Amanda rushed around the house not quite ready for the meeting with Tom and Gabe Hall. She was glad to see Friday come. She had been working hard and was tired and overwhelmed by what Minnie had seemed to do so effortlessly. Minnie had always worked from home so all her data and files were right where Amanda could find them. Managers and an operating officer ran the day-to-day business of the company. She sensed reluctance on the part of those people to accept her leadership. They were patronizing at best and at worst they were insubordinate. Amanda was realizing that the most critical problem was that they were jumping at the opportunity to undermine Minnie’s vision.
Amanda had always expected to have a part of the business, but she never thought of being the head honcho while she was still so young. She was going to have to take some unpopular stands, and soon if she was going to continue to manage Minnie’s company in the way her aunt would expect. Amanda knew some people were trying to play with her head and what she would do about it. She was going to be reminding some folks she was the boss whether any of them wanted it or not.
Amanda had embarked while still a child on a course of study Minnie designed to train her to be a part of the business after Amanda showed an interest. She had some skills and a real affinity for working with the natural products Minnie sold and marketed. Some were even Amanda’s recipes. Most were either invented by Minnie or passed down in her family for generations.
Her aunt had seen to her education, not just in book learning, but in experience and folklore, too, but Amanda did not feel she knew all she needed to know.
Most of all Amanda missed the partnership of their combined skills, the comments and suggestions when she was stuck or Minnie was interested in a younger person’s input. Two brains were often better than one. It brought new meaning to the word lonely. Amanda had never felt so lonely in her life. Still she knew no one else who had the knowledge and the will to guard the purity of her aunt’s vision. She could and would do what needed to be done.
Amanda pulled on navy pumps and buttoned the top button of her suit. She stood in front of the hall mirror and tied a scarf around her wild hair just as Tom drove up. He came to the door to escort her to his car.
“Hey, Mr. Martin.” She greeted him, but he barely looked at her.
He seated her in the passenger seat with no more than a grunted reply.
As he seated himself in the driver’s seat she turned to him and said, “Are you feeling more yourself today?” She then fixed her eyes firmly on him and waited for a reply.
“Damn it, Amanda, you’re just like your aunt. Do you know what it’s like for me, to know I’m never going to have her? I can never have what I want, now. I’m too old to start over even if I wanted to do it. Minnie would have been unhappy over the way I ran out and left you with that bunch of vultures.”
He was gripping the steering wheel too tightly, obviously very upset.
“Listen to me, Tom. I can take care of myself. Pete called me twice this week asking for a date. I didn’t have any trouble saying no to him. Minnie brought me up to take control of my own life and do it right.”
“Yep, you’re just like her. Don’t you see Amanda? If Minnie hadn’t been so independent or contrary we could have had a life together. She wouldn’t have it. I spent most of my life alone waiting for her. You need to think about whether you want to be as alone as she was. No one left but you and Michael and that bunch that Gena tries to pass off as cousins. Young Pete might make you a decent husband. Lord knows he’s never leaving this area. ”
“I’m not marrying Pete,” Amanda said. “Minnie would turn over in her grave if I even considered such a thing.”
“He could give you children,” Tom said. “He’s not really kin to you, even though his father of record was your uncle. Most women want kids, though I think most men could be happier without them. Minnie considered you her child, even though you were only her niece through marriage. She didn’t have to take the responsibility of raising you. ”
“Relationships should be reciprocal.” Amanda said. “Why did you expect Minnie to do all the changing?”
“If she had loved me she would have done as I wanted.” He said it. It was the obvious answer if he’d been able to turn it around. He could have met Minnie half way, but chose not to. It effectively ended their relationship and conversation between him and Amanda.
Amanda knew why her aunt never married Tom. She had liked him well enough to date, but not to marry him. He had always tried to control her, something Minnie would never tolerate. She was flexible enough to get along with most people, but Tom had wanted to rule in his own home. As Minnie said, “If he must be the leader, then I must consider myself unfit to lead…and, of course I don’t and never would. That need he has to dominate me is rooted in his own weakness.”
Amanda kept it to herself and they rode on in silence.
At Tom’s office she did not wait for him to open her door, but got out and walked next to him into his building. Gabe was waiting for them in the reception area. Tom gruffly greeted him, then both men allowed her to lead the way to Tom’s conference room.
Gabe was a tall man, easily six three or four. His dark hair needed a trim. He was a MAN…with capital letters, lean and well built, taller than most men she knew. Most tall men were weird looking and too thin. Gabe looked like her dearest, most private fantasy. She wanted…longed to see him naked. Sadly, he was dressed in a sports jacket and navy slacks, no tie. Amanda felt another quiver of attraction and avoided offering her hand to shake, feeling increasingly wary of him as a man.
She typically did not allow herself the feel any response to men, having experienced too much negative conditioning. Most of them turned her off being too aggressive because of her exterior, and many of the rest of the men she knew were aware that the pretty exterior package had a reserved heart and a keen mind that did not take involvement lightly. She was not an innocent at nearly thirty, but she had not had successful relationships with men. She tried her damndest not to feel anything but cool around men in general and she had will power as strong as steel.
She could feel Gabe’s warmth behind her and Tom’s presence did not dampen the response she felt. They seated themselves around the table. Tom’s secretary had handed him a file as they went by her desk. Tom now opened it and handed Amanda an envelope. “Minnie left this letter for you. “
“Do I have to read it here and now?” she asked.
“Later will do, ” he said.
“Gabe here has instructions to stick close to you for at least a while for two reasons. One is to help and advise you about business matters until the bunch at the company gets used to the idea that you’re the boss. I think you’re too young, but Minnie did not agree. He’s got a business degree and years of management experience behind him and he’s an ex Navy SEAL which brings me to the next problem. The security issues at the plant and your safety.”
“Gabe and I have already discussed it. We have things under control,” Amanda told him.
Tom got up and stood at a window lost in his own pain and unconcerned about anyone else. “What ever.” He said. “You don’t seem to need me anymore than Minnie did. You’ll need a will yourself, of course. I’ve written something if you want to sign it while you are here today. I’ve also made a new contract for Gabe. Provisions need to be made for the business.”
“Gabe and I have already decided to let the contract with Minnie stand,” Amanda said.
“I’ve just copied his contract and put your name on it. New signatures will only take moments.” Tom was insisting. He pulled a pile of paper from the file and put it in front of Amanda. “We just need three signatures in addition to my secretary…here…here…and here, and of course you signature, Gabe.”
Gabe suddenly reached across the table and took the pen from her hand. He picked up the stack of paper and flipped through it. “This is a will,” he said. “Were you going to have her sign something without letting her read it or telling her what she
was signing?”
“It’s just a standard will,” Tom said defensively.
“Who’s the beneficiary?” Amanda asked.
Tom reached for the papers, saying “There’s really no need to go through this in detail now. Just sign and we’ll go on to Gabe’s contract. Everything is standard.”
Gabe avoided Tom’s reach and rolled the papers and put them in his back pocket.
“I don’t need another contract with Au Natural. Minnie paid me already and I’m here to do what she paid me to do. We’ll read through this and let you know if we’ve forgotten any points.”
“I haven’t made any decisions about a will,” Amanda said. “I also did not order you to make me a will. I’m not signing anything today, but whatever I do sign will be my ideas, not yours.”
“Your responsibilities to the business require succession planning,” Tom said. “It’s just a standard will like any business person would have.”
“I said no Tom, and I mean it. I have no intention of signing a will that I haven’t authorized.” Amanda glared at him, out of patience and very annoyed. His behavior made no sense. She felt he cared nothing for the business he was supposed to represent or for her, his biggest client. He might have once cared for Minnie, but not as a true friend, just as someone who used her. It made Amanda mad.
Gabe looked at her, apparently deciding she had herself under control. Tom was another matter entirely. He looked angry.
Tom abruptly nodded his acceptance. “Well, I did my best,” and left the room.
Gabe pulled out the chair next to hers and sat down. He was close. It got her attention even in a very emotional moment. “You didn’t ask him to make you a new will?”
“No, I didn’t,” she answered. “He’s always been the company lawyer, but I’m not sure I will continue to use him for that. He doesn’t like me. I would certainly not use him for my personal business.”
Gabe said, “If Minnie’s right, and I think she is, a lot of money is disappearing from the business on a regular basis. I haven’t gotten into the books in any detail yet, because accounting is in such disarray. Do you think Tom could be involved in Minnie’s death?” he asked, needing confirmation.
“He’s angry at Minnie. She never would marry him. All he wanted to do was cramp her style and control her, and she knew it. She wouldn’t have him. He’s been no use to me at all. But that’s less important than the fact that I no longer trust him.”
Her hands were trembling and she twisted them in her lap to hide the weakness. She looked at Gabe and said, “Why didn’t she tell me? She normally wouldn’t have kept something like that from me. She was hiding reporting from me the last couple of months. I realize it now.”
“She wasn’t showing you stuff she would have normally?” he asked.
“That’s right.” Amanda confirmed. “I was busy and did not press her about it. We were told that the accounting offices were putting in some new software and that they would have to do some catch up work. Minnie was trying to do some reports at home on her own computer using raw data from the computers at work. She didn’t mention a problem to me.”
“Minnie called me nearly six weeks ago and asked me to check some things. I went over some data she sent me and agreed with her feeling that there was a problem.” Gabe said. “I had to finish another job before I could come and investigate here. Minnie was embarrassed, I think. Someone was embezzling money from the company. I don’t think it had been going on long, but she was mad at herself for letting it happen at all.”
“She would be.” Amanda said. She was openly crying now. “You don’t think it was connected to her death?”
“My instincts say yes but we don’t have any facts to support it,” he said. He pulled a clean handkerchief out of his pocket and handed it to her. “I’m not assuming anything yet. The accident looked like she was going a little too fast and lost control. There’s no evidence that the pickup was tampered with or that there was another car involved. We’ll just see, O.K.? ”
He was close to her and she was looking right into his eyes. They were dark brown and warmed her a little. She was chilled both physically and emotionally by what they had told her and what she was thinking. Minnie’s souped up pickup truck had been badly damaged in the accident that killed her. Amanda still had to decide what to do with it. The insurance company would not repair it. Amanda did not want to drive it after what happened. It was twenty years old and only covered with liability insurance. If there was any question about how Minnie died she was going to put the wreck in a secure place until she was sure of more.
“I have to know, ” she told him. “I have to know who I can trust. Do you have a cell phone? “
After he handed his phone to her she called Ben Foster and asked him to start the process of getting Minnie’s truck out of the police impound yard. When she told him why, he cursed vividly and told her “If there’s anything to find, I’ll find it. I loved that woman.”
She ended the call and looked back at Gabe. “It’s bad enough doing without Minnie, without the added pressure of these doubts about our people. Tom has been no help at all. Something in him seems broken. He’s been ineffectual, if not adversarial. I didn’t expect him to act like an enemy, but he has. We’ve never been friends, but I just didn’t expect him to treat me like he has. He was more discreet in front of Minnie. She would have fired him if he had treated me like he did today in front of her.”
Then she remembered she did not have a car. “I wonder if he plans to take me home? I let him pick me up, but I should have brought my own car. He’s been very erratic and unpredictable since Minnie died. ”
“Will he really go to the Beehive for lunch?” he asked her, smiling as he mentioned the town’s busiest restaurant.
“Well, he usually does unless he’s traveling.” she replied. The thought of the Beehive cheered her too, somehow. She used his handkerchief, mopping it roughly over her face and then stuffing it into her little purse.
“Let’s go over there, ” he suggested. “I’d love some fried okra, and some cabbage cooked to death, and some black-eyed peas and cornbread. Good old home cooking.”
“Do you really like it?” she asked. “You don’t sound like you were raised on it.”
He was escorting her from the building. “Would you mind walking?” he asked.
“Half a block.” she said. “No I wouldn’t mind. I’d like the fresh air. Do I look OK to be seen in public?”
“Actually, You look beautiful, especially for a woman who’s been crying.” She was embarrassed, but he went on talking, giving her recovery time. “I was raised on good old southern home cooking. My accent faded over the years while I traveled the world. I sounded so southern when I first left home many people couldn’t understand me. I grew up on a farm near Alex City. It’s a beautiful place. My sister is still farming there with the help of a few people we found who were interested in the jobs. She’s running a chemical free and restaurant produce operation. Most of it goes to Atlanta area restaurants. She’s had a time with bugs, but she’s determined.”
“You weren’t interested in farming?” she asked him.
“I wanted adventure back twelve years ago when I graduated from high school. I got an appointment to The Naval Academy and then became a SEAL. I saw a lot of action.”
“Did you like it?” she asked.
“I felt what I was doing made a difference in the world, that it was necessary and important work. Three years later I was retired out with an injury. My degree was in accounting, so I went to work for one of the big consulting firms specializing in security, protecting the cash and intellectual assets of businesses. It was more exciting than I expected. Now I’m self employed, doing the same kind of work.”
They reached the Beehive and he escorted her inside out of the heat. The interior was furnished with linoleum tile in checkerboard pattern, alternating turquoise and cream. The tables were orange Formica and stainless steel with turquoise vinyl bench
es. It was the original décor. Many of the waitresses were original, too and a couple still wore beehive hairdos.
“There’s Tom. Let’s sit with him ” he suggested.
“Why?’ she asked. “I’m ready to fire him.”
“He knows stuff. You know he does. You need the data. Think of it as a fact finding mission.” he suggested. He escorted her right up to Tom’s table and sat her without asking Tom’s permission, before sitting down himself.
A waitress was with them immediately to take their orders and bring sweet iced tea.
Tom looked unhappy but it did not seem to affect his appetite. He kept on eating.
Amanda fixed her eyes on Tom and asked, “Are you so mad at Minnie and me that you no longer want to work for Au Naturel?”
Tom finally stopped eating and looked up at her.
Amanda waited, her eyes fixed firmly on his face.
He flushed red and looked away.
Gabe waited patiently, relaxed in his chair.
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