The 'Reno' Project

"Suzee, Frank and I are sorry that the axe has fallen like this and will understand if you wish your resignation to become effective, with you leaving us from today."

"No, I'll leave in 30 days, not before 30 days and certainly I'll not stay beyond the 30th day. Then we all know where we stand."

"Thanks, Suzee. Maggie was in tears when Frank told her what he wanted her to do with a substantial promotion. He was right in doing it that way. Maggie turned to me really distressed by the enormity of the proposition and said how on earth could she made such a huge jump like that, without experience."

"I told her that I'd ask you to stay on for a month to blood her into her new role that she immediately began smiling, although sobbing a bit, and said in that case she'd accept the promotion but only if you were there initially to lead her by the hand."

"I said by the hand, but you weren't a lesbian and she shrieked in laughter and said she'd only meant that figuratively."

Suzee laughed and said thank god Maggie had clarified that. She then asked Emma not to mention to Rick before Sunday that her employment was being terminated. She would be dining out with Rick before Sunday and wished to tell him herself.

Emma promised not to say anything in the meantime.

She said she would be preparing a statement that would go live on the company's website at 8.00 on Monday advising that the board had reined back the company's huge rejuvenation project due to be completed over two years. Some of the proposals would proceed in due course. Suzee' s voluntary resignation would be mentioned as a result of her services being no longer required and the full project, as amended, may take five years or more to complete.

"That nicely explains how it is," Suzee said and the pleased Emma blew kisses via the phone connection.

"Off you go shopping as it will assist you to relax after what's happened around here today. I'll probably spend most of my time thinking how to plot the removal of our chairman from his post, now that he's revealed he's an impediment to this company's future prosperity."

They two women laughed and Suzee walked off, shoulders appearing to have slumped a little.

Chapter 7

Taking a break from shopping for late lunch, Suzee took a sip from her Bloody Mary and sighed, thinking it reminded her of blood on the floor, hers! She pulled out her phone and Rick answered immediately.

"Hi, how did it go."

"Tragically."

"Oh darling, I'll come to you. Where are you?"

That unexpected level of support cheered Suzee, enough to produce a wan smile.

"Thanks, I appreciate that but I'll doing the right thing to come right, I'm shopping."

"That's a wise choice. Have you been fired?"

"I offered my resignation before any decision was made. Emma wants me to stay for a month for me to help to blood in my inexperienced replacement who is our shared PA."

"You mean Maggie?"

"Yes."

Rick said they could have done better but nevertheless Maggie was a good choice.

"I've always thought if it hadn't been for her role in helping to prop up Emma, she was being wasted as a PA. It was just a passing thought but I reckoned Maggie has huge potential and it will be revealed with the right support."

"I agree, and that's why I suggested she could be a suitable replacement in the drastically watered-down version of what Emma and I recommended to the board."

"In pre-board meeting talks with the chairman, both Emma and I became anxious that Frank was showing signs of buckling in his support of our proposals and that became evident when he began talking about his, quote, 'conservative fellow board members'."

"As it became likely that without his push in full support, the axe would begin to fall on the project at some level, I indicated a drastic curtailment of the planned project would mean I was done with the company. I added if the board appeared eager to have heads to roll, Frank should make me the fall person and thereby that would probably save him and/or Emma."

Rick said, "Omigod, you made yourself the sacrificial lamb."

Suzee said, "Although seething about Frank the wimp, it was easy to make the suggestion knowing if the scheme was rejected or substantially shredded that I'd have no wish to fight for my survival with that bunch of timid jerks who lacked foresight and the passion to make their business fly."

"So, what happened in the boardroom?"

"Frank folded with other board members and eyes fell on me, apparently, being the person principally responsible for spending heaps of money over such a short time was simply too much for them to consider shouldering and they didn't even consider seeking outside professional consultants to examine the proposals including all the financial considerations."

"Emma told me that the board decided to virtually scale back everything on renovations to a couple of sectionsb a time. However, I know history has largely proven that approach leads to practically nowhere."

"I understand all that, Suzee. May I say that you chose the wrong type of company to set loose your visionary approach. A company that specializes in retro-fitting kitchens and manufacturing styles of furniture that are now well out-dated by nevertheless remain fairly popular, would never be fired-up when it came to review visionary recommendations that involves temporary major upheavals plus big price-tags."

"Yes, you may say that. You also could add that I was overly-ambitious in wanting the best for my company that hired me because that's in my mature."

"Well, we appear to be in agreement over that. So, what now for you?"

"Right now, nothing is in my planning drawer. I just called to advise what the board decided and also to invited you to comfort me in my bed tonight."

"Wow, are you sure?"

"Very sure. Grab some hot food on the way."

Rick laughed and said not to that make-do option. He'd cook dinner.

"What, you can cook?"

He laughed and said he believed his results were more than adequate.

"Mom wouldn't allow me to leave home to find my own nest until she taught me to cook adequately. The day came when dad breathed a sigh of relief when she patted me on the head as we finished dinner and said, "You're more than an adequate cook. You are free to leave home whenever you wish, say within two weeks would be fine."

"You mother sounds a real character. I'd like to meet her sometime."

"You will, as she's dying to meet you, dad too."

"Oh really, and why's that?"

"Um, ah. I suppose both Emma and I have talked to them too much about you."

"Hmm. Well I suppose that's what loose-mouthed adult children do. No harm done. I look forward to tonight. I'll get steak and fresh vegetables on the way home."

"Great, Suzee. I can't wait to hold you... um to cook for you."

She cut the call smiling and thinking Rick had made her day.

He called her a few minutes later.

"Hey, I forgot to mention this. Be dressed to impress Quinn and his wife tomorrow night. They're in their early forties."

"Thanks for the tip. Bye."

"Just impress him, Suzee. He's scouting around for people who can look into tomorrow and act appropriately."

"Oh, and what does that mean?"

"Dunno, really. That's just another thing I heard him say to his group that were chatting about recruitment in these times. Bye."

Rick arrived just before 7:00 and unsurprisingly found that Suzee' s greeting lacked enthusiasm.

Undeterred, he embraced her and during and long and slow kiss, drummed fingers on both cheeks of her butt.

Nothing.

They broke away to suck in air and he received a frown when murmuring, "You smell and taste beautifully."

He pulled her into a long kiss again, drumming fingers of both arse cheeks and gradually he felt her butt slowly begin to swing, and he grinned toothily.

When he judged the tempo and the swinging to be about right for a woman who knew what she wanted, he picked her up and carried her to bed for something he had in mind for her.

Later, they had a break for pre-dinner drink before he began cooking their evening meal needed to energise them far into the night.

Suzee and Rick awoke in the morning with sunlight streaming into the bedroom and she, still not quite back to normal, acted rather like a wife. But that lapse didn't last due to tender treatment.

She'd started off grumpily, "God this room stinks and why do I have these dried ejaculation streaks over much of my body. Fuck, even a couple of them have disappeared into my hair."

Rick stroked her face gently.

"How much time do you have before you are due at the hair salon?"

Suzee checked the beside clock.

"A bit over two hours."

He said gently, "Oh what should be do now?"

"Hmm, let me check. Omigod, it's hard again. I'm off to the bathroom to freshen up and you're off to the kitchen to bring back food and coffee. I'm not stupid. I know when I'm about to be shafted again and again. Don't be too long in the kitchen, my lovely man."

When Suzee left for the hairdresser appointment, Rick went to his apartment to feed his cat, Mr Tibbs, and laid out his clothing ready for socialising that evening. After the weekly watering of the house plants, he went to his parent's home to have Saturday lunch with them and his sister and her husband Stew (Stewart).

Rick's mother rushed out to greet him and when realizing there was no one else in the vehicle, acted as if she'd been mortally wounded.

"Where is she," Isobel wailed.

"At the hairdresser's and then it's on to some other outfit to have her nails done and her eyes attended too, whatever that means. But don't despair, we'll drop in for just one drink at 8.00 before we go to the InterContinental Hotel."

"What, you'll be here for only 10 minutes?"

"Probably 15 minutes mum, but that's better than nothing, eh?"

Isobel half-sobbed and said she supposed so and the cut-to-the-heart look she gave to her son after he kissed her made Rick sigh and he said, "We'll come a little earlier so you can have half an hour with her and spend some of that time showing her through the house and that will give you time to be with her without us lot butting into your conversation."

"Omigod, Rick she really deserves having such a lovely and considerate guy like you to love."

* * *

Suzee made her appearance a full five minutes early that evening before they were due to leave, dressed in a dark blue little dress and looked stunning.

Rick said carefully, "You look great but a little less than magnificent."

"God, you don't know much about older women, do you?" she said, a little sharply.

"Eh?" Rick said scratching under his chin while beaming in on probably what Suzee had meant by that comment. "Darling, Quinn will be more interested in your shape and what you say at the table or what you are wearing, whereas his wife, I think her name is Claire..."

"It's actually Claris."

Looking surprised, Rick asked, "How do you know that?"

"Oh, I did a little research to prepare for the night and found she is big into style and fashion. Well anyway, late tonight Quinn is likely to ask her what did she think of me, and if I had outshone her in appearance especially in clothing, she probably would have said something rather catty, and expecting her husband to agree with her."

"Omigod Suzee, you are frighteningly manipulative."

"Bullshit, what I did merely involved successful research to my advantage which as it happens, will avoid a jealous stab in back, figuratively speaking."

Rick mumbled he could scarcely believe what Suzee had done to avoid weakening her position with a woman she didn't even know.

"Oh, so you think that's all I know about this woman. Well for your information I now know that she's a keen follower of fashion and so is likely to be stylish herself. Well for your information, in the wider spectrum she's a member of a successful trading and professional family whose roots go back to the founding of this city 186 years ago. She was educated at..."

"Darling, enough, that's too much information."

"Right, and so I'm darling to you now?"

Rick looked startled and then sheepish.

"Earlier in this conversation you called me darling and you called me darling again several times last night in moments of intimacy."

"Ah, then repetitive use of an endearment makes you slowly respond by dropping a similar affectionate endearment or two when we are conversing privately?"

"What, perhaps. Oh god, this is becoming all too much for me."

Suzee apologized and said she'd back off a little. She hadn't realized he was so sensitive.

Rick sighed and said thanks.

"Come on, grab your handbag while I check my zipper and tie. I'll take off my tie if Quinn is not wearing one. If we leave now, we'll get to my parent's place on amended arrival time."

As they drove off, Rick said he still didn't get it and Suzee said apologetically, "Oh, what have I done now to upset you?"

"What? No, it's not you, it's my mother. I can't understand why she's so worked up about you."

"Oh darling, you do have gaps in your knowledge about women. She thinks Emma is becoming too career-oriented and may not produce grandchildren for your mother."

"Wouldn't Emma and her husband produce children for themselves?"

Suzee sighed and let that one pass.

Rick's head began to nod slowly.

"I've got it. She thinks you and I are destined to marry."

"That's part of it. The other big part is she probably senses I have a great potential to release heaps of eggs desperate to be fertilized each time you dick me."

"Omigod, does my mother really think like that?"

"I have no idea but my intelligence tells me I might be on the right track. I suggest you look at her closely while we are with them shortly. If you see her quietly looking at me with a soft and almost concealed maternal smile, you probably will think about what I've just revealed."

"Omigod, that's obscene, my mother acting much like a perverted window-peeper."

Suzee said mildly, "Why not think of your mother gearing up for her role ahead as a grandmother?"

"Oh yeah, that sounds a little more acceptable than the picture I just painted. Um, are you releasing fertile eggs whenever I push my dick into you?"

"Now your mind is running rampant, darling. So long as I keep taking the pill, any eggs I release will not be fertile so think about the waste of all that sperm. That's why most women prefer to have it blasted over their chest or to swallow it, making it easier to clean up afterwards."

"Gee Suzee, single-handedly you are making my mind grow."

"Thanks, darling. In return, perhaps you could teach me how to get the most out of driving my car. It seems more sportier than I am."

"Yeah sure. Um, I feel like turning back to have a quickie."

"Just keep on driving, my man. You mother would have a fit if we were late or even worse, failed to show up."

"Oh yes, that's a thoughtful comment."

Suzee and Rick were surprised not to see his mother racing to greet them. His father Selwyn came out alone, stood sternly and shaking hands with his son said, "Your mother is in bed with a migraine. The excitement has been too much for her."

Rick introduced Suzee and they expressed their sympathy. Suzee asked, "Do you mind if I go to her? I know how to act as my late grandmother suffered the occasional migraine."

"Yes, please do that err..."

"Suzee."

"Yes, Suzee. Please do that. Go in the down the passage straight ahead of you to the third door on the left. Just go in quietly and don't turn on the light."

The third door on the left was closed, and Suzee opened it carefully and entered and noticed the room was lit softly from a light in the attached bathroom.

"Hi, Isobel, it's Rick's current girlfriend Suzee."

"Oh, welcome. We meet at last. Come over and hold my hand. I appreciate you came in quietly and had the confidence to call me Isobel on our first meeting."

Suzee took Isobel's hand and noticed the ice-pack over Rick's mother's forehead.

"May I sit on the bed and then you won't have to look up with me standing."

"Oh, you know about these things. I suppose your mother..."

"My late grandmother."

"Oh, Rick has said many things about you and emphasised that you had a brilliant mind."

"He must like me to acknowledge that."

"Oh dear, if you only knew, but it's up to him to row the boat as the old-timers used to say when talking about courting, although no one appears to used the word courting these days."

"Correct," Suzee said. "But perhaps it's still used in isolated rural areas where the inroads of social changes filter through more slowly."

"You express yourself like a professional dear. Clearly there's nothing scatty about you for one so young."

"My late mother, a thorax surgeon, was at pains to make me speak English properly without slang and with correct pronunciation. Some of my fellow classmates criticised me for trying to speak what they called posh."

"But you didn't mind?"

"No, I loved my mother and regarded her highly and before long learned that she desired me to present myself to the world at my best when I left the home nest. My late father, an orthopaedic surgeon, was more pragmatic and taught me about tough things I'd need to cope with in the real world."

"You were lucky to have such caring parents with foresight, Suzee. Rick told me they lost their lives when caught in a ferocious storm at sea that proved to be much stronger than forecast."

"Yes, it was sad, but at least they were together when it happened. Although they had high-stressed lives because of their vocations, their love for their partner was much more profound that what is generally the case these days."

"What a wonderful tribute, dear. I'll try to make it to the living room but won't have any food or drink. Could you please pass me my darkest sunglasses from the top right drawer of the dresser on your right and check on the pastries that Selwyn has already placed in the heated oven. He or Rick will get you a drink. I'll be out in a few minutes."

"Are the living room lights on dimmers?"

"Yes, some of them. How thoughtful you are."

Rick and Suzee left 40 minutes later, happy that his mother was looking almost recovered with a fresh icepack band secured over her forehead.

"It's been lovely meeting you dear," Isobel said. "You are so impressive."

"Isobel, just remember you have enjoined with me socially at my best."

"I say you are the best young female that Emma has ever brought to this home," Selwyn said. "Until now, Rick has mostly kept his girl-friends away from us, and that says a lot about you. Please visit us again and you will be very welcome."

"Thanks for the compliments. Selwyn, Isobel needs to return to bed now. Stay and talk to her gently and don't press for her responses. Just go with the flow. She'll probably awake during the night and with luck will be back to her normal self."

"That's what I expect," Selwyn said. "You've obvious remember what you learned when dealing with fairly mild migraines. And yes, please visit us often and we'd like to take you and Rick somewhere nice for a Sunday lunch soon."

"Thanks for the hospitality that flowed despite the unexpected hiccup. I really enjoyed meeting you both."

As they drove off, Rick said, "I knew that you would harmonize with them naturally with the smoothness that I've seen from you. But more than that. Right now, they probably are talking about being blown away by you."

"That's an interesting comment, Rick, and what type of girlfriend did you pursue that made you not want to take them home?"

"I'm blown away by your perception, Suzee.

That comment, delivered with a grin, resulted in them laughing happily.

Chapter 8

Quinn Chambers, about to be seated in the restaurant, was wearing blue jeans and a beautifully cut sports jacket, and his tie had been loosened. Still walking to the table, Rick loosened his tie.