by KG MacGregor
The House on Sandstone
It galled her that Jim Fitzpatrick was now her boss, and that all of her requests had to go up through him. He had been mediocre at best in the field, and in his current job, he supervised three field projects that he barely understood. The trains ran on time because Carly and her fellow team leaders made it happen.
A handsome man came through the glass door exuberantly, and stretched his hand out to take hers. "Carly! Sorry to keep you waiting."
"Jim. Good to see you again." His breath smelled of alcohol. Running late, my ass.
"So I made us a reservation across the street at Ruth’s Chris. Linda’s going to join us at seven. She’s really looking forward to seeing you again."
Carly fumed inwardly, instantly realizing that she’d been kept waiting simply because Jim’s wife couldn’t make it at six. The women hardly knew each other; this was just Jim and Linda taking advantage of an opportunity to eat out on the company’s nickel. Now, she understood why he had insisted on dinner instead of meeting with her this afternoon.
"I need to talk about some work issues, Jim…personnel matters. I hope that won’t be a problem."
"Nah, shouldn’t be. Linda’s heard it all before."
Fifteen minutes later, they were seated at an elegant table overlooking the Ohio River.
"I just never get tired of this view," Linda sighed. "I love it when Jim has work dinners."
"I’m sure you do." Very sure. "So, Jim…I wanted to talk with you about Wade’s job. I know he’s retiring in May, and I’d like to call in that promise you made before I went to Israel."
Jim paused to order a $90 bottle of wine, without even asking her preference. When the waiter departed, he gave his attention back to Carly. He was ready for this, and had all his arguments lined up. "That would really be a bad time to leave Madrid, Carly. You know the four-month mark is a critical period."
Or the five-month…or the eight-month…. Carly had heard this before. "Damon’s ready to step up. By May, we’ll be interviewing and training already. Those modules are already in place."
"Damon’s not as experienced as you are, though."
"Nobody is! That’s because I’ve been in the field longer than anybody in the company.
My performance reviews are good. I get the top ratings. Now I’m ready to move up." I’ve been ready for the last twelve years. "I deserve to move up."
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"It’s not that simple, Carly. There are nine field teams out there. A lot of people on those teams are going to apply for Wade’s spot. It’s going to come down to a lot of different factors."
Carly was determined not to lose her cool, but she knew when she was being jerked around. "But I have it in writing from you that I will get top consideration."
"That’s right. You will be considered, and all of your experience is going to be taken into account. But that’s not the only factor."
The waiter interrupted them again to take their order. Carly hadn’t really thought about what she would eat, but when both of her dinner companions ordered the twenty-ounce Porterhouse, she assumed it was probably the most expensive item on the menu, and ordered one for herself. Linda was bored already, and started talking to her husband about a funny noise the mini-van made. After ten minutes of debate, they agreed that she would take it to the shop on Monday. Crisis averted!
"So if experience isn’t the only factor, what else is going to be considered?"
"Well, I know that Bob Schiller asked about it too before he went to Pakistan. It’s hard to get somebody to head up a project in a place like that."
"In other words, Wade’s job has been promised to more than one person."
"Nobody’s been promised anything, Carly. I’m sure you have just as good a shot as anybody else…but I think Bob having been in Pakistan is going to weigh pretty heavy."
The waiter returned to place three sizzling steaks in front of them. Carly looked at the size of the monstrous piece of beef with dismay. She couldn’t eat that much meat in a week!
"Jim, Bob has been with Worldwide for six years. He’s not even thirty years old!"
"Now you know we can’t discriminate by age. That’s against the law."
"Nobody’s asking you to. But you can’t get twenty years work experience when you’re only twenty-nine."
"Look…I wasn’t going to bring this up, but…you got special consideration from the company before. We really–I really went out on a limb to let you hire Alison. And look what that cost us. We paid moving expenses for somebody who didn’t even stay six months. I could have lost my job over that."
"Who’s Alison?" Linda asked, her mouth full of steak.
"She was somebody Carly got involved with…romantically…in South Africa. Carly asked us to hire her on the next job at Shanghai so she could go too."
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"You do that a lot, don’t you? Hire people’s husbands or wives," she continued.
"We do it a fair bit. But Alison wasn’t somebody’s wife. I really stuck my neck out on that one, Carly."
"It’s not like I had an option, Jim."
"I know, I know. But I had an option. I could have said no. But I didn’t. All I’m saying is that we can’t give everybody special consideration every time."
Carly felt her stomach sinking with disappointment and frustration. Despite their promises, she knew now that she wouldn’t be offered a stateside job. After twenty-one years with the company, she was going to have to settle for that single bone they’d tossed her almost five years ago. For a few fleeting seconds, she regretted not taking her father up on his offer of the furniture store.
Her appetite was gone, and she hadn’t even had a bite of her steak. Setting her utensils down, she eyed the slab of beef, knowing that it would go home in a doggie bag with the Fitzpatricks if she left it untouched.
"Oh, dear!" Carly put her hand over her forehead and began to sneeze onto her plate.
Again…and again…and again…seven times in all. "I don’t know what that is. I feel so sick." Struggling to her feet, she reached around for her purse. "I think I better go on home before this gets worse. I have a long drive. Thank you so much for dinner." She laid her linen napkin atop her plate and left.
**********
"All right, Justine. You take A through K and I’ll get L through Z." Justine took a seat beside Sara McCurry Rice behind a table with boxes of nametags. "And make sure you get everybody’s email address. This’ll be a piece of cake next time if we can just email everybody and not have to send out everything."
A few of their classmates were putting the finishing touches on the decorations at the Kiwanis Club meeting hall, and the band was warming up. The Kiwanis didn’t have a license to sell liquor, but they’d gotten a special permit to serve beer and wine. Sara ordered seven cases of wine coolers, insisting that they’d last longer than regular wine.
They’d last forever at my house, Justine thought.
"Well, looky here. If it ain’t David Willis!" Sara was excited to see their first classmate.
But then Sara was excited to see everyone.
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Justine jumped right in to help the next person, and within half an hour, most of the nametags in her box were gone. She fingered a few until she got to the one she really cared about, looking up just in time to see the blonde woman walk in the door with two men.
Carly looked dazzling! She was wearing a tailored gray pantsuit with a wide-collared white top. A vibrant silk scarf was threaded beneath her lapel.
"Hello. You’re Justine Hall…right?" The blonde woman flashed a killer smile that nearly melted Justine on the spot. "You probably don’t remember me. I’m Carly Griffin…We used to be lab partners in chemistry class."
Justine was caught off-guard by the greeting, until she saw the mischievous smirk that followed the smile. "Why, yes! We did have…chemistry together, now that I th
ink about it. How nice to see you again," she answered back, her voice dripping with syrupy sweetness. Inside, she was reeling at a rush of sensations. She looks like a million dollars!
"Oh, my god! Would you look at who it is? It’s Richie Cortner." Sara was on her feet and around the table for a hug from the artist, who was clearly baffled by the attention from someone who hardly acknowledged his existence in high school.
Justine looked at Richie and back at Carly, not quite understanding the connection. Then she noticed Daniel, the man who ran the new coffee shop.
"This gentleman needs a nametag, please. This is Daniel Youngblood." Carly tugged her friend up to the table.
"Okay." Justine began to write it out. "And Daniel is here with…."
"Me," Carly said, looking back at her friend from the coffee house and his partner.
Justine nodded in understanding, trying not to scowl in Daniel’s direction. Cut it out, numbskull. She just didn’t want to come alone, so she brought a friend.
Carly went into the dance hall with her two friends and staked out a table.
"Okay, girlfriend, fess up!" Daniel leaned across their table and waited expectantly.
"What?"
"What’s with you and the redhead? ‘We had chemistry together’."
Carly looked to Rich for help, but got the same questioning look.
"Okay…that was Justine Hall, and I’ve had the hots for her ever since eleventh grade."
"That’s probably true for half the kids at Leland High," Rich added.
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"You can see why." Carly looked up as her beautiful friend entered the dance hall, where she was immediately approached by a man Carly recognized as Mark Matthews, the boy in their class who was voted–like Justine–Most Likely to Succeed.
"Well, I’d say it was mutual, honey. If looks could kill, you’d be picking up my dead body right about now."
"Why do you say that?"
"When you said ‘He’s with me.’ That woman was not a happy camper."
"Have you got a little history with Justine?" Rich had noticed the interchange between the two women and his curiosity was piqued as well.
"No…not really."
"God, what an awful liar you are! I want to play poker with you sometime." Daniel was starting to wonder if this was the woman his friend had told him about, the one who had some problems with the people in Leland.
Carly knew that her face was giving her away, but she didn’t feel right about sharing something so private about Justine. "So…which one of you guys gets to dance with me first?"
Daniel and Rich understood her cue. The subject of Justine Hall was closed for now.
Justine tried to duck back out to the foyer, but was lured to the dance floor by Mark.
There wasn’t a gracious way to decline, and it wouldn’t kill her to be polite.
Everybody in Leland knew the tale of Mark Matthews. Mark was released from federal prison last year after serving time for investor fraud. He’d managed to convince people–a lot of people–that he had the capital to develop a housing tract in the hills of Tennessee.
Unfortunately, the land was owned by the Tennessee Valley Authority. But his brand of malfeasance was popular, and he was released early to make room for the next wave of slimy blood-suckers that preyed on the elderly and infirm.
"What are you up to these days, Mark?"
"I hang around the house a lot…you know, with the ankle bracelet and all."
That’s right…house arrest. She suddenly wondered if the police might swoop in and carrying him off in cuffs.
Matthews read her mind. "But my probation officer signed off on this. I’m allowed to have visitors, too, by the way. Maybe you could drop by some time…."
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Carly was making her way through the crowd for a beer when she heard her named called.
"Carly! Carly Griffin." It was Sara McCurry. "Look who I found. It’s Tommy Hampton.
You know I told you about him being in the army, too. You two are going to have so much to talk about." She beamed with excitement as she deposited the man and left.
"Hi, Tommy."
"Carly, it’s good to see you again." He held out a hand that was soft to the touch, Carly thought…even softer than her own. "I’m embarrassed to say this, but I’m not in the army.
Never was, either. I don’t where Sara got that idea."
The blonde woman laughed out loud. "Neither am I. I told Sara that I worked overseas and she just…filled in the rest." That got a hearty laugh from her old classmate. "So what are you doing these days, Tommy?"
"I’ve been working in Frankfort at the National Archives since I got out of college. But I ran into Sara about ten years ago when I was doing a project over at Fort Knox and I must have mentioned it."
"Well, at least she was right about us having something in common. She’s confused about both of us."
Tommy introduced her to his wife, and after a few more friendly words, they went off to dance and Carly continued on her path to the keg. She was genuinely surprised all along the way by the smiles and friendly greetings. It was as though all of the people here had always been her friends. Maybe they just had her confused with someone else.
The song ended and Justine left the dance floor, automatically scanning the floor for her pretty friend. She spotted Carly near the beer keg, caught up in a conversation with Darlene Johnston. Working at the hospital, she saw a lot of Darlene, but they weren’t especially close.
"Carly, hi! Daniel says you’ve been helping him out at the coffee shop. I go by there every day on my way to work."
"That’s right. It’s the best way to service my caffeine addiction. Mainlining."
Darlene laughed amiably. "Listen, how’s Rich doing? I felt so sorry for him the last time he brought his daddy to the hospital."
Carly remembered that both Daniel and Rich had had nothing but kind words to say about Darlene. "He’s…taking it pretty hard. And I think he went on oxygen a few days ago, so it’s even worse."
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"The poor guy. He just lost his mother a couple of years ago. I’m so glad he’s got somebody like Daniel to support him through this. So many people just aren’t that lucky."
"Yeah…Daniel’s a really good guy."
"I wish they’d stick around Leland, but Daniel says Rich is pretty set on leaving it all behind when his daddy goes. I guess it’s hard for him here…the memories."
This was the confirmation for Carly’s suspicions. Daniel had dropped a lot of hints, but he hadn’t come right out and said they were moving on…perhaps because he was still hoping to change his partner’s mind about settling in Leland for good.
"You know, they both told me how good it made them feel when you talked to them in the hospital. It really meant a lot to Rich…and he was glad to hear that you were going into Daniel’s shop every day." That was Carly’s subtle way of saying thanks for respecting what these guys had together.
"He’s such a nice guy. They’re both nice guys, and I’m really happy they have each other. Daniel said you were heading out to Spain soon for your job."
"Yeah, I have to leave in a couple of weeks."
"That sounds so exciting."
"I’m sure it’ll be fun." For the first fifteen minutes or so.
"Listen, I’ll see you in a bit. I have to get this beer to my husband before he runs off in the car to buy his own six-pack." She looked over in the direction of a bored-looking man, sitting at a table alone. "He hates coming to these things."
Carly was joined in the beer line by Rich, who stopped on his way over to say a couple of words to Darlene. Instinctively, she looked around the room for Justine, who stood by the hors d’oeuvres table with Sara.
Sara was bending Justine’s ear. "That Carly Griffin looks like a whole different person. I saw her at the movies the other day and I hardly r
ecognized her. Who in the world would have thought she’d turn out to look that good?"
I did…but then I always thought she looked good. "She does look good. So does Richie."
Justine did that just to torment Sara, who’d had a crush on the artist since high school.
"Richie! God, he was the cutest boy in Leland, and now look at him. Hubba hubba!
Wonder how come he came in with Carly and that guy from the coffee house? You don’t reckon he and Carly are…? No, couldn’t be. I mean, she looks good, but he could have whoever he wanted."
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Justine bristled, but held her temper in check. She watched as Carly and Rich walked back to their table to deposit their beer before taking to the dance floor. What is this with Carly and Rich Cortner? I didn’t even know they knew each other. She didn’t have time to dwell on that question. Tony Belichek suddenly appeared to ask her to dance.
Carly smiled as she caught sight of Justine with Tony. She was a full head taller than he was, and it was obvious that he was trying to get close enough to lay his head on her breasts. Despite his diminutive stature, Tony had never been shy about the ladies. He’d been suspended for ten days for pulling out a plumbing pipe in the boys’ locker room so he could peek through into theirs.
The redhead looked fabulous tonight, Carly thought. She wore a one-piece black pantsuit that zipped up the back. It was sleeveless, and the v-neck showed off Justine’s sculpted shoulders nicely.
That is one gorgeous body….
"Daniel says business has really been good this week, a lot better than he expected for the holiday." Rich’s remark snapped her back from the wonderful place where her mind had begun to wander.
"Yeah, we had a really big crowd today. I wish somebody would answer his ad, though.
