Early morning meetings were done in the conference room rather than going to a restaurant to have donuts and coffee served.The same thing could be served here and not have to go to the expense of having things brought in that no one ate.That wasn’t her idea, but Mr.James’.Howard thought that if he made a big meal out of the first meal, the people working for him would be impressed.All she’d gotten from it was that no one touched the food, and every bit of it was tossed out.She thought that Howard showed he was wealthy by tossing out uneaten food.Whatever.She didn’t think it was good business smarts, and Brandy agreed with her.
“I don’t have food at the meetings anymore.They’re too distracted by getting their bagel just right than they are listening to what I have to say.And I’ve been sending out emails too, instead of gathering everyone together.It has saved me time and money by not having them break away from their desks to come to a meeting with me when they could be working.I save having food in for when I’m talking business with someone else.”
Another thing that she told her to do was set up her computer so that she could tell when someone was reading her emails or not.Hers sent a receipt when the email was opened, and it saved her a lot of trouble when they said they didn’t get it.She had proof that they got it.
Brandy was a great deal of help.She had learned how to run businesses from her grannie and had done a good job of it.Brandy was going to slow down a bit now that she was a mom.She was currently training someone to go in and take over for her now that things were moving well at both their home and business.
It was well after six o’clock when she was finished for the day.She’d made the necessary phone calls to get the other businesses online to work with her.If she could get their businesses to now buy from them, she could very easily make a profit for the rest of the year.She wondered if there was a loophole in the will for her to be able to stop working if she did that.Probably not.But one could try.
Driving home, she was glad that she’d taken tomorrow off.She’d worked it so that she had every Thursday off with Ivan since the clinic was closed on that day.Ivan was a good vet and a wonderful person, and she loved him with all that she was.They both had it on their calendar how many days she had to work for the firm that her father had owned, so that she could stop working and get the money.
She didn’t think she was greedy about the money.Well, perhaps a little.But she was going to do well with the money as soon as she got it.She and Ivan had been working on a list of things that they wanted to use the money for.One of them was to set up a clinic for pets to be seen for free.It wouldn’t be just him working it; he’d contacted a couple of the people that he’d gone to school with, and they said they’d work with him on it, too.Then there was the underground spousal abuse program.
It was something that they’d been hearing about for years now.And it was something that she thought would work for some of the people around town.She knew that they were being abused by their spouses, and she wanted to do something about it.Just getting started would be the challenge, but she knew that with the help of the Frazier family, she’d be able to make a good headway into getting it done.She knew that she’d be able to save a lot of lives with the way things were going with abuse.
Ivan wasn’t home when she got there.He was having dinner with his brothers.She thought that was the sweetest thing that they did.Keeping up with each other’s lives and having fun while they were doing it.She envied them the time they spent together and wondered if she could start having dinner with the other women in the family so that she could get to know them better.Especially Lisa, since she was new to the family.
When Ivan came home, he was in a great mood.He was like that when he spent time with his family.It didn’t matter if they were all together or just one on one; he loved his family very much.As soon as he was on the couch with her, they talked about his brothers and what they’d talked about.
“Devlin will be moving into his house any day now.The people have finally moved out, and he’s ready to move in.They’re combining their things so that they don’t have to buy as much.With auction season coming up, they’ll be able to get the rest of what they need that way.I guess there’s one this weekend that he wanted us to go with him to.”She said she would love to go.“Good.I didn’t tell him yes, but I did tell him that I didn’t think you’d have any trouble with going.I think they’re fun and we get so many good deals.”
“I have to get a couple of things for the last bedroom.The quilt that I had repaired looked really good in there, along with the rug now that it’s cleaned.”He asked her if she meant the yellow bedroom.“Yes, that’s the one.The yellow and orange vase that I got at the last auction looks really good in there.Like it was made especially for that room.”
“I love that you’re able to get some knick-knacks for the rooms.You’ve certainly saved us a great deal of money.”She said that they could have bought all new with the money that they had inthe bank.“True.But this way we’re buying locally.You know that each of those auctions that we go to is someone’s family that needs the money?”
“I understand that more than I thought of before.”She told him how she had a call into one of the retail stores that wouldn’t do business with Howard.“You’ll win them over.And when you do that, that’ll be the profit that you have to make in the first year.I can’t believe it sometimes when I think about how much money we have right now.I mean, that’s not even counting the business that you’re working for.I’ve been thinking.We’ll need to take precautions with the money when we have children.People will take them for some of what we have.”
“I never thought of that.We’ll need to update the security that’s around the house, too.Get some cameras and maybe someone at the front gate to allow people in and out.”She thought of all kinds of things that they should be doing with as much wealth as they had.“Your family, too.I’d hate to have one of them taken just because they can get to one of us.We can afford to pay for it so that they’re not out the expense for us.”
“Good idea.”She told him that she had them on occasion.“I love you, darling.You’re the best thing that has happened to me.”
“And I love you as well.So much.”As they snuggled on the couch, talking about their day, she told him how she was going to take Thursdays off from now on and work half a day on Saturday.“That way we can make plans together and not have to miss out on each other.”
They talked about the things they were going to do with the money when they got it.It wasn’t as if they didn’t have any money now.When she’d agreed to work for the furniture store, the company agreed to pay her.Not to mention the billion dollars that she got for just signing onto work.As it stood right now, they could buy anything they wanted, and it wouldn’t make a dent in what they had.Not with the money that her aunt and uncle left her when they were both killed in an automobile accident a few months ago.
Her uncle and aunt had been worth billions but never showed it.They lived in the same little house that they had lived in forever.Tinkering with it to get it right.In addition to the money they left her, she now had houses all over the world and investment opportunities as well.
Going up to bed that night, they talked about how the house was coming along.They’d been living in it for a month now and were enjoying the reaps of their wealth.She couldn’t believe that she’d been without any funds before the accident, and now she was worth billions.Sen was going to make sure that with her money, she was going to make sure that the family had everything they needed as well.Just as Brandy had done for them when they were struggling for money when Brandy first came to the family.
Ivan was asleep before she was.Her mind was working out the issues that she was having at work about the new businesses that she was trying her best to bring on board.It would mean that the business would be profitable, and that would mean more jobs for the area.She knew too that the expansion that she was planning, the one where they opened up a new warehouse across the country, would bring more money to the area with people working all the time.She wanted that more than she wanted anything.To be profitable for everyone.
~*~
Devlin read over the contract twice before he decided that it was a little too one-sided for the company.There were a lot of loopholes in the thing, but nearly all of them were for the other company.He wondered if the person who had written it had any idea anyone would read this thing.He read every contract that came across his desk and sometimes more than once.He was making sure that no one took advantage of his family while he was on watch.
Putting it aside, he picked up the contract that he’d been avoiding all day.It was from Brandy for him to work for her.It was as loop-sided as the one from before, but it was all in his favor.When he got to the part about his pay, he had to put it down and take several deep breaths.She was paying him an ungodly amount of money for him to work for her.And that wasn’t even counting the perks that he got, like insurance, dividends, as well as profit sharing.He never dreamed that when he started lawschool, he would be making the kind of money he was now, not at first, and certainly not after being an attorney for a long time.Putting it aside again, he looked around his office and wondered what he was going to do with the money that he was making.
“I was wondering something.”He’d forgotten that Lisa was in the building with him.“When you said that we’d be able to have movers, I’m assuming that you mean both houses.Is that right?”
“Yes.We have the money, so there is no point in our struggling to get things packed up and moved to the new house.I’ve moved a couple of my brothers, so I know how hard work it can be.”She said that she didn’t have all that much.“Neither do I.That’s why I think we should go to this auction this weekend.We can get just about everything that we need there at a good price, not counting having it cleaned up and put in the house.”
“Are we going to be able to get a master bedroom set there, too, you think?”He said from the pictures he’d been able to see, he thought that they could outfit the entire house.“I’ve never been to one before.I don’t want to overspend or anything.”
“You won’t.Just think of a price that you want to pay and don’t go above that.Also, don’t take the first bid.He’ll usually throw out a large price for something only to get about half of that when the bidding ends.Wait until someone else bids, and that’s where to start.”She asked what if it was more than she wanted to pay.“Then that’s all right too.We can afford new, but I like the idea of trying to save money wherever we can.”
“I do as well.I think I’ll let you do the bidding on things like furniture.I guess there are a lot of box lots going to be there.That’s where Sen said she has the most fun with.You never know what you’re getting when you bid on them.”He said that was right.“I’m going to watch everyone else bid on things.I might not bid on anything, but I’m going to watch.I think that’ll be as much fun as buying a box load of stuff that I have no idea what’s in it.”
“You’d be surprised.I’ve found things in box lots that are worth a great deal of money.Did I ever tell you about the time the auctioneer gave me a lot of magazines that no one wanted?Turned out that there were a lot of people online who wanted them.I made a couple of hundred dollars on about ten magazines.”She asked if he sold things like that very often.“Yes.When I find a piece that I think might be worth something, I’ll put it online and sell it.I’ve never been disappointed in selling little things that I find there.”
