Chapter 10

The next morning, we went to CIC and check on Mitch and Melody. The first person we saw was Ted. He came running up. "Lisa! Al! I'm glad to see you. My classes are coming along well. My wife and I leave notes for each other all the time now. Thank you so much for your help." He hugged us both. Lisa said, "That's great! We're going to push you some more."

"Mitch already is. He has me in charge of inventory and the yard. Most of the steel is for CME but we still sell some specialty items. It's wonderful!"

We grinned with him. Lisa gave him a hug and I shook his hand. We went inside to see Melody with a much less harried looking Stephanie talking together. Stephanie saw us and said, "Melody, it's Lisa and Al!" They hurried over and gave us hugs.

Melody said, "What brings you here this fine day?"

I said, "We just wanted to come over and watch the wheels turn." We chuckled.

Melody said, "Stephanie and I were just talking. We need to hire her some help again. Mitch is in the shop area presiding over a new control panel that is just being finished. Guys, we are doing so well. It's fun to be here."

Lisa said, "That's why we came. We want some of the fun to rub off on us. We know everything is going well from the reports. However, I will ask you one question. When are you and Mitch going on vacation this summer?"

Melody said, "I don't know. We haven't talked about it."

Lisa said, "That's one of our reasons for coming. You need to get away a bit and enjoy each other." She paused and smiled. "Al and I almost forgot that. Our trip to the island reminded us."

Stephanie looked puzzled. "What island?"

Melody said, "For their honeymoon, they rented an island for two weeks. They spent another two weeks there earlier this month trying to get Lisa pregnant." She grinned looking at Lisa. "It worked."

Lisa smiled. "Yes, quite well. Laura is currently resting in my womb."

Stephanie looked puzzled. "How can you know?"

Melody said, "Trust me, she knows."

We smiled and went to see Mitch. He was glad to see us and walked both of through his latest project, a major controls panel for a large plant in the area. He said, "I like these but they can scare you. They're so big that they account for a large portion of our sales for a month. It ties up a lot of money and a lot of risk but that's where other controls companies are unable to compete effectively."

He turned to the men and women in the group saying, "Good job, folks. I like it and the new changes will make it easier to program and faster to operate. Let me know when it's ready to ship."

He took us into his office. The president's office was no longer the one he used. He moved into an office that was plainer with a door directly to the shop area. We went in and sat down. It was full of papers and drawings with his desk dominated by a large monitor. He said, "This is my real office. The other is for show. I needed a place to work with access to the shop and this is it."

Melody came in and took a chair at the side of his desk after giving him a hug. I said, "Things are looking good. You're ahead of the plan particularly in profitability. How are you going to share it out and when are you going to take a vacation."

Melody said, "We're going to bonus out fifty percent of our pre-tax profits each quarter. The vacation is a more difficult issue."

Mitch said, "I'm not sure I can take one this year. We're in the middle of so much and there are so many new folks."

I said, "That's not a good excuse nor is it a good answer. That was Lisa's reasoning until I promoted her out of an active job. Do I have to do that to you?"

Melody gave him "the look." Mitch wilted some. "No, sir. It's just that there's so much that I'm involved in doing that I can't get away." His voice drifted off as all three of us stared him down.

Lisa said, "Mitch, we like you and you're conscientious. I told you that, as president, you couldn't get too hung up on any one thing. It appears that you may be.

"Are you and Melody riding into work together?" He shook his head slowly.

"You had said that you would do that. Why did you stop?"

In a quiet voice, he said, "I keep working late and skipping lunch."

I said, "I'm disappointed. You haven't been in church either. You're letting your third most important thing get in the way of the first two. God will let you ignore Him until you screw up doing that. Melody will try to love you even though it appears you don't love her as much as you used to."

Mitch bristled. "I'm working for us." He stopped abruptly.

Melody said, "It's hard to ignore Lightguide and me, isn't it?"

Lisa said, "I think you need to go home. We'll watch over things until Monday. Your hearts need to get reacquainted with each other." She paused. "That's our function. Al and I keep you from getting too engrossed in what you are doing."

I said, "Aren't you living in an apartment still?" They nodded. You're successful. You're earning a great income. Go house hunting. While you're gone, turn your cell phone off. You're probably giving the number to too many people." Melody nodded. "Everything that should be here will be here when you return. Now, the only question is whether or not you want to stop to eat with us after you leave here and before you go home and make love to that pretty lady next to you."

Mitch looked at Melody. "We're going straight home. I have homework that I need to do. We'll see you Sunday and then Monday."

They left holding hands. Melody sent us a thank you mentally.

We went out and talked with Stephanie. She said, "Where did Mitch and Melody go?"

Lisa said, "They are going home to get reacquainted. They will be back Monday. Don't call either one of them. Al and I will everything. We are interchangeable so grab either of us when you need someone.

"Stephanie, you need to be our loving spy on them. When they come back and concentrate too hard on the business, you need to call one of us. We'll just pop in to visit. They are a great couple but they were losing their priorities. The company comes third."

I said, "Stephanie, would you join us for lunch?"

She looked a little surprised. "Yes, I would like that. Let me get the relief squared away." It took a couple of minutes and she returned to us. We left and went to a restaurant that Lisa picked out. It was only moderately fancy though still quite expensive.

Lisa said, "This is our treat so ignore the prices. Their specialties are particularly good. I enjoy the chicken Marsala. It's very tender and the pasta under it is great."

I noticed that it wasn't cheap either. I said, "I'm going to have the beef medallions myself. They are good and I like to eat red meat." We both grinned at Stephanie who was still looking at the prices on the menu in horror. Finally, I said, "Stephanie, ignore the prices. Truly pick something without regard for cost and enjoy it. I think my bank account can handle the cost." I smiled at her gently. Lisa patted her hand.

She took a deep breath and said, "Okay. I join you, Al. Those medallions sound good."

We gave our drink orders and meal orders and relaxed. Lisa said, "Other than someone who does a good job and has a pleasant personality, who are you?"

Stephanie was a little surprised but Lisa was smiling at her warmly. After a false start, she said, "I'm a single mom. About two years after Maxwell was born, Bill couldn't handle things and he left. We haven't seen him or heard from him since. Max is twelve now and is a fine young man. We don't get any support though I went ahead with a divorce after not seeing or hearing from Bill in two years. It's been tough sometimes. I was really worried that Olsen's would close completely and leave me without a job. Jobs that pay decently are hard to find.