Don't Let Go

by Sheryl Wright

  “Not that kind,” she offered, clearly uncomfortable. “Toaster oven recruit. I am…so sorry…will explain.”

  “You most certainly will not!” Tyler wasn’t sure which offended her more, the thought that Lou Phipps would run to Marnie because he believed Georgie had acted inappropriately or that Georgie was worried people would think poorly of her if they believed she was lesbian. She had assumed that a company with two open and out lesbians, Georgie and Zoe, would be more progressive. She also realized, almost belatedly, that this would be a good time to come out to her boss. She was about to do just that when Maggie padded in, leash in mouth. Just like that the woman and her dog were gone and for a moment all the air in the room seemed to rush out with them. Half bewildered and half in shock, she sat motionless.

  Zoe walked in. Slipping into the seat across from Tyler, she sported a serious look. “My dad can be a real arse at times. You all right?”

  Still in shock, Tyler nodded. “What the hell was that?”

  “I’m afraid my dear old dad just outed you. He’s in Marnie’s office demanding to know why Georgie did not notify him that you and she are involved!”

  “What?”

  Zoe offered a weak smile. “He jumps to conclusions all the time. I’ve come to believe it’s just the way his mind works. If it’s any consolation, having a queer daughter has been lovely payback.” Smiling for the first time since walking in, Zoe tilted her head in question, “You all right?”

  Was she? “Georgie was just fixing my chair.” As if to prove her point, Tyler swung around and retrieving the still open tool bag, pushed it across her desk. “The dog came for her! I am so sorry.”

  “Not to worry. That’s why we have the big mutt,” Zoe explained. “She’ll take a short walk then head down to the machine shop. I’ll take you down there later. Whenever something’s bothering her, they take a walk then head down to spend time with Henry. Let’s give her a few minutes to settle down. Okay?”

  Tyler nodded. What else could she do?

  Zoe accompanied her to the basement of the DiNamico building and down a long drab corridor to a steel door marked Machine Shop. Tyler was expecting to find an assortment of greasy old stationary tools like the drill press and band saw in her parents’ auto body shop. The spacious and bright electronics lab they entered was a complete surprise. The long narrow room had to run the length of the building. A comfortable couch and recliner were grouped in one corner. An elderly African American man was fast asleep in the recliner while Maggie, Georgie’s service dog, watched them without much interest from her cozy dog bed right next to his chair. Beside the lounge area, there were several workstations with high worktables and shelves loaded with electronic gadgets and gizmos. Beyond the workstations was a large central work surface which looked a lot like a light table. Tyler watched as Georgie and two others discussed something they were jointly reviewing.

  “That’s Henry,” Zoe said, tipping her head back toward the lounge area.

  “Henry Phipps?” Tyler asked, looking back at the sleeping man. He was dressed in blue work pants with a plain shirt and old cable-knit sweater.

  “Let’s not wake him. Come on, I’ll introduce you to some of Georgie’s boys.”

  Before they had passed the first test bench, a young man came crashing through the shop entrance, a super large Slurpee in one hand and a milk crate crammed with electronic junk under his other arm. Before he could make it more than a few feet, Zoe challenged him, “Have you lost your mind?”

  “What?” he asked, clearly confused by her remark.

  “Your T-shirt you nob! Georgie will freak if she sees you’re not up to code!”

  Tyler watched as the young man’s attention waffled between her, Georgie in the back of the room and Zoe. “What code are we discussing?” Tyler asked, as if sensing the young man needed a moment to frame a suitable reply.

  “Dress code,” Zoe explained, adding, “the engineers are not required to wear suits or dress slacks but that T-shirt is definitely a no-no!”

  “Zoe, please,” he whined. “I’m working my ass off. Christ, I was lucky to find a clean T-shirt to wear!”

  “Report!” They all turned at Georgie DiNamico’s order. Standing tall at the head of the light table, she had the air of a general in the middle of a briefing from her commanders. She directed them with hand signals to join her at the light table. When they did, Tyler realized they were standing around a display terminal: a table-sized monitor with touch input for a work surface. Georgie and her engineers had several technical drawings open and were making changes to one. “Report,” she repeated, no nonsense.

  Zoe stepped up first. “I was just reminding Skippy here that employees, even engineers, have to adhere to the dress code.”

  Georgie seemed to examine the young man Zoe had called Skippy. He was wearing a plain gray T-shirt and black jeans. Both looked clean and presentable.

  “Sorry boss.” Skippy seemed to wilt under Georgie’s examination. “It’s just, well, I’ve been concentrating on this…” He raised the milk crate containing a jumble of unidentifiable electronic components.

  “Understood.” Turning to Zoe, Georgie began tentatively, “Was it today? Shirt order…suits?”

  “Yes, I thought Tyler and I could take care of that this aft?”

  “Very well.” She took her time, seeming to need a moment to decide on a course of action. Retrieving her ever-present smartphone from her suit pocket, she tabbed feverishly for a half minute before turning her attention back to Zoe.

  Looking up from her own phone where she was reading Georgie’s message, Zoe was skeptical. “You want me to pick up a half dozen new shirts for my brother? And ties too?” She frowned her disapproval, while Skippy beamed at the offer. “You know Dad will never go for that.”

  Georgie’s attention returned to her phone, sending another text message.

  Zoe, reading it, crossed her arms and shook her head. Clearly she wasn’t going to follow orders.

  Tyler watched the exchange with interest while the engineers gathered around the table stood motionless.

  “Fine,” Georgie acquiesced. “Charge my…personal, account.”

  Zoe huffed at that. Still shaking her head, she exclaimed, “Georgie, you can’t favor him like that!”

  Looking up from the diagrams, Georgie was plainly frustrated. “Fine,” she said, before turning to the young man. “Skip, new deadline,” she offered, before texting the requirements to him and his sister.

  “You want me to buy him six shirts and two ties now, as a reward for making some deadline that hasn’t happened yet?”

  Skippy beamed. “Thanks boss.”

  “Challenge!” Georgie growled her correction. She was visibly angry.

  “Noooooo!” Zoe exclaimed. “It’s still favoritism! You must see it’s just the kind of thing Dad’s always complaining about. What you should be doing is sending him home for the day without pay. If it was any of these other blokes, you would have!”

  Instead of sending another text message, Georgie opened a text document window right on the worktable. A keyboard diagram popped up, allowing her to quickly type a memo. One Tyler could see would be sent to all the engineers before Zoe could mount another protest. The minute she finished typing, email notifications went off on every phone and tablet in the room. Instead of responding to her own, Tyler decided to observe the reactions of the group gathered around the table.

  As she expected, Zoe was the first one to comment. “Have you lost your mind?”

  A red-faced Georgie turned from Zoe to Tyler. “Please…” Instead of trying to explain, she simply grabbed her cell, sending Tyler her suggestion on how to manage the challenge she had just issued to her entire department. Looking up to get her reaction, Georgie asked simply, “Understood?”

  Tyler nodded. It would now be her job to survey the entire engineering department. Zoe had not managed to stop Georgie’s offer to buy Skippy shirts and ties. Georgie had simply made the same off
er to the entire department. In the memo, she set a new delivery date for a product only identified by number. She would buy six shirts and two ties or scarves for everyone now, in the assumption they would all make their deadline. For those who didn’t, they would be responsible for paying her back. Anyone in the department who didn’t particularly want the new duds could opt out of a voluntary challenge that was open to everyone in engineering. Tyler could only admire the way she had handled the situation. Although her head swam with the thought of how much it was about to cost her new boss—dozens of shirts would be involved. She read through the text message asking her to find the shirt sizes for every member of Georgie’s engineering team, then, when she and Zoe were shopping, to order six shirts and two ties or whatever for each team member, and charge them to her personal account. Tyler nodded her understanding. “Do you have a color preference?”

  “Dr Marsh…I trust you.”

  Georgie turned back to her engineers. “Responder notification?”

  “What if we used a subscription formula?” was one suggestion.

  “What if they fail to subscribe? Who gets the notification?” another argued.

  Georgie agreed. It was interesting to note that once she did, the other engineers followed suit. Tyler watched while she drew on one of the large diagrams. “Virtual PBX?” she suggested to the team. Smiles and nods were universal as she encouraged them to keep voicing solutions.

  “What about the voluntary priority…”

  “…we certainly can’t perform a data dump. What about…”

  Tyler tuned out the engineers. Following Zoe, she headed back through the lab to the main door. Maggie, halting their progress, padded over to Tyler and nuzzled her head against her thighs before returning to her dog bed.

  Tyler silently considered the experience. It was hard to decide what had surprised her more, the dog’s interest in her, Georgie’s temper or Zoe’s insistence that the rules be adhered to. Rules she herself had attributed to Marnie Pulaski’s need to control everything DME. From what Tyler had just witnessed, it was Zoe who had jumped on the young engineer…The light dawned. “Wait, Skippy—he’s your brother?”

  “Yeah,” Zoe admitted as they boarded the elevator. She swiped her hand over the ring of blue sensors before announcing the floor, “Six. Georgie’s always been soft with his wimpyness!” She sighed. “Sorry there, Tyler. It’s the whole prodigal son thing. I swear my dad thinks he’s a frigging genius!”

  The elevator doors opened and Zoe charged out heading directly for Marnie’s office. She was barely through the double doors to HR when she began her angry narrative of the encounter down in the so-called machine shop. Marnie stood up and with a simple wave of her hand, indicated her current meeting was over, forcing the co-workers gathered around her desk to leave. Tyler didn’t like the gesture and judging by the look of those filing out, they weren’t happy either. No wonder co-workers were suspicious of the perceived effort to accommodate Georgie. Most of the staff, except for the engineers, might only know her by incidents like this.

  While Zoe rattled on about Georgie’s supposed breach of company policy, Marnie stood listening to the report without interrupting. As was her habit, she had her ballpoint in hand and clicked furiously in time to Zoe’s protest. Once Zoe had exhausted her point, Marnie gave her a list of more immediate concerns and dismissed her.

  With the door closed after Zoe, Marnie turned to Tyler. Laying her pen on her desk, she said bluntly, “Tyler, I don’t have time for this today.” Sinking back into her executive chair, she added, “The twins, my twins, are in some sort of trouble at school. I have to meet the principal in less than an hour.”

  “I can handle this and make it fair for everyone in engineering, I promise. At least I think that was Zoe’s issue. I’m sure there’s a lot more involved.”

  Marnie snorted. Picking up her pen again, she began clicking out her frustration then slammed it back on the desk. “Please sit down,” she said, letting out a long labored breath. “I love Zoe but she can be a real pain in my backside. Here’s the deal. The twins, Zoe and Skip…”

  “They’re twins?”

  Marnie just nodded. “They’re obviously not identical twins, but twins they are. When they were little, they were both crazy about Georgie. They followed her everywhere, would try anything she did and she was great with them. I have to give her credit, she never favored either of them even when they competed for her attention. Of course, they were teenagers when she deployed the last time. So…neither really noticed when she left. Then when she came home, well, you know kids. Their world is very small and it’s easy for them to convince themselves of stupid things. Zoe became very judgmental, wanting to blame Georgie for being over there, for getting hit. Sometimes I think she was just angry that Georgie survived. Skippy was the exact opposite. He blamed himself. You know how it goes. ‘If only I had spent more time with her before she left, she would have been looking out for missiles, instead of thinking about me!’” She held up her hand. “Honest to God, that kid came up with more crazy reasons to explain his misplaced guilt than I can shake a stick at. It was a tough time. Thank God my kids were too young to really be affected.”

  “You know, I didn’t really pick up on any bad blood between Georgie and Zoe until this, whatever this was.”

  “What this was and is about, is the dynamics of this family. I think I mentioned we all assumed Georgie would take over one day?” At Tyler’s nod, she pushed on. “How do I explain this…Before my grandfather died, he divided the company shares between his three children. Daniel, Georgina, and Henry each received a third. Henry, as you may have guessed from his ethnicity was not really his son but old Luigi loved him as much and made sure Henry was rewarded for his hard work and loyalty. Of course, when their children grew up, they too entered the family business. I’m sure you know Danny, my dad, died two years ago? Okay, so it’s when we get to the kids that things get messed up. All the grandkids grew up together. Georgie’s the oldest, then me and Lori Phipps. By the way, Lori runs the boatyard, officially DynaCraft, just so you know. Anyway, Lori and I are only four months apart. Then there was Leslie. She’s a chef. She owns the Fleet Street Grill down on the ground level and manages the cafeteria for us.”

  “That explains why the food is so good.”

  Smiling, Marnie nodded. “I’ll tell her you said that. Lou came almost nine months to the day after Leslie was born. I’ll tell you, Henry’s taken some razzing for that. Anyway, we were all inseparable as kids. Georgie was our leader and protector. Lori and I were the troublemakers, Stella was the quiet one, Leslie was the tagalong but Lou was, well Lou was Lou! He was always the painful glass-half-empty, sky-is-falling, no-good-will-come-of-this kind of guy but Georgie just had this way with him. It was amazing and it got us out of hot water on many occasions. I miss that about Georgie, the way she could soothe anyone with just a look or a few kind words. When I see her struggle now just to communicate the simplest thing…well, it breaks my heart.”

  Marnie picked up her pen again then set it down gingerly. “I have to tell you, when Lou came storming in here this morning, it was all I could do not to laugh in his face. Christ, when Zoe explained what happened I nearly pissed my pants. I tell you, I laughed that hard. Of course it pisses me off to no end that Lou keeps going after Georgie. He wants her out and he’ll use any excuse he can. You should have seen his face when I explained the requirement to declare the existence of a personal relationship does indeed extend to Georgie but it was the responsibility of the lower-ranking employee to file the declaration with me. If he was determined to file a misconduct report, I explained, I would be happy to fire you once you finished your initial two-year contract!” Winking, Marnie added a wicked smile. “It’s the first thing that popped into my head! Anyway, your salary comes partly from the employee health and welfare fund and the rest from Georgie’s discretionary budget.”

  “How does that work?” Tyler asked. “If I may?”

  M
arnie nodded. “At the completion of each fiscal year we review the departmental budgets. When a department spends less than allotted, the manager of that department gets a bonus. They have several options on how they can split that money. Georgie has always rolled her entire bonus into a separate account to be used for her department. Hence the title discretionary fund!”

  “Do the other managers do the same?”

  “My husband Jack—have you met him yet?”

  Tyler knew Jack Pulaski was the VP of Sales and Marketing, and at Tyler’s nod she continued. “Anyway, Jack and Lori use what little they save to sponsor a charity golf tournament every summer. It’s turned into a real rivalry between the sales staff and the boat builders. As for operations, my bonus has been going into the health and welfare fund. Of course, the year the state finally started kicking in toward healthcare is the year I’m so over budget it didn’t help at all.”

  Tyler gave her a dutiful smile. “Is that all of the departments that have budgets outside of what…operations, engineering, sales, and boat building?”

  “You forgot finance, Lou’s department, and before you ask, yes he very cleverly comes in under budget every year and yes he takes his bonus. He’s the only one to do it.”

  Tyler could tell there was a story there but her head was already swimming with new facts she needed to assimilate. About to take her leave, she stopped. “I was surprised when Zoe challenged Georgie so sharply and didn’t let up but I was more surprised by Georgie. I half expected the dog to break it up, but Georgie held her ground. Does that happen often?”

  “I wish,” Marnie admitted as she stood to walk Tyler to the door. Dressed in an expensive suit, her high heels and long wavy hair were the only real contrast to her much more conservative sister. “The machine shop is her safe place. Only her guys and Henry spend any time down there, and the dog. Other than them, only you, me and Zoe have access. Now I’m starting to wonder if Zoe should be on that list. What do you think?”