Days of Chrissie Past

"Why would you ask that, work is work, and it could lead to a lot more down the track."

"I get the impression that you're having second thoughts about this project and Jenny's connection with it."

"You know me too well. It's Jenny's connection and what her expectations are that bothers me."

"So, where do we stand?"

"We go down there on Thursday, survey the land and design a layout for them. We should be finished with the survey side by lunchtime Friday."

"So, I'll have to pack my bags for an overnight stay then."

"Yes, will that be a problem, you won't have to cancel a date with Mark?"

"No, I, we had nothing planned."

Thursday brought the first sign of a problem. "What the fuck is she doing here?" Jenny was not pleased that Angie was with me.

"Angie's my assistant, I need her. I can't do this job without her."

"I came down here to help you."

"I prefer to work with her, she knows what to do without me having to explain everything."

"I've booked us into the hotel we stayed at before."

"Cancel it, we've booked a couple of cabins at the caravan park just down the road."

"I guess that I'll just have to slum it then."

"We'll have no time for socialising, you may as well go home and leave us to it."

"What does her boyfriend think about this?"

"My boyfriend," Angie interjected, "Is okay with this, he trusts me to be professional."

An unhappy Jenny left.

We unpacked our gear and quickly established a datum point. From, this we set out the boundaries of the land along with its levels. "There are two other parcels of land that will eventually be included in this overall development. We need to establish the dimensions and factor those into the infrastructure plans."

"Why is that a concern?" Angie asked.

"This lower block is not that high above the beach while the other parcels are on a relatively steep slope. We need to take into consideration the storm-water run-off from those in the plans."

"But, won't that add to the cost of development?"

"Sure, but we need to factor in what is known as a hundred year event. Should that occur, the insurance companies will not pay out on flood claims on the basis that such a scenario should have been included in this development."

"Someone's not going to be happy."

"Not our problem, due diligence is what is called for. If he decides that he won't go with our plans, so be it. If the worst happens and it goes pear shaped, I'm certain that he'll blame us for not taking these factors into consideration."

By late afternoon we had all of the dimensions necessary to draw the plans for the initial development. "Right, let's call it a day and head for the pub, they should have decent food there, my treat."

"You don't have to, you know that."

"I insist." The food was good, somewhat larger serves than we'd get from a restaurant but we were both hungry, not having stopped for lunch.

We got back to the caravan park around nine o'clock. "Geoff, do you mind if I come in for a moment?"

"Sure, come in." I held the door open for her. "What's on your mind?"

"It's about us."

"What about us, is there a problem?"

"Jenny's the problem. Look, I admit to misleading you about my relationship with Mark."

"Is there a problem with that?"

"Yes." She paused to gather her thoughts. "Mark doesn't exist."

"What?"

"I invented him because I thought that if we got too close it would affect our working relationship. The truth is, I know now that I have feelings for you, feelings that I have tried to suppress. Seeing you with Jenny, and the way that she is manipulating you, I have decided that I just can't let that happen." She came to me and put her arms around my neck. "Geoff, I could be making the biggest fool of myself, but I love you. There, I've said it and it's out there. You can tell me that I've been an idiot now."

"No, you haven't been an idiot."

"Thank god for that."

"Hold that thought for a couple of days. I have a bad feeling about this job, and I think that you're right, we are being manipulated."

We set out the boundaries and topography for the other two parcels of land before heading back to the office to draw up plans for the first subdivision.

Just before five my phone rang. I looked at the calling number. "Jenny." I said to Angie. "Hi Jenny."

"Geoff, I need to talk to you."

"What about?"

"You, me, us. Can you come over tonight or, would you prefer for me to come to you?"

"I'll be working late tonight, I want to get the plans finished so that I can give it to your father on Monday. I don't know how long it will take."

"She's with you, isn't she?"

"Angie is with me, she is an important part of the team and I need her assistance on this."

"Bullshit. Listen mate, I know what's going on between you, you slept with her last night, didn't you?"

"Have you been spying on me?"

"So, you did."

"I didn't say that. Look, we have a lot of work to do, and the longer I spend talking to you, the longer it will take. I'll have the completed plans ready for your father to look at first thing Monday morning. I presume that you will be there."

"He's not going to be happy with this." Angie said as we put the final touches to the plan.

"I really don't care. I'm just covering our arses. Now, the next question is, where do we spend the night and the weekend?"

"She knows where you live so that's out. Chances are that she has already found out where I live so I think we should give that a miss. We could always stay with my parents, that'll kill two birds with one stone. They know about you and my feelings, and they've been pestering me to meet you, so..." She dialled a number. "Hi Mum, is it okay if I stay with you for the weekend? No, nothing's the matter, and by the way, I'm bringing Geoff with me. I'll fill you in when we get there. See ya."

We left separately and met in the undercroft car park of the local shopping mall where I left my SUV and jumped into her car. We weren't followed, at least her car wasn't followed, but I thought that I saw Jenny's car just up the road from the entry.

Angie's parents were a far cry from Jenny's, salt of the earth would be an apt description. "So, we get to meet the best boss in the world, the guy that Angie has had the hots for as long as she's been working for you."

"Dad!"

"It's alright. I have to admit that I've been a little slow on the uptake as far as Angie's concerned, I have my reasons, but they seem to not exist anymore. We've sorted our relationship and couldn't be happier."

"There is a slight problem though." Angie said.

"What would that be?" Her father asked.

"This job that we're working on, it's with, it's complicated, you see this woman, Jenny, who is the sister of the woman that broke his heart some years ago, well she has the hots for him too, and she has manipulated him with the offer of a job that could lead to a permanent situation."

"How do you feel about this?" He asked me.

"I'm not happy with it to tell you the truth. A lot depends on how her father reacts to the design that we've prepared for him. I think that he's covering his arse by setting it so that if there are repercussions, we'll cop the blame. I could be wrong."

"But you're not taking chances, is that it?"

"You could say that. Monday will tell me one way or the other."

Angie's parents were okay with us sleeping together and I don't remember ever feeling as comfortable as I did with them.

Monday. I was kept waiting, I think on purpose, for half an hour, before being ushered into his office.

"Good morning, sir, Jenny."

I got a grunt from him and a frosty glare from Jenny along with the mouthed words 'I'll speak to you later'.

I handed over the plans and waited. "Explain this." He pointed to the wetland feature of the plan.

"We have factored in the other subdivisions when planning the storm-water infrastructure."

"What do you mean?"

"You have those two parcels of land up the hill from this one. I have taken into consideration the storm-water runoff from those when calculating the size of the drains. What I also had to factor in was the so-called hundred year event."

"What do you mean?"

"Every hundred years or so there will be a situation where torrential rain coincides with a king tide. The storm-water outfall is below the hundred year flood level. This will cause the storm-water from those other two developments to back up and overflow the drains, causing substantial flooding of this development."

"So?"

"Knowing the way that insurance companies operate, they will reason that, if we only provided drainage for this subdivision, we would be responsible for the flooding and not pay out. The residents will sue you for the inadequacy for the drainage. I have made allowances for this contingency."

"What is this?" He pointed to the wetland area between the housing and the beach.

"That is part of the contingency plan. Do you see that artificial island in the middle, well that conceals a large pipe the goes down into the water table. If flooding should occur, the floodwaters would enter the wetland and flow down into the water table. The wetland is designed as a pressure valve to slow the flow of water entering the sea and minimise the possibility of flooding."

"I didn't ask for this, all I asked for was a design for a subdivision. Have you any idea how much this," he waved his hand over the plans, "will cost? I'm in this to make a profit, I'll be lucky to break even."

"I was also covering my own arse."

"How do you mean?"

"I'm not saying that you would, but if this thing went pear shaped, you could sheet the blame onto me for not taking those factors into consideration."

The look that I got confirmed that he had already been thinking down that path'

"I'll leave you with it. I'll send you the invoice."

His reaction to that suggested that I would be lucky to get paid.

Jenny followed me as I walked to the front door. "Wait. I went to your place on Saturday, and you weren't home. Where were you?"

"I had a quiet weekend with friends."

"I suppose you were with the little bitch."

"What do you expect me to say, that I spent the weekend with Angie?"

"I wouldn't know, she wasn't at home."

"Are you checking up on me?"

"I'm protecting my interests, that's all."

"Look, Jenny, You're a nice girl, but there could be a conflict of interest at play. How would we be if I'd produced a plan that proved inadequate in the scenario that I explained to your father. It would be seen as my fault and that would create tensions between your father and me that I don't think a relationship between us would survive."

"But you don't know that."

"I'm not prepared to take that chance." I wasn't prepared to argue any further. "Look, I've got to get back to work, we have a job to finish. Let's just leave it how it is for the time being." She stood and watched my back leave the building.

"Well, how did it go?" Angie asked.

"I don't think that Daddy's happy and I know that Jenny isn't."

"Do you think that he'll proceed with your development plans?"

"Probably not. He has approached this with your typical bottom line mentality, go with the cheapest and hope for the best. Now, we have a job to get to."

Jenny got out of her car as I parked in my designated space. "Geoff, I need to speak to you."

"I'll get these figures into the computer." Angie said as she went into the office.

"Well, what do want to talk about?"

"Firstly, here's a list of things that Daddy wants changed to your plan." She handed me a sheet of paper. I glanced quickly at it. No surprises there. "Geoff, darling, you know that I love you and I don't want to lose you, especially not to that Angie person. Have dinner with me tonight, please, we need to discuss our relationship."

"Jenny, I hope that you don't take this the wrong way, but I have to tell you that, what I feel about you, is very much how I felt when Chrissie and I were together.. "

"I'll never leave you like she did, ever."

"It's not that. She had this jealous streak that flared up if I even so much as looked at another woman. It affected me to the point that I was considering ending it when she decided to go to England. I do not want to go through that again."

"But I won't."

"You are jealous of Angie, you were even jealous from the first time we met."

"Are you telling me that there's nothing going on between the two of you?"

"There is now, but it took your actions towards her and me to make that happen."

"The fucking bitch! You listen to me!" She was angry, there's no getting away from that. "Daddy will not be using your plans and good luck getting any money out of him!"

"Okay," I said in as calm a voice as I could muster, "You tell your father that, unless he pays for the work that I have done, I will sue him and raise the points that I made to him as evidence that my plans were appropriate for the situation. If he chooses not to use them, if he goes for a cheaper plan that doesn't address the issues, that's not my problem. I am charging for work contracted and provided. End of story."

I had given him thirty days to pay the invoice, but no money was forthcoming. After sending reminder notices and waiting a further three months, I rang my lawyer. "Brendan, Geoff Warner, I have a problem. I carried out some work for Jansen Developments and they haven't paid their bill. Can I make a time to discuss this, it's complicated."

"Sure, how about you take me to lunch tomorrow, you're paying/"

"Where and when?"

"The Providor at twelve thirty."

The Providor was a mid-range restaurant favoured by the legal profession. Angie and I found Brendan already seated, chatting to a waiter. "Who is this?" He asked.

"Brendan, I'd like you to meet Angie, she's my assistant."

"Come on spill, she's more than your assistant."

"A work in progress."

"All right, you've got a client that hasn't paid his bill, so what's the problem?"

"There are two problems. The first is that I got the job through, you remember Chrissie, don't you?"

"Don't tell me that she has surfaced and you're shagging her again? Sorry my dear, but this bitch gave him the run-around and he never got over it."

"No, not her, it was her young sister Jenny. Anyway, she arranged for me to do a job for her father, a new subdivision down the coast. I produced plans for him but he didn't pay me for work done.

"Has he given you a reason?"

"Well, it wasn't exactly what he wanted."

"In what way?"

"He wanted cheap, I gave him a professional plan"

"Has he moved on the development?"

"Yes, the roadworks are underway."

"I don't suppose that he's done something stupid like using your plans with some modifications, has he?"

"The road design is the same, he hasn't set out the blocks yet."

"Will that make a difference?"

"On my plan I made provisions for storm-water mitigation. If he sets out houses between the road and the beach he's asking for trouble."

"How so?"

"My plan has the storm-water outfall well above the mean high tide level. That way, if heavy rainfall occurs at the king tide level it will still clear. By placing blocks in the area below that road, the storm-water outfall will be below the king tide level."

"You say king tide, what is that?"

"On a regular basis, when the full moon is between the earth and the sun at a time when the earth is closest to the sun, the high tide is considerably higher than the mean high tide level. But that's not the worst thing."

"Okay, explain the worst."

"There is this thing called a hundred year event. This is when there is significantly more than normal rainfall. If, and this had happened on occasions, this rainfall event occurs at the same time as a king tide, the resultant flooding can be catastrophic."

"Okay, I'm famished, let's eat, and tomorrow I'll call around to your office and we'll go over this in greater detail." He signalled a waiter.

It was some six months later, and we were in court. James Jensen was giving evidence.

"Mister Jensen," Brendan began, "When you asked Mister Warner of Warner Locations to survey a parcel of land for you at Sanders Beach, what was the specific brief?"

"I explained my plans and asked that he produce a detailed plan of the development."

"So there were no limitations on your proposal, no mention him of keeping the costs down?"

"No, but I expected that he would use his judgement and come up with something reasonable."

"When he submitted his plans, did he explain to you the reasons for his design?"

"He said something about future planning to include the two other parcels of land that I was to develop."

"Did he not explain that the infrastructure that he designed for this development also took into consideration the pressure placed on it by these other developments?"

"He mentioned something about king tides and hundred year events. I didn't understand any of it."

"Did you seek clarification from him?"

"No."

"So, given the lack of a specific brief, you chose not to go ahead with his design?"

"Yes."

"Did you, or did you not, send Mister Warner a list of alterations that he should make to his plans?"

"I don't recall that, no."

Brendan took the sheet that Jenny had given me and passed it to him. "Then what is this?"

"Oh that, my daughter was badgering me about what a brilliant plan Mister Warner had submitted, so I gave her this list, more to appease her than having the expectation that he would comply with it."

"And why was that?"

"It was she, because she had visions of a relationship with him that included marrying him, she thought that, by me offering him ongoing work, it would help her to realise that ambition. I agreed on that basis."

"So, you had no real intention on using the plans he produced?"

"No, not really."

"But you did use his plan, or at least part of it, didn't you."

"Well, I showed his plan to the surveyor that I normally use and, he must have had that in the back of his mind when he drew up the plans that he submitted to me. If he copied Mister Warner's plan then Mister Warner has a problem with him, not me."

"His plan is identical in every aspect except that the land set aside for a storm-water retention system in Mister Warner's plan has been used for housing, is that not correct?"

"I believe so, yes."

"You have used part of Mister Warner's plan, yet you refuse to pay him for work done, is this not, correct?"

"I suppose so."

"You have also chosen not to take into consideration the storm-water infrastructure that would take into consideration the increased load placed on it by your development of the other two parcels of land, correct?"

"Yes."

"Even though Mister Warner had explained to you that the insurance companies would not pay flood insurance claims in the event of the possibility of a rainfall event occurring. You chose to ignore that?"

"Yes." "Could it be because, in the event of such an occurrence, it would be the individual homeowners' responsibility not yours?"

"Yes."

"Even though there have been several cases where these claims have resulted a class action against the insurer that resulted in the insurer taking action against the developer?

"I wasn't aware of that, no?"

"No further questions."

There was a hasty conference between Jensen and his lawyer.

"Your Honour," Thomas Butcher, Jensen's lawyer stood. "My client is offering to pay Warner Locations eighty percent of the invoiced amount."

I looked at Brendan.

"If he agrees to raise that offer to eighty-five percent, we will accept it." Brendan looked at Jensen.

"We agree," Butcher announced.

Angie and I had no sooner arrived back at the office than my phone rang, it was Jenny. "Hi Jenny."

"Geoff, I need to talk to you, I want to talk to you."