Chapter 18

Deena’s turn:

“Oh, sure. You tick off the head of the Engineering Department and then you throw me in there like throwing a bone to a pack of wolves,” I said. I was faking. I did this in front of Dad, for the benefit of him and Haley. I have to keep ‘em off balance or they’ll take advantage of me.

“I TOLD you,” Haley sighed, feigning enough exasperation as was necessary to counterbalance my theatrics, “he’s talking about making us students here and at Auburn. Mizz Aneeta is coming next week. They’ll iron something out. Besides, I think that Cindy’s flying her here. Can you imagine him seeing Cindy?”

Bill laughed. “I can’t imagine ME seeing Cindy.”

‘She’s a doll, Dad,” I said. “You can’t help but like ‘er.”

“I know,” Bill said. “Improbable.”

Haley’s turn:

Next day. The waiting was killing me. Finally, I called Carlita.

“Hello, Haley,” she said.

“Hi, Lita. I’m going crazy. I need help.”

“Send Deena off somewhere. Grab your husband by the hand...”

My turn to giggle. “Poor thing’s almost dead...”

“Oh. Then there IS a problem. Tell me what is on your mind.”

I love her accent.

“Mizz Aneeta – Doctor Patel – is supposed to be flying in early next week with Cindy Richards.”

“We know ... Brindy has made reservations at a good restaurant for ALL of us. I was going to call YOU this evening and tell you. I do hope you can come...”

“Absolutely. But before then ... Tomorrow? Us? My bunch and your bunch. Pick a place?”

She named a restaurant. “I will have them reserve a table for us. Now, are you SURE that the status of me and my Dave and my Brindy is not an issue?”

“Lita, I have cousins who would blow your mind ... I think one of ‘em’s daddy is his uncle, too ... No, we talked. We do NOT have a problem...”

“That is good. I love my family. We may be different, but we are together and I am protective.”

“As well you should be, Lita. So what time?”

“Not too late. Is six okay?”

“Great. We’ll be there.”

I picked up Deena after school. I’m starting to grouse about fighting the after-school crowd with all the traffic. I mean, before, by the time I got out of the high school and fought through the traffic to get to the middle school, their rush was over. Now I’m in the middle of the stampede.

Deena jumps into the car quickly. “You look aggravated.”

“Traffic,” I said.

“Gotcha,” she countered. “Wanna go visit the new office?”

“Bill’s there,” I said.

“Let’s go. I’ll call ‘im and tell ‘im we’re on the way.”

She called. Chatted. Hung up. “He says he’s got somebody we need to meet.”

I know we’re hiring for several positions, so that’s probably it.

When we pulled into the parking lot, there was Bill’s SUV and another car; a conservative little blue Honda.

We walked in to find Bill talking with a lady in her early twenties, maybe.

“Here’s my wife and daughter,” Bill said. “Haley’s my wife. Deena’s my daughter. This is Maddie.”

“Hi,” Maddie said. “I used to be Maddie Reynolds. I’m Maddie LeBlanc now.”

Frankly I’m a bit taken aback. Normally when Bill introduces me as his wife, we get at least a visible eyebrow raise or something. This is a mystery.

However, it’s a quickly solved mystery.

“Maddie’s a refugee from the 3Sigma Alabama campus.”

“I went to Auburn with Nikki and Cindy and Susan and ... Plus, I was a part-timer at the office. Trained under Beck. Degree in accounting and business administration.”

“Ahhhh,” I smiled. “The tendrils branch widely.”

She smiled. “Nikki told me you were opening an office here and suggested that perhaps I might have a tiny advantage in the hiring process.”

Deena giggled. “You think?”

I had to say what I’d been told. “You’re the Maddie with the ‘catch and release’ program?”

She giggled. “Yeah, I’m famous. Dated the whole time I was at Auburn then came home and married a Cajun I worked with when I was interning for Dad.”

“So Dad’s hiring you?” Deena asked. She eyed Bill. “Or is that a company secret?”

“No, baby,” he said. “We’re hiring her. I got the okay at the same time that I got the call that Nikki was sending her over.”

I surveyed Maddie. Young. Cute. Intelligent. And she’s worked around Nikki and Cindy and hadn’t run off screaming into the veldt, so ... First, I’m glad she’s married. Second, I’m VERY glad she’s Cindy-approved. “Uh, baby, we AGREED that if you hired a female she’d have to be over fifty and overweight with a huge mole next to her nose.”

Bill gulped. Maddie tittered. Deena laughed outright.

“My boss has nothing to worry about,” Maddie laughed. “I mean, he’s got YOU! And Nikki says...”

“Here we go,” Bill laughed. “Alan told me that Maddie might well be connected telepathically to Cindy and Nikki.”

“Could be,” Maddie flashed. “But I prefer a track of email to maintain a sense of normalcy.”

“So,” I questioned, “is your husband coming to work here, too?”

“Oh, no,” Maddie said. “He’s a field engineer for the company Dad works for. Doesn’t know ANYTHING about what 3Sigma does.”

“Oh, okay,” I said. “So next question – celebratory dinner?”

“How about Saturday? We’re kinda committed until then.”

“I’ll block it in,” I said, realizing that if she’d said ‘tonight’ it would’ve collided with the meeting we’d scheduled with Carlita and Dave and Brindy.

Maddie’s going to start in two weeks. She says she owes her former employer the courtesy of not abruptly leaving.

“It’s not because I’m that loyal to a huge, mindless corporation,” she told us. “I just can’t dump that load on the people who I’ve been working with for the last few months.”

“She left Auburn hoping 3Sigma would open an office down here,” Bill said.

Maddie giggled. “I might’ve had something to do with it being here. Just a tiny input. You don’t understand how much I wanted to get back in with this bunch.”

So we got us a Maddie.

Onward. It’s time to meet the legendary Carlita face to face.

We went home, freshened up. Bill’s in his ‘respectable engineer’ knit shirt, the kind of thing he says will work for field visits and such. I’ve seen him in a shirt and tie. I’ve seen him in a suit. This is good. He looks like a confident, well-educated middle aged man. Who just happens to have a sixteen year old wife.

We got to the restaurant just a few minutes early. Went in. Bill asked the hostess for the Johnson table.

“They’re back here,” she said.

We followed her though a busy restaurant. This place is not a chain. It’s noted by the locals as a place to get good food.

There’s the table. Sandy-haired guy, looking a bit younger than Bill. He could be anybody. Next to him, though, around the round table for six, there’s this little dark-haired thing, bright-eyed, smiling. On the other side is a slightly taller girl, brunette, blue eyed. The guy in the middle is a possession.

Chairs scooted back. Dave and Bill shook hands, like you’d expect of a couple of well-mannered adult males to do. We girls did a squealing group hug.

“Cindy’s pictures do not tell how cute you are,” Carlita said.

“You neither,” I returned. “Both of you.”

“I’m the quiet one,” Brindy said. “Deena, how do you fit?”

“I’m the precocious daughter,” Deena quipped.

Bill introduced us to Mister Dave. I called him that.

“Just Dave, please,” he said.

I introduce Bill to Carlita and Brindy. We sit down, grab a couple of appetizers for the table. And drinks. That’s kind of laughable. The guys are the only ones old enough to order alcohol. Each of them gets a mug of beer. We all get soft drinks. And the conversation rolls.

We push the two guys together so they can talk business. Brindy and Carlita slide close to me and Deena and it’s all about college. Brindy’s way behind. Not stupid, by any means. She’s running a very respectable grade average, but she’s taking every class, one at a time, just like a thousand other students.

“It’s gonna take me four years,” Brindy said. “I manage to test out of a few classes, with Lita tutoring me, but I have to take most of them. Lita just leaps all over them.”

Carlita’s leaping. “That’s what you’ll do,” she says. “When are you starting?”

“Mizz Aneeta’s coming in next week to talk with Doctor Seavers,” I said. “I think Cindy’s flying her.”

“Yes, we’ve been emailed by Cindy. We’re going to need a bigger table,” Brindy said.

“I suppose we’ll start on the non-traditional work as soon as Auburn and Doctor Seavers reach an agreement. We’ll pick up some traditional classes when the spring semester begins,” I told them.

“I may have some books you can use,” Brindy injected.

“I’d love that,” Deena said. “If we take the same classes, you know.”

“Yeah,” Brindy replied, “I can see where we might not cross paths that often.”

That was most of the conversation for the evening – school for us, work for the guys. I paid attention, though, to the dynamics of interaction between Dave and Lita and Brindy and that includes THREE identical wedding bands. I thought that to be a subtle move on their part.

We parted ways in the parking lot. I’m left with a lot of questions, for sure, but less of them are about school than they are about our new friends.

In the car, Deena started things off. “Positive meeting, I think.”

“I think so,” I said. “Lita sounds like she’s in control of her life.”

“And Brindy just seems serene,” Deena bounced back. “Dad, you’re not saying anything.”

“I dunno if he’s gonna quit his job. He’s got it good. Better than I had it.”