Chapter 4 #4
Anger contorted his pretty boy features, but he picked up another flashlight and kept at it.
Bernadine figured he’d think twice before showing up anywhere else uninvited. Kneecapping hubris was a Tamar superpower.
“While Jermaine works on the flashlights, let me show you around,” Tamar offered. “We’re so proud of this building. It’s one of Bernadine’s many blessings.”
The women were impressed by all the rec had to offer, from the indoor and outdoor tracks, to the pool and basketball court, to the state-of-the-art kitchen facilities.
“The community college uses the facility for track teams training, and the local Red Cross uses the pools for senior and toddler swim classes,” Tamar said, “They also conduct CPR classes here.” Tamar then talked about Movie Night and the town’s annual Las Posadas celebration during the Christmas season.
Upon hearing that, Felicia declared, “Okay, Paige. If we decide to build at the other location, I’m still moving here. I haven’t been to a Las Posadas gathering in a thousand years.”
“I may join you,” she replied.
Sheila and Bernadine were pleased to hear that. Henry Adams was competing with a small town in upper Wisconsin. Paige and her people would be visiting it the next day with the hopes of making a final decision shortly after.
“How do you know about Las Posadas way out here?” Felicia asked.
“Luis’s family introduced it to us,” Sheila said. “We’re all about culture.”
“His family? He said he isn’t married.”
“He isn’t.”
She appeared confused.
Abby said, “Read the room, Cisneros. They’re being polite. They’re not going to put the man’s business on blast. You’ll have to find out on your own.”
“Oh. Makes sense. Now I’m even more intrigued.”
Bernadine was thankful for Abby’s insight and gave her a nod to acknowledge it.
Eyes twinkling with amusement, Abby responded in kind.
The rec tour done, they returned to the area where Jermaine sat still working on the flashlights. Paige asked him, “Did you take an Uber from the airport or rent a car?”
“I rented a car. I charged it to my company account.”
She sighed. “We’re flying out in the morning for Wisconsin. You won’t be needed, so go home. I’ll see you when we get back, because we need to talk.”
“About what?”
Bernadine thought someone else needed to read the room.
“Let’s wait until we return to the office.”
“No. If you have something to say, I’d rather you say it now.” He pushed his chair back and stood. He was a good six inches taller than Paige and, by the smirk on his face, he saw that as an advantage.
Abby, standing beside Bernadine, growled softly.
Paige didn’t appear intimidated at all. In fact, her icy smile reminded Bernadine of the one Tamar displayed before she chopped someone’s head off.
“You know, Jermaine, you’ve been with us for six months.
I hired you as a favor to your aunt Nadine, whom I love dearly.
She said you’d just gotten your MBA and were having trouble finding a job.
I took you on and in return got a person some of our clients now refuse to deal with because you’re either condescending, rude, or both.
You’ve been trying to throw your weight around—weight you don’t have—and pissing off colleagues all over the company.
I’ve brought this up with you several times before, have I not? ”
He looked away and didn’t respond.
“I’ll take that as a yes. You’ve been late for work way too often, you’ve undermined your boss in meetings and insist upon telling her how to do her job. The Ivy League arrogance you see as a gift to the world stinks like sushi left in the sun.”
Felicia, standing on the other side of Bernadine, whispered, “Kick his ass, Paige.”
“So,” Paige continued. “You showed up here today knowing you weren’t invited like maybe you run this joint. You don’t, Jermaine. I built this company. I sign the checks. I hire and I fire.”
That got his attention.
“Out of my love for Nadine, my plan was to speak with you privately one more time about your conduct when we got back to Boston, but you can clean out your desk, instead. You’re no longer an employee of Dark Horse.”
His eyes went wide. “What! Why?”
“Because you stood up and loomed over me like maybe it would make me shake in my boots. I’ve gone toe-to-toe with five-star generals, Jermaine.
If I can stand my ground with them, I can most certainly handle you.
Go back to Boston and clean out your desk.
Security will be notified that you’re not to be in the building after you’re done.
Your last paycheck will be sent direct deposit, and don’t expect a recommendation from me for any potential employers, because I will tell them the truth. ”
He was visibly shaken. His eyes pleaded.
“Any questions?”
“No.” It was a defeated whisper.
“My last piece of advice. Wherever you’re hired next, check your arrogance and entitlement at the door or you’ll find yourself in this same situation again. Safe travel home.”
She turned to Sheila. “Mayor Payne, where are we headed next?”
Bernadine placed Paige Summers’s name next to Tamar’s on her People Not to Mess With list. Jermaine French had been whittled down to nothing.
Jemaine left for the airport, and the women moved on to the school. Paige and her people were blown away by the Marie Jefferson Academy. Returning to the jeep, Paige voiced her reaction. “What an amazing facility.”
Felicia added, “Our personnel with school-age kids will love it.”
“Another of Bernadine’s blessings,” Sheila pointed out.
“Loved the aquarium,” Abby said.
Bernadine was pleased by their takes. Henry Adams was very proud of its school, staff, and students.
After driving the short distance to Franklin and taking it in, Sheila drove out to the area where Dark Horse would potentially build their campus.
Trent and construction boss Warren Kelly would meet them there.
The undeveloped land was a seventeen-acre parcel owned by Bing Shepard.
Sheila conducted the initial talks with Bing about the possibility of a sale.
If Henry Adams was chosen, Bernadine’s lawyers would handle the negotiations on his behalf.
Bing was one of the area’s largest landowners, and Bernadine had no idea what portion he was offering until Sheila stopped the jeep and they all got out.
The familiarity set off a load of mixed emotions.
It was where she and Mal flew their kites.
Logically, she knew there were many other places with open land suitable for their shared hobby, but the spot held a special place in her heart.
Trent and Warren were already there. Sheila introduced Warren, and he and Trent expressed their initial thoughts on the viability of the site. Some were good—they were only a few miles from town—and bad—it was going to be expensive tying the property into the county’s sewer and water lines.
“You’ll have to dig before you can lay pipe. You can run solar for your power needs, but neither operation is cheap.”
Paige asked, “Can you send me a guesstimate as to how much it will cost?”
“Sure.”
The surrounding land was wide open—not a tree in sight.
“You’ll be totally exposed out here, weatherwise,” Trent told them.
“We’re in a partnership with manufacturers testing new building materials that can withstand EF3 and higher tornado winds.
If you want your complex added to the contract, we’ll talk to them about it. ”
“I’d appreciate that. We can’t serve our clients if a tornado sends us to Oz.”
They talked a bit more about timelines, building codes, and the mountain of permits needed. The women listened intently, asked a few questions, and when they seemed satisfied with the responses, thanked Trent and Warren for their time.
Trent said, “We’ll get those estimates to Mayor Payne as soon as possible so she can forward them to you.”
“Sounds good,” Paige said.
The men offered their goodbyes and, with a wave, drove off.
On the drive back, Sheila asked, “Paige, I’m curious. How did you get into this business?”
“Well, let’s see. In the early days of tech, I started out working for what’s now one of the largest tech firms on the planet.
Loved coding and everything else that went into it.
When the culture began chasing profit, the mission changed, and so did the mindset of the people running the ship, so I cashed in some of my stock and started a one-woman operation concentrating on data security.
My main thing was busting hackers, and I was good at it.
I started small, but word got around about my success rate, and one day about ten years ago, the FBI called and wanted me to find some hackers who’d breached a government facility.
Can’t tell you which one because it’s classified.
It took me about six months of slogging through the dark web, searching chatrooms and turning over rocks, because the hackers I was after covered their tracks so well, but I found them.
The government was so pleased, Dark Horse was added to the US’s network of white hat firms.”
“What happened to the hackers?” Bernadine asked. “Did they go to jail?”
“They were tried and convicted, but I convinced the Department of Justice to let me hire them instead of locking them up, because they had mad skills. It took a lot of arm-twisting and begging, but Justice finally agreed.”
“Do they still work for you?”
“Yes. One’s back here sitting on my left, and her partner in crime is on my right.”
Bernadine’s jaw dropped. Sheila almost drove off the road.
Abby and Felicia laughed.
Abby explained, “We’re from South Central LA.
Our moms are single parents and lifelong friends.
We’ve been BFFs since kindergarten. Back then they worked in the USC laundry, and we were in community college.
We didn’t mind going to jail, because when the FBI and Homeland Security showed up on their jobs saying they were going to arrest us, we knew once our moms were done with us there’d be nothing left to arrest—just bury. Paige saved our lives.”
“My goodness!” Sheila said.
Speechless, Bernadine turned in her seat to see them.
Paige said, “Best employees a woman could have.”
Before Bernadine could respond, she heard her phone buzz. It was a text message from Paula. Thorn and I are married. He’s the man I want to come home to each day. Will talk to Trent about building us a house when we return. Love you!
“Good Lord!” she whispered, smiling.
Sheila looked her way. “What’s up?”
“Paula and Thorn are married.”
“Good for them!”
She agreed and couldn’t wait for them to get back so the town could celebrate. Seeing the curious faces on their visitors, she gave them a brief rundown on the call and its ramifications for the town.
“Looking forward to meeting them,” Paige said.
After grabbing something to eat at the Dog, Paige and her people were ready to leave.
TC with Genevieve riding shotgun eased the town car to a stop by the door where they were all standing and saying their goodbyes.
He’d be driving them back to their hotel in Topeka so they could catch their flight to Wisconsin in the morning.
Bernadine didn’t want him to make yet another round trip that day, so she was treating him and Gen to a nice hotel room for the night.
“We had a wonderful time,” Paige told Bernadine and Sheila.
“We did as well,” Sheila replied. “Enjoyed showing you around.”
Felicia looked up and down Main Street. “You have a sweet little town here. Not sure how Wisconsin is going to top it.”
Abby agreed. “I can’t either. Thanks for everything.”
Bernadine’s phone buzzed with another text message.
This time it was from Luis. Please show this to Ms. Cisneros if she’s still in town.
The rest of the message was in Spanish, but she recognized the digits of his phone number.
Pleased, she passed the phone to Felicia.
Felicia read it and smiled as she typed the number into her phone. “Thanks, Ms. Bernadine.”
“You’re welcome.”
It was time for them to leave. Always the gentleman, TC handed them into the car and closed them in.
“Be safe,” Bernadine told him.
He gave her a nod. A blink later he drove out of the lot, and they were gone.
“Been a day,” Sheila said tiredly.
“Been three days.”
“I think they liked us.”
“I agree. Now, I’m going to go home, take off these shoes and this bra, and have a nice glass of wine.”
“I’m going to do the same. I’ll see you later.” She headed for her jeep.
“Sheila—”
She stopped and turned.
“Great job.”
“Thank you.”