Chapter 7

Week 3 - Friday

Okay, so I thought yesterday was bad. Today was even worse. Not only did I have the budget to work on, I also had the anticipation of my date with Missy.

I got a call from Phil right after I got back from my morning coffee.

"Well, I think your problems are solved," he told me. "We caught Al Jackson soliciting a bribe from your friend's company. Al is no longer with us. I talked to the buyers in the department and all of them say that Al told them who to buy from. I tend to believe them."

"Good, Phil. I'm sorry this is going to leave you short-handed, though."

"Not to worry. I have someone I think can take over the department," Phil said. "I talked with our attorney, and he tends to agree with you. He doesn't seem to think there's much chance of recovering anything."

"Well, at least we shouldn't be having the problem in the future. Thanks for your help on this, Phil."

"You're welcome. By the way, Al implicated Pete as being in on this. I'm giving Mike a call as soon as we hang up."

I didn't see Missy at lunch. I found out later, that she was out buying a dress for our date. Brenda ate with me, and we talked about the purchasing situation. She also used the opportunity to tease me about my date with Missy.

Marty came by in the afternoon and asked me if I could put off entering R&D's information into my budget until Tuesday. He said he had some things he'd like to change around. I told him that would be fine.

I had made reservations at The Cattleman's for seven o'clock, so I picked Missy up at six-thirty. She was gorgeous. While she had been working as a secretary, she had worn dresses, or skirts and blouses. They were nice, but not elegant. After she moved to R&D, she had started wearing jeans and blouses.

The dress Missy had on this evening, almost knocked my socks off. It was a deep, wine red, and was low cut in the back. It was low enough in the front that you could definitely tell she was a woman. The dress covered everything it should have covered, but it left you wishing you could see just a little bit more.

"You look ravishing," I told her as I helped her into the car.

She gave me a big smile and said, "You don't look half bad yourself."

The Cattleman's is one of the nicest steakhouses in the area. We had a nice table and our conversation flowed as we ordered and then waited for our food. As if by an unspoken agreement, we didn't talk about work at all.

"How old are you, Ed," Missy asked.

"I just turned thirty, Missy. I'm probably far too old for you."

Missy giggled and said, "Well, you are an old fart. I'm only twenty-five."

"Old fart, huh? We'll see about that. Let's just see if you can keep up with me when we start dancing."

"I love to dance. I've never had much chance to do it though. I've really only had one boyfriend in my life, so I never had a partner."

"Only one boyfriend? I'd have thought you'd have had boys falling all over themselves wanting a date with you as pretty as you are."

"Well, I don't know if I should tell you all this, because it might scare you off. I was a lot younger than the other kids in my class when I was in high school. I graduated from high school when I was fifteen."

"In your personnel records, it said you got your engineering degree from MIT when you were twenty-two. I know MIT is tough, but did it take you seven years to get your degree?"

"Well, Mom and Dad didn't want me to leave home to go to college when I was fifteen. I had a scholarship from MIT, but they insisted I go to Ball State and live at home. So, I went to Ball State first."

"Then you transferred to MIT?"

"Not exactly. I got a degree in management at Ball State and graduated when I was eighteen. Then I talked to the people at MIT and found out I could still get a partial scholarship from them, so I went on to MIT."

"So, you have both a management degree and an engineering degree?"

"Well, yes. I also have a master's degree in management."

"Geez, Missy. I am humbled."

"You shouldn't be. I happen to know you finished first in your class at Stanford. That's no mean accomplishment. You were also VP of a Fortune 1000 company before you were thirty. You have nothing to be ashamed of."

I laughed. "You said you might scare me off. I should warn you, I find brains to be very sexy."

Missy giggled. "Are the brains you are talking about raw or cooked?"

"Okay, I should have said I find intelligence very sexy."

"So do I."

We enjoyed our steaks when the waiter brought them, then after one more glass of wine, we moved to the lounge, where we could hear the band getting warmed up. We ordered a glass of white wine for Missy and a Bass Ale for me.

We sat out the opening number, which was one of those songs you just couldn't find a rhythm you could dance to. When the second song started, I extended my hand to Missy and we made our way to the floor. It was a fast song with a good beat and we really got into it.

The next song was also a fast one, and I was feeling it by the time it ended. Then they started playing "Wind Beneath My Wings".

Missy melted into my arms. God, she felt good. My hand was resting on her bare back, and her head was resting against my shoulder as we moved to the music.

Next, they played "The Rose", which is another nice slow song to dance to. The band was a good one and they played a mix of music that included songs from the last fifty years and included rock, pop, and country.

We were in heaven. Sometimes we talked as we danced. Other times we just cuddled together. All in all it was a great evening, and I never wanted it to end.

When I finally took Missy home, I walked her to her door. Without hesitation, I kissed her goodnight. It was a long, tender, loving kiss. It wasn't passionate, but it held a lot of promise.

Week 3 - Saturday

I spent another day with Jillian. The only problem, was my mind was on Missy all day. I talked with Jillian for a while about Missy, and she seemed thrilled that I was seeing someone.

Week 4 - Monday

I had asked Brenda on Friday to find some place for us to have a meeting of the entire engineering department at 9:00 this morning. The only place she could find that would hold all of us, was the cafeteria. I asked all of my managers to meet me there at 8:30. Brenda and the four department managers arrived on time.

"The reason I called for a meeting this morning, was primarily to inform everyone of the change in management in R&D. For your information only, I'll tell you that the reason for the change, is that R&D has been stagnating. We need to see new approaches and new technologies coming out of R&D. Under Jim Shear, that just wasn't happening."

"The rumor mill says that you wanted Shear out of the department, because he was upset that you are dating Missy Gerard," Mel said.

I knew it would be an issue.

I smiled at Mel and said, "No, if I had been going to do something about the fact that Shear accused me of letting my relationship with Missy influence my judgment about his department, I'd have fired his ass on the spot. Instead, I'm letting him have a chance to work as a Project Manager for a while, so that he can better understand the problems the installation and commissioning people are facing in the field."

"So, you're not denying that you have a relationship with Missy?" Mel asked.

"No, Mel. I'm not denying it. I had my first date with Missy on Friday evening. I certainly hope it's not my last date with her. I will guarantee all of you and especially you, Marty, that I will not allow any relationship that might develop with Missy to sway my dealings with your departments. Missy is a very bright young woman. At the age of twenty-five, she has an electrical engineering degree from MIT. She has a degree in business management from Ball State. She also has a master's degree in management from... Ahh, I don't think she told me where her master's degree is from, only that she has one."

"Very impressive," Marty said. "I know Missy, and I'm sure we're not going to have any problems."

"I don't know about that," I laughed. "You may bump heads. If you do, you're both on your own. Shear didn't like her because he said she was too aggressive in pushing for new ideas."

"Ah, a girl after my own heart," Marty quipped. "It's too bad that I'm married and she's taken."

We all got a laugh out of that. Then we saw that people were beginning to file in. I went and got myself another cup of coffee while we were waiting for all of them to arrive.

As I was walking back to my table, I saw Missy come in. She gave me a big smile, so I winked at her and went over to the table where she had seated herself.

"Missy, could you hang around after the meeting, please? I'd like to go over a few things with you and Marty."

"Sure, Ed, I'll see you then."

I waited until everyone was seated, then I got up and faced the room.

"Ladies and gentlemen," I said. "I've called you all together this morning so I could make a couple of announcements."

I waited while everyone quieted down, then I went on.

"Jim Shear has been head of our R&D department for quite a few years. He is going to be moving into Project Management, at least for a while."

I saw Jim watching me, and I was ready to throw him a bone.

"I haven't talked with Jim about this as yet; but at some point, after he has gotten his feet wet, I would expect he will take over as manager of the Project Managers.

"As of this morning, our new R&D Manager is Marty Dunn. I'm sure that Marty would be pleased to hear what any or all of you have to say about how our products could be improved.

"Unfortunately, I also have to tell you some bad news, in order to quell the wild rumors that are flying around. Jim Belmont has been terminated. This termination was due to an investigation I conducted, in response to allegations by several of our installers. It was alleged that Jim was not spending any time at job sites, while he was supposed to be working with these installers."

I waited for a reaction, but there wasn't one.

"Most of the engineers in this group are required to spend some time on-site for every job we do. I want it to be understood that this means you will be at the job site, not back in your hotel room, or off doing personal business. If I call a job site, I want the installer to be able to find you, and have you on the phone within ten minutes. That means you have to keep the installer informed as to where you are. I called the meeting today to pass this information to you.

"I think it would be a good idea for us to meet once a month, from now on. At these meetings, the managers and I will pass on any information we might have. I would also like for all of you to be thinking about concerns and issues you'd like for us to address. Let your manager know a week before the meeting, if possible, so we can have some time to investigate your concerns."

I looked around the room and decided to add one more thing.

"For your information, the problems we've been having with Purchasing substituting parts that are different from what you ordered, are finished. We're working to make things better for that department. There are other changes you'll be seeing in the near future, but I'm not ready to address them at this time. Thanks for coming. Now, let's get to work."