Chapter 16

WEDNESDAY MORNING, the air in the penthouse was alive with excitement. Erin was at her desk at seven forty-five. She swept through the office and kitchen, wiping things down with a vengeance. The large table in the center of the room was empty for the first time since she started working and she scrubbed it thoroughly. When Mr. Carver came downstairs, she rushed up to his bedroom to reset cubes and clean the bathroom.

He carried a cup of coffee out of the kitchen with him, which Erin thought was odd. He never brought food or drink into the office area unless he was meeting in the sitting room near the windows. He set the coffee down on Erin’s desk and she looked up at him in surprise.

“Is something wrong, Mr. Carver?” she asked.

“No! This is the best coffee I’ve ever had. I had to bring you a cup. Have a taste and let’s go to the meeting area and go over the plan for this afternoon. It’s a great day!”

Erin breathed a sigh of relief and took her tablet and coffee to the lounge area where the sun was shining through the tall windows. Preston brought a cup for himself and sat across from her.

“Now, I don’t do much in the board meeting. I’ll call the meeting to order and announce that we have just one item of business to attend to, then ask Duval to address the board. You’ll have the computer set up with the slides ready to project at the end of the room. Duval never stays in one place while he’s presenting. Motion to him to move when he’s blocking people’s view of the screen. The vote should be a formality. If Duval does his job, everyone will vote in favor. Of course, the family votes will all be in favor so we actually only need one more. Jerico won’t attend the meeting, but Mother will cast his vote.”

“So, that’s you, Mrs. Carver, and Mr. Jerico? I show six others on the board. Doesn’t that mean you need two more votes?” Erin asked.

“Hathaway and Vaughn nearly always vote with the family. That’s what has enabled us to maintain control of the company for more than fifty years. Always pack the board with supporters, according to Jerico.”

“Okay. I’ll record the vote and then what?”

“Then I’ll adjourn the meeting. They’ll hang around a while. Duval will probably take them all out for a drink. He can’t stand to have a meeting end without an opportunity to schmooze. We’ll pack the model back up and bring it up here to reassemble. It’s likely that we’ll have a number of visitors up to the office next week as pieces of the project get sent to different departments. Everyone will want to look at what we are building. I ... don’t think I’ll be here. You can host the guests.”

“I’m sure people will want to congratulate you on the plan and design,” Erin said.

“Maybe I’ll sit at my desk and nod at them. If you need to ask me a question, call.”

“Okay. I can do that. It will be nice for you to be present, though.”

“The board may want to spend some time looking more closely at the model after the presentation. If they start asking questions there that Duval can’t or doesn’t answer, you’ll answer them. For the past two weeks, I’ve tried to make sure you are as prepared for this as you can be. I ... Ms. Scott, I trust you.”

“Thank you, Mr. Carver. I will not betray your trust in me.”

The phone rang and Carver waved her toward the phone on his desk since they were at that end of the office.

“JeriCorp, Mr. Carver’s office,” Erin said.

“I’m sick,” Duval said over the phone. His voice was scarcely there at all. “I can’t come in today.”

“What? Wait. You have to! The presentation is this afternoon,” Erin said in alarm.

“Can’t help it. Started getting sick after I fell in the creek Saturday. I haven’t been in the office all week—not that you or your boss would have noticed,” Duval said.

“Just a moment,” Erin said, turning to Preston. “Mr. Carver, Mr. Duval is on the line for you. It isn’t good,” she said. It was less than an hour until the board meeting. Preston went to his desk and Erin handed him the phone.

“Wh-what? What’s wrong?” he said into the line.

“I’m sick. I can’t do the presentation. I can hardly talk at all.”

“But you have to!”

“No amount of having to is going to move me out of this bed,” Duval said. “You’ll have to do it yourself. If you can’t, have the old man come in. I’m out of the game.”

“You might be out of a job!” Preston growled, slamming down the phone.

Erin stepped away from Preston’s desk, gathered the coffee cups and rushed to the kitchen to clean them up just to be out of Preston’s line of sight. She’d never seen him so angry. Preston dialed his grandfather’s number. Since handing control of the company to his grandson, Lawrence avoided most board meetings, so people didn’t turn to him instead of Preston. Jacqueline, however, attended most of the meetings.

“Duval is sick and can’t present to the board!” Preston shouted into the phone when his grandfather answered. “I need you to come in and do the presentation.”

“Preston, you know I can’t do that. It’s a conflict of interest. The presentation is to authorize a partnership between Interlake Land Holding and JeriCorp Architecture and Development. It would confuse the arguments to have me in the meeting at all,” Lawrence said.

“What’ll I ... What’ll I ... do?” Preston began to hyperventilate. “I ... I can’t ... They wouldn’t even listen. I need ... need help!”

“Son, take a deep breath. There’s no need to panic. What did we find out this past week? You have the answer right there in your office. In fact, I’d bet she’s not five feet away, waiting to jump in and help you however you need. Have Ms. Scott make the presentation. She can do it. Put your trust in her.”

“C-c-can I?” Preston panted. “Can I trust her? She was with Duval over the weekend.”

“No, she wasn’t. Oh, he took her out to the site so she could walk it, but I met her there and brought her back to Jerico City. Trust her, Preston.”

“Trust. Trust. Trust.”

Preston looked up from the phone to the lounge a few feet away where Erin was waiting for him. He could trust her. He had to trust her. He hung up the phone and stepped off his dais to meet Erin. She headed toward him.

“I have everything together you need to make the presentation, Mr. Carver. It will be just like we practiced. You know all the slides and even have the personal insight that makes the project come alive. You can do this.”

“No. No, I can’t, Ms. Scott. I may need to throw up from even thinking about it. I can’t stand in front of them and open my mouth.”

“Oh, Mr. Carver. Shall I call the board members and postpone the meeting? They’ll understand illness.”

Preston gulped in several lungsful of air and collapsed in his chair. Erin immediately poured him a glass of water, which he drank hurriedly.

“Ms. Scott, you’ll do it. You’ve practiced the presentation and know it even better than Duval does. I’m asking ... I’m begging you ... please make the presentation on my behalf. P-p-please.”

Preston was near a complete collapse. Tears leaked from his eyes and he was having difficulty catching his breath. Erin snatched up a tissue and wiped his eyes, handing him another so he could blow his nose. Preston stripped off his mask, which had already become soaked.

“I’ll do it, Mr. Carver. I don’t know why you think I’m capable, but I’ll do anything for you,” Erin said. “If you’ll give me a few minutes to use the lavatory. I may need to throw up as well.”

“We have just one item of business for this meeting,” Preston rasped when he called the meeting to order. He was barely audible to the five men and three women in the room. He pushed away from the table to give Erin room. “My assistant, Ms. Scott, will present.” She removed her mask as she stood before the board.

“Gentlemen and ladies,” Erin began. “As I am sure you are aware, a new virus variant is making the rounds. While both have tested negative, we find that both Mr. Duval and Mr. Carver have lost their voices and are unable to present before the board today. Mr. Carver has asked me to speak on their behalf, as the matter to be brought before the board today is critical and time sensitive.”

There was a little shuffling among the members, but they were all curious regarding the draped model on the table and Erin’s first slide on the screen.

“Please let me introduce you to the future of JeriCorp Architecture and Development: Cloudhaven, a work and leisure destination for today’s digital professional.”

Erin launched straight into the presentation, just as she had done in the rehearsals. She knew the presentation better than any of the executives who had been involved—especially Royce Duval.

The board members gasped in amazement when Erin slowly unveiled the completed model.

“We have been working on this plan for ten years,” Erin said, though she herself had been involved for less than two months. “Moving ahead too soon would have left it in jeopardy. The effect of the pandemic on our businesses was an unexpected hurdle, but the new work-from-home routines inspired actually advanced the project.”