Chapter 6: More Apologies

June 28, 1992, Chicago, Illinois

I had no idea what to say in response to Noel’s offer of an apology. I had no information as to what was said by who to whom, or what specifically he was apologizing for. Perhaps it had been a mistake to tell Keri not to let me know about any calls from Lisa Glass and tell Jeri not to talk to me about it before Monday. The best I could do would be to simply acknowledge him and see what he had to say.

“I’m listening. Go on.”

“It appears that the person who lied wasn’t you, but Lisa Glass. I spoke with Alec Glass and Jeri Lundgren, and from what I can tell, whatever it was that Lisa said to Samantha wasn’t true. Nobody was specific on the details, only that, as far as either of them can tell, you did nothing wrong.”

“I accept your apology. How is Samantha?”

“Angry at Lisa and very upset in general.”

“Do I have your permission to speak with her?”

He laughed, “Yes. I really am sorry about not giving you a chance to explain your side of the story, though I’m not sure you could have any more than Alec or Jeri did. Do you know what Lisa said or did?”

However Alec and Jeri had managed to convince Noel that Lisa was the problem, what they hadn’t done was talk about her cheating. That was an interesting development and I wondered what had happened over the course of the week. I also wondered what that meant for my future relationship with Samantha. I didn’t think we could go back to where we’d been because of Jessica and Kara, and I wasn’t sure it would be wise to do that at this point. What I didn’t know was what Samantha was thinking.

“I think Samantha will have to share that with you, if she’s willing,” I said. “Is she available?”

“She’s out with her mother right now. I expect them back within the hour. I’m not sure if she’ll talk to you, though. I asked her to call you and she said she didn’t feel like it.”

“Let her know that we spoke, and that I’d like to speak to her, soon. And that I’ll listen to whatever she has to say.”

“Maybe it would be best if you talked face to face. Would you be available for dinner on the 10th or 11th?”

I checked my desk calendar.

“The 10th would work,” I said.

“Come to our house at 6:00pm.”

“Only if Samantha agrees that I should, and is willing to talk.”

“I understand. I’ll have to let you know.”

“Thanks, Mr. Spurgeon. I appreciate the call.”

I hung up and sat quietly for a bit deciding what do to. Calling Jeri made the most sense, but I also wondered if I should just wait until Monday morning. Given that I’d been gone for six work days, I was going to have a lot of work to do on Monday, so it made more sense to try to take care of it immediately. I went to find Kara, who was in the sunroom with the kids.

“That was Samantha’s dad on the phone. It appears that Alec Glass and Jeri Lundgren convinced him that Lisa was the source of the problem, not me. But he apparently doesn’t know the details.”

“Did you talk to Samantha?”

“No. He said she’s pretty upset, and I believe it. I’m going to dinner at their house on the 10th. Well, assuming she wants to talk to me.”

“What do you intend to do?”

“Be her friend. I made a big mistake by getting that deeply involved with someone who was so immature. Lesson learned.”

“She’s a really sweet girl who is going to need a lot of help.”

“I know. One step at a time. I’m not sure she’s going to even talk to me at this point. I suspect she’s beating herself up for running off with a friend of hers in Monaco based on Lisa’s lies. But we’ll worry about that if and when she’s willing to talk to me. Do you mind if I call Jeri now? I’d rather get it out of the way today. Tomorrow is going to be insane at work.”

“Sure. I’m just relaxing and watching the kids. Jesse, Nicholas, and Matthew are with Peter and Nicky. Dave and Julia took them all to the park this afternoon. Michael and Albert are playing downstairs, so I just have the girls here with me.”

“Thanks, Honey.”

I went back to my office and dialed Jeri’s condo. Howard answered and after I answered his question about our vacation, he put Jeri on the line.

“I heard from Noel Spurgeon a few minutes ago,” I said. “Obviously something happened after the last time I spoke with you.”

“Lisa was trapped because she had to tell her dad about the engagement being called off. I don’t know the exact details of what she said, but she tried to blame John. But Alec called John and asked him bluntly what had happened. From what I can tell, Alec had known about Lisa’s escapades since she was fifteen, and so believed what John told him.”

“I warned her about not telling the truth,” I said. “I’m glad Alec accepted John’s word. I told you what I was going to do if she didn’t tell the truth. She’s totally screwed herself. I assume the wedding is still off?”

“Very much so! John knew Lisa had been pretty free with her affection before they started dating. It was the stuff after that he couldn’t accept.”

“So now what?” I asked.

Jeri sighed, “I tried to talk to Samantha again, but she’s not talking to anyone right now.”

“Her dad invited me to dinner on the 10th. Hopefully by then she’ll be willing to talk to me.”

“Are you going to take her back?”

“I’m not sure I can or should,” I said. “I’m sure you can imagine that Jessica and Kara aren’t very happy with the whole thing, and the three of us agreed on the plan to withdraw from all social events, at least for the summer. The environment is simply too toxic.”

“That’s going to raise eyebrows and cause trouble,” Jeri warned.

“I can’t do it, Jeri. Not now. My wives and I will reevaluate everything at the end of the summer. If you recall, YOU told me how horrible it was and only agreed to go to three or four a year before you decided on your takeover plan.”

“One you encouraged!”

“As a solution to your overall problem, yes. For July and August, I need to focus on family, work, and friends. I’ll be at the July and August board meetings. But that’s all.”

“OK,” she sighed. “Did you talk to Lisa?”

“No,” I said. “I left strict instructions at work not to bother me for her, period. And beyond the real estate deal, I don’t think there’s any real reason to talk to her.”

“I can see your point, but don’t wreck the business contacts over this personal issue.”

“Business IS personal for me, and you know it!” I said firmly. “But Alec and I are fine. And I guess I am with Noel Spurgeon, too.”

“He likes you and thinks there will be plenty of opportunities to do business together,” Jeri said.

“I’m not sure what those would be,” I said. “But as Al Barton always reminds me, having lots of interdisciplinary friends is a good thing.”

“He’s right.”

“There is one other thing I need an answer to,” I said.

“Did Samantha lie to you about her situation?”

“Yes. The answer to THAT question could have fairly big consequences.”

“Because if she lied, you’ll assume I lied,” Jeri said warily. “And you won’t be able to trust me.”

“Correct. There’s enough circumstantial evidence to go either way. I suggest if you know that Samantha lied you tell me right now so we can deal with it. If I find out later, you won’t like the consequences any more than I will.”

“Don’t threaten me!” Jeri growled.

“Threaten? Oh it’s no threat. It’s a promise. A promise from a ruthless bastard.”

The silence on the other end of the line was another small piece of evidence that Samantha had lied and that Jeri had known. And even more reason to simply stay away from the toxic environment. I wondered if I should just cancel the dinner with Noel Spurgeon, but in the end, I wanted to hear directly from Samantha what her version of the events was. And hopefully, some truth.

“Whatever happened or happens between you and Samantha should stay between the two of you. It shouldn’t affect your business any more than what Lisa did to John should affect his firm, or what Lisa did to you should affect the REIT deal.”

If there were more damning words ever uttered, I had no idea what they might have been.

“I only employ people I trust and respect,” I said.

“And you’ve said often that everyone deserves a second chance. And I’m not just talking about work, either.”

“Samantha? Lisa?”

“What have you said about people doing you wrong? Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, the third time it’s enemy action?”

“Yes,” I sighed. “What are you telling me?”

“Talk to Samantha. Don’t do anything else until you do.”

“Assuming she’ll talk to me.”

There was silence, so I said ‘goodbye’ and hung up. The two conversations, especially the one with Jeri, had some serious implications for me personally, and for NIKA. The immediate question was whether or not I should talk to anyone about it. Elyse would be the logical person, though given that Jeri was on Dave’s team, talking to him might be necessary. I didn’t think Jeri would cause any trouble at work, so, in the end, I decided to wait to see what Samantha had to say.

June 29, 1992, Chicago, Illinois

“Welcome back!” Kimmy exclaimed happily when I arrived at the office on Monday morning.

She jumped up and gave me a quick hug.

“Thanks,” I replied. “I take it the world didn’t end while I was away?”

“Nope! Everything is under control! You have a bunch of messages, but nothing urgent. Lisa Glass asked to speak to you the minute you walked in.”

“Lisa Glass can wait. I need to check my other messages, my e-mail and, my regular mail, then hold the staff meeting.”

“What are you doing on the 17th?” she asked with a smirk.

“Nothing that I’m aware of, why?”

“I wondered if you wanted to come to my bachelorette party!” she said with a wink.

“And just what would I do at a bachelorette party?” I grinned, playing along.

“Why, entertain a dozen cute young girls all of whom will have had too much to drink! I’m sure you’d be UP for it!” she giggled.

“I think Gary should have skipped his training course at Johns Hopkins last week,” I chuckled.

“I guess that’s a ‘no’, then,” she giggled. “I suppose the Chippendales are a decent second choice!”

“Is everything set for your wedding and honeymoon?” I asked, trying to return the conversation to a more serious level.

“Yep! Mom took care of the last details. You guys will be at the wedding, right?”

“Absolutely! Now, let me take care of a few things before the staff meeting.”

I walked to my office and found Penny at her desk already. She was a bit earlier than usual, but she was due in about five weeks, and was having trouble getting comfortable in bed. I kissed her on the cheek and sat down.

“You’re not going to meet the ‘Jaeger Challenge’, I guess.”

She laughed, “No. This baby is due about two weeks after Amber’s birthday. But I sure wouldn’t mind being a week or so early. The ninth month is the PITS!”

“I have no personal experience on which to draw,” I grinned.

She stuck her tongue out at me and I decided not to take the bait. I went through my messages, e-mail, and postal mail, sorting or flagging things based on urgency. I’d just finished when it was time for the staff meeting. After the usual reports, we discussed the status of the BLS integration project.

“The first thing to say,” Elyse said, “is that we’re seeing maintenance revenue from the BLS clients who pay monthly, which helps offset some of our costs. Kimmy prepared the analysis because I was out, and it shows we’ve had a 93% uptake in maintenance from old BLS customers. That’s slightly above our 90% projection. We’ve converted about 8% of the customers, at this point, and the conversion process is picking up speed now that we have a good set of procedures informed by experience.

“As you all are aware, the bulk of revenue will come from annual maintenance plans. Based on input from Cindi’s team, we think we’ll have a better than 80% uptake from BLS customers. Cindi will provide details in her report, but that’s based on clients we expect to lose, as well as clients who historically didn’t pay for maintenance. If we hit that mark, then based on our projected support expenses, we’ll be in the black with regard to BLS after January 1.”

“Elyse, does that include the payments on the note that Jeri holds?” I asked.

“Yes. The support revenue from the monthly customers covers that now, but obviously we have two support staff and one programmer to cover as well.”

“Do you still plan to direct all of that excess revenue to replenish our reserves?” Julia asked.

“I think we have to,” Elyse said. “In fact, right now that’s where all the profit has to go. I discussed this with Steve, and we won’t approve any expansion plans until the capital reserves are replenished to what we consider a safe level.”

“And staff bonuses?” Mario asked through the conference phone.

“Those aren’t affected by anything other than profit numbers,” Elyse said. “This year is not going to be profitable, in my estimation, based on the capital outlay we have to make to prepare the new building. If we exclude the special expenses for that, then we’d be profitable. Steve has something to say about that.”

“I discussed with Joyce the idea of authorizing a special share distribution in lieu of bonus next year. I know it’s not the same, but we have to be careful about expenses. What we WILL allow is staff to sell their shares from that distribution back to NIKA at the end of following calendar year. So that would mean they could exchange them for cash in December of 1993, if they elected to do so.”

“We’ll also pay a small cash bonus,” Elyse said. “But only to staff, not management. But it’s going to be a token amount.”

“I don’t foresee any serious complaints,” Barbara said through the conference phone. “Will you share the financial report with everyone so they can see why this happened?”

“Yes,” I said. “Transparency builds trust. If everything goes as planned, or even close, we’ll be even more profitable in 1993 and bonus paid in 1994 will return to a more typical level.”

“If anyone doesn’t understand the costs associated with growing our customer base by 40% literally overnight, and needing new office space, I’m not sure we can explain anything to them,” Zeke said.

“People respond in strange ways when money is involved,” Elyse said.

“This doesn’t affect the bonuses we’re distributing at the staff party on the 3rd, right?” Julia said.

“Correct,” Elyse said. “That money was segregated back in February after we closed out the books for 1991. The only question is when we tell staff about next year.”