Chapter Ten
Tony and Sheila were in bed on a Saturday morning in June, having slept in. It was, in fact, nine a.m., and Tony didn’t even want to move. She’d worked until nine o’clock the night before. Sanjay had told her they had to have three new tests ready in less than three months. They had the new assay designs from R and D and would have to finesse them into standard functional clinical lab assays, using, as always, a tiny amount of fluid.
Tony would have to do all the work because she was the only one in the lab. What would happen if these lab tests didn’t work on Leonardo? Or even on either of the two commercial machines? Or whatever the new machine someone was supposedly designing?
These questions flowed constantly through Tony’s brain, but she merely had to do her job and hope for the best. She was at that moment thinking about going back to sleep, but Sheila was slowly stroking her, and that was waking her up.
She turned over, pulled Sheila into a hug, and squeezed her hard, bike-rider’s butt. Tony was developing one as well, which she was proud of.
One of Sheila’s more amusing quirks was that she giggled during sex, an action wholly out of step with her usual measured demeanor.
“Do that again,” Sheila said, snickering, and Tony obeyed, thinking it wasn’t too onerous a task.
“I could do this all morning. Your ass is really something.”
“Thanks, but I’d like you to touch other parts of me as well.”
“Which parts?”
“Which ones do you think, Brainiac?”
“Right.”
Tony rolled them over, took the top position, and ground their bodies together. She could feel moisture on her thigh.
“What have you been doing while I was still asleep?”
Sheila kissed her. “Nothing. Just thinking of you.”
“Ah. That’s nice.”
Sheila thrust hard against her leg, which was a signal she wanted Tony to do more. She was no longer giggling. Tony stuck her hand between them and teased Sheila’s labia apart with her index finger. She was slippery. Sheila came once, but Tony hung on because Sheila was multi-orgasmic. They rolled over to let Sheila recover.
“I don’t think I’m in the mood,” Tony said. “Yesterday was endless. I didn’t think we’d ever stop. I have to go back in this afternoon. I told Sanjay, though, that half a day was all I could do, and I needed Sunday off. I don’t want to get burned out.”
Sheila rubbed Tony’s stomach gently. “That’s fine. I can make it up to you later. Do you want to talk about anything?”
“Nope. Don’t think so. It’s the same old, same old. We’ve got a mysterious deadline. Sanjay doesn’t tell me details, just ‘we have to finish this, and it has to be right away.’ I presume he gets his marching orders from Huey.”
“Yep. That is a funny name. Like you said, a cartoon character.”
Tony laughed and agreed. Only it turned out Huey wasn’t anything like a cartoon character but more like a horror-movie villain. She’d heard enough from Ricardo to not want to have any personal interaction with him but couldn’t avoid him completely. He would come into the lab and harass Sanjay.
Sheila hugged Tony and kissed her cheek and her forehead, then stroked her hair. Tony loved how well she comforted her without being sexual or even verbal.
Tony relaxed in Sheila’s arms for a few more minutes, then forced herself to get out of bed and prepare to go back to work.
* * *
In spite of Sheila’s counsel to let it go, Tony continued to puzzle over Erica’s odd management of GHS.
For one thing, the lack of communication among different functional areas bothered her greatly. In her old job at the biotech company, to get anything accomplished, everyone had to know the goals and the timelines. It could be chaotic, with endless meetings where everyone fought and argued, but they eventually reached consensus, and the projects went forward. Also, there was no regulatory group. Those types of person could be royal pains, but anyone who wanted government approval, usually from the Food and Drug Administration, the FDA, had to have in-house regulatory gurus. Tony thought the FDA would surely have to approve Leonardo, but she saw no indication they were working toward that goal. Tony was experienced with clinical lab regulations, but no regulatory expert was looking over her shoulder and checking up on her. It was a relief, but it was super weird and unsettling
Finally, they didn’t have an occupational health and safety expert to make sure they didn’t harm or infect themselves while they were working with human blood and other hazards. No one seemed to care, Tony noted. Safety in the lab was, in the end, basically Sanjay’s problem. Tony would police her own activities and protect herself.
Other folks were around when Tony arrived. Sanjay was already there as well, standing by the lab bench with one of the new engineers. Tony thought his name was Hung but wasn’t sure. Behind them was a Leonardo.
Tony put on her lab coat and, after she was introduced, asked Hung in a friendly manner, “How’s this thing doing? Is it ready for prime time?”
Hung shrugged. “Erica said she wanted for us to improve the design so she could get a bunch made to send out to those drugstore people.”
Tony was curious. Leonardo was, well, in her experience, a piece of crap. When she was in the R and D group, they hadn’t been given time to make it work, and then Gordo was fired. Then Tony was transferred to the clinical group.
Sanjay said, “Research has developed a brand-new potassium test and herpes test for the Leonardos they want to send to Graff stores. We have to do all the testing and the QC. Then they can start testing patient samples asap.”
This was even worse news. They weren’t in any manner ready to test patients. The lab wasn’t fully set up, and the device wasn’t vetted. Tony knew how to assay for herpes and potassium levels on commercial analyzers, but even the ones they were using were rendering flaky results because of the diluted sample volumes. This new directive was, to put it mildly, questionable, and Tony considered it demented, but she clamped down on her tendency to voice her objections. Mostly.
When Hung left, Tony said flatly to Sanjay, “What’s going on? We’ve used this thing before, and it doesn’t work. How can we test patient samples on it?”
Sanjay, an older fellow, in his fifties maybe, laid-back to a fault, shrugged. “Erica asked if we could be ready to go in four months. I said yes.”
Tony was coming to suspect that Sanjay really had no idea how a clinical lab had to be run. He was just the name on the CLIA license with MD after it. Worse, she suspected he was a yes-man. Erica adored the people who would promise to fulfill her wishes no matter how absurd. Ricardo had told her so on more than one occasion. And he always assured her that those who asked too many questions were given the heave-ho.
Sanjay said, “We’ll be fine. I’ve gotten permission to hire another tech. You’re going to be my line supervisor.”
* * *
“I’m not sure about this.” Tony said to Sheila. “I’m not that practiced a cyclist. This is way too fancy a bike for me.” She harbored misgivings about allowing Sheila to gift her with such an expensive present. It made her feel uneasy.
“You’ll come to like it very much, I predict, because it’s much better than the rental bikes. I promise it’ll be more fun for you. We can go on more ambitious rides.”
“Right.” Tony climbed on the Specialized racer and took a spin around the parking lot of the condo complex. It felt effortless to ride, like she was riding on air, and she barely had to exert herself to push the pedals. She changed gears smoothly.
Tony glided back to where Sheila stood waiting by her own bike and beaming at her.
“Okay,” she said. “You’re right. It’s much better.”
“Yay! We’ll do the Alpine Portola route. Not too challenging. I want you to get really used to your new bike before we try anything harder.”
They’d done the ride before, and on her new bike, Tony had less trouble keeping up with
Sheila, who pushed the pace faster. When they climbed the slight hill that led them back to Sheila’s condo, Tony definitely noticed the difference both in the way the bike behaved and her lessened exhaustion.
She told Sheila, “Wow. This is amazingly different. I’m tired but, you know, not completely done in. I love this bike. Thank you so much.”
“So, you’re going to keep it and not make me send it back?” Sheila arched her eyebrow playfully.
“Nope. I’m sold.”
“Wonderful. Since you say you’re not very tired, I’ve got something in mind.”
“Oh? Are you going to tell me?”
“No. I’m not, and you’re just going to have to deal.” Sheila mock-glared at her. “Surprises can be delightful.”
“Right.”
They locked their bikes in the garage and went around the corner to the back door of their building. Sheila wasn’t positive Tony would go along with her intended scenario. While Tony had loosened up a bit over the six-months-plus length of their relationship, she still tended to answer no automatically to something outside her experience. Sheila had been planning this surprise for the right time.
They drank some cold water from the refrigerator to rehydrate.
“Are you hungry?” Sheila asked.
“Not really. I’ll wait till we eat dinner.”
“Good.” Sheila caught Tony’s eye and gave her the little grin—the corners of her mouth rose only a touch—that was their signal. I want to make love. She reinforced it by crossing the kitchen and putting her arms around Tony and pulling her into a slow but emphatic kiss. Tony responded with a murmured “umm” of pleasure. Then she said, “I ought to take a shower first.”
Sheila stepped back but kept her hands on Tony’s shoulders. “How about skipping the shower? You took one this morning, and so did I. That wasn’t a long ride. We’re not disgusting. I’m not afraid of a little good, clean sweat.”
Tony stared at her quizzically. “Really?”
Sheila kissed her neck. “Really.” Then she patted and squeezed her ass.
“Besides, as far as getting off, I’m halfway there. I find the bicycle seat, well, stimulating. If you know what I mean.” Sheila raised her eyebrows
This time, Tony grinned back. “I thought I was the only one.”
“No. Not at all. You game?” Sheila kept kissing her and rubbing her back and her butt. Tony yielded, and she knew she would achieve her objective.
Faintly, Tony said, “Yes.”
“Let’s go.” Sheila took her hand and led her to the bedroom.
She took off Tony’s cycling jersey, then her sports bra. She repeated the actions on herself so they could embrace skin on skin. Tony’s neck had a film of sweat, and Sheila licked some of it. It was true that neither of them would be as fresh as if they’d just showered, but that was the turn-on. To Sheila, Tony smelled great. She exuded the essence of herself, tangy and warm, like a savory pastry. Sheila sat down on the bed and kissed Tony’s stomach and peeled down her tight bicycling shorts.
Yes, she was already aroused, and the scent of her arousal swirled into Sheila’s nostrils. Sheila buried her face in Tony’s stomach as Tony grabbed her hair.
“You good?” Sheila raised her face and looked into Tony’s eyes.
“Yes,” he said, her voice ragged.
Sheila pushed Tony backward onto the bed, took her bike shorts all the way off, and kissed the insides of Tony’s thighs. Tony moaned.
“I can’t wait,” Sheila said hoarsely, opened her labia, and dove in tongue first.
Tony screamed, “Oh, God,” as she came, hard, after three licks. It was the stimulation of their bike ride.
Sheila wouldn’t let her go until she collapsed on her back, panting.
When Tony regained her breath, she whispered, “Basically, I can’t say ‘no’ to you.”
Sheila hugged her tight. “Good. I don’t ever want to make you have to say no. Only ‘yes.’”
They stayed still, both panting for a few moments, until Tony said, “You want some too, I bet.”
“Well, yeah.” Sheila’s tone was mock-indignant.
“Righto.” Tony rolled over and pinned Sheila down to the mattress with a thigh between her legs. “Here we go.”
* * *
Sheila sat at her desk reading yet more prospecti from companies seeking mega-bucks for their revolutionary, at least in their opinion, ideas. She was pleasantly reliving their post-bicycling sexual encounter from the day before, instead of concentrating on her reading. Not proper mindfulness. But hey. Who’s perfect?
Her cell phone rang, and it was her dad’s number. Odd. He didn’t usually call her. He would merely stick his head in the door of her office if he wanted to talk to her.
“Sheila, honey?” He sounded oddly muffled, as though struggling to get his words out.
“Dad, what’s wrong?” She was alarmed. What he said next terrified her.
“My face is numb. My arm is numb. What’s going…” He couldn’t finish the sentence. Sheila’s memory kicked into gear. He’s having a stroke. Oh, no.
When Roy turned seventy-five, Sheila had cajoled him into giving her powers of attorney—medical, financial, and legal—for him. The whole shebang. He was in relatively good health, but he had high blood pressure and an allergy to exercise and a penchant for eating rare steaks and chocolate cake far more often than Sheila considered wise, but she didn’t want to get into nagging.
She’d said, “You’re at risk for something happening, Dad, and we have to plan for that.”
She’d read up on potentially catastrophic health events.
“Dad, you’re having a stroke. Call 911. Right. Now. I’ll meet you at the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center.”
“Okay.” He sounded like he was talking from the bottom of a well.
Sheila stopped at the front desk and told her receptionist that Roy was having a medical emergency and she’d call later with an update. Rina would know what to say to people, and she’d take messages.
In her Volt, driving to the hospital, Sheila called Tony in her cell phone’s hands-free mode. She had to leave a message because, without a doubt, Tony was in the lab and mostly didn’t answer her phone when she was there because, she said, it wrecked her concentration. She’d call back as soon as she could.
It took only a ten-minute ride up the 280 freeway to the hospital. Sheila hoped the ambulance was as fast. She went directly to the ER and was told he’d only just arrived and was being evaluated. The nurse asked her to wait until the doctor called her.
Sheila sat in the crummy plastic waiting-room chair and performed breathing exercises to calm herself, then closed her eyes and meditated until she felt a hand on her shoulder. She opened her eyes to see a young, attractive, female doctor peering at her.
“Ms Garrison. I’m Doctor Wen. I want to update you on your dad, Roy Garrison. Correct?”
That’s correct. Nice to meet you, Doctor.”
“Certainly. He’s suffered a mild stroke. He’s stable at the moment. We’re admitting him.”
“Okay, good. Anything I need to do right now?”
“Are you the only next of kin?”
“He and my mother are divorced. I’m his medical power of attorney. May I see him?”
“Yes. Shortly.”
Sheila tried to call Tony again, but she still didn’t pick up. Feeling adrift, Sheila tried to clear her mind and remain calm. She decided she ought to call one of the Pacific Partners investors, Gary Frenzel. He had known Roy the longest.
It was while informing Gary about what had happened that Sheila slowly realized this event would have a major impact on their business. Among other things, someone else would have to attend GHS board meetings in Roy’s place. Sheila decided immediately it would be her. Other partners could pick up the rest of Roy’s board commitments. She told Gary, and he agreed. They’d meet in a couple of days, after Sheila had a chance to learn more medical details, especially Roy’s prognosis.
She stood at his bedside and held his hand. In his stroke-damaged voice, Roy tried to apologize.
“It’s okay, Dad. Take it easy, please. Don’t worry. Everything’s all right. I talked to Gary, and we’ve got it covered.”
He managed to choke out the words, “Tell Erica Sanders.”
She patted his hand. “I will, Dad, ASAP.”
* * *
Back in her office, Sheila called Erica Sanders first. It wasn’t as though GHS was the most important company they had a stake in, though their commitment was big. Other firms had progressed farther down the road to solvency. It was unique in that Roy had taken the unusual step of throwing millions of his personal fortune into GHS. That made his interest in their success greater. He obviously had a great affection and admiration for Erica Sanders personally.
Erica called back right away since Sheila had left a message stating that Roy had suffered a medical emergency.
“Thanks for letting me know. What happened?”
Sheila described the situation.
“Do you know when he’ll be back to work?”
This struck Sheila as an insensitive question, but she tamped down her irritation.
“No, I don’t. The doctor advised me it could be anywhere from three months to a year to never. It depends on his recovery.”
Erica was silent.
“But,” Sheila said, “I’ll be taking his place until he’s recovered.”
“That’s not necessary. We can make quorum for the meeting. He can take a leave of absence.” Erica said it nicely, but Sheila detected an undercurrent of…something. Anger? Distrust?
“Oh, I’m sure you can appreciate our position. Roy asked me to take this on since I’m the principal on your account.” He hadn’t in fact asked her to sit on the board in his absence, but she knew he would, and she considered it vital they keep a close eye on GHS.
“Very good,” Erica said with clear reluctance. “I’ll send you an invite to the next board meeting, which is next week.” Sheila could almost hear the wheels turning in Erica’s mind.
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