Chapter 26

Will Franzen was both surprised and disappointed when Brent had met with him at his home. He knew he wasn't doing well, but he didn't expect that Brent would act this soon. The only good part was the offer of a job interview with Mountain Pine in their lumber trading department. It would mean some travel, but the salary was similar and there was no loss of benefits. He accepted that his days at V.C.M. were over, and hoped he would be better off in the commodity lumber market. He didn't bother to ask who would be replacing him, and there was no talk of "breaking in the new boy" as far as he could tell. His last day would be just prior to Labor Day.

Bonnie had the job from the moment she had asked for it. Brent knew it and she knew it. As Andy had said, she was a natural. She knew the products and understood the concept of selling value. More importantly, she was aware that most of the decision-making in renovations and kitchen design was made by the wives, and that gave her an edge. She could talk their language. She wasn't shy about field work with the contractors, either. She could hold her own and not get run over by the rougher characters she would encounter.

Brent had taken care of the conflict of interest problem by having an independent interviewer select the best candidate. The fact that the interviewer was a personal friend of Lloyd Bruton only helped speed the process up. In fact, it wasn't much of a contest. Bonnie was far and away the best candidate.

Bonnie would be moving from Calgary to Castlegar. Brent helped her and Tim get organized, and since school was out for the summer, it would be a fairly simple matter to get Tim registered at the local high school. Much of Bonnie's furniture would go into storage, with only clothes, personal items, and Tim's bedroom suite coming into the Gordon's home.

Tim had been given a separate bedroom in the finished basement of the house. It had its own bathroom with a shower stall, and even a TV, microwave and mini-fridge in the open family room just outside his door. The bedroom itself had lots of room with a large desk for his X-box and computer. He had a separate entrance from outside through a sliding patio door. He liked this new home already, even though he'd only seen it once.

The problem that Brent faced was Bonnie's new territory. She would be away from home constantly and he wondered what that would do to their relationship. They hadn't planned anything more than their vacation, which had been put off to early August. The wedding date still had to be set, as did the starting date for Bonnie's new career.

"Charlie, you've always said I should come to you if I have a problem ... and here I am," Brent smiled ruefully.

"I've been wondering when this conversation would come about," Charlie grinned.

"Oh ... so what do think this is about?" Brent asked with a slight smile.

"Well, let's see. You have this lady that you plan to marry, right? And she's also your new sales rep on the coast, right? And you still plan to live here in Castlegar, right? How am I doing so far?"

"OK, OK, I get the message. This is my problem, right?" Brent said, defeated.

"Well, yes, but then, I'm not completely without sympathy, Brent." He paused for a moment, looking thoughtful, but still smiling.

"Gerry said something about this a while ago, just after you got engaged and Bonnie applied for the sales job. She said it was role reversal. We didn't think anything about being on the road with our jobs in the past. I was off trying to get dealers and new customers for Verano at least half the time. And I'm sure you weren't home every night when you were running your sales territory. There must have been plenty of times when you were in some motel room away from home or enduring another rubber chicken dinner at some meeting or other.

"In the meantime, Gerry and Jeanette got to stay home, cleaning house, doing laundry, looking after the kids, and being by themselves until we came home, usually dog-tired at the end of the week. I don't know about Jeanette, but Gerry never complained. She knew that's what it took for us to do our jobs," he concluded.

"Yah ... so what's your point?" Brent laughed.

"Suck it up boy, it's her turn," he said with a "you did this to yourself" look.

"So, this is the wrong door for the weeping room, huh?" There was another small smile to go with the rhetorical question.

"No ... maybe not entirely. I think we should look a little further down the road, Brent. I can see a day when we are going to have to have a permanent office in one of the major cities. The way I see it, its either Calgary or Vancouver," he said thoughtfully.

Brent nodded in agreement. He had been thinking along the same lines, but didn't think they were quite ready for that yet.

"I talked to Gary, and I have an idea that he says is doable. I was going to suggest we lease an apartment for a year to two. It would be in the downtown Vancouver area, or close to it preferably. It would be a place for Bonnie to stay, set up an office and occasionally meet with clients," he continued.

"She wouldn't have to pay rent; we would just treat it like a hotel. One thing Gary did say, though. She can't declare her travel costs to and from Vancouver from her permanent home here. Only her travel expenses while she is working in the Vancouver area."