Chapter 21

Friday morning was a hectic time for Selena as she struggled to make time for everything she had allowed to get on her plate. Tomorrow was move day, but today was her next to last day at WSGG for 2 weeks and she wanted to be sure all was running smoothly before she left. She would be there Tuesday and Wednesday mornings, but that time would be clearing commitments she had already compiled. She was going to use web cast to pipe into the Sunday Night Letter Meeting from their home Upstate, but she still felt uncomfortable leaving so soon after asserting herself so forcefully. However, she felt sure that she had righted the ship sufficiently that everyone has renewed vitality toward their goals.

She hadn’t forgotten Jamaica and the first chance she had to slip into her office she did.

“So, did you confront your gentleman caller with a request for information?” She asked.

Jamaica blushed, “Yes, I did. I felt a little funny, like I was interrogating someone, but the more I got into it, the more I understood why it was necessary. I really had no info on him at all, and really didn’t know WHO he was. He was insulted a bit at first, but as my questions went on, he seemed to understand more. He challenged me to give him the same information and I told him he was certainly entitled and he would get it as soon as I checked him out.” She said as she handed Selena the notes she had taken on her “Bill”, one William Centofranchi.

“Let me take this and get back to you later on. I’ll be sure to get to it before you leave today, just I have so many loose ends to tie up, please be patient with me.” Selena said as she took the notes and slipped out and into her office.

Selena requested “no calls” for a half hour so as to tweak the many irons she had in the fire before she left for her Thanksgiving and vacation. As she made notes for her contribution to the Saturday Night Letter she kept looking away at the jottings Jamaica had made about her man interest. Finally her interest was piqued to distraction and she pushed aside her business notes and dug into the information Jamaica had given her.

Bill Centofranchi was just as he presented himself. He was a career employee of the USPS, a supervisor or manager of a downtown facility. He had no criminal record, not even a traffic ticket. He had never been married, had no debt, and owned his own home. He did not have a passport, was a member of The Elks and served 4 years in the Army as a supply coordinator and facilitator during the first Gulf War. He was 32 years old. He had worked 2 years as a sort clerk at The Post Office before he asked for a leave to join the Army after 911. After he returned in 2005 he was put into a management training program that rushed his career along. If he had skeletons in his closet, they were well hidden. He didn’t appear to have Facebook or Twitter accounts; however, his name came up repeatedly in the Facebook pages of 2 Long Island women. He appeared to be a very conservative man with few interests outside of work, who apparently had spent ski and beach weekends with 2 particular women who lived or worked nearby. With all of the resources Selena had at hand to ferret out dirt on someone, he appeared to be a very safe, and a good catch for any woman.

Once she was satisfied she had done her due diligence for Ms Browne she picked up her intercom and rang Ross Curran.

“Ross, do you have a moment? I’d like a private word.”

“Anytime Selena. I’m free at the moment.” He answered.

Before she could do another thing she pushed herself from her desk and, leaving the privacy light on her office lit, she closed the door and knocked lightly on Ross’s door and went in.

“Ross, ease my mind that while I’m away you’ll take a new interest in Ms. Browne and be sure she is aware that we are keeping tabs on her. Her epiphany has brought her back to what you thought was advertised, but I have been very heavy handed with her and tried to be a confidante, with her still knowing I am her superior. If she slips up again I will encourage a NO vote on her partnership, even knowing how much it will cost us. I just can’t babysit with her while trying to get back into my own groove.” Selena said while doing her best not to sound too self important.

“My dear, I can assure you that I was truly embarrassed by her whole situation that WE let get out of hand. Her manipulation of the core here was no accident and we know what she is capable of. I agree that one slip of that renewing would mean she could never be trusted. I will be sure that each one of us sees her daily to continue to encourage her.” Ross said confidently.

“I can tell you that she IS a good person, and every bit the intellectual commodity you thought you were cultivating. She fell victim to this city, and we all know how easy that is to happen. When I brought all of that to a grinding halt I really think she wanted to be saved from the runaway train she was riding. I just don’t want to see her slide backwards. She may be entering a relationship and that will certainly center her. Also, let’s get her fully involved in the Sunday Night Letter.” Selena added.

Ross smiled and looked for a paper on his desk and held it up. “Great minds think alike, I have an assignment for her right here. I’m asking her to write a profile of herself and to explain her financial philosophies. I’ve written a preface for her that explains to our subscribers that she may be joining our team as a partner and that she has already made contributions to our member base. You see Selena, this transition to the team was easy for you, and you’re an old soul inside, your values, beliefs, like that. She is like a Facebook version of you, using the new media and technologies to color her thoughts. Now, this is not a bad thing. We NEED that kind of thinking and I believe she could influence others here in many ways. She just needs to establish the trust. She schemed, and that was bad.”

“I think you have to stop right there Ross.” Selena said, trying to think ahead of Ross. “I will back her and support her 100%. What she did before was a by-product of the drugs and alcohol in her system. They made her a desperate person. She, on her own, sought out help on a website called “Are you Dependant?” Wanting to help yourself is a great sign and it, the site, humbled and shamed her greatly. It shook her from who she was to who she really is. Her pride and ego were smashed by what she found out. Instead of making a cry of woe is me, she battled hard to show me who she really was. I believe in her, but I also believe that she is close enough to her turnaround that she should be monitored.”

“Selena, in your absence I will be sure to run things as I have in the past and you might in the future.” Ross began. “Having you to lift the yoke from me of the organization and leadership of this group has freed my mind in many ways that will help our cause. Just keep in mind that this position is neither voted on or to be appointed to. I know I led you into it, but you saw how easy the others let you cede the power. You earned that long ago, and in just these few days lived up to the reputation, I should say, the legacy, you had here. I know you saw the portrait and script with it and it embarrassed you, as well as humbled you to tears. I don’t miss much here. Just know that our love and respect for you was, and is, sincere. Having you snuffed out so cruelly let us know how much we missed and depended on you, knowing how much of the future we would lose without you. We had lost some direction and when you walked in the door this week it was like everything was back on track. It was then I realized that you held the direction of the firm in your hands.”

Selena fought hard to hold her emotions back during Ross’s words, but she could no longer hide her tears and trembling lower lip. Through a broken voice and thinning ability to make words come out, Selena said, “Ross, you have no idea what it was to be where I was, to have everything trapped inside me, and to be here before you like this hearing your words. Even my Joe...”

Her tears and emotion caused her to stop and Ross Curran stood and went to her chair and knelt beside it on one knee to put an arm around her and comfort her.

“Let your emotions flow, it’s the best thing. You don’t need to put it in words, I understand much more than you think. I’ve smelled the burning flesh of the fires of hell while captured in Vietnam and wondered what my own would smell like when my time came. A moment later I was wrapped in a tarp, thrown into a helicopter and before my mind could separate reality, torture, and whose control I was under. Rescued, I was on my way home.” Ross told her as his own emotions began to get the best of him.

The two cried together before they began to compose themselves and look at each other.

Ross finally spoke. “You get out of here today, enjoy a true Thanksgiving, and enjoy your trip to your paradise in Jamaica.”

“Oh, I will enjoy, you can be sure of that. Another thing you can also be sure of, whether it’s me at the helm, or any one of us under this roof today, this firm will always respect the standards that you and the others who founded it have stood on. No one person or any one event will ever change that.” Selena assured him.

“I know that. Why do you think I’ve chosen you to hand the reins too?” Ross said with a smile.

Selena stood and hugged him, then kissed his cheek and wiped away a tear he had left. She quietly went back to her office where her intercom just began to ring.

“Ms. Johnson?” Deneigh asked and waited for Selena to acknowledge her.

“Yes, Deneigh.”

“That’s 30 minutes no calls, do you need more time?”

“No, that was sufficient. Do I have any calls to return?”

“Yes, Alexis Konstantakis would like to you to call her ASAP. Also a message from an admin-assistant at The Toy Company calling for Lucille? She had your private number so I assume you know her. Simply, the message is “All is fine”. I have the call back number for Ms. Konstantakis, would you like me to try her?” Deneigh asked.

“No, I can get it. Deneigh, make sure you call the agency and begin to find the replacement for you. I want you on this side of the door by Spring. Let’s not put it off any longer. Understood?” Selena said firmly hoping she might finally stop procrastinating on the task.

“Yes, Ms Johnson.” Deneigh answered in quiet resignation that this step had to be taken to move forward in her career.

Alexis Konstantakis phoned barely rang once when she answered frantically.

“Oh, thank God you called! I’d forgotten the agent for the Fox Weathergirl is the same one I set you up with. He signed you to a 7 day deal until you can meet with him in person, and then he informs me that his Fox client will no longer do it for me and she is scheduled for tonight. This is a huge favor, I know you’re moving and getting ready to go on vacation, but ... please, please, please??”

“Stop begging for God’s sake, Lexie! Why don’t YOU just do it?” Selena said, peeved she was called on for a “one time” type favor twice in two days.

Alexis sighed loudly before she spoke. “I’ll tell you the blunt truth. If I do it, by the time I get make-up off and shower I’ll miss a date I set up for tonight. It’s more of a booty call than a date. I’ve flirted with this producer, and he with me, for the past 2 weeks and he’s going west until the new year on the red-eye tonight. I haven’t been good and laid in a few months and I’m soaked just thinking about it. Is that honest enough?”

“Holy crap Alexis, you don’t hold anything back, do you? If that’s the case, I’ll do it, but you owe me big time. I’ll be there as soon as I get out of here tonight. God, do change your panties, you’ll have dogs humping your leg if you go out like that.” Selena said with a chuckle as she hung up.