Mourning Dove

by Donna Simmons

  Extending her hand Sara gave what she hoped was a hardy handshake. Her arms felt like wet noodles from her euphoria.

  “You understand you’ll be working closely with Jonathon.”

  “I look forward to the challenge.”

  The door behind her opened and Jonathon Pierce walked in wearing charcoal gray and a maroon silk tie. Quite a difference from the brown double stitched suit and bolo tie he wore at the Macaroni Grill. He could be a model for GQ this afternoon. At the restaurant, he could have been the poster for the Texas Cattleman’s Association Man of the Year.

  “Jonathon, Ms. Stafford has accepted our offer of employment. I’ll leave you two to hammer out the final details.” He rose from his chair and bowed into a final courtly handshake. “Sara, welcome aboard.”

  “Thank you, sir,” she said as Mr. Starr walked out the door.

  “I suppose I’ll have to explain our plan to get you working full steam in less time than it takes a thirsty cow to drink the trough dry,” the Texan began. “You’re aware that Ross Gordon has relocated to the San Francisco office?” She nodded.

  He walked to the white ceramic carafe on the sideboard to pour a glass of ice water. “Would you like some?” He held up a glass.

  “All right, thank you.” She watched as he poured a second glass and returned to the conference table to sit in the recently vacated seat.

  “I wasn’t sure if he was still with the company.” She sat back down, crossed her legs, and smoothed out her skirt. “But either way, you have an important seat to fill, and no time to train a replacement. What do you have in mind?”

  “Normally, I would start all three of you next Monday for three weeks of orientation, and then job shadowing for another two to four. The other two who made the grade in the interview process will be doing just that. They’ll begin on Monday, spend three weeks in orientation here at corporate headquarters and then job shadow in Chicago. Jack Randall will be training for an assistant comptroller position in the Midwest and waiting in the wings if, or when, Ross leaves the company. Ms. Kelly will be in training for the staff accountant position in Chicago. You, of course, will spend some time with both of them in the next couple weeks. You’re not to confide anything of your arrangement with either of them. Just be aware what position they will eventually be holding. Understood?”

  “Yes, of course. What’s your plan for me?” Feeling more relaxed she took a sip of the cool water and leaned back in her chair.

  “I want to start you the day after tomorrow: half a day in orientation, half-day and part of the evening getting comfortable with your new office. I want you to read and familiarize yourself with everything in the credenza and in the computer in your office. Anything you don’t see and want access to, ask me. If I’m not available, ask Louise. If she has access, she’ll get it for you. I’ll try to make myself available to you at the end of each day when the rest of the office is quiet. We’re going to dump a lot of information onto you in a very short period of time. Think you can handle it?”

  “I can handle it. How long am I in orientation?”

  “You’ll have a week and a half of mornings in the training center. I’m compressing your total orientation from seven weeks to three.”

  “I’m lucky I don’t have a social life,” she said. “I want to bring some reading material home. I’d also like to start with that tomorrow if it’s okay with you.”

  He nodded agreement. “We have arranged for you to meet with a local physician at eight tomorrow morning.” He reached into his suit jacket and pulled out the card of a doctor in the South Portland area.

  “You were sure I would accept?”

  His answer was another smile.

  “I don’t anticipate any problems tomorrow morning. All right if I stop by for any material you have on company policies, organization charts, history, the last three years annual reports, things like that?”

  He nodded and asked, “What is it you don’t like about the salary and benefit package?”

  “As I will be working into the wee hours from the get go and cramming seven weeks into three, I want to drop any waiting period on the benefit package and expect it to be fully paid by the company. And, my hire date is tomorrow, not Wednesday.”

  “Come to dinner with me tonight, and I’ll begin filling you in on the personalities of those you’ll be working with and the routines of the position. I want to mentor you for the first year so you’re an extension of my right arm. I’ll set today as your hire date. Benefits for upper management are always completely paid by the company effective with the hire date. Will you accept that?” He leaned back in his chair with his right index finger over his mustache again.

  “Yes, on one condition.”

  “Another one?” He tilted his head to the right lifting his left eyebrow in challenge.

  “When we are having dinner together, or any meal for that matter, there will be no more flirting over a handshake. I’m accepting this position as a business arrangement only. I look forward to the mentoring as I don’t like making mistakes and believe the mentoring will help us smooth out communication and expectation glitches. The salary arrangements are acceptable. And, I’m hungry. Where are we going to eat?”

  “I said it before and I’ll say it again. You are a pistol, Sara Stafford. Your employment with us is going to be one grand adventure. Let’s go find a couple steaks.”

  She stood up smoothing her skirt and noticed Jonathon’s right index finger pushing a lit button on the phone console. “Listening post?” She questioned.

  “Don’t miss much do you.”

  “Let me guess. You and Robert Starr were playing tag team with me. First you listen in on his meeting with me, then, he’s listening in on your meeting with me. Wouldn’t it be better to just have a meeting with the three of us?”

  “We have our reasons especially with important positions in upper management. Often candidates will tell one of us, what they won’t tell another. For instance you didn’t accept Robert’s offer of refreshment, but you accepted mine. Were you too nervous with Robert to swallow a glass of water?”

  “I was afraid I’d spill it all over my suit.”

  He laughed as he led her out to the elevators. “Have you tried The Brewery over by the mall, Sara?”

  “Do they serve more than beer?”

  “They serve a decent steak and they have quiet corner tables where we can talk.”

  ***

  They were relaxing after the main course; his summary of the politics and games played by the management team with whom she’d be expected to communicate had come to a stop. Jonathon fondled his dessert fork as he leaned forward preliminary to his next topic of discussion. “What do you do for fun, Sara?”

  “I’m an avid reader; I can fade into myself at classical concerts; and I enjoy touring art museums wherever I go. How about you? What do you do for fun?”

  “That sounds like a well rehearsed sound bite. Fair enough.

  “I collect western art; I like mysteries; and generally get through most of the bestseller list. I prefer football to baseball, and rodeo to theater, and cannot tolerate ballet or opera. I do have a passion for Copeland and try to attend whenever the Portland Symphony includes his music in their performances. Your turn.”

  “I swim to relieve tension and burn off decadent desserts. I occasionally manage a game of tennis or a round of golf. But, for the most part I enjoy solitude and order.”

  “I belong to a local club. If you’re interested, I can offer you for membership. Make sure you find time to add our fitness club into your schedule each week. We have adequate facilities, including a decent pool.”

  “Louise gave me a tour. I plan to use the facilities whenever time permits. On another topic, how did two southern gentlemen ended up running a fast paced high tech corporation up here in northern New England?”

  “I’m not sure you haven’t insulted my southern honor?”

  “No insult intended. I’m just trying to und
erstand the logistics. For a good fourth of the year we have frigid temperatures up here with the obvious ice and snow that comes with it. NASA and the cape are both in a more amenable weather climate. Why Portland, Maine?”

  “Robert negotiated a deal. Portland was looking for new businesses and made an offer he couldn’t turn down. I’m not at liberty to give you the details, but when you get the whole picture of divisional locations, actual and planned, you’ll see a pattern that makes a whole lot of sense.

  “Sara, we’ve talked around every topic but one. What about family ties?”

  “I’m separated and starting over. My husband and I own Stafford Sound Systems in New Hampshire. The company provides upscale technology for those who can afford it, like the people who own the summer cottages along the coastline of North Hampton. I’ve encouraged him to rewrite the partnership and buy me out. There isn’t much family left for either of us. His parents retired from farming and moved to Ft. Myers several years ago. My family has all passed away. What about your family ties?”

  “I’m a widower. My daughter, Sheila, married an Aussie and moved to Adelaide where they have a successful vineyard. She begs me annually to retire and move down under. She’s given me four grandchildren, although I don’t get to see them as often as I like. I’m the second son of Rod and Amelia Pierce and grew up on a large cattle ranch outside of Abilene, Texas. They passed on a few years ago leaving the ranch to my brother, Roddy, and their art collection to me.”

  “I guess it depends on what’s in the collection; but it doesn’t sound fair to me.”

  “I guess it’s all in how you view it. It’s western art, pieces I’ve cherished all my life. My brother is a true Texas rancher. He loves movin’ his cows and horses. He owns most of the county and would have been pole-axed if he’d gotten the ‘pile of paintings' instead of his amber fields of cow dung and four-footed collection of heifers. Don’t get me wrong. He’s happy with the arrangement and so am I. When I get to missin’ the aroma of horse hockey and cow pies, I fly down and spend a week. It doesn’t take long, and I start missin’ the rocky coast of Maine.”

  “I enjoyed dinner and our conversation very much, but I’d better call it a day. Thank you for your valuable assessment of the people with whom I’ll be working.”

  They walked out into the crisp night air of September. A few minutes later, they were back in the parking lot at Starr Shine. He pulled up beside her Sebring. “Nice little car. It fits you.”

  “I like it too, although it isn’t very practical during an ice storm. Well, thanks again, Jonathon, for dinner and the conversation. I think we’re going to work well together.” Sara reached across from the passenger side of his Bronco to shake his hand.

  He looked up with a twinkle in his eye.

  “Na ah,” She warned with a grin to soften her scolding.

  He chuckled again and responded with a firm handshake.

  ***

  After Sara Stafford’s convertible left the parking lot, Jonathon Pierce walked over to a black Blazer in the back corner of the lot and climbed into the passenger side.

  “Well, what do you think, J.T.?” Matthew Farrell turned toward him. “Will you be able to get the information out of her?”

  “All in good time, my friend, all in good time.”

  “We don’t have time. Communication has picked up in other channels. I have the impression the other side is getting desperate. Somebody made a mess of the Braun woman’s shop; trashed her apartment, too. Seems to me if they just wanted to search, they’d do it without a trace, unless they’re running out of time.”

  “When they run out of time, they get careless.”

  “When they get careless, somebody usually gets hurt.”

  “No, somebody usually gets dead.”

  “The suite’s bugged.”

  “So is her office.” Jonathon looked around the near empty lot. “Follow those other leads you got from his cell phone. I’ll watch the dove.”

  ***

  With her shoes kicked off and suit jacket draped over the desk chair in her hotel suite, Sara pulled the phone from her bag. After three rings she was ready to hang up.

  “Cass the confessor at your service.”

  “Are you branching out or changing professions?” Cradling the phone by her ear Sara eased into the recliner that was graciously added to her suite by a wonderful man named Patrick, the manager of all things demanded by the temporary residents of the hotel.

  “How was the second interview? When will you know if you have the job? Damn it, what took you so long to call?”

  “Let’s see. Second interview went fine. I got the job, in Portland. I started tonight with a dinner meeting at The Brewery, which is why I took so long to call.”

  “Fantastic!” Cass shouted in her ear. “You started tonight? Isn’t that a bit unusual?”

  “I don’t think there will be anything usual about this company, ever.”

  “The president took you to dinner at a brewery?”

  “Jonathon took me to dinner. He claimed the restaurant cooked a decent steak.”

  “What happened to the president?”

  “He finished our interview in thirty minutes, offered me the job, and turned me over to Jonathon Pierce. Jonathon invited me to a dinner meeting to discuss some of the more general points of my new position. My official hire date is today.”

  “They don’t waste time, do they?”

  “I have never seen an interview process quite like it. They seemed anxious to get me on board. It’s puzzling. I know jobs of this caliber usually have a three to six-week interview process, sometimes much longer, before offering.”

  “Well, let’s not quibble about a quick hire. You’re staying in Maine, which means you’re buying the house next door. What a wonderful time we’re going to have! Hey, you didn’t have to fend off more hand kissing, did you?”

  “He was a perfect gentleman, although I did have a moment’s doubt when he dropped me back at my car. Apparently I have a standing meeting with him at the end of each day that promises to run several hours. He wants to be my mentor. So, I won’t be able to do much about the house until the weekend. You want to do dinner on Saturday?”

  “Mentor you? Is that what they call it today?”

  “It’s going to be my job to keep it at a business level. I have the feeling he’d advance the relationship as much as I’m willing to go. His charm would melt wax, if you know what I mean; but I’m not interested. He’s my boss for God’s sake, and it’s a damn good job. I have no intention of jeopardizing my new position. It’s a gift from the heavens.”

  “It sounds like you’re going to have your hands full as it is. I’ll plan on dinner Saturday, shall we do Chinese?”

  “Yes, but I’m paying. I want to look for furniture for the house and push the bank for a closing date.”

  “When?”

  “It would be great if I could manage a closing date the week before the Columbus Day Holiday. Do you think I can get back in for measurements before closing?”

  “We’ll measure on Saturday.”

  “Do you have some suggestions for furniture stores in the area?”

  “Aren’t you bringing anything from New Hampshire?”

  “I want to bring my books, and of course, my mother’s antique chest, her good dishes and Gram’s silver tea set. Then there’s the golf clubs Dad gave me, my tennis racket, and collection of movies and CD’s. The rest are all reminders of my marriage. As you would say, that’s just bad karma.”

  “There’s a furniture warehouse in Sanford, another store in Alfred, and several up in the Portland area. Come early on Saturday and we’ll shop around.”

  Placing the phone on the coffee table Sara headed for the kitchen and some ice water. The phone chimed again.

  “So, what did you forget this time?”

  “It’s Ron, Sara. I just forgot to give my wife the attention she needed.”

  She took a deep breath before responding. “Ro
n, I thought you were Cass calling back. What do you need?”

  “Well, I need my wife; but you don’t want to hear that.”

  “You didn’t need me when I was there. You’ve talked to me more since I left than you did in the last nine months. Most of the time, you didn’t know I existed.” She turned back to the sofa in the living room area and sat on the edge of the seat. Silence filled the phone connection.

  “I also need to locate the paperwork for the quarterly taxes. When you left on the 15th the taxes were due.”

  “Before I left on the 15th, I paid the taxes. The paperwork is in the second filing cabinet in the third drawer from the top, under Taxes, Federal and Taxes, State. I’m sure you could have figured that out for yourself. Have you hired a bookkeeper yet?”

  “Not yet, they keep sending me young kids. I don’t trust any of them.”

  “It’s a reputable agency, Ron. Communicate with them; tell them what you need in a bookkeeper and they will find one to fit your needs. You’re going to have to participate in the process, or you’re never going to find someone.”

  “I know, I know. I just keep hoping you’ll change your mind. By the way, I got another reference check on you. Didn’t work out with the first place?”

  “It worked out fine. I started work today. Where was the second reference check from?” Standing again, she headed back to the kitchen and filled a glass with ice and some bottled water.

  “It was a bank in Scarborough. I wrote the name down but left it in the front office. I can get it if it’s important.”

  “I applied for a mortgage; I’m buying a house.”

  “Oh,” he sighed into the phone. Long pause.

  Sara tried to ease the conversation along with a bit more information, “The house next door to Cass is for sale. It’s close to the turnpike and the right size for me. I made an offer on it. The bank was probably just checking references. Apparently, they do that when you ask for a mortgage and don’t have a long work history at your current place of employment.”