Chapter 75

Cindy and I stopped off to get a quick bite at a diner by the airport. I found myself excited about flying up to get Dale. The fact that Eddie had decided to stay with her mother in Chickasaw wasn't troubling to me. I was just beginning to think I might be better served by getting to know each of the sisters as individuals. Even as close as they were to each other, it was becoming obvious to all of us that they were very different individuals.

Cindy and I talked about Eddie and Dale. I was surprised to learn that she believed that Dale would eventually end up staying with me permanently, and that Eddie wouldn't.

"That's the opposite of what I would have thought. Eddie and Joyce are closer than Dale and Joyce, and Eddie gets along with all the other wives, much better than Dale does."

"Eddie's more outgoing, Kenny. We all like Dale though. She's quieter, but she's always been very helpful to all of us. It's more difficult to be comfortable around Dale in the beginning, but, once she gets to know you, she gets friendlier. Eddie is friendly, but Dale, she's more solid and dependable. I always trusted Dale more."

I wondered what she meant by trust? By Dale's own admission, she had been the one to begin that affair while I was in the clinic. Other than that one disappointment with them, I'd had no occasions to distrust either woman.

"I think it will either end up with them both staying, or else them both leaving. I can't see the two of them living apart from each other for long. They're too dependent on each other, too close to be separated for very long."

Cindy didn't say anything more, but I got the distinct impression that she believed I was mistaken. We passed the remainder of the flight talking about business. I had asked Cindy to look for a free standing building in Birmingham where we could hold our sales training for the Quick Snacks program. It had grown to the point where it was starting to disrupt normal operations at the bakery. Cindy had found a few buildings for sale, and she wanted to schedule a time for me to go looking at them with her.

"That's something you need to take care of on your own, Cindy. I've told you what we need as far as floor space, storage capacity and parking requirements goes. Once you've decided on the one you think is best, bring it to me and then I'll decide whether I need to go take a look at it or not. You should pick a place that has room for growth in case we later need to expand further. If possible, I'd prefer operating the whole Quick Snacks program from the new building. We can't afford to keep on trying to operate things from the baking plant like we're now doing. Make certain there's adequate room for increasing our product storing there too."

"None of the places I've been looking at are big enough for us to do all that."

"Then you need to start looking for a different property, one that is big enough. I should have talked to you sooner about what my future plans were for the Quick Snacks company. I'm really beginning to think it should be a separate division of the parent company. It's getting too big for us to continue operating it as a subsidiary of Macklinson's. I won't have the time to keep up with all the growth. I'm thinking of putting someone else in there to run the thing."

"Kyle?" Cindy seemed like she hoped my answer to her question wouldn't be Kyle.

"No. Kyle isn't ready yet for running both inside operations and the sales program. He needs to be out there building the sales force while we have free reign over this market. What I'm looking for is more along the lines of a CEO. I started out thinking about using either your father or Larry. I'm confident that either of them would be able to handle doing what I'd need for this appointment. The other one would need to take over the sales support job for all the teams."

"Daddy would be a good choice." Cindy had that concerned look on her face. She looked over at me expectantly, waiting for me to confirm her choice. I hadn't been looking forward to discussing this with her, but I knew it was time that I did. I didn't want to end up having new conflict between Larry and Gene. I also didn't want to get into another situation where the two brothers would take offense over this and start quitting on me again. I was hoping that Cindy would serve as a go between for me. I decided to lay out what I had been thinking, and then hope she could present it to her father and her uncle in a way that wouldn't lead to more trouble for me.

"I thought of your dad first, Cindy. He's the one with the greater administrative experience. The truth is though, Larry has done a great job for me ever since I gave him his new position. You know that Larry believes he's never really been given a chance to show people what he could do if he were put in charge. Your father has already had his chance to run things. Right now, I'm leaning towards the idea that Larry should finally be given his chance to run things. I'm still going to give the matter some more thought, before I make any firm decision or announce any appointments. I'll hold off on making my final choice until after we have the new building to house the company in. As it stands right now though, I'm leaning towards either asking Larry to do it, or else bringing in someone from outside Macklinson's to run things. I don't want to have more problems with your family. If it will cause bad feelings to give the job to Larry, maybe it would be better, in the long run, for me to bring in someone from outside Macklinson's to run this thing for me."

"Daddy won't accept Uncle Larry being put in any job over him." I could see the stubborn set to Cindy's jaw as she made this statement to me. I'd pretty much expected this reaction, from Gene, and from Cindy too.

"I hope you're wrong about that, Cindy. Like I said, I'm going to keep thinking about it. There's a big promotion for somebody with this Quick Snacks job. I can think of several people that would love to be considered. I just thought it might be easier if everyone already knew the new boss, that it would make it better if it was someone they were already comfortable working with. Whoever I put in that job is going to have a lot of say so in any future promotions or transfers. If my name was Macklinson, I'd want to have someone I knew making those kinds of decisions."

"Did you want me to talk to Daddy, to let him know it's a choice between Larry and some outsider?"

"I don't want to have any problems when I do decide. Things have been going very well with all the members of your family. I'd hate to see all of us having problems again. If you do talk with your father, make sure he knows it won't be him that's promoted. It will either be Larry or someone I'll bring down here from either Bolling or Omaha."

"I don't feel right about you using me like this against my own father." This was the part I'd most worried about. I knew Cindy would look at it this way, like I was using her.

"Then don't say anything to him. Your father is capable of making his own decisions when I announce the new appointment. I just thought it might be easier for him if he had some advance warning. I thought he might benefit from having some time to get himself used to the idea of not being the one getting this new job. I told you because I thought he might take it better if it came from someone he loved and trusted. I respect Gene, but I think we'd all be better served keeping him doing just what he's doing now."

"Does this have anything to do with you starting up the sales idea I came up with?"

"No. I'm already going ahead with that. We'll start interviewing people next week for the first sales training classes."

"When do I start working on that project?"

"That will be up to whoever I decide to put in charge over at the Quick Snacks company. Staffing decisions will be made as the need arises."

"I'm not going to be running the women's division?" Cindy looked at me closely as she asked that question. I could see she was beginning to get even more upset. I had been right in thinking that she had just assumed she'd get the appointment to run the woman's sales division.

"Cindy, I really can't say. It depends on who comes in to take over the program. Usually, when someone comes in to take over a new operation like this, they'll have some of their own people with them already. I'll make sure that the new man knows this was your idea, and that you want to be considered for the project director position when he fills it."

"You're saying he might decide to bring in someone else though?"

"His decision. If he asks me for my opinion, I'll tell him what I think."

"What do you think?" She was clearly worried and concerned now.

"I think you'd make a great project head for this woman's division."

"You could give me the promotion right now, before you bring in someone new."

"That wouldn't be fair to whoever I bring in to do the job. I told you that I'm leaving all staffing decisions up to the new guy, or the new woman. That includes all the positions that are currently filled."

Cindy just stared at me as what I'd just said to her started to sink in. I had a feeling that she would make a real effort to get Gene to accept the idea that Larry would be a lot better for this new position than any outsider could ever be.

I really didn't want to have any Macklinson labor problems. Things were going pretty smoothly, and the Quick Snacks program was starting to really hit a good stride. I believed Larry could keep on top of things for me, and I'd been honest when I'd told Cindy I wanted him to have his chance to be in charge.

Mrs. Pipkin was as good as her word, and she and Dale were waiting for us when we taxied over to the refueling area we used. I was glad to see them both. From the amount of luggage Dale had brought with her to the airport, it looked like she was planning on an extended visit. We were only on the ground for as long as it took to top off the tanks before heading back towards Birmingham. Dale appeared a little out of sorts until the three of us were airborne.

"Thank you for coming for me, Kenny. Dee Dee has been trying to talk me out of going with you ever since we got up this morning."

"I'm sorry that this is coming between you two. Eddie knows she was invited too. It was her choice to stay at your mother's house."

"It isn't just you, Kenny. This is something that has been coming on for awhile now between us. We both just want different things I guess. I wish she could accept what I say I want, and then be happy that I'm going after it."

"What is it that you want, Dale?"

"What we had before, Kenny. Not exactly the same, but as close to that as we can make it. I know things won't ever be back exactly to how they were before. I can still be happy the way they are now." Dale had started tearing up as she spoke. It was pretty obvious to me that this situation she was in with her sister was troubling to her.

Cindy had been standing behind us as we spoke. She came forward, into the cockpit area, and knelt down next to Dale, taking her hand. She didn't say anything to her, but still wanted to do something supportive.

I didn't speak at all for a few minutes. There was something disturbing about Dale and Eddie being unable to reach an accord about what Dale wanted to do. I felt like I had failed them. We never had these kinds of problems before I got sick. I had always been amazed at the closeness Eddie and Dale shared. I wasn't comfortable being the cause of their discord.

"Dale, I'm happy to have you back with me now. I've missed you. Eddie is always welcome to come visit, or to stay with us as well. I can understand the way Eddie feels though. Things are changed from what they were when you were here with us before. It finally looks like Joyce and I are working some things out again. The same is true with Shirley and Cindy. All of us are hoping to make things better than they have been. We're trying."

It was well after dark when we landed back in Birmingham. It had been a relatively subdued flight for the three of us. We were all thinking our own private thoughts. Cindy had already informed me that she thought it would be better if Dale and I took a couple days together, by ourselves. I was fairly sure that she was going to be busy working on Gene. When we got to Birmingham, I dropped her off at her car, and told her I'd see her in the office in the morning.

Dale and I went home and showered together before turning in for the night. It was a bit strange being in bed together at first. I felt comfortable with her, but I wanted to make sure she felt comfortable being there with me. I knew she was still worrying about how things had been left with Eddie.

"Should we call Eddie and tell her we made it back all right?" I had been holding on to her, cuddling up against her back when I spoke. She giggled.

"I was thinking more about calling Mama, and then Joyce. Isn't it funny, that we'd be in bed, all naked together, and both thinking about making phone calls?" I had my arm wrapped around her small waist, and began moving my hand up to her left breast while she spoke. Her left arm moved back, between us, reaching to take my dick in her hand. Again, she giggled, but only after first giving my erection a little handshaking wiggle.

I was kissing the back of her neck and lightly licking her earlobe as soon as she started wiggling me. I could feel some of the tenseness leaving her body. Both of us had been too tense for some reason. I wasn't sure what it was, but I knew we both needed to learn again how to be more relaxed with each other. This hadn't happened before. It was covered up somewhat by the frenzied sexual activity I'd had before with the two sisters. Still, that sense of there being some tension between the three of us had been right there with us during the whole last visit.

"One of the things I've missed is being able to feel relaxed around my wives. I felt that with Shirley this last visit we had. I was always most aware of it with her before, but I had it with all of you to some degree before I got sick too. When I was with Shirley though, I recognized that the relaxed feeling was back again. It makes everything seem more comfortable to me. Without that, I can feel the tension."

"It's hard to be relaxed when you're excited about something. I've been thinking about us, and about our being like this since yesterday. I missed how big you seemed when you were laying next to me like this. You're so much bigger than either me or Dee Dee. I always liked your size."

I knew she was referring to my whole body, not just my cock. Dale liked being enveloped by me. Not just dominated, but lost beneath my bulk and size. This was something I'd noted in both Joyce and Eddie as well. Tiny girls seemed to get something extra out of being overwhelmed by someone more than twice their mass. It didn't do any harm that I was also well endowed. Well enough endowed so that they all felt full while I made love to them.