by Mima
CHAPTER FIVE
The office environment began to relax over time. The staff grew comfortable with one another as their duties became more clearly defined, their roles within the company more deeply understood. There was a sense of pride and bonding that formed after getting through the first couple of weeks together, having set up the office from scratch, the staff worked as a team with the same goal in mind.
Where Jolene’s assistant Beverly became more confident and serious as the days moved forward, Sylvana appeared more aggressive and vocal, proving herself a leader. The original secretary quit and was replaced by a woman in her early 20s, Deborah, who wore glasses and dressed quite conservatively compared to Jolene and Sylvana; both of which loved to flaunt their curves and regularly wore high heels to work. Deborah wore flats, dress plainly and although was friendly, she was also eerily quiet.
The accountant Benjamin was a Filipino man whom Diego admired for his diligence. Always keeping everything on track, aware of government forms and rules for business with knowledge beyond his position, he was able to make recommendations to both Jolene and Diego on other elements of business. Smart, savvy, Benjamin was also quiet and professional, never appearing stressed or frustrated.
The party planners, Cleo and Raymond were rarely in the office but kept the events running smoothly and to Jolene and Diego’s satisfaction. Since their hours were quite erratic, they mainly worked remotely.
Although Diego and Jolene originally talked of hiring more staff, they were hesitant to move ahead too quickly. Things were still pretty new and there would be an adjustment period even though their plans were well beyond the current situation.
“Where we once had larger parties directed only toward women, we now have more smaller, intimate parties where the customer have more say in what they want,” Diego insisted in a regular Friday afternoon meeting. He stood at the head of the boardroom and spoke to their small staff. “It’s not the direction that I thought we would go in, but here we are…give the people what they want.”
“There’s still a huge demand for the original parties with just women,” Sylvana jumped in, her eyes glanced around the table before returning to her laptop screen. “People know us as the company that does the ‘girl on girl’ parties.” She briefly made eye contact with Chase, who remained silent, as he often did in the meetings.
“Yes, but through time, people will learn we are so much more,” Diego insisted as he gestured toward his own laptop. “That’s our job, to make them see us differently. Specifically, it’s your job, Sylvana. That’s why you are in charge of marketing, it’s for you to decide how to do this.”
She frowned and avoided his eyes while Diego ignored her reaction and turned to Jolene. “Our numbers, they aren’t good with the gay men yet?” he shrugged. “I would’ve thought the complete opposite, to be honest. I thought that would be our biggest demographic as soon as we expanded. I don’t understand.”
“We are in competition with another company,” Jolene spoke slowly, something she did when concerned about her English. Chase bit his lip anxiously, sensing her discomfort. Jolene occasionally struggled with finding the correct English words, especially when she was nervous or not having a good day. “There is another place that has these type of parties, Diego and they are well-known, unlike us. We need to do something to bring that business here.”
“Undersell them?” The suggestion came from Benjamin who leaned ahead in his chair, taking everything in stride. He sniffed, his lips fell into a frown. “Maybe we have one big blowout to introduce ourselves to their community, have a cheap night or something that the other parties don’t have and see what happens.”
“I say stick with what we know and put a hold on all that,” Sylvana spoke up, her eyes glued to her laptop, she ignored Benjamin, who appeared unfazed by her comments. He merely shrugged and shared a look with Diego, who was taking it all in. He silently nodded.
“Beverly and I will research this,” Jolene piped up and closed her laptop. “Maybe we should wait, maybe we need to do now, I don’t know.”
“All right, well I guess that’s something we have to look at a little more closely and decide next week,” Diego abruptly stuck his hands in his pockets and walked toward the window, quickly pivoting around. “Deborah, I invited you to this meeting as well because you are, in many ways, the face of the company. If someone comes through those doors or calls, you are the first person they talk to or see and the person dealing with customer service.”
Nodding, her eyes flickered between Chase and Diego, unlike the others, she had no laptop or notebook with her for the meeting.
“I need you to be the eyes and ears,” Diego pointed toward the door. “What’s going on in the office? Who’s calling? What are they asking? What kind of emails are coming in? I want to know everything that seems relevant. I want you to be on top of everything.”
His eyes were dark, pressing as they narrowed in on her and she silently nodded, appearing nervous and quickly looked away.
“And the rest of you,” Diego abruptly continued, “I expect the same. Loyalty is important to me and I want to know if you see or hear anything that concerns you, then you must bring it to my attention. If you have any thoughts, any new ideas, you bring it to me or Jolene. We all want the same thing here and that is for this business to be a success. It has been so far but let’s make sure it’s not a novelty that passes. We have to keep on top of things, be inventive with new ideas. We can’t fall behind or someone else will move in and swallow us up.”
There was silence around the table. Chase could sense a discomfort, it was something he also knew Diego thrived on. He enjoyed making people uncomfortable and in fact, seemed to believe it kept staff on their toes, a bit on edge, which made perfect sense. He had that effect on Chase at first too but that faded over time. He somehow doubted it would with his coworkers. He sensed their intimidation. He saw it when he glanced around the table; the sheepish looks, the nervousness as they shuffled in their chairs. Deborah’s face was flushed, as it often was, he suspected she was having difficulty with this particular setting.
The meeting ended and the others left. Chase remained in his chair, as did Jolene while Diego stomped toward the window, taking a deep breath, he suddenly seemed unexpectedly vulnerable, tired, for the first time since their move to Toronto. It was a fleeting moment but it hadn’t gone unnoticed.
“Diego, you must relax,” Jolene spoke up and reached for her bottle of water. “Be careful, they may not like, how you say? Scare them.”
“They have to know who’s boss, Jolene,” Diego swung around and shrugged. “You can’t let them get too comfortable or nothing will get done around here. We can’t afford for them to get lazy.”
“I don’t think they are going to get lazy, Diego but you got to not, I don’t know,” She stopped and her eyes shifted toward Chase. “What do you say? Scare?”
“Intimidate?” Chase attempted to guess what she meant. “Is that what you mean?”
“That’s it, that’s what I mean,” Jolene spoke excitedly. “Intimidate. You intimidate, Diego.”
“I do not,” He made a face as he edged back to the table and sat in his chair. “I’m just being a boss. You got to be tough if you want something done. You need to put a fire under people or they do nothing. They cannot get too comfortable.”
“That’s why so many businesses fail,” Diego continued, his ring finger tapped on the table. “They don’t listen to their customers and they get lazy. We are not to do either. We are going to push ahead even when we don’t know where to go next. We have to be strong and listen to what the customers say then give them what they want. That’s what we have to do.”
“I agree,” Jolene sigh. “I agree. I guess you are right about that one. I just assume that we all want this to succeed but yes, we need to make sure to move ahead.”
“Chase, you’re the quiet
one,” Diego turned his attention to the opposite side of the table from Jolene. “You don’t say much in the meetings, why not?”
“I don’t have anything to say.”
“Ah, the strong silent type!”
“Diego, Chase never has much to say. That’s a good thing because he observes,” Jolene commented and pointed toward her eyes. “He sees everything.”
“Chase, what did you see today, I must know.” Diego pushed his chair ahead and placed his elbows on the table. “What did you observe in this room?”
“I…I guess what Jolene was saying, people are intimidated.”
“But tell me your impression of each person at this table.”
“Well,” Chase cleared his throat and thought for a moment. “I think Sylvana is controlling, tough, determined. I think Beverly is compliant. I think-
“Wait wait, what?” Jolene cut in, waving her hands in the air. “What is compliant?”
“Ah, Jolene!” Diego waved his hands in the air, frustration rang through his voice. “You have to learn English better.”
“I am trying!” She snapped and turned her attention back to Chase.
“Compliant means to kind of go along with whatever people want and not question anything.”
“She’s soft.” Jolene nodded and pointed to her chest.
“Yes, I suppose that is another way to put it.”
“And Benjamin?” Diego asked, his eyes darted in Chase’s direction.
“I like him. He’s a smart guy. He’s calm, easy to talk to and I think he could do pretty much anything. He seems resourceful and hard-working.”
Jolene nodded and smiled, while Diego gave a stiff smile.
“And Deborah?”
“She’s…I don’t know,” Chase thought for a moment. “There’s something odd about her but I can’t pinpoint it yet.”
“I think emotion problems,” Jolene answered. “Maybe she break up with boyfriend.”
At the end of the table, Diego cringed as his sister spoke. Chase couldn’t help but wondered if she did it on purpose to irritate him but agreed with Jolene.
“Maybe, I don’t know. I guess it’s too soon to know.”
“It’ll come out,” Diego insisted and stood up. “It always does.”
Jolene agreed. “It does.”
Chase remained silent.
CHAPTER SIX
“Are you still living with the gay man?” Angel’s question was predictably sharp, automatically making Chase paranoid that Diego could hear, even though he was on the other side of the room. However, one glance proved that he was much too preoccupied with something Benjamin was showing him on an iPad. Holding the phone tighter to his ear, he slipped out of the room and into the staff room.
A new girl who was appropriately his age sat at the table. He hadn’t had a chance to meet her but assumed she was one of the two new party planners that Jolene hired in a panic, when business suddenly took an unexpected spike the previous week. Although dressed professionally, if not somewhat bohemian in nature, she wore her hair it two small, blonde pigtails and was cute, reminding him more of a teenage girl than an adult woman. He didn’t really want her to overhear his conversation but felt it would’ve been awkward to suddenly leave the room.
“Yes, but not in the way you’re suggesting,” He spoke in a hushed voice as he sat at the end of the table, turning away from the new girl.
“I wasn’t suggesting anything,” Angel snapped and he could immediately picture his sister’s brooding face. Her personality was heavy, always bordering on dreary. The two never had much of a relationship and in fact, it was the first time they had spoken in months. “I was asking because when you have your own place if you get your own place, I would like to visit.”
Chase frowned. He sensed that her interest in visiting had more to do with his location than actually seeing her younger brother. Rather than comment on that, he instead attacked her insinuation that he would stay at Diego’s forever.
“I will be moving as soon as I can find a new place,” Chase spoke evenly, not allowing himself to fall into her trap.
Angel always degraded his lifestyle. In high school, she put down his relationship with then-girlfriend Lucy Willis, suggesting he only used her, to get his ‘rocks off’ then tossed her aside; even though she had dumped Chase, not the other way around. When he accidentally got Audrey Neil pregnant after a post-breakup romp at a party, his sister suggested that he was merely an animal who didn’t prepare for the consequences. Now that he was living in the same condo as a homosexual, he assumed she was implying that he was gay.
“Right…sure,” she was clearly mocking him but Chase refused to play her game. There was no sense. His relationship with Angel had always been strained and at that point, he saw little reason to make any effort.
He took a deep breath. “Is there anything else, Angel?”
“Have you talked to mom lately?”
“No.”
“Will you talk to mom sometime?”
He ignored her question. “Is there anything else Angel?”
A vulnerability snuck in her voice. “No, I guess not, I just-
“I have to go,” Chase cut her off. “I’m at work.”
“Ok….I….have you talked to your kids lately?”
“Did you just call to take inventory of my fucking life?” He snapped and the new girl let out a smothered laugh and quickly covered it up by taking a drink of her coffee. Chase caught himself and cleared his throat. “Of course I did. I do every week. I have to go.”
Disconnecting the call, he gave an apologetic look to the new girl. “Sorry…family stuff.”
“No, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to listen in.” She spoke with a French accent and her lips lifted into a smile. Her hazel eyes shone as she turned slightly, to face him. “I just caught that last comment and it made me laugh. Are you Italian?”
“I- no, do I look Italian?” He asked evenly, sliding the iPhone into his pocket.
“No, it’s just that my ex, he was Italian and his family were always in his business and he said that was normal,” She shrugged awkwardly and began to stutter. “You know, calling, checking in on him. I don’t know…I just thought..or assumed maybe you were too.”
“No,” He shook his head and stood up, “I don’t think that’s just an Italian thing.”
“Ummm,” She blushed and nodded.
“I’m Chase, by the way,” He reached out to shake her hand and a relieved smile crossed her face as she did the same. Her fingers were small, soft, her handshake gentle as she appeared to relax.
“I’m Gracie.”
“Gracie?”
“Benoit. Gracie Benoit.”
Chase slowly let go of her hand and merely nodded.
“It’s French.”
“You’re French? From Quebec?”
“Actually from the Maritimes,” She referred to Canada’s east coast and Chase continued to nod, regretting he hadn’t paid more attention in high school geography class. He didn’t know much about the Atlantic provinces outside of the fact that many people from that region traveled to Alberta to work. “New Brunswick.”
“Interesting,” Chase awkwardly commented.
“Is it?” Gracie asked skeptically.
Chase shrugged. “I think it’s interesting.”
“Not really, I’m from some little community nobody has heard of,” Gracie said and gave him an awkward smile. “Or cares about.”
“I’m from a little town that nobody’s heard of or cares about either,” He offered and grinned, “in Alberta.”
“People like Alberta, lots of oil,” she seemed to warm up as Chase made his way toward the door.
“Not where I come from,” Chase reached for the doorknob and cleared his throat. “There’s nothing there. Trust me, that’s why I’m her
e.”
“Ditto.” She giggled and his smile grew.
“Nice to meet you, Gracie,” He left the room and turned toward the office to find the door closed, something that seemed to happen more and more often, which in turn left Chase wandering around like an idiot. He decided to peek into Jolene’s office. She was working on her laptop.
“Hello Chase,” She called out glancing up from the screen. “Did you need to speak with me?”
He shook his head.
“Ah, he has the door closed again?” Jolene didn’t even wait for his answer but rolled her eyes. “Come, sit!”
Following her instructions, he noted that Beverly wasn’t around. As if reading his mind, Jolene was quick to reply.
“I send her out for a latte,” Jolene shrugged. “Sometimes, I don’t even want the latte, I don’t want to see her, you know?”
“Maybe that’s why Diego has the door closed,” Chase said with a grin.
“Oh, he like you, that’s why you live together,” She raised her eyebrows.
“We don’t live together, live together.” Chase corrected her and noted the confusion on her face. “I mean, not, we aren’t, you know…”
“I know, I know, you are not his boyfriend,” Jolene let out a sharp laugh and pushed her chair back from the desk. “But you know, people might think if you stay there too long. Not that it matters and let’s face it, my brother values your company.”
“He does?” Chase asked. “I feel bad I haven’t found a place yet. I’m sure he’s just being polite.”
“Have you ever known Diego to be polite?” She countered.
“True,” Chase considered her question. “I mean, It is kind of nice being new in a city and having a roommate. If you want to call him that.”
“You know, he likes you a lot Chase,” She pushed her chair forward again and spoke in a hushed tone. “I don’t say you should leave but, I think you must be careful. He might feel differently than you know. Like a boyfriend?”