Walter smirked. “I don’t see how that deal works in my favor, Sly, seeing as you’ve had my wife and I haven’t had yours. Yet.”
Sly lifted his hands again and was about to land a blow until Dawn stepped between them. “Leave,” she said to Walter. “Now.”
Walter looked as if he were going to say something to Sly, but he changed his mind and turned to Dawn. “Think about what I said,” he told her. “I’ll be in touch.”
“Don’t bother,” Sly called after the weasel. “She’s not interested.”
Dawn turned on him. “What’s your problem, Sly? The man was only talking to me.”
“Come off it, Dawn,” Sly said. “That guy has more on his mind than talk and you know it. Has he propositioned you yet?”
“I’m not going to answer that,” Dawn said, turning away from him and back toward the house.
Sly caught her arm and turned her around. “He has, hasn’t he?” When she didn’t answer, he dropped her arm. “I knew it. The slimy—”
“Stop with the name-calling, Sly. Walter’s harmless.”
“Yeah, right.”
“He is. He’s a bit lost right now. It’s something we have in common.”
Sly felt her words as a punch in the gut. “You’re going to see him again?”
“Maybe. If he needs to talk. I haven’t decided.”
Sly came so close to her that his nose almost touched hers. “I don’t know what game you’re playing, Dawn, but you’re playing with fire. You may not want to end up in Walter’s bed, you may not even have any plans to end up there, but if you keep playing around with him like this, that’s exactly where you’re going to find yourself.”
“Look who’s talking,” she murmured.
“Because I know what I’m talking about. I didn’t set out to sleep with Fredericka. It was the farthest thing from my mind. But it happened, and it happened in small steps that I took without thinking a lot about them.”
“I’m not you.”
“You’re right. You’re not me. I didn’t have any reason to turn away from you, but you have every reason to turn away from me. You’ve told me that often enough. Well, whether you want to cheat or not, you’re setting yourself up to do it. I can tell you right now though that it’s not going to give you what you want. To the contrary, you’ll lose more than you’ll get. I did. I lost your trust and respect and I lost my own respect and even though I’m working hard to get it all back, I still have no idea if I’ll be successful. Believe me, you don’t want to put yourself in that position. Take it from somebody who’s been there.”
Chapter 17
Francine was getting out of her car at the funeral home on Monday when Stuart drove up in a sleek red Corvette. She waited for him before going inside for their meeting about the collective. His long legs made confident strides toward her and a smile lit his face. She admitted to herself that she was happy to see him.
He leaned over and kissed her cheek. “I’m glad I’m not late,” he said. “I left my office later than I’d planned.”
“No, you’re right on time,” she said, leading him into the funeral home. “Thanks for helping us out. Sly’s counting on you.”
“No biggie,” he said, following her to Sly’s office.
She looked back at him as she reached Sly’s door. “It’s a biggie to us.”
Sly stood as they entered his office. “Hey, you two,” he said. “Have a seat while I round up Dawn. She’s probably in her office.”
Francine and Stuart took seats at the round conference table, where each place had been set with a pad, a pen, and a typewritten report.
“This is going to be serious business,” Stuart murmured, picking up one of the Amen-Ray engraved pens.
Sly and Dawn were back in the room before Francine could respond. “Hey, sis,” Francine said.
“Hey to you, too,” Dawn said, taking a seat next to Francine. “Stuart, good to see you.”
Sly took a seat between Dawn and Stuart. “Well, I want to thank all three of you for making time to come here today, especially you, Stuart, since I know you have a busy schedule.”
“Glad to be able to help,” Stuart said.
“I guess we’d better get to it then,” Sly said. “I’ve put together a few notes on the collective idea that I’ve talked to you all about. You have them in front of you.”
Francine looked at the typed sheet atop the yellow pad in front of her.
“Like I told the three of you,” Sly said, “I’m looking for ways to expand the funeral home’s business and provide some safeguard against corporate funeral homes like Easy Rest. My basic idea, one that I appropriated from a presentation that was made to the Leadership Team at Faith Central, essentially situates Amen-Ray in a collective of funeral homes that work together to leverage their individual resources.”
Francine put down the sheet of paper she’d been studying. “I think the idea has some merit, Sly, but can you give us a little bit more on why you think it’ll work for Amen-Ray and why Amen-Ray needs it?”
Sly cast a quick glance at Dawn before answering. “Let me answer the second part of your question first. Like I said before, we’re getting a lot of pressure from Easy Rest, who wants us to sell out to them. In their deal, they own the funeral home, but we have the option of remaining in management positions, subject to the management in their corporate offices.”
“Of course,” Francine said.
“Well, all of us here know that once we sell the funeral home, Easy Rest can do whatever they want. For two years, the name would be Amen-Ray, an ‘Easy Rest Funeral Home.’ In year three, the name would be simply ‘Easy Rest Funeral Home.’ ”
“What would happen if they bought three funeral homes in the same town?” Dawn asked. “Would they all have the same name?”
“Good question,” Sly said, with a smile at his wife. “Their whole point is that there is one Easy Rest. When they purchase funeral homes, they decide whether to keep them open in separate locations or consolidate them into a single location. They make this determination based on a number of factors. If we went with them, we would remain a stand-alone facility for the first two years, but after that, we’d likely consolidate with other Easy Rest funeral homes in the area. It depends on how their numbers shake out.”
“So, in effect,” Stuart said, “there’s only one Easy Rest. Everything operates out of a single corporate headquarters.”
“You’ve got it,” Sly said. “Think Wal-Mart for the mortuary business and you’ve got their concept.”
Francine sighed. “I hate to say this, Sly, but it’s a pretty good strategy. Why aren’t we better off going with them?”
“How can you ask that, Francine?” Dawn asked, before Sly could answer. “Our grandparents built this place and left it for us. We can’t sell it to some impersonal corporation. Grandma Willie and Grandpa Grady would roll in their graves.”
Francine wasn’t so sure, but she held her tongue. She hadn’t been involved in the work of the funeral home enough to go against what Dawn and Sly wanted unless she had very strong objections. She didn’t. “Just asking,” she said to her sister.
“It was a good question,” Stuart said, looking at Dawn. “And one all three of you have to answer from both financial and personal perspectives.”
“But—” Dawn began.
“I’m not telling you what decision to make,” Stuart explained. “I’m only saying that you have to understand fully the impact of whatever you choose to do. Finances don’t have to be the driving issue, and probably shouldn’t be, but you should understand the financial ramifications of whatever decision you make.”
“He’s right, Dawn,” Sly said, and Francine heard the compassion in his voice for his wife’s feelings. “I’ve put together a set of numbers based on Easy Rest’s last offer. It’s in front of you.” He waited while they looked at it.
Francine whistled when she read Easy Rest’s offer, and she saw Stuart grin at her.
�
�Yep, that’s what we’re giving up,” Sly said.
“Okay,” Dawn said, “it’s a lot of money. How do we turn it down in good faith?”
“Well,” Sly said, “since I’ve already turned it down on our behalf, I hope this collective idea gives us the leverage we need. This gets me back to the first part of your question, Francine.” He went on to outline for them the benefits of such a collective. “Those are the major benefits as I sec them,” he concluded. “Stuart’s here because he can give us a bigger and probably more accurate picture of the advantages and disadvantages of taking this route.” He turned to Stuart.
Stuart opened his portfolio and handed each of them copies of his notes. “What I’ve given you are some points to consider if you’re going to move ahead with this idea. As you’ll see, I’ve listed them in order of importance, as I see them, and from a legal perspective. The first is, you have to decide the boundaries of the collective—its purpose and scope. Second, you have to decide on an organizational structure—equal shares for all or tiers of membership or something in between. Let’s tackle the boundaries one first because that’ll help us decide on the best organizational structure. For example, will the collective encompass purchasing, marketing, advertising, sales, operations, one of those, some of those, all of those, or something else altogether?”
“I’d thought about it from the purchasing, marketing, advertising, and sales angles,” Sly said, “because it’s easy to see the economies of scale we can get in those areas.”
“Me too,” Francine said. “If we could do bulk purchases and joint advertising, marketing, and sales, I’m sure we could get better prices than we get by going alone.”
“I agree,” Dawn said, “but there’s something intriguing about the operations component.” She looked at her husband. “What do you think, Sly?”
“It’s an angle I hadn’t considered, but I can see some possibilities. Tell us your thoughts on it, Stuart.”
Stuart sat back in his chair and rested his right foot on his left knee. “This one could be tricky, and probably much more complicated to pull off than the others. It could encompass shared billing and invoicing services, shared embalming services, central and joint training services, that kind of thing.”
Sly nodded. “We could even end up with a funeral home consulting service where we consult with funeral homes in trouble or new funeral homes and provide recommendations for changes and improvements.”
“I like the concept,” Dawn said, “but who would do the work? We’re busy enough as it is.”
“It might mean staffing adjustments,” Stuart said. “But in the long run it could be worth it.”
“Can we start at a simpler level and move to the more complex?” Francine asked.
“I’m with Francine on this one,” Sly said. “I think the simpler stuff will be an easier sell to other funeral homes because they can see immediate benefit. Once we get some credit for success in those areas, we can begin to think about sharing operations or creating consulting services. We need to start planning for those two now, but I don’t think they should be part of our initial rollout. My gut tells me that both of them, consulting and operations-sharing, have so many more particulars that they would seriously delay when we could get started on this.”
Dawn looked upon her husband with pride. “I’m with Sly. If we’re doing this to fight off the Easy Rests of the world, we need to make a showing fast before too many of our peer funeral homes sell out. It’s not clear we have a lot of time.”
“Okay,” Francine said. “I’m on board with that approach. So what do we do to get started?”
“Not so fast,” Stuart said. “We need to decide on an organization structure next. After we do that, we draw up a business plan and then you do a road show.”
“A road show?” Dawn asked.
“That’s right,” Sly said. “We have to sell the idea. Pick a few key funeral homes, ten maybe, that we want to get on board first because we think they’ll pull some others. Once we get those on board, we do a full rollout of the collective.” He looked at Stuart. “Let’s talk organization structure.”
The organization structure discussion took much longer than the boundary discussion. After more than two hours of back-and-forth, Sly said, “It seems we have two solid options. One has Amen-Ray as the hub of the collective, and the other creates a separate entity, Everlasting Life, say, as the hub.” He turned to Stuart. “From a legal perspective, which option safeguards our interests and assets best?”
“Creating the separate entity is always the cleanest split. I’d go that way.”
“But what about the cost?” Dawn asked. “Isn’t that option more expensive?”
“Not really,” Stuart said. “Remember, each member of the collective will have to pay dues. You’ll have to set the dues to cover the operating costs of the hub. Of course, the dues can’t be so high that they negate the economies of scale you’re going to get by operating as a collective.”
“That settles it for me,” Sly said. He glanced at Francine and Dawn. “What about you two?”
“Works for me,” Francine said. “Dawn?”
“Me too,” she said. Then she yawned. “And it’s about time too.”
Sly checked his watch. “We’ve been here almost four hours. It’s time for a break. Thanks, everybody. We’ve done some great work. I’ll pull together a draft of the business plan over the next week or so and circulate it to you.”
Stuart handed him another document. “I happen to have a business plan template for a similar venture that I worked on. You may want to use it as a model. The way I figure it, you have about a couple months of work ahead of you before you’re ready to take this show on the road.”
Sly took the document. “Thanks, man. We would never have gotten this far without your help.”
“Hey, it was fun.” Stuart rolled his shoulders. “I could go for a meal. Anybody hungry?”
“I am,” Francine said.
“I’m more tired than hungry,” Dawn said. “I think I’ll head on home.”
“Well—” Francine said.
“No,” Sly said. “You and Stuart go on out and get something to eat. I’ll go home with Dawn. I need to talk to her about something anyway.”
The look on Dawn’s face said that Sly’s need to talk with her was news to her, but she didn’t say anything to contradict him. Francine looked at Sly and had the feeling she was being set up. She wondered what Stuart thought but she didn’t have the courage to look at him.
“I guess it’s me and you,” Stuart said, forcing her to meet his gaze. “What do you have a taste for?”
“Something simple,” she said. “I eat pretty much anything.”
He grinned. “A woman after my own heart.”
He turned to Sly and Dawn. “We’re going to head out. You two sure you don’t want to join us?”
Sly shook his head. “Nah, man.” He gave Stuart the soul shake. “Enjoy your dinner and thanks for all your help.”
“Yeah, thanks, Stuart,” Dawn said, giving him a hug. “We owe you.”
“Just a prayer every now and then,” he said.
Dawn grinned. “That we can handle.”
Stuart turned back to Francine. “Ready?”
She nodded, said good night to Sly and Dawn, and allowed Stuart to lead her out of the funeral home. “I can drive,” she said.
He shook his head. “Ride with me. I’ll bring you back here and then follow you home.”
“That’s not necessary—”
Stuart folded his arms across his chest. “Are we going to start our wonderful meal with an argument? If we are, I have to tell you now that I’m going to win. I have substantially more arguing experience. Just ask my colleagues and my opponents.”
Francine gave in with a smile. “No arguments,’ she said. “I’m too tired.”
He opened the door of his Corvette and she slid in. “Boys and their toys,” she muttered.
“What was that yo
u said?” Stuart asked when he slid into the driver’s seat.
“Nothing,” she said.
“I thought we’d go to Granny’s. It’s close and it’ll be quick. That all right with you?”
“Fine,” she said. She liked the down-home atmosphere of the place, and the cooking reminded her of her grandmother’s. “I can taste those chicken and dumplings now.”
“Me, I’m dreaming of the liver and onions.”
Francine laughed. “Liver and onions? Yuck!”
“Watch it,” Stuart warned. “Them’s fighting words. I love liver and onions.”
She tilted her head to the side and studied him. “You amaze me, Stuart.”
He cast a glance at her. “I think I like that.”
Not sure how to take the flirting, Francine faced forward, thankful they had already arrived in Granny’s parking lot. Once they were seated in a back booth near the windows, she said, “They’re busy tonight.”
“It’s the liver and onions.”
She laughed at the twinkle in his eyes. A waiter, wearing a red-and-white-checkered apron that matched the tablecloths, brought them Granny’s famous iced tea, sweetened, and offered menus which neither of them took. Francine ordered the chicken and dumplings with peach cobbler for dessert. Stuart also added the cobbler to his order of liver and onions.
“I shouldn’t have ordered that cobbler,” Francine said. “I’m going to be full after I eat the dumplings.”
“Hey, Granny’s peach cobbler has nothing to do with hunger. It’s 100 percent about taste. And to show you how generous and unselfish I am, I’ll share yours with you so you don’t have to eat it all.”
“And what will you do with yours?”
He grinned. “I’ll take it home with me and eat it as a late night snack. I’m a sucker for their cobbler.”
Francine shook her head. “A judge, a Corvette, liver and onions, and cobbler. Something about this picture doesn’t fit.”
“It fits all right. You just don’t know my background.”
She leaned forward and rested her forearms on the table. “I’m listening.”
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