Heartbreak And Hope Ch 10

Having someone's number = idiom for having them and their motives figured out.

Monday June 22, 2020

It was the last day of the Summer Start Festival and we slept in until half past seven which is sleeping in for someone who wakes up almost an hour earlier every day for work. I rolled over then cuddled my wife against my body, wrapping her in my arms and pressing my morning wood against her ass cheek. She giggled, "Good morning Joshua! And little Joshua I love you both."

My best privilege; My wife.

We had another session of her bent over the half wall of the outdoor pool shower, this one caught by one of Movie Max's roving camera people. Jennifer's exhibitionist side came out and it even helped push her to her climax.

Jayson and Cara were starting the same thing at their shower area and the videographer switched to them as we left the pool area to get our shoes and head out to breakfast. We were all mindful of keeping on the good side of the corporate devil.

After the shower, we walked toward town and I put 'breakfast' into the CIS App once near the edge of downtown and a few blocks from the promenade and we decided to try a new place named Andrea's Omelets. No pun in the name like many and a boring name, but it was another place I ended up marking as a favorite. After we ate, we walked past The Central Fountain and into West Park to look around the street fair again to just wander.

Jennifer started pulling on me toward Eric and Shelby's Christmas ornament booth again while Charles Hall was walking nearby with his wife and daughter. I was a bit surprised to see him out and about without his security or for that matter, anything on. He was the one person I was used to seeing dressed.

He saw us then smiled, "Hello Joshua. Hello Jennifer."

I was a bit surprised because he was the prime minister and asked, "You remember me?"

He raised an eyebrow in surprise, "My granddaughter is still with us thanks to you. I will never forget that."

He paused, then said, "Nor will I forget it was you that found the issue with the traction motors because it is a critical project for us. I receive progress reports and know your gate is closest to completion and we have had zero labor issues from your site since you took over. I see a pattern with you and it's a good one because all of your workers respect you and see that you treat them with equal respect. There is a difference between a leader and a boss and I can see that you understand the difference."

Yeah, that felt great. No lie.

Charles apologized, "I never did introduce my wife and daughter. Joshua, Jennifer, this is my wife of almost thirty years, Angela and my daughter Rachael."

After introductions and pleasantries, Charles and his family preceded us, also attracted to Eric and Shelby's booth. Jennifer picked up a handcrafted ornament airbrushed red and green in a leaf pattern, looked at Angela and Rachael, "Aren't these wonderful!?"

Both women nodded then talked among themselves, looking through the small remaining stock as Jennifer picked several, setting them aside for herself. I looked at Charles and shrugged, It wasn't the first time either of us ended up in the background when our wives found something they were interested in.

Fate stepped into our lives again when Jennifer looked at Angela and said, "I just wish they had more room for more of their wonderful creations. I would love to see their booth again, freshly restocked. I want a big wonderful Christmas this year after several bleak ones. I plan on decorating the heck out of our place this Christmas. It's going to be a big wonderful Christmas."

She smiled thinking of the future and gestured wide armed, "BIG BIG!"

Charles saw her gesture, paused, and thought for a moment. A minute later, he smirked, "You wish they could come back eh?"

You know that look when someone has an "Aha! moment"? Yeah, I saw Charles have one of those.

Jennifer nodded, not realizing the trap she was more than enthusiastically stepping into. Charles was up to something as I was 'reading the room' while Jennifer gushed.

Charles smiled an almost wicked smile and said, "Be careful what you wish for."

Jennifer thought for a second perplexed, "Pardon?"

Charles smiled, "The Christmas Market is coming up and has been a bit... underwhelming as the person running it is getting on in years. I think you just solved my problem for me."

Jennifer shook her head, "Solved? How?"

Charles' almost wicked smile never disappeared, "The Christmas Market will start at the beginning of Christmas Season."

Jennifer asked, "So like a regular Christmas market we have in the US?"

Charles nodded, "Ours look, or rather used to look more like the ones in Europe. We do Christmas big here. You want a Big Christmas? You are going to get it. We call it the Christmas Season and it has thirty days of Christmas. It's a big thing here and it is our biggest yearly celebration."

Jennifer nodded, "So a season similar to the US?"

Charles nodded, "Sort of, but it is always thirty days here, November twenty-fifth at six in the evening through Christmas Day, though the market closes at four on Christmas Eve. Offices and industrial businesses are closed on November 26th and only places like restaurants, fuel and retail are open. For those working that day, pay is double time."

Jennifer smiled, "Sounds awesome!"

Jennifer just kept plowing on, straight into Charles' trap. He sent a text briefly and looked at an apparent reply a minute or two later. I could not figure out what the trap was, but his smile was... feral.

Charles asked with faux innocence that was obvious to me, but Jennifer kept sprinting ahead further and faster. I was not sure about the nature of the trap, but Charles smiled as he asked, "So if it was in your power to allow this couple to return to sell more of their wares, you would do it?"

Jennifer nodded enthusiastically.

When Charles read the reply text he had received and patiently waited as Jennifer nodded her ascent and the trap was sprung. Charles said with dripping faux innocence, "So Jennifer, it's put up or shut up time. Would you like to run the Christmas Market?"

Jennifer was shocked, "Er, what?'

Now I saw his game and he played it as a grand master.

Charles said, "Ellen Montgomery is eighty and has been in charge of the Market for twenty-nine years and is ready to give it up. It has been a bit small the last few years as she is getting on in age."

Charles looked at her intently, "Jennifer, this is your opportunity that does not come often. If you would like to be somebody here, this is it. Would you like to take over the Christmas Market from Ellen?"

Jennifer squeaked, "Me in charge of Christmas?"

Charles shook his head, "Uh, no. Only the Christmas Market in Somerset and technically for just this year, Ellen Montgomery would still be in charge to hand it off properly. Call it a guided handoff for next year. Ed Williamson, the Tourism Minister is in charge of Christmas Celebrations for the country and you and Ellen would be under Barbara Billing who is the Director of Tourism that is in charge of the celebrations in the cities of Somerset and Devon including near the Central Fountain, but Barbara is a hands off kind of manager who will only look for results, not how you achieve them."

Jennifer looked nervously at Charles, "But I'm just... me. Why me? Why not a government employee?"

Charles looked at me then her, "Birds of a feather, Jennifer. Spouses tend to be similar in their capabilities and I doubt Joshua would be married to a woman who herself was not quite capable. Remember, we had minimum educational requirements that we required for Movie Max to bring you here. As to why not a government employee. Simply because it is an unpaid temporary position and quite frankly, we need the freedom to put someone in charge who seems most up to the task."

Charles looked at Eric and Shelby then back to her, "Jennifer, I'll have mercy on you now and make it impossible for you to say 'no'. Jennifer, if you say yes, you can tell your friends here right now that they can return and have a booth at the Christmas Market. I'll even let you charge them the rate for Summer Start since the Christmas Season rates have not been set yet, but they will be higher. It was a bit of a downer the last few years as Ellen is slowing down and did not do a lot of recruiting for the market. YOU can change that."

Jennifer sighed, "But."

Charles looked at Eric and Shelby and said, "If you say yes to me, you can say yes to them right here and now. Jennifer, would you like to run the Christmas Market?"

I smiled at Jennifer, hoping she would take it as encouragement, not permission as Jennifer looked at Eric and Shelby who looked at her plaintively. Shebly asked quietly, "Please?"

Jennifer hung her head and she knew the answer, Charles had trapped her and she had run headlong into it, she hung her head, feeling foolish for not seeing what was now obvious, "Okay."

Shelby jumped happily, "YES!"

Charles smiled, "Congratulations Jennifer. You realize that we are a tiny country and you will never become wealthy directly for doing things like this. This is not like in the US where books and speaking engagements will line themselves up. That being said, you will meet people who will give you opportunities and you are going to meet such a woman. Jennifer, consider this an indirect favor for your husband saving my granddaughter. This is the opportunity of a lifetime. It will cost you your time and your talent, but if you shine and I think you will, the benefits will last you for your entire life."

Charles texted then listened to Jennifer again.

After Charles had completed his text, Jennifer asked, "Who is Ellen Montgomery?"

Charles simply replied, "Last I saw on the Forbes List, she was around number one sixty on their wealth list."

Jennfier thought for a second, slightly disbelieving, "And she runs the Christmas Market?"

Charles nodded, "The super rich are some of the worst humans... and some of the best and Ellen is one of the best. Listen to her as she is also one of the sharpest minds you will ever meet. Simply time has caught up to her and health has declined and she does not have the energy anymore which means the Christmas Market has suffered a bit."

Jennifer and my phones both buzzed a text.

Ellen Montgomery, aged eighty was no putz on a phone, 'Jennifer and Joshua Simmons. I am most happy to make your acquaintance. Charles has recommended Jennifer take over and I must say, I am relieved. He says you, Jennifer, are quite talented.'

'I would like to meet you both at your earliest convenience after Summer Start. I am with my great-grandchildren today. Dinner will be my treat. Would Wednesday or Thursday evening be better?'

Yes, I noticed she addressed Jennifer first and yes, I noticed her meeting request was a bit more than a request.

Charles looked quite satisfied with himself and smirked, "Now that problem is solved. Don't forget Jennifer, you said BIG! I want a BIG market this year."

He smirked, imitating her previous gesture, "BIG BIG!"

I was smart enough to not smirk myself. Yes, Charles was a nice guy. He was sharp as heck and when he realized he could fix something, he prodded and manipulated the solution like a grandmaster chess champion five moves ahead of everyone from the start.

I'm kind of glad he likes us, I wouldn't want him as an enemy.

Charles nodded over to Eric and Shelby, "You might want to get their contact details. I will send the Technology Minister a text to get his IT people to get you a separate email. ALL of your communication and purchases must go through that email. We have strict transparency laws here. They are not complicated, but all decisions and communication you make must be done through official channels. We use emails because it is the easiest way by far to keep things above board. Don't use your personal email. I will also have the interior department add you to give you authorization to issue purchase orders. Ellen will go over budgets and laws with you."

I asked Charles, "How did Ellen get our numbers?

Charles shrugged, "I gave them to her."

I looked at him confused, "How did you have our cell numbers?"

Charles held up his phone, shrugged and smirked, "I have everyone's number. It's an app that the prime minister and all members of parliament have as part of my job."

He smirked and looked at me, "EVERYONE'S number and I sure had your wife's number." He smirked bigger at the double meaning of 'having her number'.

Jennifer looked a bit scared and Charles reassured her, "Jennifer. I am not a bad man and I have not put you in a bad situation. Yes, I manipulated you right into the position, but if you shine doing this, and I truly think you will. Trust me, people with the power to make sure you never are unemployed longer than the time it takes to make a few phone calls, will know just how brightly you shine. Ellen Montgomery is one who has a gold bank account and an equally gold heart."

Charles smiled, "Now you get to do something fun! Tell your friends they are welcome back to our Christmas Market and ask them if they would like to do it."

Jennifer looked at them, overwhelmed. Eric and Shelby had smiles a hundred miles wide. Jennifer chuckled to herself then looked at them, "Well, would you like to return?"

Shelby jumped again, "YES!" She couldn't help it and hugged Jennifer hard, "THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!"

Charles looked at his phone and said, "Well my family and I want to wander. I shall see you both later. You will have to formally offer them a booth through your official email, but you may take their information down without it. Just make sure all official offers and communication are through your official email."

Jennifer looked over at Eric and Shelby, "Well, I guess that does it then. I will need your emails though I guess I can't do anything official until I get one from the Islands' government."

Eric and Shelby were smiling and told us they were up about twenty five hundred dollars ahead after expenses and I was happy for them. Jennifer had raved about their booth to the couples over the weekend and it apparently worked as many visited and purchased their wares. She asked if she could hug us both for sending our friends to take a look and between the ten couples, we had purchased around three hundred dollars of their decorations.

I swear Eric and Shelvy both looked five years younger as if they could see a bit of financial breathing room coming their way.

A BIG BIG Christmas? Yeah, sounds great.

Tuesday, June 23, 2020

The public was not invited to witness the event live, but it was televised as two large tug boats were attached by cables to the seaward side of my surgegate and stop blocks pulled out from the sides of the gate which was sitting on three dozen long steel rollers. The land the gate sat on was level, but began to slope perhaps ten feet away toward the water. This was it! The launch of my surgegate. All my work, living my project came down to this.

At exactly noon, I stood next to Gemma and Sir Oliphant as they chose to televise from my gate because I had completed mine first. I can't say anything bad about Sir Oliphant for the day, he made his speech, giving me credit for being the first to complete and thanking me. He is a stuffy bag of wind, but he seems even handed and concentrated on finishing goals, even over his insistence of formality. Gemma gave her speech along the same lines and exactly ten minutes later, we were evacuated to a safe distance in case the cables snapped as the gate was pulled toward the harbor. The Tugs started cautiously to even out the tension on the cables and slowly they increased throttle.

It was almost imperceptible as the gate weighed thirty two thousand tons, but it began to move. It took half a minute to be a perceptible speed but it picked up from there then picked up a lot of speed and finally created a big wave as it crashed into the water as the land had been dredged away mere feet from shore. My surgegate was now floating. One of those stark clear moments in time I remembered my whole life. MY gate was floating.

I went into the bunker and turned my key. The monitors all came up and all systems showed green. Control systems, motors and thrusters alike, all showed green. My gate... MY gate... was now part of a live system. They rearranged the cables as I waited then per my training, turned on the land side thrusters and my gate almost imperceptibly slow at first, pushed away from shore then the tugs helped in turning the thousand foot hull to be longways from shore instead of parallel to it.

Jennifer was smiling at me, yeah she had this look of 'Yeah, that is my man!' in her eyes and yeah, you know I loved it and I grinned. All my work, all that time, all those worries had now paid off.

I turned on the controls for the gates to the drydock. An alarm sounded and I made sure there was no one inside. Once assured it was clear, I opened the gates and I flooded it with twenty feet of water. We had to wait for high tide which was two hours away and the waiting was a test of the automated positioning system which was for the automated system to keep the gate in its designated holding space.

It was now just a waiting game and they sent everyone but myself and Owen Cornys to sit and wait for high tide alone. Rather anticlimactic.

Once we were ten minutes from high tide, the water level was high enough and I turned the thrusters on and brought the surgegate back toward land to the drydock. High tide was the only time the surgegate could be brought back as it was the only time the surgegate would be fully buoyant inside the drydock and the wheels were above their track level. The gate was brought inside the drydock and the gates closed then the water pumped out. That was it save for the upcoming final live test of the entire system.

At half past three, Jennfier texted me her new email address for the Department of Tourism. It was now official, Jennifer was in charge of the Christmas Market, well, kind of. There was even a blurb about it in the news section on CIS though it said she was working under Ellen.

Yeah, I smiled, I always knew my wife was impressive and I hoped she now saw just how much. The position paid nothing, but was a chance for her to shine and Charles was right, she would meet people who could help her in the future.

I texted back, "I'm so proud of you!"

I got back a smiley and 'We're going BIG BIG BIG. I have an idea! I HAVE LOTS OF IDEAS!"

My wife was beginning to believe in our new lives after so much bleakness.

Thursday, June 25, 2020

Ellen Montgomery sent a car. No shit, she sent a huge fucking black stretched Ford Explorer which was waiting for us as I arrived home after work at a quarter after four. We exited our place to a quizzical look from our nextdoor neighbor, Stephanie and when we arrived at Ellen's building, we got the formal opening the car door treatment from the driver.

Ellen Montgomery was in a building perhaps a half mile further West from the building Squatch and Ems lived in. This building had a doorman or rather a doorwoman who opened the lobby door and asked our names. When we gave our names, she nodded and said, "As expected. Mrs.Montgomery has you on her list."

She pointed to an elevator across a small lobby from the two that serviced the building in general and said, "Please proceed to her elevator."

She unlocked a control panel with a swipe card and the elevator opened. There were only two buttons; 1 and 48. Our friend Squatch was very wealthy. Ellen Montgomery was filthy stinking rich.

At the 48th floor, the elevator stopped in a tiny elevator lobby with a single door. I was a little surprised to see the door to her place was opened and an eighty year old woman was smiling at us. She had a large diamond on her ring finger, but she was not dripping in other gems, "Jennifer and Joshua. Good to meet you!"