Chapter 9

Under the circumstances, being hospitable was something Randy and Nicole had to do, even though neither of them felt very hospitable. Fortunately, their friends took over the work, so all Randy and Nicole had to do was to be cordial. Nevertheless, this evening both were glad to see the last of their visitors leave, even Crystal and Preach, who had decided without being asked to move on over to the tighter quarters at Myleigh and Trey's.

"Well," Nicole said as soon as she closed the door after Randy's parents headed out to their car, "I'm glad that's over with."

"Yeah, I think I'm just as glad," Randy agreed. "I think you and I need some time together by ourselves. I don't know about you, but I think I'm good for one good, stiff drink and then hit the sack."

"I wish I dared have a good stiff drink," Nicole sighed. "It probably wouldn't hurt the baby, but I just don't want to take the risk. You go ahead, though. I'll just settle for a good stiff cup of hot chocolate."

"I don't have to," Randy said, trying to show his sympathy for her condition.

"Oh, go ahead. It won't be the first one that I'll have put on my 'to do someday' list."

A few minutes later they'd settled in the living room, which had already been pretty well cleaned up – again, their friends had been at work. "I have to admit, that was interesting," Nicole said. "I learned a lot about your grandfather that I'd never known."

"I did, too," Randy replied as he swirled the amber liquid around in his glass, his thoughts at least partly elsewhere. "Oh, I knew the outline of some of that stuff, but not the details. Brent was a pretty private man when he came to his personal life, and really, I guess I can't blame him much. I'm actually pretty glad Danny was here. He knew a lot of stuff from the stories in his family that apparently Dad didn't even know."

"I saw that," she said. "You know, considering that your grandfather's and great-grandfather's family lives were pretty dysfunctional, your Dad seemed to overcome it. I've always been impressed by how close you and he are."

"Mom had something to do with that," Randy mused. "But then, I think Dad knew what he was missing when he grew up and made a real effort to not let it happen with him. Really, we were all pretty close when we were growing up, and hearing those stories tonight just makes me understand how big a change it was. It wasn't until after everybody grew up and left that we started pulling apart a little. I mean, well, Rachel as much as anyone, and pulling away from the rest of us is something she did on her own. Ruth is still pretty close, considering that she lives quite a ways away and doesn't get up here much. But she has her own interests and they're not here, anymore."

"So what happens now? I mean, with the companies?"

"Well, Clark Construction you pretty well know about. It's been set for a while that I wind up with it, except for whatever share Dad gets. I'm not sure about that. Dad got me off to the side tonight and reassured me that I'll be winding up with it, but he and Brent swapped ownership of Clark Construction and Clark Plywood back and forth for years. It was kind of a tax dodge, and I'm not real clear on what that status is currently. It could have changed back before the first of the year to fit whatever tax strategy they were working with. I didn't get involved with that stuff much. I guess I'll have to, now."

"How about your grandfather's shares in Clark Plywood?"

"I honestly don't know," Randy replied. "I suspect it falls into that tax shuffle deal, so we'll have to wait and see." He let out a sigh and took a sip of his drink as he tried to organize his thoughts. "Nicole, you heard Dad's rant about keeping the companies locally controlled. He meant every word of it, and I pretty much agree with him, or I would never have come back to Spearfish Lake when I got out of college. The deal with my coming back here is that if I did and made a success of it, I'd wind up with a majority share of Clark Construction when Brent died, whatever else happened."

"So, how much is Clark Construction worth?"

"That's a damn good question," Randy shook his head. "A lot of it depends on who you talk to. If I totally screw up and it comes to a forced sale, probably not a lot. Just the real estate and equipment, and at an auction those could go for pennies on the dollar. Now, at the same time, I wouldn't be surprised to get a call from Solkow-Warner down in Camden in the next few days just to sound me out on the idea of selling out to them. I'm just a little curious to see what kind of numbers they throw around. It'll be at least ten million and could easily be more than that. They'd like to get their hands on some jobs we more or less have a lock on."

"You're not thinking about it, are you?"

"Well, if they offered me fifty million I might be tempted to take them up on it, go run rafts with Al and Crystal for a while, then come back, start a new company, and run them out of the area again," he grinned. "But I don't think Larry Warner is that crazy, and it would have to be a cash deal, not stock. Realistically, he would have to be out of his mind. The capital value of the company is just not that high. It's actually higher than it shows on the tax assessor's books, because a lot of the equipment is old and fully amortized. That means they see it as worthless, where we keep it in good shape and it's worth a lot to us. They carry the machinery in the concrete plant, for example, at scrap value, and it could take ten million to replace it. And we're going to have to spend that ten million to do it, but a little at a time, over the next ten to fifteen years, maybe even longer. One of the things that Brent taught me is that every penny spent on preventative maintenance is something that gets paid back ten times over in savings, and I believe him."

"So you don't know what the company is worth?"

"Well, yes I do and no I don't. What it's worth depends on who's saying what it's worth. If I had my back to the wall I'd point to the tax assessor and say the capital value is about four million, but depending on who it is, you could move the decimal point one space either way. Then you get into cash assets and liabilities and it gets complicated. Clark Construction is a lot smaller in capital value than Clark Plywood, but Clark Plywood works on a much tighter profit margin, so if you're speaking in terms of dividends, you get another answer. Brent could have given you a straight answer if he'd been of a mind to, and probably Dad, too, but since it's been a family matter they've kept it pretty close to the chest."

"The word I've heard around town is that Clark Plywood is worth around fifty million," she commented.

"I've heard that, too. In fact, I've heard it for years, and it probably came out of the tax assessor's office, which doesn't reflect the whole story, neither ups nor downs. About all I can tell you is that it's just the same as the question of what Clark Construction is worth. It depends on who you're talking to."

"So how is that going to affect us?"

Randy looked into the fire for a moment before answering, "About all I can say right now is that we're going to come out of this pretty well fixed, at least better off than we were before. I can't say how well, and there's several unknowns out there. How that affects me, Dad, and Clark Plywood, well, that's going to have to come out in the wash, too. I'll know more Wednesday. Dad has an appointment set up with his lawyer."

Nicole shook her head. "You're saying I'd better not quit my day job, then."

"Not yet, and not soon," Randy said. "Remember that Mom has taught school for almost thirty years. There's a reason for that, and it's not because she didn't want to be just a housewife. I personally think it's better to be seen as a worker, and I think it is for you, too."

"I've always known that," she replied. "Clear back when we were going together in high school. You know, that may be the reason Crystal decided she didn't want to marry you."

"How's that?" he asked, taking another sip of his drink.

"Back when she and I hiked together that time, we got to talking about it," she said. "We were talking about the fact that you weren't likely to leave Spearfish Lake because you had too much reason to stay here. She didn't think it was all that big a deal until I told her about Clark Plywood being worth maybe fifty million dollars, and she just about crapped her panties. Then when I explained the implications of that, she began to understand that it was an anchor keeping you here. At that point in her life she couldn't understand being that tied down to money that you can't spend."

"Well, it's true, but I never knew you told her that. At least not like that."

"That was when we each sort of decided that we'd stand back a little to let the other have a shot at you, so neither of us tried," Nicole shook her head. "That was a hell of a mistake on both our parts. At least I was able to work through it."

"I'm glad you did," he nodded, after upending his glass. "I've come to believe that it wouldn't have worked between me and her in the long run. You and I have had enough trouble coming to terms with what I want to do as opposed to what I have to be, and you knew what you were getting into. She didn't and she never would have understood it, at least the way you do."

"Oh, I agree," she nodded. "I'm not sure I thought that at the time we made our little agreement or non-agreement or whatever it was. After all, I was really trying to give her a shot at not being homeless, because I wasn't sure what I wanted to do, anyway. But since then, well, Crystal is a friend, and I hope she stays one forever, but I'm just as glad I wound up with you instead."

"Couldn't have said it better," he said as he stood up. "Let's blow out the candles and go to bed."

"Go to sleep go to bed, or maybe..."

"More than maybe," he smiled.

Randy and Nicole could have slept late the next morning, but their internal alarm clocks took over, and they were up before dawn like they would have been any other day. From what they could see it had the makings of a pretty decent day, although the sunrise they watched over a light breakfast and coffee was nothing like as spectacular as the one the day before.

Along about eight, Myleigh called, inviting them down to their house for breakfast. "We've already eaten," Nicole told her, "But we might as well come down and hang out for a while. We'd better check in with Ryan and Linda to see what the plan for the day is."

"We'll expect you by the bye," Myleigh replied.

A quick phone call across town resulted in the news that there really wasn't much they needed to be doing before early afternoon when Randy's sister Ruth and her husband were expected to show up. So, Randy and Nicole got on outer clothes and just walked up the street to their friends' house.