Taking Stock

by C J West

  Erica reeled back as if she’d been slapped. She’d warned him not to try again. He expected a flat denial and a stern rejoinder for his audacity. He got neither. She didn’t argue. She knew it was true. She refused to meet his eyes, searching the walls for the right words instead.

  “It couldn’t be more obvious,” he prodded. “The only people at BFS not talking about us – is us. Why do you keep running from me?”

  She took a long drink of water and set the glass down deliberately. “I’m not who you think I am.”

  The waiter took a step over the threshold and Gregg shooed him away with a solemn shake of his head.

  “I see who you are. You’d make a fabulous kindergarten teacher. You help people until it hurts. I’m not sure who you think you are, but it’s a no-brainer for the rest of us.”

  “Don’t be so sure.”

  “I couldn’t be more sure. I’ve known you five years and, trust me, I’ve been paying attention. Nothing’s going to scare me away from you.”

  Erica waived the waiter in, opened her menu and asked for his recommendations. She was feeling pressured. Bombarded with uncomfortable emotions, she needed an escape, a calm minute to digest what he was saying. Chatting with the waiter was her only respite.

  Gregg studied every nuance of her face as she ordered. There would be few interruptions in this cozy room. No way to evade the conversation without fleeing for the ladies room.

  She settled on the lobster pasta.

  Gregg hadn’t read a single selection.

  His eyes came upon the slow-roasted Sonoma rabbit by chance. He’d hunted rabbit on the farm, unsuccessfully. Erica seemed perturbed at the selection, but said nothing until the waiter left the room.

  “You have no idea what you’re setting yourself up for.”

  “I’m willing to take the risk.”

  She didn’t deny the spark between them; didn’t try to dissuade him with the usual office romance prohibition crap. She nodded, smiled and voila they were a couple. She never said so in plain terms and he didn’t force her to, but there it was. His mind buzzed with celebratory images. He almost didn’t hear her say that she never planned to marry. Never. No kids, no weddings, not a chance.

  He looked across the table, deflated. The woman who represented the ideal mate in every possible way, refused to play a role that fit her so aptly. A shaky, “Why not?” was all he could manage.

  “My parents weren’t exactly June and Ward Cleaver.”

  In all their conversations she’d rarely mentioned her family. He’d talked about his constantly. He’d always thought it was the differing desires for their relationship. He strove to make it more personal, while she pushed hard in the other direction, never revealing too much.

  “You never said anything.”

  “It’s not something I talk about.”

  “Can we talk about it now? Whatever it is, it won’t change anything between us.”

  She reached over and put her hand on his. “It’s not a first date conversation. Let’s give it some time before we get into the heavy stuff.”

  Chapter Twenty-four

  The directors arrayed around the table in this post Sarbanes-Oxley world weren’t as friendly as those of a few years ago. Gone were the days when Marty got a free pass for being a Finch. The old friends that had gotten him to the head of the table had been replaced by a bunch of outsiders with no stock. Some didn’t even have experience in fund trading or banking. Worst of all was Bill Elliot, the man who faced him from the chairman’s seat. He wasn’t family. All he cared about was shareholder value, never mind that Marty’s family controlled most of the shares. He encouraged the others to pry into operations, to poke around and see how things worked, to satisfy their curiosity. Financial statements weren’t good enough for these bloodsuckers. They looked for trouble everywhere they went. They even questioned employees they met in the hall. When smart employees saw a board member roaming around unescorted, they ran for cover.

  Marty didn’t have anything to hide per se, but he’d spent the last forty years skating by. In a family of overachieving genius capitalists, Marty saw good-enough as a lofty goal. That’s why they let Bill Elliot take control. He and the others constantly critiqued Marty’s leadership. They attacked his policies and they were always building a case for his ouster. Mother said they were just keeping him honest.

  Today Marty would showcase a shining example of his leadership. This presentation would stave off any action for months. A rare technology project with a positive ROI and a huge impact on operations, it was spearheaded by a dedicated employee that was easy on the eyes. Even the most bloodthirsty among them could appreciate that. If father were alive, he’d have been impressed.

  Marty pressed the buzzer and Erica Fletcher walked in. The murmurs died away. All attention was on her as she attached her laptop to the projector and booted both machines. Marty left his seat as the display screen unfurled against the wall behind him. He pulled his chair out of the way and stood beside Erica.

  “Gentlemen,” Marty began, “today you will see the result of our years of investment in human resources. We have long selected the finest graduates and nurtured them through decades-long careers. This is but one example of how that effort is paying dividends.” Marty extended an arm toward Erica. “It is my distinct pleasure to introduce Erica Fletcher. Erica was identified as a star early in her career. Just a few short years ago she was rising through the ranks in client services and we decided to move her into a more strategic position. We decided the information technology group could best utilize her talents.”

  “You decided,” Brad interjected.

  “Brilliantly, I might add.”

  Several throats cleared.

  “She has excelled beyond even my expectations. Today she’s at the forefront of systems technology. She’s going to tell you about an effort she recently led that has enabled us to leapfrog our competitors. She has given us one of the most flexible and powerful investment management systems in the industry.”

  Brad glared down the table, but Marty continued his lavish praise undeterred. Erica’s accomplishment validated his choice to move her into IT, a move he championed, a move he’d take full credit for.

  “Erica is going to demonstrate our new fund services system. It has taken us from a rigid and archaic system, designed for any financial firm and given us one that is tailored to our specific needs. The people downstairs took to it with amazing speed. They became more productive almost from day one.”

  “Since when did you become a systems expert, Marty?” Bill Elliott asked from the chairman’s seat. Bill was the first non-Finch chairman of BFS. He’d been on a quest to purge the remaining Finch cronies since taking the role. Removing Marty was item one on his agenda.

  “The improvement will be apparent even to you. Erica will show us a system that looks and acts like a website you’d visit to buy a book or check which movies are playing at the local cinema. Managing our client interactions has become that simple. You can imagine what that will do to training costs for our new employees and the satisfaction of our existing ones. Customers will be delighted.”

  Members rustled in their seats eager to find flaw with Marty’s success story. They’d find nothing today. He’d chosen this presentation for its safety. If they were looking to attack, they’d come away empty.

  Brad broke in again. “Let’s keep our feet on the ground here. The system’s no cure-all, but the team has done an excellent job. Client services has been thrilled with the change. As you all know, a change like this involves a lot of disruption and I credit the team for the excellent work they’ve done to make the switchover as painless as possible. That’s the biggest success in my eyes.”

  “Take it away please, Erica, and show us what everyone is raving about,” Marty beamed.

  Without much of an introduction, Erica flashed an image up on the screen. She explained how the client services staff documented customer calls and placed orders. The slow-mo
ving screens were cumbersome and complex, her explanations convoluted. Soon the board members were whispering to each other.

  “They’ve both lost it,” a newer member said.

  This wasn’t the system Erica had shown Marty two days before. It took over a minute to find a customer’s information and process a call. The members wondered how the staff entertained the customer long enough to wade through the screens. The murmuring grew steadily. Finally Erica threw up her hands and stepped back.

  “Sucks, doesn’t it?” She stood, smiling, waiting for a reaction.

  Stunned, the members looked to each other for an explanation. They’d been duped. Brad was the only one who saw the charade coming. By the skeptical looks around the room, some of them still hadn’t made the leap.

  Erica flashed a new image on the screen that had a familiar feel to it. The boxes and buttons were intuitive. Marty could have given a meaningful demo in her place, but he’d never dare, not to this crowd.

  She navigated quickly, finding customer information and simulating a transaction in the new system. Simple, fast, the comparison was striking. She had turned their eagerness to find fault against them. She tricked them into studying the old system so they could understand how well this new system performed. Clever. The earlier sneers and whispers turned to prods and smiles. They had felt the frustration of working on the old system and now they knew how brilliant her work was.

  This presentation had impact.

  Marty relaxed as the board members chattered about this accomplishment and what it meant for the fifty people on the nineteenth floor. What it meant for Marty was a board meeting with a tone entirely in his favor. In a few hours the directors would leave and they wouldn’t be back until the next round of meetings in July. Three months bought with a quick call downstairs.

  Three months and a bag full of credibility.

  Chapter Twenty-five

  Tap, steady, back, through…

  Marty cajoled another ball into position on the strip of green artificial surface that stretched along the outside wall of his office. He took dead aim at the hole, doing his best to block out his current string of misses.

  Tap, steady, back, through…

  The ball rolled past the hole, half an inch wide right. It clicked into another ball and strayed toward the couch.

  Tap, tap, tap. Tap, steady, back, through…

  Five straight misses from six feet.

  At least the round of board meetings had gone well. Erica’s presentation ended the zingers about his competence. Bill stuck to the agenda, reviewed the quarterly financials and brought the meeting to a close. The outsiders flew home and Marty had the company to himself – as he should.

  If only his putting problems could be solved with such a rational approach. A simple little motion, straight back and straight through with barely any force. In a family dominated by stuffy intellectuals Marty had always been the blue collar Finch. He loved football, baseball, any sport really, but by some warped twist of fate the only family sanctioned sport was golf. He swung well, he could chip and he was a wizard from the sand, but sooner or later he had to putt. That’s when his game fell apart. Three putting from eight feet wasn’t uncommon for Marty. The dozens of short putts he missed led to humiliating losses to his mother and sister. They played from the red tees, and they played twice as often as he did, but his last place finishes somehow validated his status within the family.

  Tap, steady, back, through… “Shit!”

  “I think you misread that one. You’ve got to watch the break on those five footers,” Brad said as he strolled in without a knock.

  The surface was level, checked every six months. The problem existed somewhere between his hands and the ball. More likely in his head.

  “Ease up, Smart Guy. I married your sister not you. You I can get rid of with a stroke of my pen. No alimony. No heartbreak. No problem.”

  “What kind of shit was that in the board meeting today?”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Bad enough you saddle me with some chick you plucked off the hotline, but you can’t go praising her work to the board. I never said she was so spectacular. Did I?”

  “You happen to be the only one of that opinion.” Marty tapped another ball into position. He sent it rolling. It found the cup dead center and swirled to the bottom. “Knowing what your sister’s told me, I can see why you two have a difficult time getting along.”

  “And why’s that?”

  “You hit on every attractive woman in the company. This one turned you down and you’re pissed. Can’t say I blame her.”

  “Give me a break, Marty. Technology is much more complicated than making nice on the phone. If you put the golf clubs away and walked around the office once in a while, you’d know that.”

  Marty stood upright and tapped his putter on the ground like a blunt sword. “Don’t give me that bullshit. She’s brighter than anyone on your team and she knows more about this business than you do. The whole place is buzzing over what she did. If we weren’t related she’d have your job.”

  “She didn’t do this alone. Far from it. She sucked up every resource on my team and screwed my budget for the next two years.”

  “I know she didn’t do it alone. Bill approved your promotion to senior vice president. He also approved Erica’s move to A.V.P.”

  “No way I’m moving her up.”

  “You’re not serious. What do you have against her?”

  “She screwed this thing. If I wasn’t working day and night to help her, it would have crashed and burned.”

  “I find that hard to believe.”

  “I’m not promoting her.”

  “I won’t force you to, but if you were thinking clearly, that’s exactly what you’d do. Sleep on it.”

  “No need.”

  Bill was going to be surprised when Erica’s promotion wasn’t included in the announcement.

  “I’m sure she’ll do better on her next project.”

  “Not going to happen. She’s not getting another one, not on my watch.”

  “What are you saying? You aren’t going to unload her. Not now. I’d have an easier time explaining your departure.”

  “You want my support on the board, stop managing my people.”

  “Maybe you should open your eyes and try managing them yourself.”

  “I’ll keep her around, but I’m not promoting her. She’s going to support this system she’s built. That’s what she’s good at and that’ll keep her from running my team into the ground.”

  “You’re making a huge mistake,” Marty said, but Brad had already turned his back for the door. “Your promotion will be announced Monday.”

  He mumbled something inaudible on his way out.

  Ungrateful prick.

  Marty herded the balls back into the middle of the floor a good ten feet from the hole. Could his assessment be that far off? Was programming that tricky she couldn’t pick it up? Surely her tenacity would translate to IT.

  Tap, steady, back, through…

  The ball rolled by, three inches wide.

  Her presentation was ingenious, her project a marvel all around the office. How could Brad scoff at Marty’s biggest boardroom coup? If Bill Elliot heard about this, Marty would be sunk.

  Screwed his budget for two years, what bullshit!

  Tap, steady, back, through…

  Chapter Twenty-six

  In the office early for no particular reason, Erica plunged into an inbox with over two hundred unread email messages. Most were trivia she’d ignored in the rush to finish her project. She culled through, deleting scattered congratulations and searching for something to latch onto. She’d spent the whole weekend pondering how her life had changed in a few short days. The project was a hit and the board was wowed by her presentation. Marty had hinted at a promotion. Things with Gregg had heated up, too and it seemed so natural she cursed herself for pushing him away for so long.

  Her hands
were full of energy, tapping, shuffling, but not finding anything to hold her attention more than a minute. Driven beyond distraction, she headed for nineteen. She’d ask Gregg how things were going and visit anyone who’d been out last week and hadn’t used the system yet. That’s how she rationalized it, but she really wanted to see how he’d handle seeing her in the office. Melanie had been thrilled at the news. Gregg had stayed past midnight on Thursday and Erica hadn’t wanted him to leave even then. He was the one man who could make her break her promise to herself. She was plunging headlong into unexplored emotional territory and the jittery feeling was entirely new.

  Out of the elevator and across the floor, Erica received a few words of encouragement here and there on her way to Gregg’s office. He beamed adoringly at the sight of her entering his cube. This wasn’t lust in his eyes; he didn’t spring up to grab hold, he sat back and reveled in her arrival like a warm spring breeze. Her warm smile naturally returned his.

  “Hey, what a surprise,” he said.

  “Thought I’d come down and check things out. Make sure no one’s having trouble.”

  “You don’t need a reason to visit. It’s humble compared to yours, but you’re always welcome.”

  Erica wished they’d started this two years ago.

  “Heard about Brad’s promotion. Is yours next?”

  “What promotion?”

  “You didn’t see the email? He made S.V.P.”

  “When?”

  “This morning.”

  The bastard! He wasn’t above stealing credit, but how could he after she worked herself to exhaustion for eighteen straight months. She never saw this coming. He’d done everything but assault her to derail the project and now that it was a success he gets promoted. All he said in the boardroom was ‘the team’ did a great job. He never mentioned her and now she knew why. Whatever he said about her in private, it wasn’t flattering.