Chapter 97

Once again, a large group of people were inside the lower apartment when Adam and Celina arrived. Once again, all conversation stopped when Adam entered.

"Didn't take long," Celina said 'sotto voce'.

"Hey, guys," Adam said brightly. "What's for dinner? I invited Celina over so we can start paying off some of our monumental debt to her."

Celina gave Adam a sharp nudge in the ribs.

No one answered so Adam continued unabated.

"I know this isn't an official meeting but I thought I'd fill you in on what we did today," he said.

"Allie has done that," Rachelle said. She turned her piercing gaze toward Adam.

"Well, good, less work for me," Adam said. "I think Celina has some information for us. Ms. Gomez?"

The group was hoping Celina would leave quickly. They wanted to have a few words with Adam but they didn't want to have witnesses.

"I'm glad it's only the core group here," Celina started. "This needs to be kept in-house. I will tell you as I told Adam earlier this afternoon. You have no grounds – let me repeat – you have no grounds to remove Mary Rose from this board of directors. Nothing she did is in violation of your charter."

"What about the hacking?" Shelly asked. Celina turned to Adam with a puzzled look.

"I think it would be amazingly difficult to prove the site was hacked and if it was, to prove by whom," Adam said. "Neither Rebecca nor Leslie needs to be drawn into this. If you want to go that route, I will vote against it. It will ruin our reputation before we even establish a reputation. I knew it was an idle threat when I heard it last night but I pushed it because it kept Mary on her heels. I'm sorry."

Shelly frowned but Allie and Sarah nodded.

"I know she violated your trust as a friend," Celina said. "Sadly, that carries no weight in a courtroom. I am not saying you cannot vote to remove her. I am stating, solely as an attorney retained by this group, that you will very likely lose if she chooses to seek redress. I didn't want Adam to be the messenger so I came to deliver it personally. Plus, Adam promised me food."

"So you're saying we have to suck it up and take it?" Rachelle asked.

"Essentially that is exactly what I'm saying," Celina said, not mincing words. "You have the alternative of resigning yourselves and forming a new corporate entity. But the patent rights would remain with Subarctic so long as Subarctic is in business. If it were to close, those rights would revert to its creator. Obviously, I can't give you advice on your personal dealings, which is probably good. But professionally, you need to suck it up, get over it and move on. Is that clear enough for everyone?"

"Crystal clear," Walt said. "And thank you. That doesn't exactly correspond with what each of us has learned about the plan that seems to be changing hour to hour. But it is clear. Adam, do you have anything else?"

Adam shrugged and met everyone's gaze.

"In the past few hours I have told each of you what you wanted to hear," he said. "It was easier and I hoped to make you so mad at me that you would forget about Mary. I can see that it worked to a certain extent. I recognize angry when I see it. I knew it was a mistake when I started to do it but I did it anyway because it was easier to get you to listen to me if I told you what you were already thinking. I needed to discuss this privately with our attorney before I could really come clean. Now that we see that there is nothing for us to do, it is easier to get you to listen to what I think we should do."

"Which version?" Allie asked with ice in her voice.

"The version I started to tell everyone last night before they concluded I was a slack-jawed nitwit and ignored me," Adam said. He turned to Celina. "That is an actual quote from one of those lovely young women on the couch. Can you believe that? Anyway, I tried to tell you last night how I thought we should proceed. I could see you paid lip service to it. You agreed to it but I knew you would do things your own way. So I expounded a little until I got you to listen.

"The theme was always the same. We need to get past this if we want to be anything more than a bunch of friends with a garage band. We thought because we were all friends that we were beyond back-stabbing and double-dealing. We're not. We also see that Mary isn't the only one who can make monumental mistakes. So, what is it going to be? Are we going to call Mary and get this over with so we can eat or am I going to have to treat Celina and Mary to dinner out?"

"Fuck it," Walt said. "Let's get it over with. I'm not going back to being her boyfriend. You can forget about that."

"And I would rather she live elsewhere," Rachelle added. "Not just now but in the future."

Adam nodded.

"I would think that losing a man she cares about and the prospect of losing out on that killer tub should suffice as punishment," he said. "Does anyone disagree?"

"I do," Sarah said. "But since we can't do more, I don't see the point in dragging this out. But it is probably going to be a long time before I want to spend time with her."

"Understood and no one will ask you to or force you to – except at corporate events," Sean said. "I was privy to Adam's plan – all of them. I can't say I agreed with them but I agreed with the motive behind them so I supported him even though he was wrong to do it. In time, I hope you can forgive us for our machinations. They were necessary to quiet things down until he could speak privately to Celina and confirm what he already suspected. I'm grateful to Celina for making time for us on such short notice."

Celina expected Adam to relate how little work she had really done, but he stood silently accepting the glares of those around him.

"Once Mary is here, we need to authorize disbursement to Celina," Adam said. "She has gone out of her way to help us and she has made herself available to us at all times. So far, we've paid a damned dollar for her services. I'm not saying she is worth more than that. She is an attorney after all. But apparently it is customary to pay people for their services."

"We can agree to that readily," Allie said after Celina slapped Adam on the arm. "At least I can."

There were general nods around the room as Adam walked up the hill to get Mary.

Mary wasn't surprised to come back to an empty apartment. She was less surprised to see Adam come in. He was about the only person who was speaking to her, although Sean had given her a sad smile and a wave as she came down the hall as he was leaving.

"Sit for a moment, please," Mary said when Adam entered. He complied. "I want to apologize to you personally. I said things about you last night that were stupid and completely uncalled for. You have never been anything less than a friend to me and you've always been there for Walt. I know there are some things I can't fix. I'm going to try but I don't think I'll succeed. But I wanted to make certain that you and Sarah understand that what I said was caused by greed and anger. I didn't mean it and I'm sorry."

"I knew it when you said it," Adam said. "Well, I could see you were angry. Although, I have to admit, I'm better at spotting anger today than I was yesterday."

He chuckled, which surprised Mary.

"There were things I said to you that I didn't mean either," Adam said, putting his arm around Mary. "I said them because I was defensive and I was startled by your accusations. I told you last night that I'm with you. Sean understands what you were thinking. He is big enough to admit that he might have reacted the same way. The others are coming around – some slower than others, I'm afraid."

"Walt is gone for good," Mary said. A tear trickled down her cheek.

"I think so," Adam said softly. He pulled Mary a little closer. "But you can't really blame him."

"No, I don't blame him at all," Mary answered.

"There are going to be other changes, too, I think," Adam said.

"I'll be moving out," Mary said with resignation.

"And you likely will not be welcome to move into the new place," Adam added. "Obviously, if you want to, we can't stop you. You own as much of it as any of us. But I think it would be easier for everyone if you agreed to accept those things as your punishment. Can you do that?"

"Do I have a choice?" Mary asked. There was a trace of bitterness in her voice that Adam had expected.

"You always have a choice, Mary," he said. "You had a choice yesterday, too – a multitude of them. I'll tell you like my Mom used to tell me: you're here because of the choices you've made."

"I know it," Mary said, her eyes cast downward. "And maybe I can repair some of the damage I've done and salvage at least a friendship with Walt and the rest of them. Actually, I'd probably give up the rest of them if I could make things up to him."

"I can't help you there," Adam said. "I'm not sure I would if I could because I try to stay out of people's personal lives irrespective of the fact that it is not reciprocated. Now, I've dug myself a big hole down there by going to bat for you. We're having a meeting right now and we'd like you there. Then we're all going to eat and forget about business completely. Can you do that?"

"I don't really feel like eating but I'll stay," Mary said. "It will give me an idea where I stand."

"Only a level or two below me," Adam said with a wry smile. "I screwed up, too. But be prepared to eat a lot of shit. I know you can get pissy but now is not the time. OK?"

"OK," Mary agreed.

Mary flinched when she walked in the lower apartment. Six sets of accusing eyes were bad enough but it was Celina Gomez's presence that produced a reaction. Her first thought was that Adam had set her up. He had sweet-talked her into coming to her own execution. If it had been anyone but Adam, she might have pushed that thought to completion and exploded. Instead it hit her brain, was dismissed as impossible, and she carried on.

Walt was sitting on one side of the table with Allie and Shelly beside him. Sarah sat at one end and Rachelle was at the other. Adam pulled out a chair for Mary between Sean and himself. Celina sat off to the side.

"Meeting is called to order," Sean said. "Do I have a motion to dispense with the reading of the minutes from our last meeting?"

"Now and forever," Adam said. Sarah seconded the motion and it passed. Mary was surprised. She thought everyone would make her sit there and listen to her stupid ranting.

"Can we dispense with announcements?"

"I have an announcement," Mary said. Everyone stopped whatever they were doing.

"I have made a complete ass of myself," she said. "It's not the first time but this time cost me a lot more than I dreamed I could lose. I hope to apologize to each of you personally but I'll understand if you prefer not to speak to me. So, for those of you who want nothing to do with me, I apologize for my behavior and my comments. Walt, I can't even put into words how much I wish I could go back and have those few minutes over. But I know I can't and I know an apology from me means nothing to you. But I am sorry. I am sorrier than you'll ever know."

A tear ran down Mary's cheek.

Mary went around the table, apologizing personally to everyone in case they never spoke a civil word to her again. She even apologized to Adam again. He surprised the table – as he had surprised Mary in the apartment – by repeating his apology to her.

The group approved a $10,000 retainer for Celina – over her protests that she hadn't done $10,000 worth of work because the work she did on contracts for Sarah and Allie had been paid for by those two.

"Then don't come to us with your hand out until you do," Adam said with a smile. "You'll need hazardous-duty pay once you relay the counteroffer to PlayCo."

"Oh, yeah," Mary said. "How did that go?"

"Well, we haven't done it yet," Adam said.

"What the hell did you do all day?" Walt asked with a smile that was slightly forced. "Slacker."

"On that topic," Celina said, "I would ask that a representative for Subarctic be present for that discussion."

Again, all eyes turned to Adam. He, in turn, looked at Mary.

"Will you go with Adam?" Sean asked.

"There might be technical questions and I don't want to look like a dumbass," Adam added.

"Never stops you usually," Sarah said. Unlike Walt, she didn't force a smile.

"Sure," Mary said. "Let me know when and I'll be there."

She knew the attorneys would have no technical questions. Sean and Adam just wanted to make sure everyone knew they thought of her as integral to the company's success. They were really going out of their way for her. She felt even sillier about thinking she wasn't appreciated.

"Great," Sean said. "Allie, do you want to fill everyone in on the other issues?"

"We transferred funds to an escrow account," Allie said. "Celina really helped us. She had the contract details ready. Now all we're waiting for the inspection. We also got a firm proposal from Peoples Bank to handle the credit card transactions from our sites for three percent."

"No kidding?" Mary said, shaking her head. "That's really great."

"It is," Sarah said. "We can cover our expenses by charging them only a small fee. I really think it will drive up the web end of our business in no time. You might be doing web sites until you see them in your sleep."

"But I'll do them if you guys want me to," Mary said quickly. "I, uh, well, I put together one for you, Shelly and Karlie today. I'll give you the log in information and you can check them out when you have time. Just log into my network. I'll give you remote access."

"I'll come up after dinner if you have time," Sarah said. "I think that is so cool. Thanks."

"You're welcome," Mary said, another tear sneaking down her cheek.

"What about the property beside the Rayburn place?" Rachelle asked.

"Again, I didn't get to it today," Adam said. "Steve said he would get me the number the next time I talked to him. It's on my list, I swear it is."

"I'm not busy right now," Rachelle said. "You want to hand that off to me?"

"More than you know," Adam said. "I'm a little behind on some stuff. I'll call Steve tonight under the pretense of informing him of the escrow."

"Let me know," Rachelle said. She offered a smile to Adam for which he appreciated. It was the first female smile he'd received from anyone but Celina since he got home. Well, Mary had given a sad smile once in a while. Adam wondered if Sean was in the shit pit with him.

Shelly got the group's attention.

"I spoke to the HR lady at Cunningham today," she said. "We have some things we need to decide, particularly in regard to Karlie. We can't pay her like we have been. It's illegal."

"How have you been paying her?" Celina asked.

"Barely," Adam said. It didn't even get a chuckle from his girlfriends.

"We pay her $300 a month and room and board," Allie said.

"You have to pay her an hourly wage," Celina said. "She has no supervisory responsibility and she does not fall into any of the exclusions. I'll check to make sure but I'm almost positive I'm right."

"The HR woman at Cunningham agrees with you," Shelly said with a sigh. "We can't pay her less than minimum wage and we have to withhold taxes, Social Security and other things from her paycheck – and she suggests a paycheck with a raised letterhead instead of cash."

"Fuck," Adam muttered.

"Well, room and board can count toward her compensation," Celina said. "There is another option. She is not only an employee but she is part of Five Friends, right?"