Chapter 2

“So, what do you think?” The voice lifted Brad from a brief reverie the next morning and returned him to the present. He smiled upon realizing that it was the voice of his former boss, Bruce Kunkle. When Brad looked at the doorway to his new office, Bruce was leaning against the side of the opening.

“You enjoying my old office, Mr. Fab Man?” Bruce asked Brad with a smile as he glanced at the title on the brand new door plaque just installed this morning – Brad Pittman – Division Chief – Fabrication Management Division.

Brad smiled and stood, extending his hand in a silent invitation for Bruce to come on into what had been the older man’s office until just over a week before. “You bet,” Brad replied, “Mr. Brand New Junior Vice President of J.A.M. Aluminum.”

The two men shook hands and then Bruce plopped down in the soft chair in front of the desk that had been his, and placed a stack of file folders on Brad’s desk. As Bruce leaned back into the cushions of the visitor’s chair, his attention seemed to wander for a moment, while he appeared to scan the additions to the office that Jan had brought in the day before.

“What brings you back over here with us riff-raff; are you just slumming?” asked Brad bringing Bruce back to the here and now in his own turn, “Tired of the rarified air over there on Mahogany Row already; I mean it has been what ... six whole days already?”

Bruce’s smiled quickly, but the glow dimmed a bit after that. Brad noticed the change, but did not press his former boss about what had caused the older man simply to sit there for a few awkward seconds in silence.

“No,” Bruce said finally. “Heather found out that I was coming over here to see how you were settling in.” Heather was the Senior Executive Secretary to Mr. Morris, the president of J.A.M.

What Bruce did NOT tell Brad was that he had simply been unable to remain there calmly in his own new office in the junior executive wing, waiting for his wife. Joni, had arrived earlier, and let Bruce know of her – appointment – just down the hall. Then she had turned and begun moving down the corridor toward the senior executive wing without giving her husband even a backward glance. The usually warm and lively woman had actually been rather cold toward Bruce and had been frowning the whole time.

Bruce was still attempting to deal with that mental image, along with several others that caused him to shiver with uncertainty, as he continued, “And, being the ever-efficient Senior Executive Secretary in this place, Heather politely asked me if I would mind bringing this list of secretarial candidates over here to you from HR.

“You are going to need them in order to begin your hiring process to replace Lana.” Lana had been Bruce’s secretary during his time here as the former Division Chief in the Fabrication Management Division, but she had left J.A.M. to be a full-time mom. “As will I; with my own list of candidates to pick from to help me in my new position. Man, I am really going to miss having Lana around.

“You know,” Bruce continued, after a short pause, “when you got here just two years ago, this Division was hurting for good leadership. I had tried to do the majority of it myself before you got here; but your arrival on the scene, and your get-it-done attitude really made things click. I have to admit that you really took to this work quickly. And you made me look pretty good as well.”

Brad, now back behind ‘his’ desk, smiled as he sat down. Embarrassed by his former boss’s praise, he was about to reply, when Bruce went on.

“No, no; don’t play modest on me,” the older man said with a smile. “The whole executive group over there recognizes that your efforts have played a big role in the company’s overall expansion.”

Both men could see through Brad’s window that the company had finally finished construction of Fab 3, the newest aluminum products fabrication facility. The newly-added capacity greatly expanded the company’s ability to manage some of the recent boom in business. Now, Brad’s division could better meet the steadily increasing demand for the high quality fabricated aluminum product lines that J.A.M. developed and manufactured.

Bruce surprised Brad with what he said next. “Rumor has it that there will be a significant corporate reshuffle before the end of the year to account for all the growth around here; maybe even within the next few months,” the older man said, as he leaned forward with his elbows on his knees.

Bruce looked at Brad with a penetrating stare and went on, “With the possibility of the creation of at least one and as many as three new Junior VP positions to go along with the four we already have. It would seem that the candidates would primarily be coming from the fabrication and engineering side of things.”

Brad knew from social gatherings and from the corporate literature that the other three current Junior VPs were Jeff Mitchum, Carl Scott, and Tim Davis. The Senior VPs and other Senior Corporate Officers included Gene Kennedy, David Burton, Gavin Riggs, Daniel Grant, Bryan Newman, and James Gordon.

It did not take a genius to recognize what Bruce was really saying to Brad. And Brad had no doubts that Bruce, who had been Brad’s mentor ever since the younger man had begun here, was sincere. Bruce was very forthright and was very well-thought-of here in the Fabrication Management Division – and elsewhere in the company as well – the clear evidence of that being that Bruce had now moved up to the executive offices in the main building; what the workers and middle managers commonly referred to as Mahogany Row.

“I give it six months or so, and YOUR name will probably begin to come up in conversation when they start to talk about bringing up more young executives to the main building,” Bruce said. Then he added, “Your name and Jan’s.”

Brad was momentarily curious as to why Bruce would mention Brad’s wife in that context. But, he did not have time to think on it as the older man continued.

“I mean it, Brad,” Bruce went on, “without your hard work here, this Division would not be where it is today, and I would probably not be headed over to the front office this early in my career. Joni and I are really going to be on a great financial path now, thanks largely to your help.”

Brad had met Joni, Bruce’s very attractive wife, during several social gatherings within the Fabrication Management Division. She was an extremely attractive woman in her early thirties and was a real sweetheart of a person.

Brad waited for his former boss to continue, but Bruce remained strangely quiet. After about fifteen seconds of notable silence, Brad began to feel awkward and succumbed to the urge to say something.

“Well,” Brad replied, “in the meantime, I have a division to run, and I need to review this list of secretary candidates you brought over so that I can start scheduling interviews.” With thanks for all that Bruce had done for him, followed by Bruce’s repeated thanks for Brad’s efforts, Brad shook the hand of his friend and mentor and watched Bruce depart.

The phone ringing distracted Brad from the folders containing the CVs of the secretarial candidates just then. After that call ended, one of the shop foremen knocked and asked Brad to assist him with a decision out on the shop floor over at Fab 1. So the folders continued to lie there, ignored by Brad, while he went about offering the firm but friendly hands-on management style that had endeared him to his employees while impressing his bosses enough to trust him with the leadership of this division.

“So, Ms. Crandall,” Brad began. He was desperately trying to maintain a touch of formality to the interview he was conducting several days after his conversation with Bruce. Strict formality had never been Brad’s style; but he knew that he needed to practice that skill if he wanted to move up in management. It would also help in preventing any misunderstandings associated with becoming too familiar too quickly with his subordinates – especially if they were female ... and if they looked as downright smoking HOT as the woman seated in front of his desk at that moment.

“Tell me something interesting about yourself that is not necessarily covered in your résumé,” Brad asked. He wanted Jennifer Crandall to feel a bit more at ease than she had appeared to be feeling when she had walked into his office a few minutes earlier – all the while hoping that he was not violating any rules for the interview under the current Federal and Vermont labor laws.

“Well,” Jennifer began, realizing that she was showing all the classic signs of being obviously nervous. But this was her chance at moving ahead in life and she was determined to do whatever it took to get this job – within the bounds of propriety, of course. At least that had been her intent before she had gotten her first look at the very good-looking man who was interviewing her. So, now her thoughts were shifting a bit ... blush ... no, no, no...

“I am actually somewhat of a lover of the great outdoors,” Jennifer began, as she looked out of Brad’s window for a second before returning her attention to the very handsome man for whom she hoped that she would be working. It was still somewhat surprising to her that Brad Pittman was the one who was interviewing her. After all, he seemed to be so young to be a manager here.

Jennifer figured that Brad could not be much older than mid-to-late-twenties; and yet he was already a division chief of a major division within the company; while Jennifer had already turned thirty just recently. From what she had heard around the plant within the last few weeks of doing temp work here, she just knew that this man was going places; and, if she were lucky, she might move up in her own right by sticking with him – that is, if she could convince him to select her to be his secretary.

Jennifer was actually focused now on her economic conditions, of course; not at all thinking within the realm of any personal or emotional relationships with her boss. After all, not only was he younger; he appeared to be happily married to a beautiful redhead, if the wedding ring he wore and the pictures on his desk and behind him on the wall were to be believed.

The desk photos included a happy smiling couple hugging each other, one at a scenic overlook and the other in an old downtown setting. The wall photo was strange, though; this one depicted the young wife in what looked like sexy night wear holding a framework made of what appeared to be white wooden lattices of some sort. If Jennifer had figured it all out correctly, the young woman was smiling seductively through what might be a makeshift window frame.

Brad’s comment of, “Really?” brought her back to the here and now.

“Yes,” Jennifer said sheepishly; embarrassed at having been caught with her attention drifting. “Before the divorce, our family used to go camping and fishing quite a bit.” Jennifer smiled as she remembered the good times when the children were younger. Then the smile left her face as she thought of how her ex-husband, Rex Crandall, had given up on the marriage and had walked out on her ... and her children ... to be with another woman; and with whom he evidently had already been getting a lot of practice in baby-making activities.

Brad and Jennifer spent the next twenty minutes going over several pro forma questions and answers. Jennifer did not realize it yet, but Brad had already decided about two minutes into the interview that he was going to hire her.

Brad had never had a secretary before, but he realized that he needed to hire one in order to help him manage his time and all the paperwork associated with his new position. He had never been part of any hiring or selection processes before, except for being on the supplicant’s end of the action.

Thankfully, most of the initial screening had been done by HR. The HR Director had also made sure that, once the list of secretarial candidates had been determined, after screening qualifications from the résumés on file, Brad received proper guidance on how to set up his interviews.

Since well before the day that he and Jan had first had sex in his new office, Brad had made a few new professional and personal acquaintances within J.A.M. He had gotten into a routine now of going out to lunch and playing golf – a game he had picked up on in his last two years at South Bend – once in a while with other Division Chiefs and various other Managers; and, once in a while, one or more of the company’s executives.

In this quasi-business-slash-personal setting, Brad had met one of the bright young management stars of J.A.M. in the Engineering Division, Gregg Collins, a Purdue graduate. Having attended universities only a little over a hundred miles apart in Indiana, both Brad and Gregg naturally migrated toward each other. They also teased each other a bit about the rivalry of their schools.

Gregg Collins was evidently regarded by all the key members of the company management hierarchy as some sort of engineering genius. Since their initial meeting, Brad had stopped in once or twice in Engineering and spoken to Gregg on job-related issues, but they had not yet cultivated anything other than a passing ‘company friendship’ that included the routine lunches and occasional golf outings, usually hosted by Senior VPs Gene Kennedy and David Burton.

Brad had met Gregg’s secretary, Tina, several times, and had recently begun picking Gregg’s brain on what made a good secretary. Gregg had filled him in on just how great Tina was, and all that she did for him to make his job easier. Brad was impressed with the report on Tina that showed that she was a professional in everything that she did for Gregg. She was also quite a beauty, who very much resembled the actress, Jessica Stroup.

Thus, when Brad had begun the interview process with the four candidates from which he was picking, he was comparing each of them to his idea of which one would best match Tina for professional abilities and personality traits. And it would not hurt if the one he selected came close to Tina in the looks department.

The first three candidates that Brad had interviewed just did not seem to click with him. All three were professionally competent and reasonably attractive, but there was just something missing in their personalities. Brad had been certain that this sort of ‘disconnect’ would come back to bite him in the ass if he hired one of them.

Jennifer Crandall was the last candidate on Brad’s list for consideration. She was a beautiful hazel-eyed brunette who resembled a slightly older version of the young actress, Justine Wachsberger. And, this time, there was good chemistry in the interview. Brad was very happy to conclude that, once the interview was complete, he would be able to notify HR that he had decided to hire Jennifer Crandall as his new secretary.

Brad smiled to himself as he told Jennifer of his decision over the phone the next day following their face-to-face formal interview. He had called her at home, since she was only a temp here, and also currently still a part-time employee over at Woodchuck Cider. Today was one of the days she had indicated that she would be at home. Her squeal of delight at hearing that he wanted to hire her brought a moment of satisfaction and joy to Brad’s heart.

“Look,” Brad said to her, “why don’t we meet for a business lunch – on me?” He did not know of the woman’s financial situation, but he did not want to make her uncomfortable about having lunch out.

“Then,” Brad continued before she could object, “we could discuss some of the details involved with the job; how I work, how I think, etc.

“And, by having this discussion over lunch on a beautiful day like today, out on the sidewalk in front of the place,” Brad had already identified the quaint sandwich shop in downtown Middlebury where he wanted to meet, “it will be more relaxing and we can get better acquainted without the distractions of the office.”

Jennifer answered quickly, “That would be great! Oh, Mr. Pittman, thank you so much; and you won’t be sorry. I’ll be the best secretary...” Jennifer would have gone on and on with her excited response to his call if Brad had not interrupted her, all the while smiling at the exuberance in her voice over the phone.

“Look, Ms ... uh ... Jennifer,” Brad responded, “I want you to call me ‘Brad’ here in and around our offices. I want you to be more of a co-worker who just happens to handle the administrative support for me, rather than a subservient slave to a brutal taskmaster.”

Jennifer was quickly developing a level of trust in this nice-looking young promising executive; a trust that allowed her to overcome some of her initial shyness with him. “Okay, I’ll be there ... uh ... Brad. I am so looking forward to doing well in this job. I want to prove to you and to everyone else that I can do this.”

“Hey,” Brad said with a smile. “I’m sure that you will do well. I’ll see you at noon.” Hearing her respond in the positive, he hung up and smiled as he resumed his work at the brand new twin-monitor thin-client computer workstation that had been installed in his office just days earlier.

Brad waited until Jennifer had arrived at the little restaurant and they had both been seated. He waited until the female ‘server’, as the waiters and waitresses were being called these days, took their sandwich orders before he allowed the discussion to begin.

Brad asked her, “So, Jennifer, can you let me in on some of the challenges that you face as a young single mom of two teenagers?”

Jennifer’s smile suddenly fell and she could not help releasing a sob as she began to cry quietly. She had been bottling up the tension she had felt in anticipation of hearing of the hiring outcome for this job; and it all came pouring out right then.

‘Whoa! I wasn’t expecting that!’ Brad thought. He was momentarily frozen in place. But he shook it off and grabbed a handful of napkins and rushed around the table to try to comfort Jennifer by placing a warm and calming hand on her shoulder as he handed them to her.

Jennifer accepted the napkins from Brad and wiped her tears and blew her nose, letting out with a short honk that caused both of them to chuckle; him with sympathetic amusement, and her with a sigh of embarrassment.

Chapter 3 »