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"How many children do you have?"
"I have two, a boy age 12 and a daughter who is 17 going on 25."
"I'm sure they can definitely keep you busy then," Jeff said. "Well, I don't want to keep holding you up. I better let you finish your shopping so your husband and kids can get their dinner tonight."
"No husband, just the kids," Carrie replied. "I'm divorced, doing the single Mom thing. I do need to run now. Nice talking with you, Jeff. Good luck with the work bee."
Jeff finished his shopping and jumped in his truck. He needed to head out to the Iron Works to talk with his eldest brother Grant about the upcoming event. Jeff was secretly happy when Carrie revealed she was divorced. He'd thought about her multiple times since she stitched him up a week ago. She was the most interesting and attractive woman he'd met in a long time. He hoped for a future chance to get to know her better.
Squirrel/Hawk photo
***
Carrie Cunningham guarded her privacy. Very few people in Granite Cove knew much about her before she arrived in town with her two children. Susan Valiant, from her office, became the only person she shared personal details with. Carrie married her ex-husband Todd after graduating from the University of Michigan, where she studied pre-med. She had her daughter Jenna at age 23, just before starting medical school. Her son Tyler was born five years later.
Todd Cunningham graduated from the University of Michigan in marketing and got a job with Ford Motor. Medical school proved demanding, and Todd came to resent the extensive time he spent alone and with the kids. He loved his children but wasn’t ready for the commitment required to raise them. Carrie felt constantly conflicted between her career and being a mother. This led to a great deal of stress in their marriage. Following medical school, Carrie worked at Detroit Receiving Hospital as an emergency room intern. In that role, she saw every tragedy possible, from gunshot wounds to heart attack victims and even neglected children.
Carrie and Todd found themselves arguing frequently and Todd finally informed her he wanted out of the marriage. He served her with divorce papers a week later at work. Following the divorce, Carrie needed a new start. Only a short time later, her uncle, Joe Waymont, called her to ask if she would join his practice in Granite Cove. Joe suffered from long-haul COVID symptoms and old age. He was the only full-time doctor in town with patients that depended on him. Carrie thought about it for several weeks before informing him she could be there within a month to start. Tyler seemed excited to live in Granite Cove, where he had developed friends during summer vacations visiting Doctor Waymont. Jenna, however, adamantly refused to move. Leaving her friends and school in her senior year wasn’t going to happen. She would live with her father and his new fiance during the school year, and join her mother during summers and select weekends when her social calendar allowed.
Chapter five
Jeff neared Koehler Iron Works, which sat about seven miles outside of Granite Cove. Max Koehler started the business 35 years ago, and it had become one of the largest employers in the county. After his death, Grant took over as CEO, and Jeff returned from Montana to help run the business.
At age 50, Grant had become a hard-core businessman who ran Koehler Iron Works in a no-nonsense manner. The first thing he did when he took over as CEO was to launch a productivity review of every job at Koehler. If workers became unnecessary or redundant, they were let go with 30 days severance. Max had difficulty laying off employees because he understood the scarcity of jobs in Northern Michigan. Grant didn’t have this same difficulty, and over the first six months, he eliminated nearly 20 percent of the workforce. While Grant focused on controlling costs, Jeff focused on customer relationships and securing new business. Jeff’s biggest success revolved around securing a new contract to build a ferry boat for customers visiting the tourist destination of Drummond Island. This became a big contract for Koehler, and combined with Grant’s effective cost-cutting, led to a significant increase in profitability. Jeff stayed in the number two role at Koehler, working with Grant for nearly two years. He realized Grant’s style was effective but inconsistent with his values, which closely resembled his father’s. Jeff negotiated a buyout for both himself and his younger brother Eddie. Then he decided to strike out on his own to pursue his passion for wildlife photography.
***
Jeff arrived at Koehler and encountered Grant’s wife, Sarah, at her desk outside his office. Sarah barely glanced up when Jeff greeted her. She looked angry or frustrated and merely waved her hand toward Grant’s office with a curt ”Go on in.”
Jeff knocked softly on the office door and then stepped inside. Grant sat behind his desk with the chair turned facing away. He held a cell phone to his ear and spoke loudly. Jeff sat down quietly, unsure if Grant even knew he had arrived. An old copy of the Stoneman Courier lay open on the desk. The open page of the paper continued a story from the front page regarding a lawsuit involving Superior Oil. Reading upside down, Jeff couldn’t tell if Superior was suing or being sued. But what caught Jeff’s attention was an article entitled “Bear Poacher Sentenced.” Stanley, “Stanky'' Kaminski's hunting license had been revoked, and his rifle confiscated after poaching a bear on private land. Grant Koehler testified and provided trail camera footage of the incident. The article featured a picture of Stanky scowling at Grant in the courtroom. Jeff’s thoughts were abruptly interrupted when Grant loudly barked, “Eddie told me about the plan. That’s not gonna happen. Koehlers take care of Koehlers!” He hung up the phone and turned, registering surprise at this brother’s presence.
“Your conversation sounded ominous. Who were you talking to?” And what’s up with Sarah? She looked a little pissed and barely spoke to me.”
Grant pushed his hands through his hair. “Eddie’s gotten into another jam and is now trying to drag our neighbor Cyrus into it too. I’ve got a lot of fires to put out right now here, at home, at camp, and with our dear little brother. I don’t want to get into it right now. Better if I fill you in later. Let’s talk about our work bee this weekend and save the rest for when we have more time and a bottle of scotch.”
With that, the two brothers went over the tasks they wanted to accomplish at camp for the weekend. They meticulously planned everything out to the smallest detail. Grant had hoped Jeff would have completed more preparation for the weekend and resented that his brother left many issues unresolved.
“Jeff, with all due respect, I’m swamped here and had hoped you’d have the work bee planning taken care of.”
“Well, I did most of the preparation but wanted your opinion on a few details first.”
“I trust you, brother, and I’m underwater here at work. Next time, feel free to make the decisions yourself and just let me know what you decide.” They made small talk when they finished, and Jeff inquired about the business.
“Business is going good, real good,” said Grant. “Our cash flow is the best it has been, and profits are up 17% this quarter, despite the incompetence of steel suppliers trying to mess us up. As CEO, I have my good days and bad days. I had a nasty confrontation last week with an employee, Tim Starks. We almost came to blows!”
“What happened?”
“I guess he decided it would be ok if he turned the shop into his personal weed distributorship. We warned him previously when two employees reported he frequently sold weed to employees and customers right out of the back of our shop. After that warning, he continued despite being told it would be grounds for termination. When I found out about it, I called him in and fired his ass right on the spot. He threw a fit and denied it before finally admitting he only sold weed on special occasions. I guess every day the sun came up became a special occasion. Things got pretty hot and heavy when he realized I’d fired him. He threatened to “End Me” if we ever met outside the office. I’d like to see him try! Now my biggest challenge is finding another welder because, for all his faults, the guy really had talent. Too bad he threw it all away. I need to engage our HR team to find three new welders to keep up with the orders. The challenges never end here at Koehler. I’m certainly looking forward to a couple of days at camp. I think Sarah is looking forward to me being gone even more than I am,” he said as a big grin filled his face.
Grant asked Jeff about his photography and said he had just ordered a large print of Jeff’s famous shot of the squirrels and the hawk for his office. Jeff told him about his recent work with sandhill cranes and a couple of future jobs he planned to bid on. Jeff then brought up the subject of Grant’s health. “How is your heart doing these days, Grant? Didn’t you recently see a cardiologist in Ann Arbor?”
Grant hesitated before responding. “The doctor said my problems result from a rather severe heart condition called familial atrial fibrillation (A-Fib). A-Fib is likely something I inherited from Dad. Because my heart often beats too fast, they put me on new medications. I have an appointment in December to get re-tested to see if the meds work. If they don’t, I’m looking at cardiac ablation next year. The doctor says my condition is serious but treatable. I’ll be ok. Nothing for you to worry about. He just wants me to clean up my diet and take it easy. All the heart tests I’ve had, and the trips to the cardiologist in Ann Arbor, have put me way behind at work. I’m stressed out. That probably contributed to the argument Sarah and I had just before you arrived.”
Jeff knew Grant’s heart wasn’t a topic he liked to discuss, so he ended the conversation and left. He worried about his brother but could do nothing to help. Sara brought some papers into Grant’s office for him to sign after Jeff left. “What did Jeff want today? About your work weekend at Roads End?”
“Yeah, typical Jeff. I love my brother dearly, but he still has trouble making decisions and sticking to them. He needed my input. As if I have extra time to worry about the work bee. Ever since Charlotte’s death, he seems indecisive. I think it’s guilt from allowing her to run those rapids where she died.”
“I hope he gets over it someday soon,” Sarah said. I knew Charlotte a bit, and when she made up her mind, nobody could ever change it. Jeff needs to step up and move on. He can’t keep dwelling on the past. He’s got his whole life to live, and he needs to move past the tragedy.”
