if you went the direct, fast route. However I still had 4 days left on my rental contract and I planned on using every minute of it. I stayed at several very nice campgrounds over the next 3 nights, but none felt as good and welcoming as Riverside where my new friends lived. I talked to Joyce on the Tuesday and found that Jeff was a happy camper and out looking for an apartment. In that he had lots of help in Joyce and Lisa. The techs were more than welcoming and saw him for what he was, a supplement and not a replacement. He would actually enable them to concentrate fully on their own areas of expertise.

I arrived back in town on Friday and took time to go to the house and drop off all my belongings there, instead of loading it into the car when I returned the motorhome, then unloading when I got home. Someone had been picking up the mail; I suspect Joyce since I had forgotten to make any arrangements. Otherwise it looked like I needed to do some yard work. The home was secure, but I didn't really expect anything else. Jamie and Colleen hadn't been given their new keys yet so they had no access short of breaking in. I didn't expect to see Bev at all. That ship had sailed.

Joyce must have had her spies working overtime. I had just thrown in my second load of laundry when the phone buzzed (I had the ringer off). "Jack, hi. You're home."

"No, it's a astigmatism of your imagination," I laughed, "do you have spies everywhere?"

"Not at all. I knew you had to return the motorhome at 4:00, so gave you time to get home, check things out, and start your chores," she giggled. "You are so predictable sometimes, you know."

"Okay, okay. To what do I owe the pleasure...?"

"I just wanted to know if I should bring your mail over or wait 'til Monday."

"Well, if you want to drop it off, by all means come on over. I'm sure I can find some refreshments around here some place. After all, I wasn't even gone 3 weeks."

"I'll be there shortly," she rang off and I went back to my chores. I put the lawn chairs and chaise lounges out, cleaned off the side tables and made the deck ready for visitors. Joyce found me rummaging around in the shed a little while later.

"Where are you, the wanderer?" she called out.

"Over here in the shed. I'll be right there," I answered. I finished what I was doing, closed and locked the shed, and made my way over to the deck. "Something cold?"

"Sure, but not beer. You know I don't like it."

"I remember. I've got a nice, chilled Pinot Gris. I don't have a chilled Chardonnay unless you want to wait."

"Pinot Gris is good, thanks Jack."

I went in and got two glasses of wine then returned with the bottle as well. Joyce handed me all the mail she'd picked up over the nearly 3 weeks I was gone. Most of it was junk, one from my lawyer, and two from Sally Fields. Glens' was just for services rendered during the divorce. My company could pay for that. The first from Sally was finalizing the paperwork for the divorce, along with her bill which I would happily pay. The second one from her got me thinking.

She wanted to set up a complete, new computer system for her law firm, networking a satellite office that would look after non-court work such as real estate, wills and the like. The biggest problem I had with the idea is that I wasn't sure just how much bigger I wanted my business to get. It was time to have a staff meeting and get all their input.

Meanwhile, Joyce and I were sipping on the wine. She waited until I'd finished looking through all the mail then said, "Well bossman, you look like you survived your vacation. How was it out there on your own?"

"You know Joyce, I can't remember the last time I came back feeling so relaxed and refreshed. It's almost like my batteries were being recharged or something. I can't really put words to it, but I feel a lot better than I did a few weeks ago. Guess I didn't realize how far down I was."

"Trust me, we knew. The only one who couldn't see it was you. We had to get you out of there for awhile while you could still go. We're glad it went well, even if you couldn't stay away totally."

"You mean Jeff?"

"Exactly. But on the other hand we think you done good boss. He looks like he'll fit right in. Nice kid, no airs or pretends. What you see is what you get."

"Thanks for confirming my impressions of him Joyce. He's a nice kid. I think he'll do well. Maybe my first job for him will be designing a network for Sally Fields. She wants me to price out setting up a network for her law practise, including new software and operating system. But, before I commit to that, I want to talk to all of you about this. We need to find out just how big we want to become. I don't want to lose sight of our principal aim."

Joyce sipped her wine and thought for a minute. "What do you mean, just how big do we want to become? Do we want to be just another faceless corporate entity?"

I took a sip and thought for a few seconds. "Well, I can't really see becoming a 'faceless corporate entity' but I'd hate to see us lose awareness of what got us to where we are now. Just how much expansion can we accept before it controls us instead of us controlling it? Can you see where I'm going with this?"

"Yeah, I think it's like let's not expand and get bigger just because we can," she replied.

"Precisely. I really don't want to get to the point where it takes more than 7 or 8 people to run the place and do all the work. After that, it's just becoming too big. I think we need to sit down, all of us including Jeff though he's new, and hash it out and figure out where we go from where we are right now."

"Tell you what Jack. It's the weekend. Let me phone around and see if Lisa and all the guys are available. Maybe we could do a barbeque or something and make it an informal get together and planning session. I know where Jeff is staying, so he's available. Lisa and her boyfriend didn't have any plans that she knew of. I can phone the techs, but knowing them they're up to their eyeballs in some computer game."

"You don't mind Joyce?" I hate to put her out. She must have a life outside JAC Consulting.

"Not at all. I think it's time we all sat down together. We haven't done that for ages. What about families?"

"That's an idea, how about a family get together on the company's dime? I'm sure JAC has enough in the bank for that."

She laughed out loud, "I hope so. We haven't spent a nickel except for salaries since you've been gone. You weren't here to 'need' new toys and equipment and your things."

I had to laugh back. I was constantly reminded of some of my spending habits.

"Okay, I'll make the phone calls while you freshen up the wine. What day and time?" she asked.

"How about Sunday around 1:00PM. Everyone should be finished church if they go, and that gives us the whole afternoon." I was already planning on how many chairs and tables we'd need and what the kids could do while the adults held their meeting.

"Sunday at 1:00 it is," she replied and started calling up her speed-dial list on her cell phone.

I left her to it and went to find some more wine to put in the fridge. A few minutes later I called out to her, "Pizza or Chinese?"

"Pizza, why?"

"That's what we're having for supper." I called the local pizza joint who I'd ordered from numerous times and ordered an extra large deluxe.

Over pizza and wine Joyce and I hashed out the details of the company get together. We decided on steaks for adults and hot dogs and burgers for the kids. We'd get volunteers to grill since I didn't want to do all the work. We were pretty sure that wouldn't be a problem. I arranged for a kiddy pool and water slide for the younger kids. I'm sure they would have plenty to do. We set aside an hour for the staff meeting before everything went into high gear. I wanted everyone sober and clear-headed for that part of it since decisions would be made that would affect all of us.

Joyce left in the early evening, citing a previous engagement. I finished cleaning up and got ready for doing all the outside chores the next day, then relaxed on my deck. I felt like I was missing something, but couldn't quite put a finger on it. Maybe it was just that I'd only been back off the road for a few hours. As it had been for most of my trip, it was an early night. I slept like the proverbial log.

The company get together was a blast. There were about 20 people there of mixed generations. As I had planned, the staff meeting was held in my den/office while all the others were outside having fun. We made a few concrete decisions and postponed a few more. The big one was the contract for the law office. It was decided that Jeff would spearhead the project with input from one of the techs and myself. We tentatively decided is that we would only hire one more tech, preferably with networking experience, when we absolutely needed to. Together, we could handle the current and expected work load. We adjourned to the outside and continued with the fun and games, and of course, food.

Chapter 7

I went back to work on the Monday. Within hours it was like I hadn't been away. Over the next few months we got busier. The contract with the law office was completed on time and on budget. I gave Jeff and the tech, Mike, bonuses for a job well done. Unbeknown to the staff, I had talked to my accountant about setting up a profit sharing plan. Payouts would be made at the end of the calendar year, and would be based on the length of time they had been with the business during the year. The only one adversely affected this year would be Jeff, but he had received a good bonus for spearheading the law office project.

We didn't do too much retail business so I decided that we could run with a skeleton staff over the Christmas Holidays. I planned to work the whole time anyway, so Joyce and Lisa could decide who worked when, and the 4 techs could figure it out for themselves. I was certain that there wouldn't be a whole lot to do, but we had to have staff available for our customers.

Needless to say, the year end profit sharing cheques which I gave out on Dec 23 were a huge surprise, and gratefully received. As I told them, they were the reason we were successful, so it was only right they share in the profits. Lisa and Joyce were in tears; the 4 techs were choked up but managed to hold off on the tears until they were in private.

The next months flew by. We were busy and were gradually building our client base. We weren't at the point where we were thinking of adding the additional tech. The four techs were able to keep up with the workload without too much overtime. We still kept our regular hours Monday to Friday and closed weekends.

My biggest problem was Joyce. I was becoming more and more attracted to her. I made a point of not dating staff, ever, since it could lead to all sorts of unwelcome situations. Other than the odd dinner party we hadn't actually socialized. I wanted our relationship to go further, but didn't want to jeopardise our friendship. I wasn't sure how to handle it, so I left it for the time being. It was obvious neither of us were going anywhere soon, so I knew where to find her if I ever figured out what course to take.

Opportunity rose sooner than I expected. I received a call from Joyce's oldest daughter one Saturday when I was home vegging in front of the tube. They wanted to surprise her for her 55th birthday and needed my help.

I told Gloria, her daughter, to come over and we could figure out a plan. She arrived about half an hour later. Over coffee she talked about the party she and her sister wanted to have. Where I would come in was to keep Joyce occupied so that she wouldn't try to contact her daughters or go visit them until they were ready. I thought of various ways I could do my part, but could come up with nothing at the moment. I had time to figure something out.

After discussing the party for awhile, Gloria asked, "Jack, you don't date staff. Is that your rule?"

"Uh, yes Gloria. I've learned through experience that it could lead to unwanted complications."

"The reason I ask is, well, it's Mom. She really likes you, as in not liking the boss, but she really likes you as a person. She thinks that you aren't attracted to her. She knows she's no beauty queen."

"Gloria, I have nothing but respect and admiration for Joyce. Beauty is only skin deep. She has a beauty that can't be bought. Any man would be a fool to not be attracted to the real Joyce. I am, but I also consider her a friend, a good friend. I don't want to take a chance and ruin that. I think I could easily fall for her, and that scares me to death because I'm not sure that would be returned."

"You know, for a smart man, and you are a smart man, you can be incredibly dense. I don't really know you that well, but I do know my Mom. She thinks the world of you, and not just because you hired her at a bad time in her life. You've always respected her and treated her like a person. I think she'd walk over 10 miles of broken glass if you asked her too."

"I can tell you right now, that ain't gonna happen. I wouldn't ask anyone to walk over 10 miles of broken glass," I sipped at my coffee for a minute then said, "So you think that if I wanted to ask her out, like as on a date, she wouldn't have a problem with that?"

Gloria laughed, "Like I said, dense. She'd love it. Our father treated her like shit. Truth be told, me and Jen were glad to see him go, and we're not sorry we've never heard from him. You treat our Mom like a real person, valuable for herself and what she contributes. Ask her, she'll jump at it."

I was still hesitant, "Yeah, but I have this rule..."

"Fuck the rule. You set it, you can get rid of it. Anyway, there's only you, her and Jeff that it would apply to anyway, and you said it applies mostly to you. You're the boss. Deal with it," Gloria was sounding exasperated.

I sat for a few minutes, digesting this bit of information. I would really, really like to date and get to know Joyce better, but I'd hate to lose a valuable employee if the relationship went south. I stated as much to Gloria who responded as only she could, "God, you men! Sometimes I think you left your brain in your back pocket when you took your jeans off. Jack, let me tell you. My Mom would be the most honest, most loving, most trusting person you could ever want. Ask her out; about time you two got a life."