The Outsider

by K'Anne Meinel

  “Do you have many break-ins?”

  Joy shook her head. “Actually, no. Most are very respectful of what we are trying to accomplish here. We give them a home and a safe place to start over. That’s where you come in…We need the ones who have mental problems, drug and alcohol problems, to come see you and your staff. Do you have people you plan to bring on board, or do you want to place an ad?”

  “Both actually. I just need to know the budget so I can proceed,” she said, getting back to work with her boss and lover.

  “I have a prospectus in my office that I can give you. I worked it up when I first thought about giving you the job. I’m glad you took it. I trust you and I think, given how much we talked when you thought I was homeless, you would be perfect for this job. Please hire people who are as caring as you are,” she teased as they made their way back to the office trailer. Going inside, they saw that Sue Ellen, efficient as ever, had already moved Joy’s office. “Well, I will first have to find my office, and then look for that file,” she murmured, laughing at herself.

  “You don’t know where your office is?” Robyn teased, keeping pace with the long-legged strides of her boss.

  Joy shrugged. “It’s a temporary thing for now as I will vacate it eventually when someone else takes over the site. I just have to find…” she left off as she saw where Sue Ellen and her helpers had put her things. Each office had been equipped with a desk, a couple chairs, and a phone…very basic, but functional. Her few boxes were in a formerly vacant office that was right out front with large windows and a beautiful view of the gardens; a garden with a water fountain in it that she knew was part of the hydroponics she enjoyed. “Isn’t this nice?” she murmured as she looked it over. She quickly went to one of the boxes and started going through the files within. Shortly thereafter, she pulled out a folder and handed it to Robyn. “There you go, that should get you started. Do you remember where your office is?”

  “It’s just down the hall here,” Robyn pointed, her view not much different from Joy’s. She’d enjoyed looking out Joy’s office windows while she looked for the folder.

  “Sue Ellen can tell you the phone numbers and other information you require. I would like her to order your cards, help you get the ads out, and if you already have people in mind, you should get their resumes, applications and such in order. It’s up to you to staff your department,” she glanced out at the chaos of the offices, “and soon, before we start processing the houses for the people.”

  “I’ll get right on that,” Robyn promised and disappeared to find Sue Ellen who helped her get the business cards done within a relatively short time as they already had a template on the computer. It was just a matter of adding Robyn’s name and title of Executive Director of Human Resources, which sounded better than social worker.

  “Ms. Parker suggested that your employees each have designations like Director of Human Resources or Associate Director of Human Resources in their titles. It impresses people, including the employees,” she said, showing her the cards which all had a faded-out background of the village right down to the houses, solar panels, and even a windmill that had been discreetly placed so the city of Milwaukee and their neighbors wouldn’t object.

  “How did they get the photos before this was finished?” Robyn murmured as she looked at the visual on the computer.

  “These photos were computer-generated from Ms. Parker’s descriptions of what she wanted for ‘The Town.’ She said people visualize better with pictures even if they can’t read.” She grinned, showing she appreciated the humor.

  “That’s great,” Robyn stated after Sue Ellen showed her what the finished card would look like on the screen, printed out a copy, and had her sign off on the spelling and information.

  “I’ll have these ready for you in a few days,” she promised as she did a few more things on the screen and sent them to the off-site printer. “I also have these files on your computer for your employees,” she showed her the applications that would allow her to start hiring people to staff her department. “I may have a recommendation for a woman that was in the program,” she said discreetly. “She’s working over in the gardening section now, has two children, and is up for one of the houses. She has a background in office management, but lost her position when she divorced and her husband harassed her boss into firing her.”

  “Have her come by and see me when she has a moment. If you’re recommending her, I’m sure I’ll be happy. Thank you so much for your help, Sue Ellen,” Robyn said professionally, pleased with how the day was going and anxious to set up her office and get to work. She had a couple of boxes with books in her car, but didn’t relish going anywhere near the reporters beyond the barricade.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  “Ms. Parker, the men are here to remove the office trailer,” Sue Ellen told Joy as she looked up at the knock on her door. She was organizing her own office at the moment.

  “Is everything cleaned out of there?” she asked as a matter of course, knowing it probably was.

  “Yes, ma’am. We’re clear,” she assured her.

  “Do they need anything from me then?” she asked.

  “No, ma’am, just wanted you to be aware the reporters will have a straight view of the offices in a little while.”

  “Make sure the trailer people do not run anyone over,” she teased and resumed her work. She had been on the phone with her lawyers in Dallas for a while going over her cases against the people in San Antonio. Things were going well and it looked like she would recoup her initial investments, but there might be problems getting anything extra. The two main players, one at the lawyer’s office and one at the investment firm, would be losing everything—their homes, their jobs—and going to jail. The lawyer’s office and the investment firm both had insurance to cover the losses they were being sued for. They wanted to settle out of court, but agreeing on a total figure was the problem.

  “I also want you to keep an eye out for property, even the actual shelters in both Dallas and San Antonio, maybe Austin and Houston as well,” she told them. “I would like to repeat there what we are doing here in Milwaukee, if we can. Also, keep an eye out for anyone you feel might be qualified to run such a program. I will be looking to train someone,” she instructed them.

  Knowing how generous she had been, they promised her the world, hoping to deliver. She had been more than fair with the people who had defrauded her, demanding justice, not blood. The damages were more than fair and the amount the firms were balking at were a matter of course and not any real expenses that they or their insurance couldn’t afford to pay. She had also destroyed their reputations, and if they did not make compensation in the amounts she demanded, they would never recover.

  Joy had transferred her tax work to another firm and was having the last seven years audited just in case Lenora Abner and her team hadn’t done due diligence on them. She didn’t need the federal government looking into her finances any more than they had on the original lottery monies and what she had earned in the United States since then or transferred in from her investments abroad. Fortunately, the new firm found nothing out of order, other than the trust funds. They did warn her that her European investments and the monies she had earned there may be taxable; however, no one could prove those amounts. She hadn’t declared earnings beyond those she had used to transfer money back into the United States. She expected and demanded that they use every legal means to avoid paying more taxes than she had to. She didn’t wish to cheat the government, and she didn’t want an audit by them, but she was damned if she was going to pay taxes on monies that she earned in other countries.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  “Productive day?” Robyn popped her head into her boss’s office, seeing that the formerly empty office was now more organized, the boxes put away, and books on the shelves. Even plants and trinkets, as well as photos of the various stages of the project, were on the walls and shelves.

  Joy looked up, pleased to
see her girlfriend. It had been a tiring day, but productive? Definitely. “Mine was, how about you?” She gestured Robyn to a seat across from her that had not been there earlier.

  “Amazing,” she enthused. “Sue Ellen is very efficient. You should give her a raise!” She smiled to show she was teasing.

  “She is a find and came highly recommended,” Joy agreed, returning the smile.

  “I have three people coming in tomorrow to check out the site and see if they want to come on staff. If they do, they will give their two-week notices at their current employers.”

  “I do not want you gutting the state office. They’ll end up hating us and not help us when we need it,” she warned.

  “No, I chose people that I knew were as good, if not better, at their jobs than me. I also knew they might be ready to jump ship. Once we get the ad in the paper, which Sue Ellen said would be tonight, we’ll see who bites on those positions.”

  “You going to have all your old friends?”

  She shook her head. “No, that wouldn’t necessarily be a good thing as some of them need to stay exactly where they are. Since I get to pick and choose, I hope to have some of the best here.”

  “Keep in mind we’ll have Site Two to staff next,” she advised. “Do not cut anyone out of your choices that shows potential.”

  Finding Joy’s advice and foresight sound, she filed that away in her mind. She enjoyed talking to the woman, not just as her girlfriend, but as her boss. They went over their days, mixing business with pleasure until the clock struck seven.

  “Oh, my God. I have to get home to Mom,” Robyn gasped. She had enjoyed her day so much she had forgotten her other obligations.

  “I’m sorry, I did not realize the time,” Joy admitted.

  They locked up their respective offices and the outer door before heading to the parking lot where a few die-hard reporters still clamored for information from the former winner. Robyn was surprised when a much more put-together Joy stopped to address them.

  “I will have a press release for you all in a couple of days,” she promised before slipping into her car.

  Robyn got into her own car and tried to turn it over. It wouldn’t even start. She sighed. First, she had the perfect day at a job she was sure she was going to love, second, she was late to go see her mother, and now this. She rested her forehead on her steering wheel. Her cell phone went off. “Hello?”

  “Something wrong?” Joy’s voice came through and Robyn looked up to see her sitting in her own car a few feet away on her cell phone.

  “Yeah, it won’t start,” she complained bitterly.

  “Need a lift?” she offered without hesitation and smiled as Robyn didn’t answer, but immediately got up and out of her dilapidated old Nissan and rushed to slide into Joy’s newer Audi. “Is that a yes?” she said wryly as Robyn opened the door. She hung up the phone and smiled as she got in and put on her safety belt.

  Sighing loudly, Robyn said, “I’ll have it towed tomorrow.”

  Joy nodded as she expertly steered out of the dirt-covered parking lot. “They are supposed to pave this tomorrow now that the trailer is gone.”

  “I’ll have it gone by then, I promise.”

  “Going to be pretty chaotic around here for a few days,” she commented as she watched the few die-hard journalists get back in their own vehicles now that the subject of their stories was leaving.

  “Are you going to use them?” her head jerked back towards the reporters.

  “Definitely,” she smiled, almost evilly.

  They enjoyed the ride to Robyn’s home. The traffic was annoying, but Joy handled it adroitly. “Was it hard to learn to drive on the right side of the road again?”

  “Yeah, after driving in Europe it was a learning curve,” she admitted, telling her about a Lamborghini someone had ‘lent’ her in Italy. “I drove like an old lady going to church,” she laughed. “Drove the Italians crazy that I had this hot sports car and did not drive like a bat out of hell.”

  Robyn loved that Joy felt comfortable sharing stories like this with her now. Today had been a revelation and the renewed friendship was something she really craved. Not that Joy’s stories before hadn’t been enjoyable, they just had always stopped at some undetermined point. It was nice to know so much more about the intriguing woman. She realized with a start she hadn’t even thought about the money and this relieved her more than she knew, validating what she had said aloud those hours ago.

  “Thank you so much for the ride,” she said as they pulled up in front of the apartments.

  “I will pick you up in the morning too,” Joy promised. “Seven?”

  “So early?”

  “I thought we’d pick up breakfast on the way and with traffic…?”

  “Sounds good. Can I take you out to dinner tomorrow?”

  “As your boss or as your girlfriend?” she teased.

  Robyn smiled at the standing joke between then now. “As my girlfriend. We can go to a cheesy restaurant and then…” she left the promise hanging in the air.

  Joy smiled too. “Do tell me more about the ‘and then’ part of the date?”

  “Uh, uh, uh, you have to wait until tomorrow.”

  “Spoilsport,” she laughed as she leaned forward for a kiss, prolonging it as they had not really kissed that day at all. “I will see you in the morning.”

  “Not if I see you first,” she quipped as she got out of the car. Waving, she watched Joy pull back into traffic and turned toward the apartment house, seeing Callie waiting on the porch. “Hey there,” she greeted her, in such a good mood after her first day.

  “Hey, I’m not going to be able to watch your mom as much anymore,” she told her after watching her with Joy.

  “Oh, sorry to hear that. Anything wrong?” she asked, her spirits immediately plummeting at the news.

  “Well, I sorta got a job and I want to see what I can do with it. That means I won’t have as much time for her. I’m sorry.”

  “You got a job? That’s fantastic, Callie!” she said, happy for her friend who had been on disability for years. “What’s it in?”

  Callie hesitated for only an instant before answering, “Information technology.”

  “I.T.?” Robyn asked, surprised. She’d never heard her friend talk about getting a job, much less express an interest in I.T., but she was happy for her. Robyn thought perhaps she had been so busy with her own life that she didn’t realize what was going on in her friend’s life. “That’s so great, Callie. I’m happy for you!” She sounded genuinely pleased for her friend. Callie being unable to watch Julia anymore was going to be a hardship, but she would manage, she always did. She’d just have to call on her brother and his wife to help more. It was only fair, Mom was their responsibility too.

  Robyn never saw the crafty look that came into Callie’s eyes as she went to hug her.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

  The next few days were going to be chaotic, as Joy had warned, but first Robyn had to deal with her car, which Joy had already gotten moved and jump-started.

  “Apparently, you needed a new battery,” she told her after explaining what she had done during the drive into work.

  “You didn’t have to do that,” she protested, but secretly she was glad she didn’t have to deal with it.

  Joy shrugged, it was the least she could do for her girlfriend. She would have liked to buy her a new car, but did not know how to approach that idea. In fact, she would have liked to do a lot more for her, but was not sure where they were in their relationship. She liked that Robyn knew more about her than anyone else she had in her life, but she did not want to rub her nose in the fact that she had money. “Remember, they will be paving today and not just the parking lots, but also a few of the walkways I wanted paved instead of pouring concrete. We have to make sure everything is compliant with handicapped regulations.”

  Robyn nodded, listening and learning, realizing her girlfriend really did have a handle on the whole town t
hing. She had hired various contractors that specialized in each aspect of the project and already they were getting ready to move on to the next site, finishing up this one so the tenants could begin moving in. As she finished up her other job, even her volunteer position at the shelter was coming to an end. She heard the buzz. There were a few people still there who were hoping to be accepted into ‘The Town,’ as it was referred to. They’d been working towards that and their confidence was high. She saw a vast improvement in the attitudes of many who had been downtrodden for so long, feeling there was no hope of getting out of the cycle they found themselves in. Joy had given them that hope. Robyn was proud to be associated with her and her projects.

  Later that day, Robyn began to meet the other directors of the various divisions. Some of them, including the landscaping director who would keep the grounds in pristine condition and teach the tenants how to grow their own vegetables, had been homeless themselves. The landscaping director’s division worked closely with the hydroponics division since their departments were symbiotic. One director had been hired on from the company that manufactured the ponds, pools, and fountains that beautified The Town.

  There was already a long list of workers who were eligible to move in as the houses and sections were completed. Over three hundred people would be living in this village alone, and they were beginning to run the applications so they could let them move in this week.

  With that in mind, Joy readied her press conference. She was not thrilled to speak in public, but she also knew the unwelcome attention she had received would be best utilized to promote her project a little earlier than she had anticipated, and tell about her future projects. Ground was already broken on the second site. It was this second site that had her a little worried as it was in a rougher area, but she had an idea about that and without telling anyone she drove over there in the afternoon. Looking around the old neighborhood, she hoped she could remember the house she was looking for. It had been a while and she drove down the block twice before she recognized the house. They mostly looked the same, all built after WWI, but there was enough difference that she remembered the one she was looking for. She locked up her car and marched to the front door to knock determinedly.