A New Regime
Sitting in the passenger seat, Ellen spent the final hour of our return to Steamboat Springs on her cell phone. It was marvelous to hear. She summoned Kathleen and Toni back to Steamboat. She called Claire and asked if she and Lyn could arrange a place for everyone to eat, sleep and talk. Mely's houses were tied up with remodeling and networking for the next several weeks, and the B&B wasn't in much better shape, being filled with its own set of remodelers.
She called C-M, complimenting her hard work while the Boss was being his less than adequate self at Grand Lake. Thanked C-M and Mely for confronting me with the obvious. Announcing that if the conversion continued to go well, we would have an all day, all staff retreat to get everyone on the same page, and to deal with some Lucas related issues.
She clicked off and I glanced at her, "Lucas related?"
She delivered a CEO stare. "Isn't that what you and I have been working on for the last day?"
I realized, belatedly, that a message was being delivered. My brain trust was taking over. Delegations were in progress! In days, not weeks, I was going to be a trader again. I shuddered and thought to myself that the more successful we were, the scarier it got.
Ellen noticed and asked, "What's wrong? You look unhappy."
"No, just scared." I smiled at her and reached for a hand.
She grabbed mine instead and nibbled on my knuckles as we entered Steamboat. "I can see I must take my clothes off, sit on your chest, and beat sense into you!"
We discovered Richard in the rented house with the temporary server installation. Mely's house next door looked very forlorn, perched up on timbers several feet off the ground. A nice deep hole had been carved for the new foundation, and footings had already been poured.
He said, "I'm keeping one eye on the construction, and the other on these servers. So far, they are zinging along just fine." He got a clinch and a hot kiss from Ellen, who said, "This is fabulous. What has happened to the women?"
"After you scared them with all those orders, they hot footed it out of here to make them happen!" He pulled her back to his front in a big bearhug. "Lucas, your team of crazy beautiful women is taking over. That means we can relax and tend to our skiing?"
He got a backwards elbow from Ellen, who said, "We are having Divisional competition and bonuses. Right now, the Marines are lagging!"
The Marines tortured the CEO until she howled, "Let me go! There is work to be done, grunts!"
"Yes," I replied, "I'm bunking here with Richard while your meeting takes place. Call us when you need us, if ever."
She stared, eyes blazing and arms raised. We stared back and she flinched, then stomped out to the car and drove away.
"Boss, I think she is pissed."
I studied the many blinking lights in the server room while he got us a couple of strong microbrews.
"She is a very determined woman, and wants to lead. Just hasn't figured out how to deal with the guy she is sleeping with. Give me the rundown on this new server lashup."
"There is the basic Mely trading configuration from next door, plus the client facing read only configuration, plus redundant backup for Nampa. In addition, we keep several machines in hot backup to handle emergencies. So far, haven't had to use them. In six weeks, we will dismantle all this and move to the new basement computer room in Mely's house."
"Pretty damn fancy, considering where we're coming from."
"That's what you get for hiring talent. Now tell me what's going on with Ellen and the women."
"With luck, they are going to work out an organization for the company without bosses."
"Oh man, you are making my head hurt, Lucas. You spent those years in the chain of command, and your women are going without?"
"Richard, remember for me some of our field days in Iraq. How many bosses were there?"
"My god, my head is worse. You are going to turn them into a mini Marine field platoon?"
"Tell me, lunkhead, since I found a date for you with Claire, how many orders have you given?"
"Shit, this is too much. Maybe we can reup."
He and I danced around in the small space, laughing and feinting. "Speaking of reupping, I think you should be the new VP-Facilities of WIL."
"I like working for you, Lucas, and I would like that job, but there are conditions."
"Go ahead."
"First, no job title, I'm allergic. Second, if any of them try to give me an order without saying please, they go over my knee. Third, I report to Ellen, not to you."
I smiled and fisted him. "You drive a hard bargain. Let's have another beer."
A few minutes later, we were leaning on the kitchen counter sipping our brew when there was a loud crash at the front door and a parade of bodies with their arms full descended on us.
Mely said, with a fierce look, "You are to sit right there and be quiet. Dinner has come to you, along with your deserving womenfolk."
By the grunge standards of WIL, they were dressed up. Blouses and sweaters, some skirts, some capris. I suspected there was even underwear. Richard and I glanced at each other and kept our mouths shut.
C-M grabbed Richard's and my hands and led us to the server space. "What do you think, Lucas?"
"You are a miracle worker. Did you pick this up in Bellevue?" Richard and I edged forward on each side of the glamorous woman.
"Mostly no. Richard and I bootstrapped ourselves, with help from you." She allowed herself to be sandwiched between us. "Behave. Ellen says we have to be professional."
Richard used his husky voice, "We are paralyzed with admiration. You deserve a special reward. What about surf and sand in Cancun?"
"Ellen says we have ninety days to prove we can make a real company out of WIL. All the rest of these projects are useless if we can't get organized, keep the clients happy, and make money."
Marie had always been the power behind my meagre throne, and spoke a new reality with conviction.