Chapter 24

JANICE

Back at Hanford, Janice had grabbed some fruit and muffins and a plate of eggs from the serving line and gone to look for Boyd. She was pretty sure he never got served. She knew Boyd had loving parents, but she could not help mothering him herself. As the payroll clerk for the company, she knew everything about what employees were paid and how much they worked. To her, it was a miracle that Boyd still worked there. He could do so much more than he was allowed to do and she feared he was close to either burning out or leaving.

As was often the case, Boyd was in the room where all the computers and network controls were located. Janice was sure that he was now the only person who knew all of the connections and programs. Fortunately, she had learned that he was meticulous about documenting anything that he worked on. There were far too many machines in that room and on desks around the building that were seven or more years old.

Her relationship with Boyd was such that he paused what he was doing to eat what she had brought without raising an objection. “Your new boss can get you in contact with Celia,” she told him as he ate. At his surprised expression, she added “I’m going to let Celia tell you everything. Just make sure you give her a chance.”

“A chance?”

“I’m guessing she is the reason you just work all the time and don’t date,” Janice told him. “She is getting some wonderful help recovering from a big mistake she made. She fainted because she knows now that rejecting you was another mistake.” When he just looked at her, stunned, she made a quick decision. “Tell you what; you’re busy. I’ll get a phone number for you if you will promise to call tonight. OK?” He could only nod.

Madelyn and Guy had not set up a schedule for meeting with the staff, and that was a good thing. The people who were critical to the operation were making themselves known. Boyd had moved to the top of the list. At first, Madelyn did not react to meeting Janice Carter, perhaps because she was so concerned about Celia. Later, she remembered that Janice was listed on the org chart as the payroll manager. She was the only person remaining in what should have been the Human Resources department. Janice joined Boyd at the top of the critical list.

Because Boyd was still scrambling to get parts of the network back in operation, Madelyn called Janice in first. Guy had agreed to let her schedule all meetings with staff, but that they should both be in the meetings.

“Celia told me that she is at Jenny’s and that you two do some volunteer teaching there,” Janice told them immediately. “I will not tell anyone else about that unless you clear it.”

“It’s not something we are ashamed of, Janice,” Madelyn assured her. “The only problem is that some of the staff might react negatively to any association with Transformations.”

“If I have my way,” Guy added, “We will hire as many women from Jenny’s as we can justify. But only if they can really do the job. So, word of our involvement there will get out. Let’s let it happen slowly, though. Thank you for your discretion, Janice.”

“How have you been keeping everything together all by yourself since the sale?” Madelyn asked Janice.

“Is it OK if I speak ill of the departed?” Janice got a chuckle in response and took it as a yes. “My boss was part of the owning family. She loved the recognition the title got, but did very little. As far as just payroll issues and benefits, things are pretty static. I get by.”

“How long would it take to turn payroll processing over to an outside firm?” Madelyn asked. “I would like you to focus on a comprehensive performance review system and updating and streamlining all of our benefits. I assume you know all of those things as well as anyone.”

Janice’s eyes got moist and she could not answer for a while. Finally, she told them “Management has always been very, uh, insular. I’ve suggested outside processing before, but the reaction frightened me. As you probably discovered, we do not have a performance review system. I think there are a number of people here like me. I’ve had training for a lot more than I am allowed to do.”

“You should have said that in the past tense,” Guy interjected. “I would like to see us stretch people who are willing before we bring people in above them. I think it can build some real loyalty and commitment. My concern is that an air of complacency may have infected the whole place.”

“You are not wrong about the complacency,” Janice agreed, “but I think some people with talent can be awakened out of it.”

“Can we talk with you later today, Janice. We need to discuss some options here. Just be assured that we want you to take on more responsibility and authority.” Madelyn took Janice’s hand as they stood, and not in handshake fashion. It obviously had an effect on the woman.

“What does her husband do?” Guy asked when Janice had left.

“He is in school administration. A principal, I think.”

“That will do. Madelyn, I think Janice is a person that can help us energize the staff. Let’s say we make her Director of HR. Now, one of the things we need to work on is restoring image in the community. That means showing up at a lot of events. You would be the logical person to do that, but it is one more thing to steal your time. I think you can already see that your time will be scarce. I propose we make that one of Janice’s duties. She carries herself well and speaks well. The reason I asked about her husband is it would be good for them to eat rubber chicken as a couple.”

Madelyn could not help laughing at his last comment. “Guy, if I never have to do another of those events, it will be too soon. I think Janice will see that as an opportunity. Oh, and a significant promotion from inside will certainly get everyone’s attention.”

“That won’t be the only one,” Guy stated. “I hope you don’t mind if I lay out some strategies for Boyd. I think he has earned credibility here and rewarding him will also be well received.”

“Guy, I make no bones about what I don’t know when it comes to IT. I agree that rewarding Boyd will be seen positively. I assume you will be searching for overlooked stars in sales, too. What about financial?”

“I think it would be good for you to hire outside accounting as well as payroll. The accounting would be temporary. That should be one thing we can buy time on.”

“Perfect. That would certainly ease my mind. How about the firm that did the audit for the sale? They would have a head start.”

“That’s what I was thinking. We’ll buy time on the stuff that’s common and focus on what is unique,” Guy said. “Unfortunately, it won’t be that simple with IT. Come to think of it, you should lay out some of these strategic items for Boyd. Here’s what I would like to see.” He spent about twenty minutes on some bullet points. “Think you can fake it OK.”

“That’s all user related things that I can get behind. No problem, she assured him. “I’ve got some other things I would like to lay on Janice.” And she gave him her own list.

It was late afternoon when they called Janice back in and Madelyn took charge. “Janice we would like to offer you the position of Director of Human resources.” She paused for Janice’s shocked reaction to subside. “Now I know that is a big jump for you. Since I have had that job for many years, I will promise to help you when you need it.

“One of your first jobs will be to outsource payroll processing. Then, you need to hire or promote whatever clerical help you need to take care of what you did before.

“The next task will be to compare our benefits packages with other companies under the Magnuson umbrella and figure out how to get us compatible.

“A task I consider important will be to establish onsite child care.” Janice gasped at that. “I personally think it should be headed by a licensed person and it would be ideal if at least an LPN was on staff.

“I want you and your husband to become fixtures at appropriate charity events around town. We need to work on strengthening our public image. I want you to suggest which events and charities are appropriate for our involvement. You decide when Guy or I should appear with you. Also watch for other civic events where we should be represented. If the company has no memberships with Rotary or other groups, pick some and get us involved.”

Madelyn paused and waited for Janice to absorb all of that. Finally, Janice asked “Do you think I can do all of that?”

“Turn that around, Janice,” Madelyn said. “Are those things you would like to see happen? Are they things you would like to do? If we believe you could do them, are you willing stretch yourself to make them happen?”

“My God! This is a whole new world!”

Guy reacted to that. “You understand! That is what we want everyone to understand. We believe by giving big jumps in responsibility and status to three key people from the staff, we can convince everyone that there is a reason to get on board, even if it is a lot different than what they are used to.”

“I hope one of those people is Boyd,” Janice said. Guy let Madelyn nod.

Then Guy asked “If we are looking for someone in sales, who would be at the top of your list?”

“Rachel Enders. Like Boyd, I don’t know why she is still here. The only other women in sales were picked for their looks, as far as I can tell. A couple of them are good, but I think she sets the standard.”

“What would be the reaction of the men on the sales staff if we jumped her to Director level?”

“There is only one man you should worry about keeping. Roger Forsythe is almost sixty and has been here his whole career. He actually has tried to be innovative but has been slapped down just like Rachel.”

“Those are very helpful recommendations, Janice,” Guy told her. “What I said this morning about not saying bad things about other employees does not apply to you. We will need your help, and you know the whole staff as well as anyone. Now, as we initiate some big changes, where do you see most of the resistance coming from?” They spent another half hour identifying potential naysayers.

BOYD

Both Guy and Madelyn waited for a chance to talk with Boyd. Guy had to call home to let Ginny know he would be too late to hold dinner. They had told Boyd to come see them when he was free. By the time he did, they decided to talk over dinner at a nearby cafe.

“Boyd, how long would it take you to find a consulting firm that could take over all of the stuff that eats your time?” Madelyn started.

“Seriously? They would be banging on the door if I put the word out. It wouldn’t be cheap, though.”

“That’s OK. We need you for more important things. The sad shape of IT here is actually a great opportunity to take a quantum leap. There seems to be nothing worth the expense of upgrading. Well, maybe some of the network,” Guy just watched as Madelyn proved herself to be far more knowledgeable than she professed to be.

“Rather than buying hardware, we would like to see us focused on Net based and/or cloud based applications. We want purchased solutions wherever possible. Custom programming will be a hard sell with us. We want our people, especially sales people to have complete access to everything they need on mobile devices which they WILL use.

“That just addresses the administrative and sales side. I suspect we are just as far behind with engineering and production technology.

“We want to offer you the position of Director of Information Services and you will be the architect of our future systems and the tactician that gets us there.”

Madelyn and Guy just watched as Boyd slumped in his chair and unavoidable tears streamed down his cheeks. It took a couple of minutes before he was able to see. “Thank you. You just validated a big gamble that I made. Everyone I know outside the company has been telling me I was foolish to stay and take this abuse. I have a resume out, but I turned down a couple of interviews because of rumors of a buyout here. When I heard Magnuson was the buyer, I hoped that my decision would be validated. But I never expected anything like this. I could only dream about doing this while I was in school.”

Guy explained “We made Janice Director of Human Resources and told her to farm out payroll. We would like to give someone from sales a big jump in responsibility, too. We want everyone to know that we are serious about everyone succeeding when the company succeeds.”

“Rachel or Roger would make your decision look good,” Boyd said quickly.

“I declare company business suspended while I talk about something personal,” Madelyn said. “With your professional life looking up, you need to upgrade your private life. If you still have feelings for Celia, I can take you to see her when we leave here. I can guarantee there is nothing you may have planned for the evening that is more important.”

“Even sleep?”

“Even.”

Madelyn had called Joyce on a contrived trip to the cafe’s ladies room. Everything was arranged except telling Celia. That would happen when they had an ETA for Boyd.

Julia had instructed Joyce to keep her aware of whatever was happening with Celia. There was now a major concern. Celia had become extremely close to another young mom named Natalia. Natalia was a Russian beauty who had been lured to the US as a ‘mail order bride’. A friend had gotten her to Jennie’s to escape from an abusive ‘husband’. It turned out he had never legally married her.

Management had realized from the beginning that very close, often sexual relationships between women would be a fact of life. The policy was established that management would not interfere unless there was stalking, coercion, or abuse. An addendum stipulated intervention by staff psychiatrists if a relationship was deemed unhealthy.

The relationship between Celia and Natalia was by no means unhealthy, and it was sexual. Natalia had a baby girl named Natasha almost the same age as Celia’s little boy Boyd.

“Julia, what do you think it will do to Natalia if Celia moves out to be with Boyd?”

“Hard to tell, Joyce. But I hope Celia is wise enough to see that she has no reasonable choice if she loves Boyd. Oh, I guess that’s Boyd Senior.”

“You’re right, Julia. And if Natalia loves Celia like she appears to, she will help her to make the right choice.”

About that time the twenty minute warning came from Madelyn. Joyce took a deep breath and went to tell Celia. “Celia, Boyd will be here in twenty minutes. We have a room set up for you to meet him. You can wear a robe, but that’s all.”

As Boyd followed her in his own car, Madelyn had him stay on the phone with her. After she refused to tell him twice, he stopped asking where they were going. “What’s the matter, Boyd? Are you low on gas?” That ended that question.

“What kind of apartment do you have, Boyd?”

“It’s a studio. Pretty minimal. The way things have gone the last year or so, I should have taken my folks’ offer to live with them. I’m never in the apartment. Might have had enough for a down payment by now.” That told Madelyn that Celia could not move in with him right away, no matter how their meeting went.

Madelyn hung up long enough to alert Joyce, then called Boyd back. “You’re, uh, wondering if Celia can move in with me, aren’t you,” he asked when he picked up.

“I suspect you will both be thinking about that.”

“Wouldn’t that be awfully sudden?” he protested.

“How many years?” she challenged.

She had just turned into the road to Transformations when he said “I think I know where this is going. Why is she here?”

“Have you heard of Jenny’s.”

After a moment of silence he said “She has a kid, then.”

“Is that a deal breaker?” Somehow, Madelyn thought he already knew about the baby. Bad mistake.

“Deal breaker? No. She’s still Celia.” Madelyn held the phone away as she breathed a sigh of relief.

Back at Jenny’s, Celia was freaking out until Natalia heard the commotion and got her calmed down. “Tali, you have to come with me to meet Boyd. I ... I ... just can’t do it alone. Ohhhhh, I need my baby, too. Ohhhh, is his diaper fresh...” Well, almost calmed down.

Natalia looked to Joyce for guidance. Having no time to consult Julia, Joyce just said “Go with her. See if you can keep her from fainting again.” Of course everyone knew what had happened at Hanford that morning.

When Celia came back with the baby all clean and content, Joyce held out the robe. Shaking her head, Celia declared “Poor Boyd is going to get all of the shocks out of the way. I felt so strange this morning with clothes on. It was like I wasn’t really me. That’s part of why I couldn’t talk to him.

Rather dramatically, Natalia handed Joyce the robe she had already put on. “Will you change Tasha and bring her to us?” she asked another woman who was staring at the pair in amazement.

Boyd was later asked many times which shocked him more, the promotion or being shown into a room with two naked beauties and a baby waiting for him. Baby Boyd had become a favorite of the Lindsey’s guys who helped with childcare. It was probably because he became particularly happy and agitated when he encountered a male. He put on a perfect ice-breaking show when he saw Boyd, jabbering, giggling, and flapping his arms.

Even his shock could not keep Boyd from smiling at the baby’s antics. He had just enough experience with infant cousins that he was able to respond to the baby Boyd’s outstretched arms and take him from Celia. Because the baby became even wilder in his arms, there was a very important period of silence while everyone tried for composure. Of course, just then, another woman, surprisingly naked, brought in baby Tasha. The woman left quickly and more than one giggling woman could be heard from the hallway.

“That had all the signs of a dare.” That was an extremely strange opening line for their encounter, but at least he took the lead. He had every right to be dumbstruck. Seeing his longtime heartthrob naked; seeing her baby that he had just learned about; seeing a strange naked woman with her own baby; there were plenty of reasons for him to be overwhelmed. He could thank the awesome promotion meeting for his ‘shock protection’. The two adorable babies didn’t hurt either.

“So, you’re not even allowed to dress for visitors?” he was finally able to say.

“They gave us robes,” Celia explained, “but I wanted you to know I wasn’t holding anything back or trying to deceive you in any way.”

Turning toward Natalia, Boyd said “You probably know that I’m Boyd. What’s your name and why did you leave your robe behind?”

“I’m Natalia. Celia and I are lovers. I leave robe to support her.”

“See, Boyd. That’s why I can’t hold anything back. I desperately want to be with you. I have thought of nothing else through all the tough years. I made a terrible mistake when I rejected you in high school. How I’ve paid for that mistake! But Natalia has had a worse time than I have. She is in a strange country with nobody. I love her too much to desert her.”

“Are you suggesting I take both of you to live with me? I’m only allowed one wife, you know.”

“I will just be your mistress for life if you will let Natalia be the same. We can make it work!”

He was still reeling from that comment when Julia walked in and introduced herself. “Mr. McIntyre, first I want to congratulate you on your promotion. Yes, word travels fast around here. I also want to congratulate you on working with two such outstanding people as Madelyn and Guy.

“The main reason I am here is to make you a proposal. The idea of essentially having two wives with an instant family of two children must be bewildering and overwhelming. We have a vacant two bedroom apartment here on the grounds that you can use for six months if you will agree to try living with these two women and their babies.

“Although you may think this is a bad time for you to try something so radical, I disagree. As busy as you are, these two can make life as simple as possible. Also, because you will not be home as much as you like, they can keep each other company. And what mother would not thrill to two instant grandchildren?

“Before you even think the word ‘polygamy’, it is by necessity becoming more and more just that - only a word. As you know, same sex marriages are becoming legal. It is my guess that laws against plural marriage will not withstand court challenge if laws against same sex marriage are thrown out. I fear that the supply of good marriageable men is not keeping up with number of good women seeking marriage. The fact that women can bond in ways that men cannot makes households of one man and multiple women a possible future necessity.

“There. No more psychobabble, I promise. If you agree to try this, we will help the women set up a household while you focus on your new responsibilities. These are both wonderful women who have suffered a combination of mistakes and bad luck. I am sure you all can make each other happy.

“While you have loved Celia for years, you don’t know Natalia. It has been my experience that a strong, shared love can bring people close very quickly. You both love Celia deeply. If you agree, you can commute home here in three days.”

Julia very much disliked the idea of a trial period. However, she saw little hope that Boyd would take both women in without some strong incentive.

“Oh, Boyd, did you know that Celia named her baby ‘Boyd’? How can you turn away from love and longing like that. Particularly since your love for her has kept you away from any potential romance.”

“Did Ms. Turner know about this when she brought me here?” he asked.

“She still does not know anything except that you two have loved each other for years.”

“Can I at least let my parents think they have input to my decision?”

Boyd had made the comment about getting his parents’ input to avoid making a decision right then. An hour later, as he was finally driving home, he shivered as he thought about the conversation with his mom and dad. He had to do it, though. They had always supported him wholeheartedly. Well, he could certainly start by telling them about his promotion. They had been urging him to find a different job, but he knew they only said it because they were concerned.

When he got to his apartment, he just stood and tried to imagine how different it would be with two women and two infants. The simplicity of his current existence had fit well with the kind of hours he had kept, but he could not say that he treasured it. There hadn’t been time for many bouts of loneliness, but they had come, and they had hurt. The key was that a vision of Celia was always the fantasy cure for that loneliness.

The next day for Boyd was both exhausting and exhilarating. It was exhausting because he worked hard after a night of poor sleep. It was exhilarating because he could start to shed the patch-up work that had been like a weight around his neck for so long.

Sleepless nights are not all bad if they are because of extreme mental activity, which had been his case. A lot of that activity was reviewing the indelible images of the two lovely naked bodies. But there was time for some productive free-wheeling, as well.

Once again, Madelyn was there almost as early as he was, and he stopped in to see her. “There’s a lot of personal stuff to talk about, but not now,” he started. “Which of the women at Jenny’s do you think would do well in a web design course. I was thinking we could pay for her training so she could support our website and some internal web uses.”