“It seems to me that we need a way of reporting these things.”
“We have one.” Randy came around to his computer and brought up the logging system. “It comes with the software.” He showed Chet how to enter his issues. “Go ahead and enter them. That way we’ll have documentation of the issues, and I’ll get on them right away. I figure we can do the testing and make the changes all at once.”
Chet smiled. “Perfect. I’ll enter them in. Just put together a plan for implementation. We’ll review it together, I’ll sign off on it, and you’ll be good to go.”
“Awesome,” Randy said, and strode out of the office.
Chet sat back and shook his head. He thought of calling his father to find out what else he might have for him, but figured there was no use. So, he logged into the different systems, checking on production and various other areas to make sure they were all running correctly. Then he set up a meeting with accounting and finance. It was time he buckled down, learned how the money flowed through the company and where the bulk of it was going.
Ten minutes later, his father called. “What are you doing?”
“What?” Chet asked.
“Your finance meeting,” he said. “If you want that kind of information, come to me.”
Chet shrugged even though his father couldn’t see him. “No. You’ve said for years that I need to learn the company, so I am.I need to get a handle on the finances, and quite frankly, I don’t want you there.” His father sputtered for a minute, and Chet let him go on. “They will tell me what they think you want to hear if you’re there. I want their opinions and the truth about what we’re doing and ideas on how to improve. So let me do my job, or else I can leave and go back to California. I liked it there.”
His father was silent for about ten seconds. “Did you meet someone?”
“Yes, I did. But that isn’t what this is about. I took care of those system issues already, and there will be a plan in place to resolve them by the end of the week. So, I can do busy work, or I can help manage this business. You decide. Because if you don’t want me here, I’ll be on a plane in a few days.” God, that sounded so damned good.
“Okay. Have the meeting. I’ll tell everyone that they are to treat you the way they would me.”
“No. Just stay out of it. I don’t need your help here. Let me fight my own battles and make my mark on my own.”
“Fair enough.” He could almost hear the smile in his father’s voice. “Let’s talk about whatever you come up with in a few days.” He hung up, and Chet got back to work.
“Did youhave a good trip?” Renee Collins, a friend from college, asked as he sat down across from her at an uptown restaurant on a Saturday evening, over a week later. His father had kept him busy up until then. “You don’t look tan.”
“I was too far north for that,” he said, and ordered a martini when the server stopped at the table. “But it was a good trip.” He thought of Darren and felt himself smile for a second before it slipped away.
“Then why do you look like someone just kicked your dog?” she asked as she daintily sipped her drink. “After you smiled,something changed in your expression. Is your father being a pain in the butt? Well, more than usual?”
“My father is who he is. He’s not the problem, though I’d like to lay the blame for everything at his feet. He’s not the heart of the issue. It’s me.”
“Did you turn into a California boy while you were out there? Fall in love with the surf, sand, and sunshine?” She was teasing, but in a way, she hit the nail on the head. Renee leaned forward. “You did, didn’t you?” Her lips curled downward. “What the hell happened? You were gone two weeks and suddenly, everything changed. That can’t happen, so you need to snap out of it. Everyone you know is here, and….”
“Not everyone,” Chet said softly.
Renee paused right there, her beautiful blue eyes scanning him like they were equipped with radar. “You fell in love.” She grinned. “God damn, it’s about fucking time.”
“Hey. I’ve had boyfriends before.”
She rolled her eyes. “Puh-lease. One-night stands that happened to last two weeks does not a boyfriend make. You’ve had fuck buddies and Grindr hookups. But a boyfriend… a real one… nope. It sounds like this guy really touched your heart.”
“Yeah… well, it doesn’t do me any good. I’m here, he’s there, and I don’t even know if he feels the same way. My father is a pain in the ass. And I’m not sure what the hell to do.” He downed the rest of his drink and ordered another one. “Except get myself toasted enough to forget about it.”
“Doesn’t work,” Renee told him. “You drink, you get drunk, you forget, and then you sober up and you remember… and you have a hangover, so you remember harder and through a head stuffed with cotton. If this guy is so special…?”
Chet pulled out his fancy phone and showed Renee a picture of Darren that he’d taken while they were walking along theocean, with the rocky Pacific cliffs in the distance. “We took a walk together and saw whales as they were passing.”
Renee looked at the picture, shaking her head. “You got it bad. The guy is cute, sort of. But he isn’t like the guys you usually go out with.”
“Nope. Darren works three jobs to try to hold his life together. He never stops.”
“How did you meet him?” Renee asked, handing back the phone.
Chet smiled. “He was the server at dinner the first night, and one of the guys had too much to drink and grabbed his backside.” He smiled more intensely. “Darren didn’t stand for it. I made sure to leave him a really good tip, and then I found him at work the following day and asked to take him to lunch to make up for what happened. I honestly expected just an apology lunch and that would be it. But it wasn’t. He’s smart and funny, and he’s working so hard, he never gets a chance to just breathe, you know. Then his aunt comes along and tries to yank away everything that he’s been working so hard to protect….” He shook his head as he wondered how that worked out.
