by Gerri Hill
“Yes, I suppose so.”
“In my opinion, David Jimenez is much more valuable to this company than Ron Peterson. Under no circumstances will he be brought back in. Do you agree?”
“I’m only your legal counsel, Jacqueline. As I said, your father made all the decisions and rarely consulted me.”
“So you didn’t know about his plans for a new plant either?”
“No.”
“You’re telling me Mrs. Willis and Greg Kubiak were the only ones he confided in?”
“He relied on Greg for a lot of things.”
“So I’m told.” Jacqueline stood and stared out over the plants. “How do you think Greg will be treated?”
“Greg is well-liked. He’s smart. He’s also only been here a handful of years.”
Jacqueline turned back around. “I trust Greg. He’ll make the right decisions. I’d like for you to make it clear to everyone that he is in charge.” She paused. “And if I came across as a royal bitch this morning, I apologize. I’ll blame it on nervousness as much as anything.”
John smiled. “Yes, I’m sure the B-word has been tossed around. Yo u also put the fear of God into them. I’ve no doubt they’ll listen to Greg. It’s no secret you’re friends with the Garlands.”
“Yes. That’s why I trust him.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Kay laughed as Eric lifted Jackie off her feet and pulled her into his arms. Jackie was tall, but Eric towered over her, and Jackie had no choice but to hold on to him.
“Put me down, you big lug,” Jacqueline teased.
“I will not! I haven’t seen you in twenty years.”
“It’s fifteen, and I can still kick your ass.”
“Oh yeah, I see that happening!” But he put her back down, this time pulling her into a more subtle hug. “You look great.”
“Thanks, Eric. And man, did you grow up.”
He playfully flexed his biceps. “I work for a living.” Then his smile faded. “Sorry about your father, Jackie.”
She shrugged, not knowing what to say.
“Is Rhonda coming?” Kay asked. “Rhonda is his fiancée,” she explained to Jackie.
“She’ll be along.”
“Fiancée? First time around, Eric?”
“I’ve been working offshore for so long, it’s hard to have a normal relationship.”
Jacqueline grinned. “Is that a yes or a no?”
Eric blushed. “Second time around. First one didn’t make a year.”
“Not that I’m taking up for her, Eric, but being twenty-three and a newlywed, and having your husband gone for a month at a time can’t possibly be a lot of fun.”
“I know you’re still friendly with her, Kay. You don’t have to explain.”
Kay turned to Jackie. “You may remember her, Linda Browning. She was just a year ahead of us in school.”
“The name sounds familiar.”
“I’m leaving now. I refuse to stand here and talk about Linda. Please don’t mention her to Rhonda. You know they can’t stand each other.”
“My God. You’ve been divorced twelve years, Eric.”
“It’s got nothing to do with that and you know it.”
“Are you serious? Rhonda is still mad about that?”
“About what?” Jacqueline asked.
“At the county fair a few years ago, Linda accidentally dropped Rhonda’s pecan pie during the judging at the bake-off.”
“Accidentally? Is that what she told you?” Eric turned to Jackie. “Rhonda and Linda were the two finalists. How could she accidentally drop a pie? She did it because we had just started dating, I know it.”
Jackie and Kay exchanged amused glances.
“She did and you know it, Kay!”
“There you two are,” Rose called. “I didn’t even know you were here.”
“Just got here,” Jacqueline said. “Have been catching up with Eric a little.”
“Well, I don’t know what you did to my husband today, but he had a dozen roses delivered to me at the café this afternoon. The only other time he’s done that was when I told him I was pregnant with Lee Ann.” Rose leaned closer. “And I pray to God that ain’t the case! I already had two extras to make up for Kay.”
“Rose!”
“Where’s Rhonda?” Rose asked, ignoring Kay.
“She’s coming,” Eric said.
“Yeah, I was just hearing about Linda and Rhonda and the pie thing,” Jacqueline said.
“Linda,” Rose hissed. “I swear, she ain’t got the sense God gave a goose. Do you know she kept Eric’s last name? They were married ten months!”
“I see you’re quite fond of her as well,” Jacqueline teased.
“Please. Can you imagine if Eric was still married to her? She’s as fat as a tub of lard.”
“Rose!”
“Well, it’s the truth, Kay. I’m not lying.”
“Girls? Who are you gossiping about?”
Rose rolled her eyes. “I swear, Mama can hear me two counties over.” Rose linked arms with her sister. “Come on, Kay. Help me with the burgers.”
Kay looked at Jackie and smiled apologetically.
“I’ll be fine.”
“Come on, let’s get something to drink,” Eric offered.
Rose and Greg’s backyard was bursting with activity. Besides Rose’s four kids, Sammy and Tess’s son tagged along behind Denny, and the five of them were making enough noise to rouse the neighbor’s dog.
Eric laughed at the look on Jackie’s face. “You get used to it after awhile.”
“I suppose.”
“Can you believe how tall Sammy got?”
“No, but fifteen years is a long time. Everyone’s changed.”
“That’s for sure.” He fished in the ice and pulled out two beers. “This okay?”
“Got anything light in there?”
“Light beer? Geez, Jackie, I figured you for the dark stuff.”
“Sorry.”
“I guess you heard about Kay and Billy Ray,” he said, his voice lowered, as he handed her a beer.
“Yeah, Kay told me.”
“Kay? I figured Rosie would be the one to fill you in. Kay doesn’t talk about it.”
Jacqueline just shrugged.
“So, it was all true, huh?”
“What?”
“You. The reason you left.”
“True in that my mother sent me away? Or true in that I’m gay?”
“I guess both.”
Jacqueline stood up straighter. “Yes, both are true.” She raised her eyebrows. “Problem?”
“Well, no. I guess if Kay doesn’t have a problem, then I don’t.”
“Kay? What do you mean?”
“Well, you’re staying with her. You know how people talk in this town.”
“Eric, are you being a big brother and looking out for her, or are you genuinely concerned about me?”
He laughed. “Oh, Jackie, hell, I know how close you and Kay were.” He pointed across the patio. “Brother-in-law looks beat. Yo u wouldn’t think playing with computers all day would stress him out so.”
Greg did indeed look tired. He met Jacqueline’s eyes and gave a weary smile.
“Excuse me, Eric, but I need to visit with Greg for a bit.”
“Sure, Jackie.”
“Look me up when your fiancée gets here.”
“Don’t you worry.”
“You look nice tonight.”
“Rose, I’m in jeans,” Kay said dryly. “How many tomatoes should I slice?”
“All four. And I just mean, they look nice on you. I wish you’d have some kids so you could spread out like me.”
“I doubt the sole reason is having kids, Rosie.”
“And what do you mean by that?”
“You work at the café and eat Mama’s cooking. You come home and cook. And I know you’ve not forgotten that I can’t cook to save my life.”
Rose pointed the knife at her. “Never too old
to learn. And trust me, I will not let Lee Ann fall into the same trap as you did. She’s already got that little tomboy attitude, thinking she needs to be outside playing ball or something.”
“Same trap as me? I was not a tomboy, Rose.”
Rose laughed. “Of course you were. You spent more time on your bike chasing after Jackie than you ever spent in the house, not to mention climbing that old oak tree.”
“That doesn’t make me a tomboy. Jackie, she was the tomboy.”
“Yeah, talk about stereotype.”
“Rose!”
“Well, it’s the truth. And don’t get me wrong, I love Jackie to death. But think back, Kay. She was playing sports with the boys, beating up the boys, and she never wore dresses.”
“And what’s your point, Rose.”
“I’m just saying, we should have known.”
Kay spread her hands. “And if we’d known, what would we have done? Stayed away from her? Forbid her to come to our house?”
Rose lowered her voice. “Does it bother you? I mean, you guys used to sleep together all the time. Even when you were in high school.”
Kay stared. “Rose, what’s up? Are you worried about me?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Jackie would never hurt you.”
“Then drop it.” Kay rinsed the head of lettuce, surprised at Rose. Apparently, her sister was worried that Jackie might… try something. Geez.
“By the way, I have a little surprise for you.”
“Oh, yeah?” Then Kay whipped around. “God, you’re not pregnant, are you?”
“Good Lord, no. I’d shoot myself.” Rose looked over her shoulder into the empty living room before speaking. “Eric invited a friend.”
Kay went back to her lettuce. “That’s nice.”
“A guy friend. A guy he works with.”
Kay slowly turned around. “And?”
“And, he’s single. And Eric says he’s cute.”
“And?”
“Kay! Give me a break here. At least act a little excited.”
“Excited? You’re trying to set me up with a guy who works offshore with Eric? Now that would make for an interesting relationship.”
“Well, Eric says he’s a really nice guy. He’s going to stay here the whole month.”
“What?”
“He’s from Mississippi. Doesn’t have a whole lot going on there, so Eric invited him to stay here with him for the month.”
“Eric invited? With no encouragement from you?”
“Well, he’s been mentioning this guy for months now.” Rose shrugged. “I may have dropped a hint or two.”
“Sure you did. Well, you can forget it.”
“Kay, what would it hurt to go out with him?”
“And when would I do that?”
“This weekend, or next week, or make plans for next weekend.”
Kay shook her head. “I have company.”
“Oh, please. Jackie wouldn’t mind being scarce if you had a guy over.”
“No, but I mind. She won’t be here much longer, and I don’t intend to sacrifice any of that time.”
“Wait before you pass judgment. This guy might knock your socks off.”
“How did everything go?” Jacqueline asked.
Greg smiled. “Better than I thought, really. Having Peterson gone helped. Jackie, I never thought he’d do that.”
“No. And I assume he never thought I’d take him up on his resignation.”
“You were right. David has been doing his job for the last several years. It’s no secret.”
“Any other situations like that?”
“Fiberboard. Carl Hybeck has been pushing more and more on Gene.”
“And you took care of it?”
“I talked to him about it today, yes.”
Jacqueline smiled. “Good.”
“I didn’t have to threaten much, not after what happened with Peterson.”
“I was a bitch, I know.”
“You were great.”
Jacqueline grinned. “Rose got flowers.”
“Yeah, well, I got a raise.” Greg lowered his voice. “And it’s too much, Jackie. I don’t know what to do with that kind of money.”
“We can’t have the president making less than the managers, now can we?”
Their eyes met. “I won’t let you down.”
“I’m not worried about that, Greg.”
“I talked to Jesus Hernandez today.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Moved him to days. I’ve never seen a man more excited.”
“And his raise?”
Greg laughed. “He almost shit his pants!”
“Are there others like him? I didn’t have time to check them all.”
“I’ve got Ms. Scott going over everything. I spent most of the afternoon building her a database so she could dump all the records in there and we could sort through them.”
“I know this has all happened so fast, but we’ve got to find someone to replace you, don’t we?”
“Replace me? On the network?” He shook his head. “No, no, no.”
“Ah, I forgot. Computer geek. The network is your baby.”
“Well, I could probably use an assistant, but I wouldn’t want to give up control of the network. I mean, there are way too many things you can do when you control the network.”
“So we’re looking for someone trustworthy? Like you?”
“Thank you.”
“Hire who you need, Greg. Did John Lawrence hang around after I left?”
“For awhile. We went over everything. Your father was never one to share information with everyone. He told them what he thought they needed to know. I think that’s why none of the plants mixed. I think if we are more of a team, and we all know what each other is doing and how much profit each plant is bringing in, we could be more competitive. But before I went too far, I wanted to check with you.”
Jacqueline laughed. “Greg, you do it how you want to do it. I told you, I don’t have a clue about this business.”
“Mr. Lawrence seemed to think I was overstepping.”
“How so?”
“He said there was a fine line between enough information and too much.”
“Greg, do you have any idea how much Keys Industries is worth?”
He shook his head. “But I can imagine.”
“And it’s not a corporation. It’s a privately owned business. So if you have all these employees making x number of dollars and they are suddenly privy to the enormous wealth of the business, aren’t they going to want a salary increase?”
“But they’re all making good salaries now. For around here, they’re making exceptional salaries.”
“But if you found out the business was bringing in millions each year, aren’t you going to want to be compensated more?”
“So, Peterson’s salary wasn’t exactly breaking the company.”
“It was a drop in the bucket. Peterson, however, was like a tick, feeding off the company but giving nothing back. If you take a look at the contracts for particleboard for the last two years, David Jimenez negotiated most of them. And I think David is a good example of promoting hard work. Make it clear to the others if they do the job, they’ll be compensated.”
“I thought you had no management skills.”
Jacqueline grinned. “As I told Kay, I’m making this up as I go.”
“Your father would be proud, you know.”
Jacqueline shrugged. “I think he’d just be thankful I haven’t sold out to my mother.”
Greg lowered his voice. “Speaking of that, Mr. Lawrence got a call late this afternoon from one of the Gentry twins. From what I gathered, I think your mother is trying to get a judge to block your ownership of Keys Industries. He didn’t seem overly worried about it though.”
“What do you mean, from what you gathered? He didn’t tell you?”
“No. I was in his office when he took the call. I only overheard his side of the conversation.
”
“Greg, I know this is difficult for you, but technically, you’re Mr. Lawrence’s boss. He works for Keys Industries.”
“Yeah, but this had to do with you.”
“If it had to do with me, then why hasn’t he called me?”
Kay spied Jackie and Greg deep in conversation, and she hung back, quietly watching. Rose had her occupied for nearly the last hour, but she should have known not to worry that Jackie would be alone. And judging by the looks on their faces, they were talking business. So, she took the opportunity to watch without being seen. Jackie had been here over a week and Kay still couldn’t believe she was back. Couldn’t believe that they’d picked up right where they left off. Jackie had changed in so many ways, yet she hadn’t changed a bit. And Kay was as drawn to her today as she had been all those years ago.
Without notice, Jacqueline turned, her eyes finding Kay immediately. It startled her, but then Kay didn’t know why she should be surprised. They’d always been aware of each other’s presence. It was eerie, almost. But Jackie smiled and motioned her over, so Kay complied.
“You lurking in the bushes?” Jacqueline teased.
Kay nearly blushed. “I didn’t want to interrupt. I knew you were talking business.”
Jacqueline shrugged. “Nothing that’s a secret, Kay.”
Kay looked at Greg. “So, how did it go?”
“I survived, and they didn’t all quit on us, so I guess we’ll be okay.”
“Good. Rose said you hardly slept last night.”
It was Greg’s turn to blush. “Yes, I was nervous as hell. But you should have seen Jackie. She came in and took over.”
Jacqueline laughed, meeting Kay’s eyes. “I was a bitch.”
“And your Peterson guy?”
Jacqueline grinned. “He resigned. Imagine that.”
“Did you push him?”
“Maybe a little.”
Greg stepped away. “I see Rose waving frantically for me. I better go see what’s up.”
When they were alone, Kay affectionately squeezed Jackie’s hand. “Greg did okay?”
“Yes. Greg will be fine. I’m not worried about him. I’m more worried about John Lawrence not trusting him. Greg said he overheard a conversation with one of the Gentry twins and John. Apparently, Madeline is trying to get a court order to block my ownership of Keys Industries. John didn’t bother sharing this with Greg, nor did he call me.”