“She loved buffets.Though I don’t know why, she rarely ate enough to feed a bird.”Jack brought up the fact that they ate a lot and perhaps didn’t notice when she refilled her plate.“That could be it.We could eat like we’d been starved whenever we came here.This was one of her favorite places to eat.”
“Remember when she took us to that seafood place out on Vine?We never went back after they told us that we could only have one plate of food per person.Martha wrote a review about the place, and I think they went out of business the following year.I know it wasn’t much too long after we’d been there.”
“They’d been having trouble anyway.”Shipley had heard that one scathing remark from Martha would shut a place down faster than the city could.She was glad that she’d had nothing to do with a place going under.“I think that’s why they said we could only have the one plate.They were trying to keep people in the seats and save money on the food bill.That’s a sad way to have a place that is supposed to be all you can eat.”
They talked about the days that they’d had this week, and even she had something to comment on, too.The other women, especially Elaine, had plenty to say as well, and she was happy for it.It had been approved that she could hire her as an assistant, and Shipley was thrilled.It would make the work that she had to do less boring to her, and having a second set of hands would make things go faster, too.She wouldn’t cut corners, not on something like that, but it would be nice to have someone to talk to when they were getting ready or finished up.She liked Elaine and was looking forward to working with her.
She loved working with the other women, too, but there was something so special about Elaine that she enjoyed her company, too.She was smart and funny, and she had a second sense about her that made Shipley think she’d be the perfect person to work with under stress.It could be stressful working as medical personnel, and she wanted someone there who would make it seem less stressful for the two of them.She knew that she had picked the perfect person for the job.
Chapter 10
Zander had the paperwork for his brothers in neat piles.The contracts for Locke were approved for him to sign them, and he had even made marks in places where he could see the loopholes that favored himself.There were no typos in the entirety of the contracts, which made him think that someone took their time with them and made sure they were right the first time they sent them over.Then there were the ones for his brother Demi.
They were so full of typos that he wondered if the person typing them had gotten out of grade school yet.They spelled the name of the company wrong on one of the contracts, not once or twice, but a total of seventeen times, and a different way each time.It was messily written, too.He wouldn’t have signed them even if every loophole in them was a guarantee for them to win bushels of money.If a person didn’t take their time on a contract that they wanted you to sign, then there was no point in doing business with them.They were going to be messy at it as well.
“I have an appointment at one o’clock today.Did you want to go with me?”He told Locke that he had the contract finished for his meeting and that he could sign it if he wanted.“That’s good to know.They’ve been really wanting me to get it filed.I’ve been having second thoughts about it.”
“Then don’t do it.”He asked him what he meant.“You’ve always trusted your gut.Don’t not do that now.If it feels bad to you, then I’d not sign it, no matter what the contract says.I can tell them for you if you want.You know I have no trouble telling people no.”
“Yes, and I love that about you.”He sat down in the chair across from his desk.“I don’t know what it is about the company that wants us to invest in it is about but I have this nagging feeling that they’re pushing me too hard to get the contract signed.I know that’s silly, it would mean a great deal of money for both of us in the end, but they’re pushing me too hard.Like if I don’t sign it, then something bad will happen to me.I’m not making any sense, am I?”
“You are actually.I’d not sign it simply because you don’t feel right.You’ve never not trusted your gut.This seems a bad time and a great deal of money to go against it now.Just tell them you’ve changed your mind.Or I will.As I said, I’d have no trouble doing it for you.”Locke said nothing for a few moments, and Zander changed the subject.“You should have read over the one from Demi.It was a no-brainer right from the start.You won’t believe how many times they spelled the name of the company wrong.”
He realized that he wasn’t listening, so he went back to work on the other papers he had on his desk.Knox had dropped off the research that was needed for an upcoming trial he was working on, and he was excited to have all the information.Knox was the best researcher he’d ever met, and they worked well together.He was on his second stack of paperwork from Knox when his phone rang.
With a bark of his last name, he answered the phone.But whoever was on the other end said nothing back.He thought perhaps he might have startled them; he could be a little harsh when he had to answer the phone in his office.Waiting just long enough for the person to have said something, he hung up the phone without another word.He looked at Locke when he said his name.
“I’m not going to do it.”Before he could change his mind, he put the contract in the shredder.He loved the sound of it going through the thing and the final noises it made.“Thank you for that.I think I would have gone back and forth on it for days if you hadn’t taken it out of my hands.I feel better already.”
“That’s what I’m here for.The other contract bother you?If so, it can meet the same fate.”He said that he actually felt good about that one.“It’s ready for you to sign.I have markers for the places you’re supposed to sign and then initial.Also, I’ve marked the place where it says that if the contract is null and void for any reason, I listed the ones that you said, then they’ll owe us all the money backplus interest.”
He not only signed it where it needed to be, but he also asked for it to be notarized.He was able to do that for him as well.Once it was put in the file where it needed to be, he sent copies of it to the company that he was dealing with, and that was all he had for him.Still, he didn’t move out of the room.
“I’ve been thinking about the hospital.”He told him how they’d cut funding to them by sixty-five percent this summer.“Yeah, that’s what I’m thinking about.I think that next year the only thing we fund is the Martha Grable Foundation and the new wing.I had Alex go over the paperwork they sent to us about the money that they need for the next year, and she said that they’re spending money on things that haven’t been approved by the board.I can’t remember right off the top of my head all the numbers, but she said that they’re spending a lot of money on things like outings for the staff.The only staff who get to go on these things are the directors.Not even doctors are getting to go to make them feel better about working there.”
“I can get the real paperwork if you want.I’m sure whatever they sent you about the funding for those things is way off.They seem to think that we’re stupid when it comes to donating money.”He agreed.“All right.Let me see what I can find out for you two.Alex is really good at sniffing out money that shouldn’t be used.I’d trust her with my money over anyone else touching it.I’ll start on it today.”
That seemed to be all Locke needed to talk about, so when he stood up to leave, he handed him the second contract copies.They were for his files at his office.They did that in the event that something happened to one or the other offices.
It took him the rest of the morning to finish filing the contracts that they had on file.He would usually bring out copies of the ones that were due for a payment from them to make sure that the company was paying on time.So far, his work pattern was working out well for him, and he had only missed one payment in all the years he’d been keeping track of things for the family.Just after lunch, he was back to work on the paperwork for the trial again.
He didn’t usually take on trials that had nothing to do with his family.This one had been different when he’d found out that one of the patients from the hospital was being sued for nonpayment of billing.Mr.Shoe had been making the monthly pre-arranged payments for ten years to pay it off, when all of a sudden, they turned it over for collections.
Now, every day, sometimes as many as five times a day, they’d call him up and hound him for payments.Nearly twice what he’d been paying the hospital when it was still with them.Since he was on a fixed income, he’d had to go without food some weeks just so he could pay the minimum.And even then, they’d hound him for more.
When his phone rang again, he said his name like he would to anyone in his family.There was still no one speaking on the other end of the call.He nearly hung up again when something occurred to him.He whispered slightly in the phone to ask who it was.When he still got nothing, he hung up again.This was just ridiculous, he thought to himself.He didn’t have time to see what the hell was going on with the phone calls.
At just before six, his phone having rung five more times without any contact, he was ready to call it a day.He had a secretary, but she’d taken the day off for a doctor’s appointment, and he’d had to answer the phones.Not that he usually minded that, but he was going to have to ask her if she got the same sort of calls when she was out front.He also needed to ask her about something else that occurred to him today, and that was the lack of filing cabinets that could be used in an outer office.
Did they need more, or did she have plans to have them delivered already?She usually took care of those things, and he wasn’t going to mess her up by ordering more when she’d taken care of it.Brenda was good at her job, and he didn’t want to piss her off by stepping on her toes.He knew better.
Going home, he stopped by the post office to pick up his mail.He didn’t know why he had a post office box; he got the same mail at home.Deciding to do something about that, he made himself a note on his phone to call about that in the morning.There were three other things on his list of things to do tomorrow, and he was quite pleased with himself that there were only four things on it when therehad been fourteen just this morning.Of course, he kept adding and taking away from it as he went today, so it could have been as many as twenty or twenty-five by the time he was finished.He loved taking notes and having them ready when he needed them.
After dinner, he went to his office again to make sure that he didn’t forget anything on his desk at home.It was just as neat as the one that he’d left at the office, and he was glad.Taking out his checkbook, Zander paid a few bills that had been due, then he went to the living room to watch a little television.His cell phone rang with the same number as before, and he decided that he wasn’t going to answer it.
It rang five more times, him answering it after the second time, so he was pissed off.If this kept up, he was going to have his cell phone number changed as he didn’t have time to answer his cell phone anymore than he did the one in his office.Whoever it was, he hoped they were having a good time because all they were doing was pissing him off.He had to set the phone down gently at the end, or he might well have thrown it across the room and been done with it.
Finally, when he went up to bed at ten, he’d had enough of it that he turned off his phone.He knew that his brothers would be worried if they couldn’t get in touch with him, so he called Locke to let him know what was going on.
