The Clinton Enterprises Saga

Part 11 - The Joint Venture is Launched

Chapter 23 - Getting Organized

The evening out with our four new friends was really special. Beth called in a favor, and got us a reservation in the restaurant on top of the Prudential building downtown. We were sitting next to each other at a long table with eleven places.

"Alec, it is a terrible tourist cliche, but the food is excellent and the view is outstanding. Your credit card is going to take a big hit!"

"I'm not complaining, this is perfect for our new teammates. Do you think they are comfortable with the crazy Clinton gang?"

"Did you hear the scream back at the house when Anna put the sapphire on Ye-jin's chest? Look down the table, she still can't believe it. I think we are making friends!"

"I tried to get Anna not to tell her about the naked games with the jeweled necklace, but look at the blush, and the smile on Jake's face."

Even from ten feet away, the sapphire flashed brightly in candle light from the table. Jake whispered in Ye-jin's ear and she blushed even more as she sat up straight with her boobs caressing the jewel between them. I nodded at Jake and Jeremy and started clapping quietly.

The poor woman turned and buried her face in Jake's shoulder, shaking. From across the table, Emily, the bold one, said, "If he hasn't proposed yet, now is the time!"

Jake looked at me, and I mouthed, "Go for it."

Pressing her back into her chair, Jake slowly sank to his knees and spoke quietly to her in Korean. Beth and Emma had my hands from either side, squeezing hard. It was an incredibly tender moment. Even the wait staff were struck silent and immobile.

She replied in Korean, and then shouted in English for the rest of us, "Yes! Oh Jake, I am so happy!"

Dinner out had suddenly become an engagement party. An exceedingly gay engagement party. The restaurant insisted on complimentary champagne. Against my usual instincts, I rose for a toast, which was longer than I intended.

"Friends, we could not be more blessed, as we embark on our adventure with the Joint Venture, than to have this couple committing their love to each other right here in Boston. We all wish you a long and fruitful marriage."

I decided to sit down before I got in trouble. I was hardly seated before Beth was pinching between my legs. "Fruitful! I'll give you a fruitful!"

Anna was across the table, and hissed, "Fruitful? Good grief, Alec. Mind your manners!"

Clara was next to Anna and laughing so hard she buried her head in Anna's lap. Emma said, sotto voce, "Alec, only 19th Century ministers said things like 'fruitful.' "

As we were leaving the table after two hours of fine food and excited conversation, Emily walked up behind me and giggled, "Alec, I am a bad girl. I caused a near riot tonight, and I have drunk too much wine."

With a tight arm around her waist, I guided us to the elevator, "Wild and bold one, your instincts were perfect. I've already told you that you are not allowed to change."

After I pressed a hundred dollar bill into his hand, a cabbie at the curb was happy to promise a careful delivery of the two engaged couples to the Mass Avenue address, and they were off, with the women occupying laps of their fiances.

I had appointed myself the designated driver, and had sipped very lightly on the champagne and dinner wine, which meant my embarrassment over fruitful was prolonged. Knowing that parking for the van was only a few feet from the house door in Cambridge, the women quickly shed their fancy dresses and did a giant pile in the back, wrestling in their underwear. Emma rode shotgun and smirked at me. "You are going to get work out of this bunch tomorrow?"

The next morning, I was still being punished. Clara extended a cup of coffee and asked, "Would you like fruit with your cereal, Alec?"

My sexy, smiling mother was nearby and I grabbed her, desperate to change the subject. "Beth, there isn't enough room here for CE and the JV together. What should we do?"

She led me outside into the morning sun. "Any nearby property is going to be very expensive and want a long term lease. On the other hand, if the JV is successful, the Koreans may want a semi-permanent base of operations."

While we were pondering that, Jake and Ye-jin wandered out, holding hands and sipping their coffee. Ye-jin came up and kissed me on the cheek. "Alec, that was the most incredible night of my whole life!"

I pulled her to my lap. "Dearest nightingale, if he fails you, I will always be here!" She jumped back into Jake's embrace just as Anna arrived to bat my head. "Dearest Nightingale? That is worse than fruitful!"

Soon, everyone was on the patio watching me getting punished. I gestured for quiet. "That was a terrific engagement party last night, but we need to get organized and get to work. Emma will convene a staff meeting shortly. Anna and Amy and I will meet with our four new team members to sort out work and responsibilities for the Joint Venture."

I continued, "One challenge for all of us is dealing with working space and living space now that JV people are beginning to arrive. Creative ideas are encouraged."

With fresh coffee and a muffin, the seven JV bodies gathered in a corner of the backyard garden. I gazed at the women, wondering how aggressive they were today. After a long minute, Janice said, "Alec, you've hired me to lead the JV project. I am sitting here just now realizing I need to get off my rear and be the team leader. Please give me a little time to work into my new job."

Anna poked me, "A little time, Alec. Do you guys understand the concept of time?"

Ye-jin was covering her mouth to suppress a giggle and pointing her finger at Jake, who growled at her. Jeremy and I took up the growl too. Janice rose and stood in the middle of our little group, exerting her new authority.

"Ok, we will hold all teasing to a dull roar. There is plenty of work. Before the day is over, we need to coordinate with Liu, get our arms around Amy's drafts on a term sheet and the intellectual property agreements, discuss JV working space priorities, and figure out which of us are taking the lead on various work assignments."

I spoke up. "Very nice. Before we go ahead, let's hear from Jake about JV politics at home."

He collected his thoughts for a moment and began, "Thanks, Alec. The situation in Seoul is fluid, and we are going to have to play the next few days carefully. Sung has stepped into the middle of the JV planning at home and made it his project. But there will be pushback. Hard to know from here how serious it will be.

"Professor Liu has worked with our firm for a number of years and we need his advice. But my initial reaction is to make as much progress as we can in the immediate future, and feed that to the home office to demonstrate that the JV is a viable concept and is already launched here in Cambridge. Depending on our talk with Liu, my instinct is to ask Sung to send someone with corporate signature authority to us as soon as possible. I will suggest that he pick a person who has been as neutral as possible in the political games. He can decide the limits of our JV agreements and so instruct whomever he sends."

Heads were nodding around the circle. I pulled out my phone and tapped Liu's number. He answered and I switched it to speaker. "Good morning. Nice to catch you. The Joint Venture team now numbers seven and we are having a short staff meeting here at the Mass Ave office. Would it be possible to see you for a brief meeting sometime today? Or would you like to drop by here for a glass of wine after work?"

"Alec, good to hear your voice. After news of the Sung business the other day, I've been thinking we need to have the talk we discussed on the phone. I am booked solid during the day, but would be happy to take you up on that wine as long as I get home for dinner reasonably on time."

"Fabulous, Professor. We will see you at the end of the day."

I looked around at cautiously smiling faces. "Janice, you should take the lead with Liu this evening. Before he comes, you might give some thought to areas where we would concentrate first with the combined JV team. Maybe Jake can help with that.

"Emma, why don't you grab Clara and go on a search to rent a whole house somewhere not too far away. That would create a builtin support system for Koreans who are away from home, and allow them max flexibility to balance work and relaxation.

"Anna and I need a private conversation for a little while. Everyone else ok?"

I walked away from nods with Anna on my heels. Going upstairs in the house, she whacked my behind, "What is this? You look like you want to tear me apart."

I didn't answer but picked the tough body up and threw it into the middle of the giant bed. She lay there with blazing eyes. "Don't you dare try something nasty."

I reached for my belt and her eyes widened. But I put on my best scowl and fell forward, rolling her into my arms.

She grabbed me for a ferocious kiss that went on for a long moment. "You are truly, truly bad. What is going on?"

"I needed face time with my partner."

Now it was her turn to roll on top, beating hands on my chest. "There must be something wrong. What is it?"

I sat up. "Do you want a beer?"

"No. I want an explanation."

I pulled us together with her nestled into my front. "You and I need to figure out how we keep CE and the JV going at top speed without killing ourselves."

She turned over and snuggled into me. "I should have known you would be thoughtful. You want us on the same page so you can sort out things with the new helpers."

"Hmmm."

"Is it ok if I get Ye-jin and bring her here?"

"Hmmm. Beer too."

They came back together, sharing a beer and handing me the other.

"You are permitted to get in there and cuddle on one side. He wants to talk to us."

She fit very nicely under my arm, a boob pressing into me. "Berkeley is here, we can begin," she said.

I kissed her cheek and said, "I knew there would be trouble mixing MIT and Berkeley computer people."

"We'd better talk or Jake is coming after me. He's jealous of other guys, especially ones with a lot of sex appeal like you."

"You better tell him I'm not making a move on you."

She poked me in the side. "We will see about that. Talk."

"Sung thinks a lot of you. The Phd's at home probably don't. Are you going to be an open member of the JV team, or a secret one?"

"Jake will talk to Sung and they will decide. I am already in trouble at home for being uppity, as you American men like to say."

"In trouble with me too." We looked up and Jake was in the doorway, smiling widely.

I gestured and he sat down on the far side of Ye-jin, who found a place under his shoulder rather than mine.

"Jake, Anna and I are trying to get our act together about splitting our attention between the JV and our startup responsibilities."

From the doorway, another voice said, "That's a good idea. Since I am your boss at the JV, I'd better join this party, shouldn't I?"

With a fake frown, she launched herself at Anna and me. Which got her rolled around, pounded, and covered with a blanket. "Boss, you are to be quiet for a minute."

More bodies appeared, armed with lunch sandwiches and smiles. It seemed that the JV newcomers were adopting the CE tradition of a big pile to talk things over.

Clara was the last to arrive, saying she had put the closed sign on the front door, and the phones on voicemail.

In a stage whisper, Ye-jin said to Jake, "Even at Berkeley, we don't do this."

Chapter 24 - Alec is Put in His Place

While I wasn't paying attention, Janice, Ye-jin and Anna moved themselves to the middle of the bed, which was serving as a very informal conference table. Janice locked eyes with me, her face full of a sinister smile.

"Alec is an inspirational leader for all of us, in more ways than one." She stopped to survey the bodies clustered together on the bed. Emily and Clara were in each other's arms, giggling.

"Maybe he doesn't realize it, but his loving and his confidence in us has opened our eyes to opportunities we didn't think were there. His risk taking has brought new Korean friends into our family circle. Even Jeremy, a cool customer from Oxford, has joined up.

"Since before this morning, when he turned the JV leadership over to me, the women have been talking. We think we have a good plan, and now is a good time to let him know what is going to happen next!"

Emma and Beth poked me viciously, "Good time."

"First, we don't think more space in Cambridge is necessary. Everyone loves Emma's home in Vermont and the startup facilities there are going to be first rate. The living spaces and the common room will be terrific, even in winter. We will install a large screen in both places and have the link open all the time so everyone stays in sync. Clara and Emma will apply discipline to our living arrangements.

"Second, the JV plan will be revised to deal with Dr. Sung's desires. We think there shouldn't be a division between the startup work and the JV work. CE is the perfect vehicle to teach ourselves and our Koreans friends about innovation and entrepreneurship. Lots of challenges.

"We will reduce the visiting JV staff so that one or two carefully vetted couples come at a time, and are integrated into our regular work plan. Ye-jin and Jake will be our much traveled go betweens to keep the JV on an even keel. Amy will stay on top of the legal issues.

Janice was looking and sounding like a leader, but I noticed her hands were tightly meshed with those of Anna and Ye-jin. I smiled to myself and wondered if being boss at the JV fulfilled her original desires to be a CEO. It wouldn't be that long, I thought, before she was snapped up for a real CEO job.

She looked around, "Is there more needed now?"

A voice asked, "What about the weddings?"

I broke in, "Before the fiancees speak, I think it is a necessary business expense for the company to support married bliss. Wherever Janice and Ye-jin decide to marry, we will travel there, assuming we are invited, of course."

Amy frowned, "Married bliss? Every time he opens his mouth, it gets worse."

When I looked up, the couples were together and whispering. Ye-jin smiled and said, "We will marry in my parent's garden, after I get my degree in the spring."

Janice had Jeremy's strong arms around her. "He wants to do it at his family place in the Cotswolds. But we have to talk to my parents first. The bride's family is supposed to decide."

Emily stood up. "What is Alec to do, now that the women have taken over?"

I was pummeled as cries of "We are in charge," rang out.

Burying my head, I thought, how could life be any better?