The Staircase of Dragon Jerico
Chapter Twenty-One
LAWRENCE WAITED to tell Preston what he’d done until he was sure the board meeting was underway. He’d called Gene Hathaway with an off-the-wall idea that Erin Scott should be CEO of the company. He wanted to give the board a wake-up call that they weren’t as all-powerful as they assumed. Some corporate officers needed to get back in line where they belonged.
Preston wasn’t sure how to respond to his grandfather. Putting Erin in a position of power like that just played into the scenario that she was a gold digger, stalking him for his money and position. But that didn’t hold water. She just wasn’t that kind of person and Preston had to face the possibility she was really as nice and kind and… downright attractive as she appeared to be.
“You’ve read her resume,” Lawrence said. “Gene called her references at Allard. And I think it was you who suggested dropping the hint that Allard was thinking of a buyout.”
“I suggested… I was afraid that was why she got the job in my office. Do you really think Allard would want to buy us out?”
“I doubt it. We aren’t in the sweet spot of their holdings. Actually, we’re a little small for them. That Cleveland Regional office that Erin was Vice President in charge of? She had more employees there than we have in Jerico City. But Duval, Dirksen, and Masters haven’t paid attention to what’s out there. They still think she’s just a glorified secretary. You know, having her get your laundry and groceries just amplifies that message.”
“I think she could have talked Gene into voting with us without the added incentive,” Preston grumbled.
“Maybe. But the family is sending a message here, son. This is our company and we choose who runs it.”
“Yes, sir.”
Preston’s phone rang and he saw Gene was calling.
“Well, did you oust me from my office?” Preston barked into the phone.
“Only halfway,” Gene laughed. “I take it your grandfather filled you in on the plan. I’d have to say it was successful. Duval, Dirksen, and Masters folded up their tents and crept quietly away. And now they are all thinking about what they can do to make their shares in JeriCorp more valuable in case of a buyout.”
“And Ms. Scott went along with it?”
“I didn’t give her much choice. She was committed to preserving your position on the board. I held the fifth vote she needed. I think Reinholdt is going to resign from the board, by the way. It will be a good timing to get another independent board member signed up.”
“Erin Scott.”
“Well, unless you change the bylaws, she’ll have a position on the board by virtue of her office as CEO. No. I’m thinking you should look at one of the younger execs in town—or even out of town. Nothing says we’re growing like having a board member or two who are from larger companies outside of town.”
“I don’t think we need to be too heavy-handed about it. If your plan worked as well as you say it did, we’ve reasserted control. If Ms. Scott will let us have it.”
“If not, it’s in good hands. She’s probably celebrating in your office now.”
“I should go over there.”
As Preston drove to the office, he realized he felt rather light of heart. He’d never really liked the responsibility of running the company, even though he shuffled all the public aspects of it off to Duval. He wondered how much of that Ms. Scott would wrest from Duval. As far as Preston was concerned, it was a burden that kept him from thinking about the real work of architecture and development. He wanted to create things. He wanted to build a wonderful resort city where people could fully realize their dreams of a true work-life balance.
If Duval had become chairman and CEO, the entire shape of Cloudhaven would have been changed. Duval’s vision—what he had of it—was completely commercial. He wanted a thousand hotel rooms in a glass tower while paying no attention to what would attract people to the resort. A thousand-room hotel would just sit empty until he could sell rights to develop a big casino and some recreational facilities to augment his golf course.
And, if the project failed after Duval took over, he would see to it that Preston was blamed for the whole bad idea. It would be the end of the Jerico family involvement in JeriCorp.
At least Erin understood and bought into the concept. Yes, Preston could get along quite well with Ms. Scott as his CEO. And he’d find out soon enough if she wasn’t true to the colors she’d shown.
He stepped off the elevator into his penthouse and took his groceries to the kitchen. He hadn’t had groceries delivered recently because he’d stayed at Jerico House or down in Cloudhaven. The coffee pot was cold and the grounds had not been emptied and cleaned. Was that the first sign she was not all she appeared to be? He decided to look through the rest of the apartment and check to be sure she’d done her job the past weeks.
Nothing else seemed out of place. Puzzles were all reset. His laundry had been put away. The cleaners had done their job. He stepped around to the sitting area, looking out on the rooftop patio, and saw Erin Scott asleep on the sofa.
What on earth is she doing here? Well, he supposed she had been working pretty hard this week. He could hardly blame her for falling asleep. He’d slept a while in the afternoon himself.
He sat in a side chair and looked at her. Her glasses were clutched in one hand and a coffee cup sat on the table next to her head.
She was truly lovely. Oh, not one of the false beauties his mother had arranged for him. Erin didn’t wear too much makeup. Or he was very bad at being able to tell if she was wearing makeup. Most of the time, she wore a mask when she was with him—it was a rule of the office. He supposed that obviated the need for most makeup. She had a pleasant heart-shaped face. Her shoulder-length blonde hair tended to fly away in all directions. He’d often noticed her blue eyes.
That should have been a clue to her identity when he first met her. He’d noticed her eyes in the restaurant and thought they were striking, but he’d never really looked into her eyes after she came to work for him. How many other things had he not noticed?
Well, he needed to put those romantic thoughts out of his head. Not only was she his assistant, she was now the CEO of his company. He had to wonder how that was going to work. Would he need to find a new assistant? They had worked so well together remotely over the past two weeks, perhaps they needed to stay separate. She’d done an expert job of starting and organizing the project plan and distributing the parts to the people who would need to contribute.
He smiled, just appreciating the woman across from him. His own eyes drifted shut.
“Jerry? Mr. Carver? Oh, my! I fell asleep! I’m so sorry!” Erin said when she opened her eyes. Carver jolted awake and looked at her.
“It was very peaceful,” he said. “I nodded off myself.”
“I didn’t mean to wake you. I was startled is all. I’ll clean things up and leave. I didn’t mean to infringe on your personal space. It was… an exhausting day and I didn’t sleep well last night.”
“Please, Ms. Scott. Don’t rush. How about joining me for dinner? I stopped at the market on the way home, since I hadn’t been here for a while. It will be a simple meal. I usually cook my fancy meals on Saturday.”
“Mr. Carver? Is it okay for me to stay? I wouldn’t want anyone to think something inappropriate was going on.”
“Maizie, your friend Jerry is inviting you to dinner. You’ve never tasted my cooking. And no one really watches the elevator over the weekend.”
“Well, then, I suppose it would be okay. Thank you for the invitation, Jerry.”
“Was Maizie a name based on anything?” Jerry asked.
“No. Dolores has a bunch of nametags of kind of fifties-sounding names and that was the one I drew when I went to work there. It’s funny, you know. I could have been a Jeri. My middle name was Jericho. Spelled differently than your family name. I mean, my mother was a Jericho and insisted that I bear it as my middle name. I only ever used my initial, J. When I married, I dropped it, and when I divorced, I regained my maiden name, but didn’t reaffirm my middle name.”
“There aren’t that many Jericos in the country,” Jerry said, leading the way to the kitchen. Erin went immediately to clean up the coffee pot and her cup, washing and putting them away. “I have a couple of chicken breasts. I thought I could poach them. I have a very good recipe.”
“It sounds delicious. What can I do?”
“Why don’t you start the rice as I get the oven heated and the chicken ready to wrap in parchment?”
The two worked companionably beside each other and managed not to get in each other’s way. They talked lightly of all things that were going on in their lives.
“I usually have a glass of wine on Sunday afternoon with Dolores and we run through how our week went. We’ve become very good friends. In fact, she was the only friend I had in town until we joined a bowling league. Can you imagine me bowling on Thursday nights?” Erin said. “Dolores will not believe what’s happened to me this week.”
“I haven’t bowled in years. In college, Gene Hathaway had quite a ruse going. He played the part of the wealthy playboy and I was simply his wingman. Not a very good one, I’m afraid.”
“Hmm. When I was working in the diner, there was a nice guy who used to come in while I was working. We had some nice conversations. I lost track of him when I quit to come to work here.”
“I really enjoyed that. You know I only went back once after you left. It just wasn’t as much fun,” he said. “I kept kicking myself for not having tried to get your number before you left for your new job. I thought I’d just missed my chance.”
“Chance at what, Jerry?”
“Um… Th-the chance… um… I-I-I mean… to uh… get to know you better.”
“Jerry, relax. I’d like to get to know you better as well. We don’t need to press things. Besides, I got your number from Dolores and it was me who made the call.”
“Oh! Wow! Um… Maybe… you know… I’m just after your money!”
“What money? Do you think you pay me enough to share?”
“You’re the CEO now. You need to go down to HR and have them explain your benefits and new salary. Things will change for you, Ms. Scott.”
“I don’t know how they can. Surely, the board didn’t intend for me to share your salary. I’m just your assistant.”
“Well, about that. The CEO is a paid position in the company. Chairman of the Board is not a paid position. No one is paid to be on the board or have a position on it. Those are honorary roles. We set that up years ago so the board wouldn’t be dependent on the company for its income. That means you will be paid as CEO. I will not be paid as Chairman. I hope they let me keep my apartment. I don’t want to move back to Jerico House. It wasn’t bad for a month, but I wouldn’t want to stay there permanently.”
“Jerry, we need to make sure you are employed here. This is your home as well as your office. They certainly couldn’t expect me to live here. That would be ridiculous. How could they think such a thing? And besides, Chairman doesn’t describe your real job in the company!”
“What does?” Jerry laughed. “Corporate recluse?”
“I actually mentioned it during the meeting today. Didn’t realize I was creating a new position. When they asked for a reason you should be kept in this role, I said, you are the chief architect of the company. It’s important enough that we should establish the position. This apartment office should belong to the Chief Architect.”
Erin was satisfied with her rationale and nodded her head, not noticing how silent Jerry had become. He removed the poached breasts from the oven and put them on the plates with the rice Erin served. The poached chicken included onion, peppers, and asparagus spears. He carefully spooned broth from the pan over the chicken and the rice.
“This is such a lovely meal, Jerry. Thank you for inviting me.”
He held up his hand and went to the refrigerator to get a bottle of white wine, which he quickly opened and poured into two glasses. He sat and raised his glass. Erin joined him.
“Madam CEO,” he said. “When Grandfather told me he’d talked to Gene and what they’d agreed to, I was momentarily angry. He convinced me handily. But nothing has convinced me more than spending these few minutes with you cooking dinner. Erin, you are not in the position of CEO as an honorary executive. If there is anything regarding aspects of the business I can help with, I will. You know, specifics about architecture and development. But you are the CEO of JeriCorp. I will take whatever position you find for me.”
“Uh… Jerry… I mean… I didn’t come here to try to take over the company from you. Really. I think Mr. Hathaway made that up to scare the others. Please don’t think that of me.”
“You were really given no choice. You’re the right person for the job.” They sampled the chicken and both made exclamatory remarks about the flavor.
“Mr. Carver, I need to ask you something. We’ve worked closely for the past three months. I like the office up here. I even enjoy the menial tasks I’ve done. This space… being here with you… I like it. Do I need to move to a different office? May I please continue to use my office space here.”
“Hmm. We might need to hire another assistant. That would make it difficult for you to use that office space. Why don’t you consider taking my grandfather’s space on the other side of the conference area? He doesn’t really use it, even when he comes into the office.”
“If you don’t think he’d be offended, that would be wonderful.”
“You simply wouldn’t believe what they did to me,” Erin said when she met Dolores for their Sunday glass of wine together. “Dolores, I worked toward this at my previous company and suspended it all to get married and have children. Then that all fell through. Now I have what I worked so hard for in Cleveland. I’m the CEO of the company!”
“How on earth did you get that? You aren’t sleeping with anyone, are you?” Dolores asked her young friend.
“How could you think that? I was part of a compromise deal. The Board of Directors would keep Mr. Carver as Chairman of the Board only if I agreed to become CEO. The CEO, by the way, also has a position on the board, so I’m now on the Board of Directors.”
“Oh, Erin, honey, I’m truly trying not to be negative, but it all sounds like some fantasy. I suppose you’ll marry the billionaire chairman now,” Dolores laughed.
“Um… I need to be really careful about how people think of that. I mean, I like Jerry. I’ve liked him ever since he started coming into the diner. We’re friends. But now, he’s my employee. The first thing I did as CEO this week was create the position of Chief Architect and hire him for it. It’s kind of circuitous. As CEO, the Chief Architect reports to me. But I report to the Chairman of the Board. Sort of. It’s confusing.”
“Let me see. In all that dissembling, I didn’t hear you say you wouldn’t be willing to marry him,” Dolores said.
“It’s so complicated. Why am I even considering whether I would marry him? We aren’t dating. We had dinner together this week. It was nice. Mostly, we just talked about life and how we came to be where we are. Did you know he wanted to be a chef? Maybe eventually he will be. The poached chicken he made was heavenly. But we need to work together, too. We can’t let a relationship interfere with the jobs we have. The Board will watch us like a hawk.”
“Speaking of which, what are you going to do about the rebels who tried to overthrow the regime?” Dolores asked.
“Good question. AS CEO, the Chief Operating Officer, Chief Financial Officer, General Counsel, and Chief Architect report to me. I have to consider three of them hostile, or potentially hostile. I think the CFO was embarrassed that he joined with Duval. I don’t want a massive walkout because of something I do. If Royce Duval has hurt feelings and needs to go to a corner and lick his butt, I won’t stop him, but I will demand he does his job. I plan to call an executive meeting for later in the week so there’s time for the dust to settle. That will also give me an opportunity to talk to Mr. Jerico and the Carvers so I’m sure we are in alignment.”
“You’ll be lucky if your officers are the only people in the company you have to manage—even if they are the only ones on your org chart. I know you like your office with Mr. Carver, but you should consider getting an assistant yourself. You’ll have your hands full of executive things.”
“Executive things. I wonder how many of those are stacked up waiting to fall on me.”
“I didn’t like the idea when you told me what you’d done,” Preston said at his family dinner table Sunday. He’d had a good game of basketball with Gene early in the morning and was feeling fresh and invigorated. Lawrence and Jacqueline were at the table, of course, but so was Gina Gabriola. She and Lawrence had become quite a pair. She wasn’t being pushed at Preston, so he found her quite charming.
“You’re adapting,” Lawrence said.
“Maybe too fast. By the way, you don’t have a desk in my office any longer. I gave it to the CEO,” Preston said with a smirk.
“Well, that was…” Lawrence started indignantly. “That was a smart thing to do.”
Preston looked at Gina and then his mother.
“Erin and I had dinner together.”
“Please don’t tell me it was a disaster,” Jacqueline said.
“It was… stimulating,” he said. “I like her. I’ve liked her from the day I met her in the diner. I just didn’t know the girl in my office was the same as the waitress in the diner.”
“You called her a girl?” Gina asked.
“No. Of course not. She’s a woman. Really… a nice… woman.”
“Just take your time. Things will sort themselves out,” Jacqueline said.
“What are we going to do about Duval, Dirksen, and Masters? I don’t much blame Reinholdt. He’s likely to go with whomever he thinks is most powerful,” Lawrence said.
“It’s disgusting that they tried to displace you from your own company,” Gina said, shaking her head. “Don’t they hang traitors?”
“Not in many years, dear,” Lawrence chuckled. “I can imagine my father or grandfather dealing with them quietly and permanently, though.”
“We need them,” Preston said.
“Yes, but there is going to be some doubt regarding how badly they are needed. They were outmaneuvered, seemingly, by a woman they discounted as nothing more than a secretary. They will be wary. It will be best if you just quietly sit back and support Ms. Scott.”
“As if I would say something,” Preston snorted. “But I’d like to get a reading on how she wants to deal with them. It will tell me a lot about what the future will look like.”
“How do you feel about becoming Chief Architect?” Jacqueline asked.
“It’s brilliant! It’s all I’ve ever wanted to be in the company, really. I appreciate needing to keep the chairmanship in the family, but I was never very good at being CEO.”
“It was good experience for you anyway,” Lawrence said. “Especially now that you may need to help and guide our new CEO. I admit, naming you Chief Architect was an excellent first step on her journey. The biggest threat we have is losing control of the design of the project. This puts you in a position to guard dog the entire Cloudhaven development.”
“I promise I’ll make it successful,” Preston said.
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