Love by Design

by Violette Grey

  She unfolded the paper, her heart pounding, already knowing what it was going to say.

  Dearest Laura,

  I have not known such love since we began seeing each other. Although love can survive through all sorts of trials, I worry about how our love will affect the firm. I’m not writing this letter to end our relationship completely, but I feel as if putting it on hold for the time being would be in the best interest of everyone.

  I have applied, and been accepted, to Bloomington Architects. I start next week. When you read this note, I will already be on my way to collect my things from the office.

  You are a strong woman, and I know you can continue on with Terry’s dreams for Jensen and Barkley. You are a Jensen, after all. I have already couriered over the plans to Richard Costan, and that will be my first, and last, independent drafting project for Jensen and Barkley. Perhaps later, when you have won over the clients and worked out Sean’s issues, we can begin again; however, at the moment I see myself as a burden to you.

  I know this will hurt, but it’s not over. It’s just waiting in the background.

  Love you always,

  Emily

  The signature at the bottom ran, resembling a tie-died design on a hippie peace t-shirt when Laura’s tear fell upon it. Laura sat there numb as she read and reread the note. How could Emily just leave her like this? Emily had said she loved her, but here Laura sat, alone once more.

  This is all Sean’s doing, Laura thought angrily. Well, I’ll show him.

  Chapter Seventeen

  The following Monday Laura sat alone in her office, gazing out at the Rocky Mountains, wishing she could just go up into Rocky Mountain National Park, find a cabin, and hide out for a few months, maybe even get snowed in.

  The last three meetings had been rescheduled, all for various reasons. Laura wondered how many people Sean had told about her and Emily’s relationship.

  She pursed her lips and clenched her fist. She was sick of being pushed around. It was time for war.

  A knock came to the office door and at Laura’s “Come in”, Tony Rogland, one of the project managers, came in and closed the door behind him.

  “Good morning, Tony,” Laura said with a pleasantness she did not feel. “How can I help you?”

  Tony had a hold on the corners of his jacket, twisting them in his grip.

  “Is there anything the matter?” Laura asked. The man looked as if a cat were stalking him and he was the mouse.

  “I hate to bother you…”

  “No, it’s no bother at all. I’ve been meaning to meet with you anyway. Please, have a seat.” Laura directed Tony to the seating area, hoping the informality of it would relax him. “Now, tell me what I can do for you.”

  He looked toward the door and then back at Laura. Then he took a deep breath. “Look, I know about…” he lowered his voice and leaned forward, “you and Emily.”

  So, Sean had finally added the poison to the pot. How many project managers would now rush to his side when they heard the news?

  “And that has what to do with you?” Laura asked defensively.

  Tony lifted his hands. “No, no, I have nothing at all against you and Emily’s relationship. As a matter of fact…” he stopped and glanced at the door and lowered her voice again. “I am in a relationship…” His voice trailed off.

  Laura immediately understood. “With a man?”

  He nodded his head.

  The tension she had been feeling evaporated from her body. “Well, you obviously know you don’t have to worry about that with me.”

  Tony, however, remained tense. “It’s not you I’m worried about,” he said, his voice frantic.

  Laura looked at him and tilted her head. “Then, what are you worried about?”

  He mumbled something unintelligible.

  “I’m sorry, I couldn’t hear you,” Laura said. “What did you say?”

  “Sean Barkley,” he whispered. He glanced again at the door as if expecting Sean to materialize right inside of it, that by saying his name he would somehow conjured him, or that maybe Sean would blow the door off its hinges in his haste to throw Tony out.

  Sean? Why was he worried about Sean? And then realization struck.

  “What has Sean been saying?” Laura asked, maybe a little more forcefully then she had meant to for the man seemed to shy away from her as soon as the words left her mouth.

  She took a deep breath. “I’m sorry, but I cannot help you if you don’t tell me what Sean’s been saying.”

  Infuriating enough, he looked again at the door and remained silent.

  “He can’t hear through walls, Tony,” Laura said brusquely. “What things has Sean been saying?”

  Finally, after what appeared to be much thought and inner battle, Tony said, “He’s been telling everyone about you and Emily and how it’s going to hurt the firm. He said that you are going to run all the client out when they find out about it. So, then I have to wonder what will happen when he finds about me.”

  Anger drenched Laura like a bucket of water being thrown on her. It took every muscle in her body to control herself and not upset Tony anymore than he already was.

  “Look, there is nothing to worry about,” Laura said. “First of all, there’s no reason to believe that anyone’s relationship will hurt this firm.”

  Tony nodded his head, and Laura stopped him before he could speak.

  “You’ve worked for Jensen and Barkley how long?”

  “Th-three years now,” he replied.

  “Right, three years. And in that time, has your relationship with your partner done anything to hinder or hurt the firm, or the quality of work you do for the firm?”

  “No, but no one knows,” he said weakly.

  “What does anyone knowing or not knowing have to do with it? Either a relationship hurts or does not hurt a company. And I see no way that someone’s private life would hurt a company, even ours.”

  This seemed to sooth Tony a little. He had let go of the corner of his jacket, which was now a wrinkled wad that hung down at an awkward angle.

  “Now, here’s what I want you to do,” Laura said, standing. Tony followed suit, obviously understanding that the meeting was coming to an end. “I want you to go back to your desk and work on your projects. There’s no need for me, or anyone else for that matter, to tell anyone the current status of your love life. Nor of mine. It has nothing to do with your job or what we do here at Jensen and Barkley. Do you understand?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Tony said. “And I appreciate it.”

  Laura put out her hand and the man shook it before he opened the door and walked down the hall.

  Laura closed the door. Sean was stirring up trouble and she was determined to put a stop to it. She still had three more meetings with clients before she made her announcement, but she realized that there was no way she could wait any longer.

  She would have to declare her intentions for the company tomorrow.

  ***

  Laura met with each project manager throughout the day to find out what each of them had been told. The story was always the same.

  “Sean said that you and Emily are having an affair,” Rebecca Stockton said at her meeting. “Honestly, I don’t know what that man is up to, but this has to be the lowest I have ever seen him go.”

  “What do you mean?” Laura asked, intrigued.

  “Well, last year when we had that huge project with Smith and Sons for that factory in Fort Collins…?”

  “I know the one,” Laura said, and she sat back in her seat, trying to put on a sheath of calmness as her leg shook under the table, causing a light tapping from her heal. She put her hand on her knee to calm her leg.

  “Well, he first put the bid in without telling Terry about it. Then when it came in, he told Terry that he had bid much less than he actually had, then he could keep more of the earnings for himself.”

  “I see,” Laura said offhandedly, although inside she was celebrating. Finally
something she could use.

  “Oh, don’t tell him I told you,” Rebecca said quickly with a glance at the door. “He’s my supervisor and I know what he’s capable of. He knows I found out about the Smith and Sons contract and he told me that if I told Terry, he’d fire me and then have me blacklisted from every firm in the city. I need this job.”

  “Not to worry,” Laura said calmly. “Anything said in this meeting is confidential. But if you at any time want to openly discuss this matter, I’ll give you my full support.”

  The meeting with Donald Thompson did not go quite as well.

  “Sean Barkley has said nothing to me about anything,” Donald said evasively as he stood up, clearly not wanting to continue the meeting. “I have work to do, if you don’t mind.”

  Laura waved him off.

  After each meeting, Laura made notes, deciding by the responses on whose side each person stood. Out of the seven people, three were definitely on her side. The others were either too afraid to say anything or were on Sean’s side. At this point, she counted them as on his side until she had another reason to believe otherwise.

  At none of the meetings had she indicated what she would do with the information she shared. She did, however, assure all of them that what they said was confidential. And she had meant it.

  She longed to call Emily and let her know how things were going, but she would be at work at her new job. Laura wondered how things were going. She missed their conspiratorial meetings and their nightly trysts, but she felt empowered working alone against Sean. Right now, her only focus had to be on him and his cancerous conduct within the company that Terry had so loved.

  ***

  “Ouch!” Laura cried as a tiny drop of blood formed on her finger from the paper cut she had just received. She had spent the past two hours pouring over the bylaws for Jensen and Barkley Architecture, as well as the original contract developed when the company first opened, trying to find anything that would get her out of the mess she was in.

  She threw the large packet on the table and walked over to the liquor cart. Now she really understood Terry’s fixation with working in the living room with a scotch in his hand.

  She really wished Emily was here to help her, but she pushed back the thought. There was no reason to dwell on something she simply could not control.

  Polly popped her head into the room. “What would you like for dinner?” she asked.

  Emily raised her wine glass. Polly looked at her agast and said, “You can’t drink your dinner, Laura.”

  “Yeah, well, I certainly would like to.” She made her way back to the couch and flopped down on it.

  “Is there anything I might be able to help you with?” Polly asked.

  “You’re a dear,” Laura replied, “but I don’t think there is. It’s all business and sabotage.”

  Polly took a seat in one of the chairs across from Laura and put her hands in her lap. “I know things look down right now,” she said in her motherly voice, “but I assure you it will get better.”

  “Yeah, yeah, ‘this, too, shall pass’.” Polly offered the mantra every time Laura was struggling with something.

  “You know, when I was first married, we had a little trouble with a landlord. He wanted to evict us because he had a friend who wanted our place, although he said it was for nonpayment of rent, which was a load of hogwash. Anyway, since he was acting in such a way, we decided to simply end our lease with him. He really had no way he could make us leave, and we had receipts for the rent. But there was a clause that said that if we mutually agreed to end the lease, we could. I mean, who wants to stay where they are not wanted? Plus, he would have made our lives miserable if we had stayed.”

  Laura thought about what Polly had told her. She knew there was no way that Sean would agree to dissolve the company if she were to ask him, and she had already tried to buy out his portion of the firm. Anxiety pressed down on her like a heavy blanket.

  “Thanks, Polly,” Laura said. “I’ll keep looking to see if there’s something here that I can use.” She gave the woman a grateful smile.

  Polly patted her hand. “Let me make you something light to eat,” she said, her motherly tone returning. “I don’t want you drinking on an empty stomach.” Her eyes moved to Laura’s glass meaningfully.

  “Yes, I guess that would be a good idea,” Laura said with a light upcurve of her lips.

  Once she ate she felt somewhat renewed and decided to take one more look at the original contract to see if there was anything she missed.

  Then it was there, as if it had been written in bold letters, bright and glorious. She highlighted the section and set the packet to the side. Heading upstairs alone, she knew that she would sleep well tonight. Then in the morning she would contact Terry’s lawyer to be sure she had read the clause correctly.

  She certainly hoped she had.

  Chapter Eighteen

  The following day Laura called the Charles Forman, Terry’s lawyer, who confirmed what she had found in the document the night before. Then at ten o’clock sharp, she stood at the head of the table in the main conference room surrounded by the project managers, and right across from her sat Sean Barkley. She cleared her throat and waited until everyone was silent. The air was thick with worry and curiosity and she knew that now was the time to make her mark.

  “Good morning ladies and gentlemen,” she began. she glanced over at Sean and she could see him seething beneath his curiosity. “I have called you all here today to make an announcement. Per the original contract set forth by my late husband, Terry Jensen, I have decided to dissolve the partnership of Jensen and Bartley…”

  Sean leapt from his seat as a tiger pouncing on its prey. “What!” he screamed. “You can’t do that!”

  “I can, and I will. Please sit down, Sean.”

  “No, you can’t do that. I have rights as a shareholder…”

  “Yes, you do have rights, Sean, and if would sit down and shut up…”

  Sean’s face had turned a dark shade of magenta, his voice sputtering. “Laura, you…you…can’t…”

  “I asked you to be quiet, Sean.” Laura kept the amusement she felt out of her voice. It was not an easy task. She had never felt so confident in her life.

  Sean looked around at the faces staring at him and finally sat down.

  “Now, Sean and I do have some things to discuss, but that will happen later.” She looked around the table at each person there. “I have spoken to each of you and you have shared your interest or concerns about where our firm is headed. Some of you have expressed a desire to move on to a new company. For those of you who wish to do so, I will be happy to allow you to leave, with a letter of recommendation from me. I would ask, however, that if you do decide to move on that you do so once you have completed any current projects you are working on. I know this is a lot to ask, but I have complete faith in each and every one of you, despite any misgivings you have for my taking over this company.”

  There was a murmur around the table, but Laura quickly squelched it.

  “If at any time while you are completing your projects, you decide that you would prefer to stay on with Jensen Architecture, you are certainly welcome to do so. As I said to you here and in private, I admire each and every one of you for the hard work you do.

  “However, some of you may wish to leave before finishing your current projects. If you chose to do so, I will still give you a glowing recommendation; however, I will be unable to pay you for those unfinished projects. I’m sure you can understand why.”

  “I have put numerous hours into the Blazen project,” said Donald Thompson, “I should at least get something for the time I have put into it.”

  A few heads nodded in agreement.

  “I understand your concern, Donald. However, you must understand why I must follow through with this. It has been the practice of this firm to pay each of you for projects that are completed and accepted by the client. This protects the firm from shoddy work.
Fortunately, there have been very few instances where this has been an issue. This has been a part of your contract since you each started working here, and many of you have known this since the onset of the company.”

  Several more heads nodded.

  “Very well, then,” sighed Donald. “I will finish up the Balzen project, but I will be giving my resignation.”

  “I will be sad to see you go,” Laura said. Then she offered the man a smile. “However, the offer is still open if you change your mind.”

  “This is outrageous, Laura, and you know it,” Sean said, seething from his chair, unable to keep quiet any longer.

  “We will discuss your concerns after the meeting, Sean,” Laura said as she sat back in her seat. “Now, here’s what will happen after the dissolution of Jensen and Barkley,” she said as she opened a file. “I will continued on as office manager. You…” she pointed around the table, “are the experts in the field. I will be relying on you for your expertise and wisdom. In saying this, I would like to offer each of you five percent of the company holdings. This will allow you to voice your opinions without fear of termination. You will also all be a part of the board. I believe that people who have a say in what happens in a business are much happier than those who feel they have no input.”

  “Wait,” Tori said as she leaned forward. “You’re saying we will own part of the company?”

  “That’s exactly what I’m saying,” Laura said with a smile.

  The woman leaned back in her chair, her hand on her chin deep in thought.

  “We will work as a team at Jensen and Associates Architectural Firm,” Laura continued. “You will still be project managers, able to hire and fire those who work on your team—with my approval, of course—just as you have been able to do in the past.”

  “So, what changes do you see happening?” Jesse Flemming asked from a far corner.

  “Honestly, the only major changes will be who attends board meetings and that Mr. Barkley will no longer be a part of the firm.”