While appreciative of their adherence to the rules she had set for discussing privacy-related issues, she understood the situation required the involvement of everyone in the room. “You know, I only have two women engineers—well, three if you count…oh no, Aydan? I knew there was something wrong!”
“Explain,” Marnie ordered.
“She started in January, just before we left for the shakedown cruise. On her interview she struck me as very timid and shied away from the guys, so I gave her a cataloging job and had her report to one of the women engineers. She did a great job; she even built a database for Georgie to search all of her aunt’s papers and designs. I had high hopes but the last few weeks have been rough. She’s become more and more difficult and even less willing to work with the guys. And she’s complained about assignments, constantly comparing herself to the salaried professional engineers. She’s been impatient with Georgie and yesterday snapped at her in a team meeting. Frankly, I almost dismissed her then and there. Georgie stopped me and quietly asked for a few more days to work with her and I agreed.”
“Hey there, Tiger, no worries,” Lori assured her. “We all roll with Georgie’s requests.”
Marnie’s incessant pen clicking brought them back to the point at hand. “Tyler, I’m not saying she’s your problem but she is on your staff. Do you have any idea how we should handle this, other than just giving her the number for the nearest shelter?”
“Honestly, no…yes, well maybe, maybe we can kill two birds…Let me explain. Georgie wants some time to talk to her and try to sort out her attitude. Why don’t I take them upstairs for lunch, then I’ll introduce the idea of creating the high-tech lab she wants right up there in the ballroom. There would be no waiting for the right lot to open up, or architects, or building permits and construction schedules. I can tell Aydan she’s there to take notes and measurements for Georgie, then leave them alone to talk.” At their expectant faces she explained, “Best-case scenario, she opens up to Georgie and tells her what’s going on. Georgie will then solve it or bring it back for us to solve in the open, without impinging on anyone’s privacy. Worst-case scenario, Georgie fires her ass, in which case security will escort her off the premises. If that happens, we can provide her with information on shelters and community programs both here and close to Cattaraugus Creek.”
Marnie retrieved the blanket on the back of her chair, draping it around her shoulders, “Goddammit Doctor Marsh! Why does reasonable sound so cold?”
“Because we’re women,” she answered with brutal honesty. “Reasonable doesn’t keep you warm, or protect your kids, or put food in their bellies. Reasonable laws and ethical behaviors can’t dictate the depth of human kindness, or define those deep connections that make us who we are.”
“Uh-oh, Pumpkin’s in deep,” Kira noted of her sister. “What’s made you so reflective?”
Caught out, Tyler colored deeply. “That is a discussion I’d best have with my intended first.”
“I knew it!” Leslie said before giving the equally happy Kira a fist bump.
Lori asked, “What?” She was notoriously ignorant of straight girl jabber.
Marnie stood, indicating the meeting was over. “Tyler, this is our number one priority, both the eighth floor and the young woman. I want a full report before…” she checked her watch as she settled behind her desk, “four p.m.”
With that said, the meeting was indeed over and Tyler found herself being dragged through the corridor to her old office, now occupied by her sister. She sat on the couch, surprised to see Lori and Leslie join them.
“Holy cow, Tiger...You and Georgie popping out babies? Cool!”
Tyler had to laugh at the look on Lori’s face. Clearly Leslie and her sister had discussed the idea and if their bright faces were any indication, they were supportive. “Lori, we haven’t talked about it yet.”
“Yeah yeah, that’s cool. Whatcha girls think about it—I see you two making eyes—you two’ve been chewing on this for a while, right?”
Under Tyler and Lori’s scrutiny, Kira finally confessed. “We couldn’t help but notice how cute Georgie is with Ella and I know you have always wanted kids, so we kind of talked about the idea.”
Tyler wanted to scold them, but their enthusiasm was encouraging. She knew Lori would back any adventure Georgie considered, including having kids, but the fact that the more conservative Leslie, not to mention her own twin Kira, were both in support did feel wonderful. “You really think Georgie…”
“Are you kidding me?” Lori plopped down on the couch beside her, dropping her arm around Tyler’s shoulders. “Georgie practically raised all of us and we turned out pretty good.”
“Except for Lou,” Leslie noted with some disappointment.
“Oh, Lou’s okay,” Tyler said, but amended her opinion. “Just out of his depth.”
“Yeah well, so are we on this homeless kid,” Lori added.
“It might surprise you to know she isn’t exactly a kid. She’s in our age bracket.” She made a circling hand signal much as Marnie had to include everyone in the room.
“Huh!” Lori was stumped. “She looks so young on the surveillance footage. Maybe it’s being scared and alone that does that?”
“Actually, she may be our age chronologically, but she’s led a very sheltered life.”
Sitting down at her desk, Kira opened the portion of the young woman’s personnel file she was authorized to see. “Her recommendation came from Sandy Winowski at UB. You two are friends, right? Did she have any concerns?”
“None at all,” Tyler said. “She did warn that this would be her first full-time position. She explained, as did Aydan, that her family limited her academic efforts to part-time study. Still, you have to give her credit; she stuck with it doing just one course per semester. All she needs is her cooperative work time to qualify for her Professional Engineering accreditation.”
“Any idea what the issue is with the family?” Kira asked.
“She mentioned having a strictly traditional Muslim family,” Tyler answered. “She never said any more and I didn’t think it appropriate to ask. I still don’t, except for the fact that she’s in some sort of trouble and we all want to help.”
Leslie, who unlike her sister, had received their father’s dark coloring, looked sympathetic. Lori, the eldest of the Phipps children, was long and lanky like her dad but had inherited her white mother’s wild crinkly carrot top hair. She seemed a complete opposite to her petite sister and Lou, their baby brother. Until you spotted the three side by side. There was no denying the shared features of their proud African American father. In all the only hint to their mother’s race were the piercing blue eyes common to each of them. Leslie asked the one thing they had each been wondering: “What’s your plan?”
Tyler took a deep breath, and getting to her feet, offered, “This is actually something Georgie is better at. She may not realize it but her engineers trust her and for some reason feel safe to open up to her when given half a chance. What I’m going to do now is tell her everything, then see what she comes up with.”
Returning to the second floor and wending their way through the organized chaos of the engineering space, Tyler and Lori headed directly to the closed-door corner office. It was just after eleven when Tyler knocked, and she was relieved to see Georgie wasn’t upset by the interruption. As a rule, Tyler made sure she was able to work without disruption until eleven thirty every day. It was a policy that had helped Georgie focus her concentration while sparking a level of creativity the company had never seen, not even before her blooding in Afghanistan. “Look who’s here,” Tyler announced.
Georgie stood, walked around her desk to give Lori an affectionate fist bump, then waved both her and Tyler to the seating area.
The grouping was furnished with odd pieces Tyler had found in the lower basement storeroom. When they had first set up on the second floor, Georgie had asked only that she bring up all the equipment from the machine shop. T
hey had the space and it made more sense than having the group running up and down the stairs all day. Even with all the desks for her engineers and the extra workbenches, the place still looked sparse and lacked meeting furnishings of any kind. Instead of delving into their very new budget for overhead expenses, Georgie had directed her to the lower basement where they had been storing excess office furnishings for years. The place turned out to be a treasure trove of historical pieces and everyday furniture. Everything from old Luigi’s first desk to the original art deco couches that once graced the lobby were stored and available. Georgie had told her to use whatever she wanted and she had taken it to heart. Now several couches framed the work groups on the open floor, and Georgie’s meeting area was finished much as it had been upstairs.
Plopping herself on the closest couch, Lori announced, “You, me, and the missus have us a situation.”
Tyler grinned at her. It didn’t matter what was going on, there was always an air of casualness about Lori. At six feet, and with the build of an athlete, she was a good-looking woman but it was those blue, blue eyes that always did women in. Like her father, Henry Phipps, her skin was the color of rich hot cocoa. Her hair and eyes, though, they had come from her mom Gloria, a sweet Newfoundland lass with deep Celtic roots, which accounted for Lori’s unruly red hair, and she did curse her mom now and then for giving her such disorderly curls. She had, on occasion, loudly envied her sister and her tight, perfect afro. Brother Lou, however, had inherited a combination of both parents and wore his hair combed the way her cousins in Newfoundland did. The look always sparked a vision of the sea under strict control, as if you could somehow harness row upon row of ridged curls. Of course, Lori being Lori, she had laughed her ass off when someone accused him of wearing a weave.
“You okay?” Georgie asked her cousin, taking a seat across from her.
“You know I am. I was just thinking about Mom.”
That made Georgie smile. Since Henry had fully retired, he rarely made it into the office and Georgie didn’t much like visiting the big house. Tyler had pressed her on it and she had complied, understanding the need to push past her demons of loss if she wanted any quality time with her uncle and best friend.
“Ah…Gloree-bee!” Georgie exclaimed. It was Henry’s pet name for his long departed mate.
That made Lori smile. “Thanks, buddy. Listen, why don’t I grab us a cup of tea while Tyler fills you in?”
“Actually,” Tyler interrupted, “I’d like to run a little experiment. Do you mind?”
Lori sat back. “Experiment away.”
Tyler moved to the office door. “I’m about to do something I swore I would never do.” She opened the door and called to Georgie’s intern, “Aydan, will you please bring in Georgie’s tea set with four mugs?” With that, she closed the door without looking back.
Georgie, just as surprised as Lori, grabbed her tablet and sat down beside her cousin. She opened the security app, scrolling to the security cameras and expanding the one covering the break area where the coffeemaker was housed and a kettle, teapot, and a tray of mugs. They watched scrunched together as the woman went about making tea and gathering the milk container, a spare sugar jar, and the bottle of lemon juice they kept on hand for Georgie. As they watched her go about the menial task, they could see she was not pleased with the duty. It wasn’t the kind of thing either Georgie or Tyler ever did to female subordinates. They both knew the sting of being expected to do that sort of thing simply because of being born a woman, but they also believed in starting at the bottom. That meant the most junior person sometimes got stuck with the crappy jobs. By the time the kettle had boiled and the tea had steeped, Lori and Tyler had filled Georgie in on the situation involving both Aydan and the impending office move.
Lori watched Georgie close her security app as the young intern made her way to the office. She warned herself that Aydan was neither young nor helpless. Who knew what her story was. The important thing now was to set the stage for her to open up. Lori stood with her cousin, as Tyler opened the office door.
“Thank you, Aydan, please join us.” Tyler waited while the intern set the tray on the table before making introductions. “Aydan Ferdowsi, I would like you to meet Lori Phipps, president of DynaCraft Custom Yachts.” Aydan reached out to accept Lori’s open hand just as Tyler dropped her first bomb. “It’s a rare day when we can drag her up from the boatyard.”
The woman’s arm froze in midair, but she seemed to push through her shock, delivering a trembling handshake.
“Nice to meet you,” Lori offered with a sincere smile, waving her to the couch. “Have a seat,” she said, watching carefully for any reaction. Like the reluctant handshake, she gingerly sat on the love seat adjacent to the two parallel sofas, without comment or question. Lori couldn’t imagine a more miserable looking soul. But Tyler was right. She wasn’t a kid. Up close, even with the drab old headscarf thingy, she was clearly in the same age bracket as them. That didn’t account for her eyes though. Deep brown and innocently large, her gaze was a mix of fear and childish hope. The mix was incongruent yet somehow familiar. Something about her, about scared angry Aydan, pulled at her in a way she had never experienced. For the spark of a moment she worried for her own feelings before pushing them aside. Why worry? She was Lori Phipps and she had been born with a Teflon heart.
Tyler began the conversation as planned. “We have a new project to consider. We are going to be taking a look at the division of space and future use considerations. Georgie will take the lead on this but I would like you to drive it. You understand, create the layout diagrams and usage tables.”
Clearly Aydan hadn’t been expecting that. She nodded, asking, “Will we be looking at a particular space?”
Jumping in, Lori surprised herself as much as Tyler and Georgie, announcing, “Actually, we need you to take a look at everything, the whole building here and everything out at the boatyard. We’ll need to bang a schedule together too.” She checked her smartphone for the time. “I’ve got to meet with Lou in ten minutes. You know what a turd he is if I’m late. How about lunch? Would that be a good time to meet and hammer out a plan?”
Tyler nodded. “That’s perfect. We had planned on having lunch upstairs. Why don’t you join us after Georgie’s team meeting?” At Lori’s agreement, she turned to Aydan, “What about you? Do you mind joining us for lunch?”
She agreed before asking with timidity, “Upstairs?”
“Yes. In our condo.” Tyler made a hand signal that encompassed her and Georgie. “It’s on the ninth floor. You don’t mind joining us there?”
“No,” she answered, but her downward gaze and her body language was anything but accepting.
Lori wasn’t sure what that meant and would rely on Tyler to spell out the mushy stuff. Standing, she gave her cousin another friendly fist bump before offering her hand to Aydan. “It was nice meeting you. I can’t wait to get started and I promise I’ll try and make it fun.” For her effort, she was rewarded with a weak smile. While their eyes did connect, if only for a nanosecond, Lori was shaken to realize it was something she wanted to see again.
Chapter Five
Aydan walked from Georgie’s office to the studio space they had set up near the elevators. It wasn’t really a studio so much as open space they were using to digitally capture old blueprints and design documents that were far too big for even the large-scale flatbed scanner. Instead of sending them out, they had gone old school, pinning each blueprint to the wall and taking a photograph with the digital camera. Aydan’s company laptop was connected to the tripod-mounted camera and sat next to it on one of the portable standing desks. She noted the drawing she had completed, and saved her database entry before disconnecting the camera. There was still some time before the pre-lunch team meeting.
As scared as she was of being caught out by this Lori woman, she wanted to prove she was a professional. It was hard for her to understand why it meant so much. Up until this moment she had bee
n considering calling her academic adviser and asking for another placement. All that stopped her was the threat that it could be worse than this. Certainly being forced to play serving girl had irked her. Still, when she thought of it, it wasn’t as if she was always treated like that. She didn’t like it when one of the guys stopped to chat with her but it was clear they thought her assignment was something special. Even Skip Phipps, who she didn’t mind so much, was in awe, offering to switch his coding assignment for a glimpse of his great-aunt’s legacy. Maybe this wasn’t such a bad place to work. Once she was officially an engineer, she would expect assignments with a little more bite but she did have to admit the stuff she was digitizing was interesting. Certainly, getting an inside look at the rest of the company would be interesting too but having lunch with her boss and her boss’s boss was slightly overwhelming.
The thought of being in their…home was frightening. She had to wonder if they would act differently without the team around. Frankly, they were a little too open about their…their situation for her liking. Still, they didn’t kiss or anything disgusting around the staff. And they didn’t seem like anything her brothers had ever said about those women. Both were attractive in different ways but neither looked like she couldn’t get a man. And neither looked as if she wished to be a man, although she would have guessed Ms. Marsh was the man because she was taller and the boss, but her boss Georgie was definitely the take command type. Did that mean she wanted to be the man? Didn’t Tyler say that Georgie and Lori were co-captains of the sailboat they took to Miami? Did that make her the wannabe-man? Maybe her brothers were wrong. It wasn’t as if they knew everything. They did have a life and friends outside the Ferdowsi home but that didn’t mean much. She had seen videos online from the Ellen show. Ellen didn’t look like she was trying to be a man, and her woman was certainly beautiful. Still, Aydan couldn’t bring herself to describe Portia de Rossi as another woman’s wife. Was it right to judge others if their happiness had no influence on her own? She wasn’t sure and as nervous as she was at having to join her boss, Ms. Marsh, and the other women for lunch she was determined to keep her prejudices to herself.
Stay with Me Page 6
