Kate and I Ch. 16-18

16.

Over the next couple weeks, Kate and I were getting back into our groove as we were on the 3rd floor. We were spending most of our time together. When we weren't sleeping, we were in the office together. I would tell her to go home, but she wouldn't, she said that her job was to important. During this time, my head was buried in contracts, or on the phone with with customers or the Asheville office.

The Asheville office wasn't really that big, while with only 10 or so employees. The place was ran by Mr. Donald(Donnie) River. By from what I've heard, from customers, he was a solid person to go to when they had issues. I spoke to him a couple of times throughout those weeks he seemed to respect me, but I had a feeling that he didn't like having a 'kid' for a boss. I didn't tell him but, I would be visiting the office next week. I wanted to meet Mr. River face to face without him having any time to prepare for me, and to see how he generally ran his office, under a surprise 'inspection'.

Early Monday morning, Kate and I headed toward the the airport, got into one of the company's learjets, and flew off to the Asheville airport. We were leaving Los Angeles at 0100, we were arrive there at 0800 or 0900. I wanted to be there, when they open up the office, that morning.

That Tuesday before we left, I told Kate that I would be leaving early Monday morning to visit the office, and I wouldn't know when I would be back. I told her to take off until I got back. She asked if she could come with me. I told her sure, she could come if she wanted. When I told her this, she was excited throughout the whole rest of the week. She may look 22, have the maturity of a 30 year old, but sometimes the 18 year old's enthusiasm, giddiness, and playfulness comes to the for front. Kate and I mostly slept on the plane, getting rested for the day ahead.

Kate and I arrived at the Asheville airport at 0813. We rented a car from there, and headed to the Apex International office branch in Asheville. The drive was great especially for us coming from Los Angeles, but we had on problem, We don't know our way around Asheville, and we also don't have a clue, on where this office is.

We have been driving around the city for about two hours when Kate says, "Um, boss, where are we?" as she's reading the map, as I am driving.

"To be honest, Katie," as I look around trying to figure out where we are, "I have no clue, I haven't seen a sign or anything?"

"Um, lets see," she looks at the map with complete confidence, "we are between BFE and the middle of nowhere." we chuckle at this, "Boss, why don't we sto.."

"Ah, ha," as I cut her off, "I found it, as I point to a building that has a sign that reads Southeastern Branch of Apex International, "we aren't lost, we just went around the long way," as I pull into the parking lot.

We laugh as Kate sarcastically chimes in, "Oh, Okay, boss," she rolls her gorgeous eyes, "next time I driving we could have been here a hour ago I swear we past this place once already." she sticks her tongue out, as I pull into a parking spot. I stick my tongue at her, too. As we are getting out of the car we're laughing at each other, as we head towards the doors.

The building is a one story building, not overly big, as we walk in. I noticed that it's set like general business office, with a receptionist in the front directing, handling all of the calls, and helping visitors and customers. I see one hallway on each side of the receptionist's desk, with what looks like doors, that I'm guessing, lead to offices for the employees that work here. The receptionist cracks a big smile as we approach, "Hello sir and ma'am, can I help you?"

She isn't bad looking at all, I say to myself, as I say, "Hello, I was wondering if there is a chance that I could see Mr. River today?"

"Okay, sir do you have an appointment?" she asks.

"No, I don't, sorry, but I'm sure that he wants to see me," I say, wanting to see her reaction.

"Okay...," she says as she looks at her computer screen, "lets see... Mr. River at this moment is on a conference call, but the call is supposed to be," looks at the wall clock its 1045, "over at 1100, so if you wouldn't mind waiting, I'll get him as soon as possible, is that okay?"

I look over to Katie, and look back over at the receptionist, "Sure that be fine, I don't mind wait." I flash a smile.

"Can I please have your name to let him know that you are here?" she says.

"Sure, just put me down as Mr. Jones."

"O...," typing my name, "kay, he'll be with you as soon as possible, Mr. Jones."

Kate and I sat down, and chatted as we waited for Mr. River to finish with the conference call. I mainly talked about the ride from the airport, about how incompetent of an out of town driver, that I am. We laughed, and she made fun of me.

Then suddenly out of middle of nowhere the receptionist spoke, "Excuse me, sir," she says, "I don't mean to interrupt, but I'm curious, do I know you by any chance, you look familiar to me, but I can't place you. I've been sitting here for the past 10 minutes trying to figure it out."

"I played some college football at UCLA," not wanting to give away who I am, yet.

"Okay," she gives me a puzzled look, "sorry to disturb you Mr. Jones." she apologizes.

"No, need," I say, "Misses?"

"Parker," she flushes, "and actually it's Miss Parker."

"Okay, Miss Parker," I flash a smile, "No problem, anytime, I've been told that I have a very recognizable face."

She turns bright red and turns away back to her computer. And I turn back to Kate, as she looks at me with a jealous look.

"Aden, are you hitting on the receptionist?" Kate asks, with jealously in her voice.

"No," I say matter-of-factly, "she asked me, who I am, I told her, and I just wanted to know her name, that's all."

The jealously leaves her face, and I sarcastic smile comes across her face, "Um, huh, yea right."

"What?" I ask, not really sure what to say.

"Nothing, nothing at all." She gives a little smile.

"What?!" I say sarcastically, as we laugh at this.

17.

About 5 minutes later, a man approached Ms. Parker and they talk for about 30 or seconds. The man is probably 35 years old, 6' 1", good built, he's wearing a nice fitting suit. He stops talking to her, looks up at us, and starts to walk over to us. As he approached us, he straightens up his suit, puts a smile on his face, "Hello, are you Mr. Jones?" As he extends his hand.

"Yes sir, I am," as I stand and shake his hand.

As he shakes my hand, "and you are miss...?" As he looks at Kate and extends his hand.

"This is my assistant, Ms. Martinez," I say, as Kate shakes his hand, too.

As she does, "Hello, mister...?"

"Oh, sorry," the man starts, "I'm Donald River the branch manager for Southeastern USA Division of Apex International. So you asked to see me, how can I help you Mr. Jones and Ms. Martinez?" He genuinely asks.

"We'll, first thing, Mr. River, is there anyway that we can have this conversation in your office?" I ask but it's more like a suggestion.

He gives me a puzzled, yet confident look, "Sure," as he turns around to guide us to his office, "this way."

We head towards his office, and Ms. Parker looks at me, and I give her a smile as we walk past. She blushes a little. I glance back at Kate she looks jealous, and but as soon as I make eye contact with her the jealousy disappears, and a smile flashes across, and she shakes her head at me.

"So," as we head into Mr. River's office, as he offers a chair to me and Kate, "how can I help you?" As he sits down, and puts his hands on the desk and looks right at us.

"Well, Mr. River, I don't mean to be hiding anything from you," I start to say, as his face goes to a puzzled look, "but my name is Aden Jones." He's shocked, he leans back in his chair and crosses his arm against his chest.

He looks at me for about 10 seconds, trying to figure out what I said was true, "Are...," completely stunned, trying to figure out what to say, "Are, you saying, my new boss just walked in my office, sat in my lobby, waited for me to finish a random conference call, and come in here just like an ordinary customer?" Almost sounds angry, and he doesn't believe who I am.

"Well," as I pull out my Apex International ID, and show him, then put it back into my pocket, "yes." I say matter-of-factly.

"Sorry, sir, I didn't realize that you were coming today," He sounds worried, " I should fire Kathy."

"Who?" I ask, "do you mean you receptionist, Ms. Parker?"

"Yes, she made you sit out there like a normal visitor."

"No," I tell him, "it wasn't her fault, I wanted this. I wanted to see how you treated just a ordinary walk-in customer."

"Why, sir?" He asks, his angry has eased up.

"Well, if I did, I would have not seen how you treat your customers, you would've put on your best face and act up. I wanted to see how you act normally around just a regular customer, before I announced myself," I continue, "plus, I didn't want the royal treatment that you would have sent out here if you knew I was coming."

"So, basically, this was a surprise inspection?" He says, as he has eased up.

"More or less, yes," I chimed back.

"So, Mr. Jones...," he starts.

"Aden," I interrupt and corrected him.

"Okay, so Aden," he starts again, "how'd we do?" As be finally cracks a smile.

"Very good, actually," I say, "I was very impress by how you handled this type of situation," I say as I smile back, "so, now, Mr. River..."

"Donnie," he interrupts and corrects me.

"Okay, so, Donnie," I start again, "lets get down to the brass tacks."

"Sure, whatcha want to know," he says as he leans back in his chair.

"First thing first, there are a set of main rules that I want to have, especially between us, okay?"

He looks intrigued, "okay, sure."

"Firstly, I want you to be completely honest with me, and I will be with you. It's the only way I'm going to be able to trust you. This is the most important thing, I have to trust you. I'm across the country in Los Angeles, and if I don't trust you I'll find somebody that I can, okay.

Secondly, I like to be updated constantly. I will expect a phone or conference call everyday. This is for both of us, actually, if you keep me updated I can help you with issues and/or problems, and also if things change I can inform you right away. As you know, it's annoying to be updated after the fact.

Thirdly, I expect hard work, and I will not stand for laziness and half-hearted attempts. I want your employees out there either helping old customers or acquiring new ones. There should be no reason, for them to not to give their full effort.

Fourthly, if you need anything tell me. I don't want my manager or employees to be without something that they need. I don't want some stupid expense to come between you and your office from closing a deal.

Fifthly, if you need for me to come out and help you. Just tell me, and I will be on the next plane and be out here to assist you. I will gladly assist, helping you and your employees is extremely important for me. This isn't just a pit stop for me. I want us to be the biggest and best division at Apex.

So you have any questions, problems, or concerns about anything?"

As I finish, Donnie is sitting back in his seat, and just looking at me as he process all that I told him. I really can't read his face, I bet he's a great poker player, I think, he has no tell, I no wonder he's where he's at, "I understand everything that you said about the rules, I just have two questions for you."

"Shoot," I say.

"First off, how much trust do you have in your assistant, because I don't want our private conversations to become public."

I look over at Katie, the back over to Donnie, "Well my assistant, Kate, I have complete trust in, if I'm not a room and Kate is, treat her as you would treat me, she's my second half, anything you tell her or me will be kept between us."

This surprises Donnie, "Really wow, I wish I could find an assistant like that."

"Well, Katie," as I look at her, "she's one of a kind."

"Thanks, boss," she say, as she blushes a little, "actually I'm the boss and he's my assistant." She says sarcastically.

We all laugh at this, and it seems that Donnie is starting to come around on Katie, "okay second question." As concerned come across his face.

"Okay." I chimed back.

"When do we start?" The concern changes to a big salesman's smile.

"We already have," I smile back.

18.

We chatted for a few more minutes, getting ourselves more comfortable with each other.

"So, Aden, how long are you going to be in town for?" Donnie asks.

As I look at the clock, damn it's 1217, I think to myself, then I say as I look over to Kate, "um, Kate?" She looks over at me, "do I have anything on the schedule, coming up?"

"No, boss, or at least until a conference call with, the other marketing division coordinators on Friday, outside of that, nothing," she says with her beautiful eyes looking at me.

"So, at least, until maybe Wednesday or the latest Thursday," I sound not at all confident.

"I was wondering, Tuesday evening we could have some dinner alone and talk about things, when I don't have anything that I have to do during?" Donnie asks.

"Okay, sure just tell me where and I'll meet you there." I say.

"Boss, you got lost here, from the airport. I don't think you can find the hotel without my help, even if they gave you exact directions," Kate says sarcastically.

"...true," we laugh, mostly at me, "we'll figure something out, Donnie," as I stand up getting ready to leave, "pleasure to meet you, and I look forward to working with you, I'll see you Tuesday evening."

Kate and I say our goodbyes to Donnie, and we walk past Ms. Parker, again. She looks at me again, and she returns the smile that I gave her when we went into office the first time. All I can do she flash her another smile, she again blushes. What is she seeing, is all I can think.

Kate and I start to leave the branch office, and head towards the car. As we are leaving the building Ms. Parker, the receptionist, is still looking at me. I wish I could understand what she's looking at, I say to myself as we head out the doors into the parking and towards the car, "So, Katie, what do you think of our branch manager, Donnie?" I ask, as we walk through the parking lot to the rental car.

"I think, he's terrified of you," Kate says, who's standing beside me as we walk, "but he seems okay. He'll be better as soon as he learns to trust you, and you him. Right now, he's afraid that when he messes up, that you'll order him to Los Angeles, fire him, then drive him to the Nevada desert, kill him, and bury his body," as we approach the car, "but he'll learn soon that you aren't that bad," she says as she opens the passenger side door and gets in.

"I'm not that bad, am I," as I open the driver side door and get in, myself, "I haven't killed anybody yet," I sarcastically look over to Kate, "have you?"

She just smiles and looks away, "Who knows?" As she shrugs her shoulders, "if I do, I promise, I won't tell you, unless you ask," then she flashes her million dollar smile, "plausible deniability."

"Sometimes, Katie, you scare me, you know that right," I say as I give her an uneasy look.

"And that's why you love me, right?" says with a cheery attitude.

We start to laugh at this, I love her sense of humor, say to myself, "okay," as we finally stop laughing. "Where the hell is this hotel?" As I start up the car and head out the partaking lot.

"Lets see," as Kate looks at the map, "um, go that away," as she points to the left. Theres that eighteen year old coming out again.

"Yes, ma'am," as I drive off the lot.