Chapter 4 #2
“Besides, New York isn’t far at all. You could probably get back there once or twice a month if you wanted to,” Emma added.
“There’s three of us,” Mandy began. “We can split our time up, so we won’t have to always be there together.”
Jill was surprised that Emma and Mandy seemed to have done a complete turnaround on Grams’s crazy idea.
Her ears picked up a faint buzzing sound, and she realized that somewhere deep inside Mandy’s purse, her cell phone was ringing again.
She sighed. It might be nice to have a break from the constant grind, and it would only be for a year.
“So, Mandy, are you saying you want to do this too?” Jill asked when the waiter arrived with their salads.
Mandy took a bite of a scallop before answering.
“Oh, these scallops are amazing.” She paused for a moment, savoring the flavor.
Then she put her fork down and spoke, her tone serious.
“Yes, I want to do this. Grams wanted it for us, and I can’t help but think that the timing is a good thing, sort of meant to be.
I’ve been thinking for a while now that I wanted to do something, maybe find a part-time job now that the kids are a bit older. ”
“Okay, so what do we do now then?” Jill asked.
“I think you and I should still fly home as planned,” Emma began. “I only need a few days to get things settled, pack, and fly back. I can go back in a few months to take care of anything I missed. How much time do you think you’ll need?”
“Well, Mandy’s right. Manhattan really isn’t that far, so I should only need a few days too. Especially since I’ll be going back more often.”
“Where do you think you want to stay?” Mandy asked. “There’s plenty of room with me, or of course there’s Grams’s house. It has four bedrooms, and you’d be just a short walk from Mimi’s Place.”
“I’d love to stay at Grams’s place I think,” Emma decided. “With that many bedrooms, we could each use one as an office too, if we like.”
“Works for me,” Jill agreed.
“I’ll call to schedule a meeting next week with Ray and Paul to go over everything.”
“Okay, then it’s settled.” Jill lifted her water glass. “To Mimi’s Place.”
Emma and Mandy clinked their glasses together.
“To Mimi’s Place.”
Jill strode into her office at a quarter to four.
“I’m so sorry about your grandmother. How are you doing?” Mary’s face reflected concern and care. She was a stellar receptionist and was so naturally kind and caring that she had a calming effect on everyone from nervous candidates to Jill and Billy and the rest of the staff.
“Thank you, I’m doing okay. Is Billy in?”
“He’s in his office with Tony and Nicole. They seem excited about something.”
Jill headed back to her office, which was down the hall from Billy’s. As co-owners, they each had a corner office with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the city.
As she walked through the office, various employees offered their condolences.
The energy level was high as usual. Everyone was either on the phone or tapping away on their keyboards.
Jill caught a glimpse of the “board,” where everyone tracked their placements for the month, and saw that the overall number was up considerably.
They must have closed several deals in the last few days.
She dropped her bag and coat in her office before going to see Billy.
Tony and Nicole, two of their recruiters, were still in his office, the three of them gabbing away when she walked in.
“Hey! How are you?” Billy got up from his desk and walked over to give Jill a big hug.
“I’m fine. So what are you all celebrating?”
Billy’s eyes lit up as he glanced at Tony and Nicole before answering. “These two just set a record for the biggest placement in our company’s history.”
“They filled the MacGregor search?” It had to be.
Typical fees were in the twenty-five to thirty percent range of the candidate’s starting salary, but this client had offered to pay forty percent to ensure that they were given the highest possible priority, given that this was also an extremely difficult search and they wanted an added incentive to stay focused and not give up.
“That’s right. A four-hundred-and-twenty-thousand-dollar fee!”
“Congratulations, you two! That’s quite an accomplishment.”
Tony and Nicole were two of their top performers. Tony, the seasoned recruiter, was grinning like a little kid, and Nicole, who was still considered a rookie with less than two years of experience, was beaming.
“On days like this, I really love this job!” Nicole exclaimed, then added, “And it still amazes me sometimes how much we’re paid to just find people. I know there’s way more to it, but still, it’s a lot of money.”
Jill was thrilled for all of them, and even after her many years in this business, it still amazed her too at times how they were able to command the fees that they did.
“Billy, when you have a minute, could you swing by my office? I need to talk to you about something.”
He immediately looked alarmed. “Is everything okay?” And then, “Am I in trouble?”
Jill chuckled. “Of course not. Nothing’s wrong. I just want to bounce an idea off you.”
Twenty minutes later, she finished telling Billy about Mimi’s Place and Grams’s request and that she wanted to work from Nantucket for the next year. It didn’t go over very well.
“You want to what? How can you run the business from Nantucket? I need you here.” Tiny beads of sweat broke out on his forehead. He raked his hand through his hair several times, and Jill noticed for the first time that there was a smattering of gray along his hairline.
“I have complete faith in you to run things without me physically here. I bet you’ll barely notice that I’m gone, and I’ll be fully accessible by email and phone and can conference in for the weekly job-order meetings.
Depending on my schedule, I might even be able to make those in person from time to time as I’m hoping to be back once or twice every month. ”
“You want to do this for a whole year?” He looked miserable at the thought of it.
“No, I don’t want to. But I don’t have much choice, not if I want to respect Grams’s last wishes and do what’s right for my sisters as well.” She put on her brightest smile. “It’s just a year. It’ll go by in the blink of an eye.”