Holiday Escort (17 page)

She kissed me quickly,
then
we dug into our meals. During a break I looked across the table. "I'm sorry your trip was a disappoi
ntment.
"

"Australia was great," David said. "Beautiful country, and the people we met were all fabulous."

"But we need to go back," Jenny said. "With someone who runs a proper trip."

"We cancelled our fall trip with Henderson," David said. "We may just stay home."

"Hawaii," Jenny said. "I want to go to Hawaii in November." She looked at me. "I should be able to plan a Hawaii trip myself, shouldn't I?"

"Would you like help?"

She smiled. "I thought you'd never offer."

"Maybe the four of us could go," David said.

I turned to Karen. "How do you feel about vacationing with your boss?"

"How many times have you been to Hawaii?" Karen asked me.

"Just once, and it was years ago.
I hardly remember it.
"

Karen laughed. "Hawaii would be lovely."

I was still going stir crazy, and talking about my old job just reminded me how much I missed it. I tried talking to Karen about it over the weekend, but both times she lured me to bed and did delightful things to my body. The second time she asked me whether she made me happy, and of course she did.
I decided she was intentionally distracting me from the conversation.

On Monday I called
Karen's
father, Fred,
at work. "Fred, it's Madeline."

"Madeline!" he said. "How are you and Karen?"

"We're great, Fred. We're looking forward to your coming to dinner on Saturday."

We small chatted for a few moments before he said, "I bet this isn't why you called."

"No. At Christmas you told me something."

"You want to talk to me about a job."

"Yes."

"Does Karen know you're calling me?"

"No. Is that a problem?"

"No." He paused, and I heard
a computer keyboard
clicking. "How does tomorrow at ten sound?"

"It sounds perfect, Fred."

* * *

I dressed professionally and met Fred at his offices. Fred owned a computer software company. I didn't know anything about computer software except how to use it. But he had sounded like he had a
position for me when we ha
d talked at Christmas.

When I arrived, he gave me a hug then took my arm in his and gave me a tour. He treated me like a daughter or daughter-in
-law, not a prospective employee
. Then he took me to a conference room and we sat to talk.

He started by telling me about the company. The company basically had
five
arms. The first arm was the group that wrote software. The second arm provided consulting services to customers including training and custom enhancements to their base software. The third arm was Quality Assurance. They tested everything.
The fourth arm was sales.
The last arm provided the basic services that every company needs including human resources and accounting.

Then we talked about my past experience, which was virtually entirely related to working for Marsha.

After that, Fred said, "There are two basic types of jobs we could talk about. I always have openings. We're always expanding, and my employees get lured away by other companies. There are relatively
low level
jobs with predictable hours and little stress. And there are the high power jobs with unpredictable, long hours."

He looked at me. I didn't say anything right away. Then he continued. "The jobs with predictable hours can typically be structured so that you could continue to do many of the things you currently do for my daughter
."

"So I could continue to be a housewife."

"Yes, more or less."

"Like what?"

"Right now, we have two openings in the quality assurance department. You are not qualified for a managerial level position there. That requires a degree and experience in software quality management. However, you could interview with a hiring manager for an
entry level
position in software testing. I am sure you would be very good at it."

"Software testing." I was dubious.

"It's not as dull as it sounds," he said, smiling. "If you think of it as a puzzle. It's not enough to identify a problem.
The job is best served by someone who can really pin the problems down
. It's a job that's a mix of art, science, and dogged determination. Some people really thrive at that."

"Does it pay well?"

"Not particularly. I know what my daughter makes, and I know she would be very upset if you took this job for the money. Frankly, you would be better served finding volunteer work."

"But it's her money, not my money."

"There's a difference?" He waved it away. "We can talk about that more if you like. At the other end of the spectrum I have two high level positions, either one of which may interest you far more. First, sales."

"I don't have any sales training."

"No, but you interact well with people. We have inside sales and outside sales. Inside sales people spend their lives on the telephone, trying to drum up leads. It is largely a numbers game. You talk to enough people, you find someone who is willing to talk to you. You talk to enough people, and some of those will be interested. Over time, your numbers improve, so you become more successful generating leads. The position starts at a paltry salary as you are learning and becomes commissioned as you start to generate leads. Good inside sales people can earn a significant amount of money, but the ones that do work long hours."

He paused. "There is also outside sales. For that you would start as an associate, which would basically be an assistant to another sales person.
You would probably be an associate for one to four years, depending upon how quickly you learned to sell on your own. Associates who want to move past associate typically work sixty
to eighty hour weeks. And there i
s a lot of travel."

He waited for that to sink in.

"We also need account representatives in the services department. For you, it would be a managerial type of position, but you are managing processes more than people.
Long hours and a lot of travel.
You would spend weeks at a time at a client site, multiple times a year."

"I'm not afraid of long hours," I told him. "I'm used to it. And I like to travel."

"Our clients are in places like Topeka and Cleveland."

"Not exactly tourist destinations."

"No."

"Are you actually offering me one of these positions?"

"I am telling you of the positions you might consider here. I believe I could hire you for any of the jobs we just talked about." He paused. "I won't hire you without both my wife's and my daughter's blessings."

"Would you be hiring me just because I am Karen's girlfriend?"

"No. I'd be hiring someone I thought could do a good job."

At that point he waved to someone outside the conference room. I turned around, and Rhonda was standing there. "Hello, Madeline," Rhonda said, crossing the room to me. I stood up and she gave me a warm hug.

"Hello, Rhonda," I said. "I wasn't expecting you here."

"I came to take you to lunch," she said. "I'd make it a liquid lunch, but I presume you drove." She turned to Fred. "I will see you this evening, Fred." She kissed his cheek then grabbed my arm and began pulling me to the door.

I stopped her and turned to Fred. "Thank you for meeting with me," I told him.

"Your next step, Madeline, is to gain those blessings. Then come back."

I nodded,
then
Rhonda tugged me to the door.

* * *

She took me to a nearby upscale restaurant.
Both the service and the food were impeccable. I tried to order a salad, but she became offended and ordered for me. The salmon was wonderful.

"Did you tell my daughter you were meeting with Fred?"

"I've tried talking to her about it, but every time I bring it up, she-" I began to blush.

"Changes the subject?" Rhonda offered.

"Yes. She changes the subject. She's very good at it." And then my blush deepened. Rhonda pretended not to notice.

"Why do you want a job?"

I thought about it. "Two reasons. I don't like asking if I can spend money on something I want for myself, and I'm bored out of my mind.
I miss working in an office and interacting with people every day.
I miss the challenge and the pride that comes from doing a good job."

Rhonda nodded.

"Are you here to talk me out of it?"

"Not at all," she said. "But you seem to be confused about a few things."

"I don't think so."

She smiled. "Well, let us talk about money for a moment. Why do you feel you need to ask permission to spend money?"

"It's not my money. Every dime I spend now comes from Karen. I didn't earn any of it."

"Oh Madeline, every dime she makes is yours."

"No it's not. It's hers."

Rhonda frowned. "Has she told you no when you've asked her if you could buy something?"

"Yes." Rhonda raised an eyebrow. "I asked if I could buy an
iPad
. I wanted it primarily so when I'm waiting for her when going to lunch, I didn't need to carry anything else to give myself something to do."

Rhonda reached into her purse. "You mean one of these?" She pulled out an
iPad
. I nodded. "I find it inconceivable Karen told you that you couldn't buy one. Is that really what happened?"

I thought about it. "I told her I wanted one, she asked why, and then she didn't tell me I could buy one."

"Which means yes."

"Which means no."

"Oh honey," Rhonda said.

"It's her money. I can't just spend her money. I feel guilty already taking free room and board. She's paying my car and health insurance and covers my credit card bills. I'm a kept woman, and all she gets from me is sex."

"That is the stupidest thing you have ever said in my presence," Rhonda told me. "She gets happiness from you. She gets a home worth coming home to. She gets very well hosted events. She gets to call her mother twice a week with a dreamy, happy sound in her voice, a sound I thought I would never hear. She g
ets warm meals and dances and a
safe
haven
, so when her days at work are so long and terrible, she has something to look forward to that night."

"But-"

Rhonda held up her finger. "Karen was happy for a while, several years ago."

"With Jessica."

"Yes. Do you know why Jessica left?"

"Karen's hours."

"Right, but it's not as simple as that. But I won't tell you more unless you promise you'll never tell my daughter we had this conversation."

"Cross my heart," I said.

"When Karen and Jessica met, Karen was one of the lawyers at
Kilador
, but she wasn't the head of the department. Her hours were much more predictable. Jessica also had her own job, but it was a nine to five job, and Karen worked seven to five. It worked out well. But then Karen earned the promotion to head of the department, and everything changed. Eventually Jessica left."

"I thought it was something like that."

"For a time, Karen was happy, but not the same level of happiness she is with you. And she was proud of Jessica, but not the way she is with you.
"

"And if I take a job, I'm going to ruin that."

"That's not where I'm going," Rhonda said. "Where I am going is very simple. You make Karen happy. What price could you possibly put on that?"

"You can't put a price on happiness," I said.

"No. But imagine you are in Karen's position making the money she is making. What do you think she'd pay for the happiness you give her, if it could be bought at the store?"

I looked away, not answering.

"Every penny. Madeline, you know, she'd pay every penny."

"It's not my money," I said quietly.

"Poppycock," Rhonda said. "Karen's job is to make the money. Your job is to spend it. That's the contract between the two of you."

I looked back at Rhonda. "No, that's the agreement between you and Fred. But Karen and I aren't married, and we can never be married."

"Maybe not in the eyes of the government," Rhonda said. "But what do you think you are in her eyes? What is she in your eyes? What do you want her to be?"

I didn't say anything. Rhonda pulled her phone out of her purse and dialed a number. "It's your mother," she said. "I'm at lunch with your wife. I'm putting you on speakerphone."