Chapter 18

Ron and Brenda stayed in the hotel until Sunday afternoon. Ron insisted that she pickup clothes to wear for work and bring them back to Ron's house. She gathered enough clothes to wear for work for about a week. Brenda picked up her clothes and followed Ron back to his house in her own car and they spent the day relaxing on the porch, looking out over the lake.

Brenda left for work a few minutes before Ron. Ron made a few phone calls and left for Howell about 30 minutes later. Ron pulled into the parking lot and saw that Brenda had found a spot close to the building. Howell did not have assigned parking spots. He got his briefcase out of the back of the Expedition and walked toward the office building.

"Good morning Mr. Simpson," the receptionist said with a big grin.

Ron walked to his office and left with dismay at the pile of paperwork on his desk. His secretary came into his office and told him that Sam Howell wanted to see him and Brenda immediately. Ron picked up a file that he had been working on before his flight to Alaska and started for Sam's office. Everyone that Ron passed grinned at him. Ron didn't know if they were just happy that he had survived the plane crash or if something was going on. As he approached Sam's office he saw Brenda with a huge crowd of people around her and he knew why people were grinning at him.

"My God. That's a huge stone," he heard someone say.

Ron stood until Brenda saw him and he motioned for her to follow him. She walked to him with a sheepish grin on her face. They walked into Sam's office and Sam's secretary told them to go right in.

"What the Hell is going on out there? Nobody's working." Sam asked.

Brenda held up her left hand and showed Sam her ring.

"Is that what I think it is? Sam dropped his head on his desk, "My God, I don't think the world is ready for this."

Sam walked around the desk and grabbed Brenda and hugged her and reached around her and took Ron's hand. Brenda had to wiggle out of his grasp to keep from being crushed.

Sam went back behind his desk and Ron and Brenda sat down. Sam just sat and stared at them for several minutes. Ron was uneasy and Brenda just grinned.

Finally Sam spoke, "Well, this makes it easier for me. I told you that I had something to drop on you. As you know Sarah and I are building a new house on the farm in Virginia. I want to spend some time with Sarah and enjoy life for a while. I decided to ask you two to take over the company, maybe as CEO and COO, and run it for me. I will remain as chairman of the board, but I don't want to get so involved that I have to spend a lot of time here. I want you to run the company and keep me out of it as much as possible. I made a mistake not spending more time with Alice and now it's too late. I'm not going to make that mistake with Sarah. Do you two think you can run this outfit without killing each other?"

Ron and Brenda looked at each other and smiled, "I don't think we'll have too much trouble."

Sam spent the rest of the day outlining where he thought the company should go and what needed to be done to make his exit smooth. Ron and Brenda concurred with most of his thoughts and added some ideas of their own. Brenda asked Sam if he had ever considered a research function for the company. Sam asked her to flesh out the idea and present a formal plan to the board. Sam told her that he knew that oil would slowly become a smaller and smaller part of their business.

The meeting dragged on until Sam's secretary poked her head in the door and told Sam that she was leaving for the day. Sam stood up and told Ron and Brenda that he would meet with them in the morning and go over a timetable for their takeover.

Most of the employees had left for the day when Ron and Brenda left the office.

"Why don't you leave your car here?" Ron asked her. "We'll have to be here tomorrow for the meeting with Sam. We have to get home. I have someone coming over at 8 o'clock."

Brenda got in Ron's car and they headed for the house. Ron stopped at a carryout and got something for dinner. Ron was silent for most of the ride home and Brenda was lost in her own thoughts. The day had gone very different than she could have expected. Con-Oil was no longer in her plans. She had called them the first thing that morning and removed herself from consideration for the position of vice-president.

Ron pulled into the garage and they walked into the house. They ate dinner and discussed how they would set up their duties at Howell. Brenda started talking about her idea of a research facility. A car coming up the driveway interrupted her.