Laura's Big Win (13 page)

“This is a lot of information to
swallow at one time. Please, let me be honest and very forthright
at this point. Clearly, I need a job, but I would rather look at
this as an opportunity to grow, get better, learn things. I can
find something to do for money if I have to, but I see this as an
opportunity I never expected to come along. Two things: working
hours, and, I’m reluctant to ask this, time off?”

“Cal thought of everything, as he
usually does. Here’s our schedule of paid holidays, vacation days
earned with time worked, sick time accrued, and working hours. We
like to do somewhat regular hours Tuesday through Thursday, flex on
Monday and Friday. Because some of our operations are in different
time zones, we adapt as needed and compensate accordingly. We do
not believe working harder is any way to get ahead; working smarter
is. No 80 hour work weeks for us. I know you may be concerned about
the kids, who takes care of them, and so on. If you decide to stay
with us, we can work all that out. Alice is very knowledgeable in
that area since we do have whole families stay here from time to
time, as is her twin sister Alicia Resnick. Dress is normally
casual in the office area unless we are hosting; then dress is
predicated on the level of the operation; some companies like it
formal, some don’t. We will always keep you appraised of that ahead
of time so you don’t get caught unawares. Also, Alice did mention
in passing that your wardrobe might need a little help; should you
elect to join with us, we are prepared to advance you expenses to
some level adequate to replenish your wardrobe, to be repaid over
time as you generate personal revenue, that is, get paid. So, the
big question is in your hands. I know it’s pushing pretty hard, but
we would like a decision in the morning if at all possible. W don’t
normally work on Saturday, but Ryan lives here; you can let him
know your decision. What do you think?”

“I intend to have an answer for you by
8 AM if that’s acceptable. I don’t want to awaken anyone too early
on a Saturday.”

“Not a problem for me,” Ryan
interjected. “Please, call any time you want, I mean, any time you
need to; never mind. You know what I mean. I run early and will be
back in by then for sure. I look forward to hearing your answer.”
Silently his mind continued the sentence with ‘but only if it’s
YES.’ The two men noticed his seeming mental lapse; not like him at
all, and they concluded this woman seated across from them was the
catalyst. It just seemed to them that there was more going on here
than they could quite see, whether Ryan could see it or
not.

Laura folded the paper, thanked them
for their courtesy toward her, and headed for the kitchen and a
little evening snack of some kind. She found herself not at all
shaken by all this; it just seemed to somehow flow naturally.
‘Maybe’, she thought, ‘it’s because they don’t treat me like
Richard did; they talk to me, not at me, and it’s a dialog, not a
monolog’. Entering the kitchen, she remembered that Doris had told
her where to find sandwich materials, and to help herself. ‘Use the
food,’ she had said with a laugh; ‘it stays fresher that way.’
Laura quickly found a plethora of sandwich meats, cheeses and other
things necessary to construct a really fine sandwich of significant
proportions. Just as she was really starting to enjoy the
experience, Ryan arrived in the kitchen with about the same thing
on his mind.

“We meet again, and so soon. I have
about everything out here you could possibly want; what can I
assemble for you?” she asked.

“Please, I can do it myself, really; I
don’t want to put you out any.”

“Not a problem. I enjoy this sort of
thing. It’s a lot less complicated than other things in life, and I
know the end result. Not too many things like that anymore, so
what’ll it be? Start with some roast beef, thin slices for better
flavor, layer of Swiss with the big holes on one side of the beef,
slice of provolone on the other, quartet of pepperoni slices for a
little zest, light mayo on one whole wheat face, light mustard on
the sourdough face, leaf lettuce, pickle on the side and some chips
if I can find them, cut on a diagonal, no fancy toothpicks. Sound
about right?”

“Yes, sounds great. How’d you ever
think of a combination like that? I’d never think to use two
different kinds of bread, or the pepperoni. Guess I’m too
conservative.”

“No, not at all. I worked in the campus
sandwich shop one semester; money wasn’t great, but the food supply
was pretty endless. I’m a little out of practice. The kids can live
on peanut butter and jelly, so my life has been pretty basic in
that area. Anyway, does this look like something you can get your
teeth into, so to speak?” as she slid the loaded plate across the
table hash house style.

“Yes, ma’am. I can do that. How about I
find us some drinks. Name your poison and I’ll see what I can find
in the fridge.”

“Ice tea, unsweetened if
possible.”

“You’re on.”

And the two sat across the table and
dined, enjoying both the food and the conversation, with no idea
that in the long run the scene had repetition possibilities. Ryan
seemed interested in the kids, asking what they did and how they
thought about things, what they played, and if they got along with
each other. Laura was pleased to talk about her children; Richard
had never seemed interested in any of that, yet this man whom she
barely knew seemed truly interested. And never once did he mention
the job offer or any of the other events of the day; it was as
though the two of them were on an island alone in the middle of the
house.

Dishes in the washer, they parted ways
for the day, each bidding the other a good night, each anticipating
the morning.

Chapter 9 -
Acceptance

Laura walked out to Alice’s cottage and
found two happy but tired kids.

“So, not that I want to pry….yes, I
guess I do just a bit…. how do you think things went with the
boys?” Alice asked. “I have always had a pretty high opinion of all
of them for the way they do things, always up front, discrete when
they need to be, but most of all, just plain honest. What you see
is what you get. But, I don’t what to keep these kids up all night
talking, so give.”

“Truthfully, Alice, I don’t really
know. I’m afraid to look at the written offer. If I can’t live on
it, I’ll have to pass on a wonderful opportunity; if it’s too high,
I’ll think they expect too much. Guess I need a hot shower, a cup
of tea, and some time to think. The other thing is, I really want
to ask you about Ryan, but I don’t want that to get in the way of
my making a good decision for myself and the kids. That will have
to wait for a bit, curious though I may be. Anyway, I need to get
these sleepyheads into bed before I have to carry them. Thanks a
bunch for watching them, again. Everyone here has been such a help
to us; I mean that; Doris and the guys, even the pup dogs have been
friendly. But, I don’t want to wear out our welcome, and I have
some decision making to do.”

“Okay, kids; get it up off the ground;
time to turn in. Your mother has a lot to think about yet tonight;
and Laura, if I had to vote, even without knowing the whole deal,
I’d hire you in a second just for the life you and the kids bring
to this place. The last 24 hours have been a treat, to say the
least. Tomorrow brings what tomorrow brings, but I hope you stay,
at least for a while. Let us help you get things back together.
Okay?”

“Okay. I can’t refuse an offer like
that. Anyway, by 8 AM I guess we’ll probably both know. News seems
to travel pretty fast around here.”

“Only if we want it to. Anyway, take
care; I’ll see you in the morning, after 8. Good night for
now.”

With kids in tow, Laura headed back for
their room. Half an hour later the kids were already asleep in the
bunks, Laura was in and out of a hot shower, and had a cup of
steaming green tea in front of her. Carefully, she unfolded the
written offer, took a deep breath and a first look. It was
carefully laid out, straightforward; accustomed to handling data,
Laura scanned it quickly and realized her decision was virtually
programmed for her. Cal had done his job well: base starting
salary, room, board, 90 day incentive, six month incentive, one
year incentive, insurance; everything was there. The offer seemed
rather high to her, but not so high that the expectations would be
overpowering up front. ‘These guys are really good at this,’ she
thought. ‘They know I need and want this, they know what they need,
and I bet they believe they know what will bring me on board. They
even talked about school starting for Jack, day care for Amanda,
all those things. But I remember what Richard made, and this seems
like a lot for starters. Wonder what Richard’s doing these days,
now that he’s rid of us? Not that I much care after what he did;
the S.O.B. Anyway, I bet Cal made some calls and knows what IT
people go for these days. I just wonder if there’s anything I’m
missing here. Even Alice seems very positive for me coming on
board, and I sure don’t take her for any fool. And there’s that
Ryan guy, but I can’t let any of that type thought cloud my
judgment; gotta keep my cool and make the best decision I can for
the kids sake, and mine. Okay; I’m going to get up early and think
about this some more, but they sure make it easy to say “yes”‘. And
with that, Laura Nessing ended her second day at Windmere, tired
but excited at the new prospects the day had presented to her.
Warm, safe, certainly well fed, with kids happier than she had seen
in a long time, among people who really seemed to care about her
and the kids. Maybe this is all just a dream.

It was horrible: frightened, alone,
lost, in a deep pit with no way out, kids crying, waking with a
start and realizing it was a really bad dream. Laura took a couple
of minutes to shake off the cold fear the dream had immersed her
in; warmed by the streaming sunshine, the fear left, replaced by
hope, optimism, and the need to decide on a path to follow for
starting the rest of her life. After she finished her morning
routine, and found the best outfit she had, she awakened the kids
and got them ready to face the day. ‘At least they didn’t escape me
like they did yesterday,’ she thought, although the thought of it
was more funny than irritation at their escapade; somehow, these
people seemed to make everything all right. ‘You know,’ she thought
to herself, ‘even as young as they are, maybe I need to tell them
what’s going on here; after all, they picked up on Dennis being a
teddy bear rather quickly, and they don’t seem to be afraid of
anyone here. Maybe it’s worth the question.’

“Jack, Amanda, I need to talk to you
about something for just a minute. I know you’re hungry so I did a
couple of little pastries to tide you over for a minute while we
talk, then we’ll go to the kitchen and meet Maria, the weekend
cook. Okay?”

“Yep” “Okay mom.”

“Okay, here’s the deal. You’re old
enough to know that we’re on our own right now. For whatever
reason, your father has decided he won’t help us anymore; I don’t
want to talk about that just now. What I do want to tell you is
that we need, I need, a job so we have money to live on. The people
here at Windmere have offered me a job doing what I studied to do
in college; it’s a very good offer, and I’m pretty sure I can do
what they want. Now, in order for me to work here, you two will
have to be in some sort of day care for about eight hours a day.
Jack, once school starts in the fall, you’ll be in first grade, and
Amanda, you’ll start preschool probably half days and daycare the
other half. I may have to travel a few days a month; someone would
take care of you then. Mrs. Hamilton’s twin sister will help us
make those plans.”

“Two Mrs. Hamiltons? Wow!” the chorus
chimed.

“Yes; there’re two Mrs. Hamilton’s.
Anyway, today is the first day of the rest of our lives. I have to
tell the people who own this place whether I want to work for them
or not. I think I’d like to do that, and I think this would be a
good place for you two to grow up, at least for now. But, I
realized this isn’t just my life I have to decide; it’s your life
too. I know it’s a big decision, but what do you think I should
tell them.”

“Can I play with Dennis if we stay
here?”

“Yes, Mandy, I’m sure you can part of
the time. But remember, he has a job to do here and it isn’t to be
your playmate. And, you’ll meet kids your own age to play with in
pre-school pretty soon.”

“Can they come over and
play?”

“I think so, but I don’t know all the
rules just yet. We’ll have to learn the rules first, but I think we
can work that out. Okay?”

“Yep. Can I have a new
dolly?”

“We’ll see about that. I don’t have the
job yet. Jack, you’re being very quiet. What do you think about all
this?”

“I think this is a lot better that
where we were; that was pretty scary. Franz said he thought if we
stayed around I might be able to take care of the dogs; I could
earn some money that way if I need to; I know it’s not enough for
us to live on but I could help. I think we should stay here if we
can. “

“Okay. Done deal. We stay as long as
things work out for us, and I hope that will be quite a while. Now,
let’s go meet Maria for breakfast, and I need to make a call.
Ready?”

With the decision now made, Laura and
family headed for the kitchen, breakfast, and their future. Coping
with the world one day at a time had been difficult for all of
them, whether the kids really understood all of it or not, and the
decision to stay at Windmere had done much to bring a little order
to their world. Entering the big warm kitchen, they found Maria
there ready to go, and her two children with her. It was not
unusual that Fernando worked early on Saturday morning when he
could, and there was an understanding with Windmere that Maria
could bring the kids with her on those days when it would not
interfere with an event on premises. Meeting Ernesto and Victoria,
Jack and Amanda soon found they had new friends about their own
ages and dove into the relationship with abandon. In short order,
Maria had the four of them seated at a short table where they were
more comfortable, dining on cereal and fresh fruit. Laura wondered
about the little table and matching chairs; she didn’t remember it
from the previous day. Seeing her puzzled look, Maria mentioned
that Dennis and Franz had been there earlier, bringing the table
and four kid sized chairs.