Chapter 21

LAWRENCE WAITED to tell Preston what he’d done until he was sure the board meeting was underway. He’d called Gene Hathaway with an off-the-wall idea that Erin Scott should be CEO of the company. He wanted to give the board a wake-up call that they weren’t as all-powerful as they assumed. Some corporate officers needed to get back in line where they belonged.

Preston wasn’t sure how to respond to his grandfather. Putting Erin in a position of power like that just played into the scenario that she was a gold digger, stalking him for his money and position. But that didn’t hold water. She just wasn’t that kind of person and Preston had to face the possibility she was really as nice and kind and ... downright attractive as she appeared to be.

“You’ve read her resume,” Lawrence said. “Gene called her references at Allard. And I think it was you who suggested dropping the hint that Allard was thinking of a buyout.”

“I suggested ... I was afraid that was why she got the job in my office. Do you really think Allard would want to buy us out?”

“I doubt it. We aren’t in the sweet spot of their holdings. Actually, we’re a little small for them. That Cleveland Regional office that Erin was Vice President in charge of? She had more employees there than we have in Jerico City. But Duval, Dirksen, and Masters haven’t paid attention to what’s out there. They still think she’s just a glorified secretary. You know, having her get your laundry and groceries just amplifies that message.”

“I think she could have talked Gene into voting with us without the added incentive,” Preston grumbled.

“Maybe. But the family is sending a message here, son. This is our company and we choose who runs it.”

“Yes, sir.”

Preston’s phone rang and he saw Gene was calling.

“Well, did you oust me from my office?” Preston barked into the phone.

“Only halfway,” Gene laughed. “I take it your grandfather filled you in on the plan. I’d have to say it was successful. Duval, Dirksen, and Masters folded up their tents and crept quietly away. And now they are all thinking about what they can do to make their shares in JeriCorp more valuable in case of a buyout.”

“And Ms. Scott went along with it?”

“I didn’t give her much choice. She was committed to preserving your position on the board. I held the fifth vote she needed. I think Reinholdt is going to resign from the board, by the way. It will be a good timing to get another independent board member signed up.”

“Erin Scott.”

“Well, unless you change the bylaws, she’ll have a position on the board by virtue of her office as CEO. No. I’m thinking you should look at one of the younger execs in town—or even out of town. Nothing says we’re growing like having a board member or two who are from larger companies outside of town.”

“I don’t think we need to be too heavy-handed about it. If your plan worked as well as you say it did, we’ve reasserted control. If Ms. Scott will let us have it.”

“If not, it’s in good hands. She’s probably celebrating in your office now.”

“I should go over there.”

As Preston drove to the office, he realized he felt rather light of heart. He’d never really liked the responsibility of running the company, even though he shuffled all the public aspects of it off to Duval. He wondered how much of that Ms. Scott would wrest from Duval. As far as Preston was concerned, it was a burden that kept him from thinking about the real work of architecture and development. He wanted to create things. He wanted to build a wonderful resort city where people could fully realize their dreams of a true work-life balance.

If Duval had become chairman and CEO, the entire shape of Cloudhaven would have been changed. Duval’s vision—what he had of it—was completely commercial. He wanted a thousand hotel rooms in a glass tower while paying no attention to what would attract people to the resort. A thousand-room hotel would just sit empty until he could sell rights to develop a big casino and some recreational facilities to augment his golf course.

And, if the project failed after Duval took over, he would see to it that Preston was blamed for the whole bad idea. It would be the end of the Jerico family involvement in JeriCorp.

At least Erin understood and bought into the concept. Yes, Preston could get along quite well with Ms. Scott as his CEO. And he’d find out soon enough if she wasn’t true to the colors she’d shown.

He stepped off the elevator into his penthouse and took his groceries to the kitchen. He hadn’t had groceries delivered recently because he’d stayed at Jerico House or down in Cloudhaven. The coffee pot was cold and the grounds had not been emptied and cleaned. Was that the first sign she was not all she appeared to be? He decided to look through the rest of the apartment and check to be sure she’d done her job the past weeks.

Nothing else seemed out of place. Puzzles were all reset. His laundry had been put away. The cleaners had done their job. He stepped around to the sitting area, looking out on the rooftop patio, and saw Erin Scott asleep on the sofa.

What on earth is she doing here? Well, he supposed she had been working pretty hard this week. He could hardly blame her for falling asleep. He’d slept a while in the afternoon himself.

He sat in a side chair and looked at her. Her glasses were clutched in one hand and a coffee cup sat on the table next to her head.

She was truly lovely. Oh, not one of the false beauties his mother had arranged for him. Erin didn’t wear too much makeup. Or he was very bad at being able to tell if she was wearing makeup. Most of the time, she wore a mask when she was with him—it was a rule of the office. He supposed that obviated the need for most makeup. She had a pleasant heart-shaped face. Her shoulder-length blonde hair tended to fly away in all directions. He’d often noticed her blue eyes.

That should have been a clue to her identity when he first met her. He’d noticed her eyes in the restaurant and thought they were striking, but he’d never really looked into her eyes after she came to work for him. How many other things had he not noticed?

Well, he needed to put those romantic thoughts out of his head. Not only was she his assistant, she was now the CEO of his company. He had to wonder how that was going to work. Would he need to find a new assistant? They had worked so well together remotely over the past two weeks, perhaps they needed to stay separate. She’d done an expert job of starting and organizing the project plan and distributing the parts to the people who would need to contribute.

He smiled, just appreciating the woman across from him. His own eyes drifted shut.

“Jerry? Mr. Carver? Oh, my! I fell asleep! I’m so sorry!” Erin said when she opened her eyes. Carver jolted awake and looked at her.

“It was very peaceful,” he said. “I nodded off myself.”

“I didn’t mean to wake you. I was startled is all. I’ll clean things up and leave. I didn’t mean to infringe on your personal space. It was ... an exhausting day and I didn’t sleep well last night.”

“Please, Ms. Scott. Don’t rush. How about joining me for dinner? I stopped at the market on the way home, since I hadn’t been here for a while. It will be a simple meal. I usually cook my fancy meals on Saturday.”

“Mr. Carver? Is it okay for me to stay? I wouldn’t want anyone to think something inappropriate was going on.”

“Maizie, your friend Jerry is inviting you to dinner. You’ve never tasted my cooking. And no one really watches the elevator over the weekend.”

“Well, then, I suppose it would be okay. Thank you for the invitation, Jerry.”

“Was Maizie a name based on anything?” Jerry asked.

“No. Dolores has a bunch of nametags of kind of fifties-sounding names and that was the one I drew when I went to work there. It’s funny, you know. I could have been a Jeri. My middle name was Jericho. Spelled differently than your family name. I mean, my mother was a Jericho and insisted that I bear it as my middle name. I only ever used my initial, J. When I married, I dropped it, and when I divorced, I regained my maiden name, but didn’t reaffirm my middle name.”

“There aren’t that many Jericos in the country,” Jerry said, leading the way to the kitchen. Erin went immediately to clean up the coffee pot and her cup, washing and putting them away. “I have a couple of chicken breasts. I thought I could poach them. I have a very good recipe.”

“It sounds delicious. What can I do?”

“Why don’t you start the rice as I get the oven heated and the chicken ready to wrap in parchment?”

The two worked companionably beside each other and managed not to get in each other’s way. They talked lightly of all things that were going on in their lives.

“I usually have a glass of wine on Sunday afternoon with Dolores and we run through how our week went. We’ve become very good friends. In fact, she was the only friend I had in town until we joined a bowling league. Can you imagine me bowling on Thursday nights?” Erin said. “Dolores will not believe what’s happened to me this week.”

“I haven’t bowled in years. In college, Gene Hathaway had quite a ruse going. He played the part of the wealthy playboy and I was simply his wingman. Not a very good one, I’m afraid.”

“Hmm. When I was working in the diner, there was a nice guy who used to come in while I was working. We had some nice conversations. I lost track of him when I quit to come to work here.”

“I really enjoyed that. You know I only went back once after you left. It just wasn’t as much fun,” he said. “I kept kicking myself for not having tried to get your number before you left for your new job. I thought I’d just missed my chance.”