Chapter 95

THURSDAY MIDDAY — SEPTEMBER 26

... Dave grinned at him. "Pull over there in my slot," he said motioning to the parking area beside the building. I have some things I want to talk over with you — well, with you and my office manager.

Inside, a few minutes later, Dave ushered Jeff into a large corner office. There were two nice desks with high-backed leather chairs behind them — one chair much larger than the other. A long conference table paralleled one wall with ten chairs flanking it. The walls were paneled in a dark oak, but there were family pictures hung about and the obvious touch of a woman as well. Four leather chairs that subtly matched the executive chairs whose desk they faced, looked as comfortable as any Jeff had seen, with a smaller couch close by.

Several filing cabinets took up a corner, and a doorway opened into what Jeff presumed to be a bathroom. The carpet was an array of earth colors that blended with the colors of the office as well as being functional as people walked in from the surrounding equipment yard. Jeff could easily picture construction workers gathered around the big conference table, or sitting around the coffee table discussing a project. Although furnished nicely, it was definitely a working office.

Both desks had the usual accompaniments of that working office atmosphere, in addition to matching computer screens and keyboards. Two high-speed color laser printers sat behind the desks near the big picture window that looked out on the yard. One of the printers was obviously for extra wide paper. A plotter sat in a corner.

"Have a seat, Jeff. I'll get..."

"Well, the prodigal son returns," a woman in her mid fifties said as she walked in. Standing five foot three or so, dark auburn hair starting to gray, her body lean with small breasts and startlingly blue eyes that were sparkling with amusement, she carried three cups of coffee on a small tray. "If you had called ahead, I would have had your coffee maker going," she said, nodding to a small table in a corner where Dave and Evie's coffee pot sat.

"Carmen, I've told you that you don't have to wait on..."

"Oh, hush. You have poured me far more coffee over the years than I ever have for you," she said, sitting the tray on a small coffee table. "Now who is this hunk of manhood you've brought with you today?" she asked as she stood back erect.

Laughing, "This is Jeff Matthews, my boss. Boss, this person — next to my wife — has done more for me than probably anyone in this world..."

"Oh, now that's laying it on a little thick," she teased Dave, interrupting him and giving him a quick hug. "I'm Carmen DeSantos," she said, turning and putting out her hand to Jeff.

Grinning, instantly liking the woman, Jeff shook the proffered hand, not surprised at all as he felt her firm grip.

"So, you're the one who keeps him straight?" Jeff said.

"Well, Evie and I conspire on occasion. But mostly we manage to keep him tame. I've been anxious to meet the man who could hire him away from his own company."

"Well, it's not exactly like that," Jeff laughed as Dave ushered them to seats that he quickly arranged into a rough circle in front of the coffee table.

"He made us an offer we couldn't refuse," Dave laughed as he slid creamer and sweetener to Carmen. "He moved us into an apartment in the retreat on his mountain and pays us more than we are worth. We live in luxury beyond anything we could ever afford. Plus he became the closest friend I've ever had outside that little spitfire I'm married to, and you."

"And where is this 'little spitfire' that you've so inappropriately called that sweet wife of yours?"

"Well, she's at the ... dress shop with Diana," Dave said.

In another part of the office, Carmen's eighteen-year-old daughter, Kimberly, entered the ladies' restroom. Quickly stripping off her blouse, she slipped on the sweater that she had recently spent two weeks' pay on just for this moment. A pale blue, the soft material molded itself to her body, displaying her breasts nicely. Leaving the top two buttons undone, she checked her hair and retouched her makeup.

Just enough to make me seem a little more mature, she thought as she stepped back to better view herself. Turning, she checked how her skirt looked in the mirror. A few inches above the knee, it was office professional, yet displayed her legs and tight rear well.

I don't know why I keep doing this. He might as well be family. He probably thinks of me as his daughter. He's married to someone that I love almost as much as my mother, and I would never try to hurt Evie, but darnit, I want Dave to see me as a woman — a desirable woman. Dad stopped me from sitting in Dave's lap when I was fourteen — not "seemly" he said. But Dave is going to see me as a desirable woman today if there's any way I can make it happen. Momma isn't going to be pleased, but she'll just have to get over it.

Walking down the hallway to her desk, she picked up the box of doughnuts. As she turned, she caught a glimpse of her reflection in the glass of a picture. Oh, the sweater clings to my breasts like I'm nude. I hope I haven't overdone it. I don't want to come across as a slut.

Scolding the butterflies in her stomach, she put her shoulders back and walked toward Dave's office. Don't drop your teeth, Mom. Here I come.

Carmen frowned at Dave, "Dress shop? Evie? I've only seen her in a dress a couple of times. She was beautiful each time, but I can't imagine her bothering to buy something at a dress shop. I would have thought that she would go for something off the rack somewhere since she's so partial to jeans and hates to wear a dress, anyway."

"Well, this is a, uh ... special occasion. And she does wear a dress sometimes when we play. Usually a cowgirl outfit, though. I'll tell you about the dress shop thing, or she can."

"Hmmm," Carmen said looking over the brim of her cup as she took a sip. "Maybe I need to give her a call. The place isn't the same without her bursting through here with a new project and getting all of us enthused."

"Uh. I'll tell her she needs to come by and spend some time with you. We've been in and out, though."

"Yeah. But you hardly light before you're gone again. We miss you around here."

"Yeah, and I miss being here." After a moment, "Carmen, I need you to tell Jeff the things that you've been telling me..." As the look crossed Carmen's face, Dave quickly added, "I have no secrets from this man. Saying that he is as close as a brother is an understatement. I need you to talk about what's been going on."

"Well, remember now, I'm not positive — far from it. I have no proof, just mostly a gut feeling that things aren't right."

Dave crossed his legs, leaned back and looked at Jeff. "I guess I need to give you a little background, Jeff, so that you'll better understand." Taking a sip of coffee and exchanging a glance with Carmen, he continued. "Carmen's husband, Joshua, came to work for my dad. It wasn't long before Dad promoted him to foreman, and shortly after that Carmen came into the fold. She started out as a billing clerk. She knows the running of this business, at least from the paperwork and management end, better than anyone.

"She has a phenomenal memory and remembers prices for practically every item that we buy. At a glance, she can tell us whether we're being overcharged, and tell us where we can buy it at the best price. You have no conception of how important that one thing is to us, and she does everything she's involved with the same way. Suppliers, contacts, trends, you name it; we depend on her to keep our office, purchasing and billing going without errors. I could go on, but she's already giving me the eye," Dave laughed.

"He might be exaggerating there just a wee bit," Carmen said, smiling.

"Actually, I'm not," Dave broke in. "But that said, I want you to tell Jeff, well, at least summarize what we've been talking about lately."

"Let me ask you something first," Jeff interrupted before Carmen could start. At Dave's nod, Jeff said, "I've noticed that you refer to the guy or gal in charge as a foreman. That's what you called them at the barn, and you mentioned it last night when you talked to Fred. Do you have crew chiefs, or site managers, or..."

Dave broke in, chuckling. "You're using more modern terms, I guess. Remember my dad started this outfit many years ago when he was a young man. Back then, the person in charge of the job or crew was the foreman. We've stuck with the term. Probably crew chief or site manager sounds a little more prestigious, and we've had a couple of the newer people make comments about it, but with what we pay compared to other companies in this field pay, they don't seem to mind putting up with the lesser-sounding title and keep that nice paycheck."

"A little like, 'I don't care what you call me, as long as you call me to dinner, ' huh?"

"Yep. About that. But seriously, the foreman with our company is in charge of the job, period. And ... there are crew foremen, as well, so when we need a distinction, the person in charge of the job will be called the job foreman if there's any confusion."

"Okay, thanks. Sorry for interrupting, Carmen."

Carmen laughed. "We're a bit old fashioned in some ways, I guess. Uhmmm, like not ripping the customer off, and other things as well," she said with a grin. "But back to what we were talking about, I'm actually hoping that I'm wrong about this. Dave has hired most of our people — well, our regular people. We often use subcontractors when we don't have enough regular personnel — regular crews — and over the years, some of the subcontractors' crews have come to work for us. Smaller contractors go under from time to time, and if they have been working for us fairly frequently for a long period of time, we occasionally wind up taking a crew into our company without Dave actually interviewing each of them the way he would our own personnel."

There was a knock at the door, which opened for a very pretty young brunette that had a striking resemblance to Carmen. It didn't take a rocket scientist to decide she was Carmen's daughter.

"I can see it runs in the family," Jeff said with a grin.

"It?" Carmen asked.

"Yeah. Your beauty has been passed down to your daughter."

The younger woman blushed as she set a box of doughnuts on the table in front of Dave. As she leaned over, Dave was awarded a breathtaking view of her cleavage, sans the two top buttons of her blouse. "Assorted," she told him, catching him looking as she remained in the bent-over position a couple of seconds longer than necessary.

"Nice to see you back today, Dave," she added, her voice soft and sensual as she smiled at him.

Carmen glanced at her pretty daughter, both amused when she noticed the sweater and a little saddened that Kimberly couldn't seem to get over her childhood crush on Dave.

"Good. Thank you, Kim," Carmen said, as her daughter stood, her eyes remaining fixed on Dave for a moment.

Turning to Jeff, Carmen said, "Jeff Matthews this is my blessing in life. My daughter, Kimberly. Better known around here as Kim," she smiled.

Jeff, having already stood, put out his hand to the petite, younger version of Carmen. Kimberly's hair was a little darker and her breasts possibly a little fuller, but the bright blue eyes were there and the same assurance that her mother projected as well. Boy, Dave never mentioned this little doll. That beautiful hair is almost as long as Diana's, and unless I've totally gone blind, she sure as heck thinks Dave is something else.

"Nice to meet you Mr. Matthews," Kim said. "We've heard a lot about you. All good, too," she said in a lilting voice with just a trace of amusement in it. Turning her glance to Dave again, her face softening, "As soon as I realized that was you in the SUV, I sent out for the doughnuts," she finished, blushing.

"Ah, my appetite precedes me," Dave laughed, trying to break a mood that he was somehow uncomfortable with. He caught himself as his eyes strayed back toward Kim's breasts, wishing he could see the rest of the beautiful orbs his eyes seemed to be pulled to, "Thank you, Kim. Jeff and I certainly appreciate the thoughtfulness."

"You're welcome," she returned with a special smile, reaching out to touch Dave, then remaining in the position for a long moment, almost as if she had forgotten what to do next. Finally, "Well, I'll get out of your way. Stop by and talk to me before you leave, Dave — please."

"I'll do that," Dave answered, his voice barely above a whisper.

"Nice to meet you Mr. Matthews," Kim quickly said, then was gone in a rush, the door closing quietly behind her.

"Sorry about that," Carmen said to Dave. Then to Jeff, "She's always had a crush on Dave. Coming to work here was a dream come true — then her dream quit coming into the office very much. Just as well." After a second, she glanced back at Dave. "I don't want Evie and my daughter to have problems."

"Nonsense," Dave responded, mentally shaking himself. "I've bounced her on my knee when she was a kid. She's very special to Evie and me, and she loves us back. She'll find the right guy one of these days," he finished, but his eyes strayed toward the door that Kim had just gone through.

"I hope so," Carmen said opening the box of doughnuts. Hesitating, seeming to make up her mind, she sighed, "She's had three boyfriends since she started dating. Josh and I were trying to be ... modern, I guess. I mean the going thing these days is for the parents to rent a nice hotel room for prom night. We didn't want to think of our daughter that way, but we didn't want her out drunk somewhere in the back seat of a car. So, I sat her down and told her what her dad and I decided ... She blew up. I mean had a fit. She said that there was no way she was sleeping with that creep, meaning her boyfriend."