Chapter 15: Flux in the World of Concrete

Warwick. Thursday, 8 days after Jennifer reappears

A New Business Opportunity?

At Joe's office there have been rumours over the last few weeks. Unexpected comings and goings. Regular meetings cancelled and rearranged. Now, there's been an email announcing a staff meeting for everyone in the restaurant at 10 o'clock. Joe has been given compassionate leave to help him look after his wife, Jennifer, after her unexpected reappearance but yesterday, he took a call from Chris Parker, his immediate superior, asking him to come into the office to attend this particular meeting.

Joe takes a seat with a colleague. There's a small group of people at the front of the room. Joe can see his Divisional Director with the Head of UK operations and Helen, their personnel manager. There's a tall blonde-haired man that Joe doesn't recognise. They all look pretty relaxed. They're smiling and joking together as they get ready for whatever they're going to say. Joe takes that as a good sign.

The Head of UK operations kicks things off. "Thanks for coming in, everyone. Sorry to have to interrupt the day's work, but we wanted to tell you about this as soon as we could. I know there has been plenty of speculation about how the business is going to respond to some of the bigger opportunities that we are seeing and that, frankly, we haven't been big enough to bid for. We are also in a period of recession when contracts are fewer and harder to secure. This is a problem for all the companies in our sector. Also, we have to look for new ways to build on our strengths and cement, if you will excuse the phrase" (this school boy humour is greeted by a few sycophantic sniggers) "cement relationships with other companies. The Board has come to the conclusion that the best opportunity for the business is to combine operations with another complementary organisation and I'm delighted to be able to tell you that we intend to merge with Skandia Konkret or, as we would say, Scandia Concrete. Some of you will know Skandia from some of the projects we have worked alongside them on. One or two of you will have worked on the discussions and I know that everyone that has been involved feels there is a good fit both business-wise and culturally..."

Joe's colleague leans over. "So that's what they've been up to. Did you know Gwenda had been out in Stockholm? That's what it must have been about."

Joe shakes his head. Gwenda hadn't mentioned it to him — but Joe guesses that there would have been a pretty strong non-disclosure agreement for everyone involved and, besides, it must have been difficult for Gwenda, what with their embryonic relationship beginning to form. He remembers only too well inviting her out to meet up with him in Sweden with Jenny's parents and he is still reeling from the story told to him by Inspector Ackroyd, about Gwenda's arrest and detention by the Swedish Police. Joe squirms at the very thought of it! What should he do? Phone her at the office? Phone her at home? Ask to see Gwenda personally? Now Jenny is back, it will be difficult to bring a peace offering for Gwenda into the office. That would provoke comment and gossip whatever his personal circumstances had been. Writing a letter and sending flowers to Gwenda at home is probably the best plan, but he would have so much preferred to have been in touch before this meeting. Now, there is every chance that he will have to see her face to face with the extraordinary events still raw in her mind.

"I'm pleased to introduce Arne Westermark, who is in charge of SkanKon's activities in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. He'll be saying a few words about the reason why they are so keen on this merger. And we have Helen here if any of you have any HR concerns. There's not too much to say at this point but we wanted to tell all the staff as soon as possible after we made the announcement to the Stock Exchange. There will be a staff consultation programme — Helen will be posting details of that on the Intranet — but the proposal seems to have been given a 'thumbs up' by the shareholders. Those of you in the company share scheme might like to know that the price is up 5% since the announcement."

A grunt of approval runs around the room. Most of the audience are in the scheme. The price rise boost will have gone some way to compensating for the slide in share values over the last year.

"Anyway, Arne is keen to say a few words about SkanKon. Nothing is going to change here in the short term. We'll be running the businesses in parallel. But there will be more details about how we'll work together over the next few weeks. Arne..."

Arne Westermark comes to the front and launches into a death-by-PowerPoint presentation that has his audience bemused by numbers after the first five slides. He is very thorough and speaks with a half-smile on his face that has his audience waiting for the joke which never quite comes.

"Interesting stuff," Joe's colleague remarks. "Should be some good opportunities for you with all your background in concrete structures. I would not be surprised to see you sent over there — I mean, isn't your wife Swedish?"

Some More Modern Slavery

As Joe drives home, he ponders the merger. Will it be an opportunity for him? A new start for him and Jenny? Joe isn't so sure. He's feeling it's a glass half empty rather than half full at the moment and he is also wondering how things will be with Jenny when he gets home. When you get married, he muses, you get married 'for better for worse, in sickness and in health.' He has had plenty of 'for worse' over the last couple of years and, now Jenny is back, there seems to be plenty of 'in sickness' to deal with. But then, that is what makes marriage more than merely a friendship. In a marriage, the partners declare that they will stand by each other come what may. This is his time to 'stand' — actually, to continue to stand, because the whole thing has been going on for — well, it will soon be three years. (1)

By the time Joe parks his car in the road outside their home, he is feeling better.

He takes his mobile, opens the Phone application and goes to Contacts. He does not have to scroll very far down before he finds what he wants. He launches the call and in a second or two a voice answers.

"Cranford. How may I help?"

"I'm looking for a table for two, this evening."

"This evening ... what time did you have in mind?"

"Not too late, please, what about..."

"I can do six-thirty?"

"Perfect!"

"So, that's two for six-thirty and the name is?"

In two and a half hours, Joe and Jenny are facing each other across a table. It's a much better atmosphere than last time. They came in a taxi, so they can both enjoy wine with their food, without having to worry about traffic police. Joe is now feeling up-beat about the new developments at work. Jenny is relaxed and happy, much more like the person she used to be. 'Can it possibly be?' wonders Joe, 'can it possibly be that we are beginning, really beginning, to get out from under this thing?'