Chapter 51: Changes
Steph’s POV
I spend the next morning in my thinking position in the bed. There are lots of decisions for me to make and I don’t want to. None of them are easy. None of them are simple. None of them are clear and no matter what I choose, everything will change. I don’t have enough options and I don’t have enough information.
I sound like Javi. I completely understand his hesitance now. It makes total sense. What did Hector say?
Love is rarely sensible but marriage? Marriages that last are based on sensible standards. Do we get along? Do we share the same values? Do we support each other? Are our goals in life similar? Are we able to make decisions together and can we disagree and still be OK with each other? That sort of thing.
If I look at my relationships with Joe and Ranger along those guidelines, how do they stack up? Joe? Mostly no. Ranger? Mostly no idea, yes to the ‘support’ and ‘get along’ questions.
I flop onto my back and sigh. No easy answers there.
Ella said I need to make a decision on RangeMan, and she’s right. Four months in and the company is showing impressive growth, but I can’t continue to live like this. No. I’m not ready to think about the personal decisions I need to make. First things first. I separate the decisions I need to make about Ranger from the decision I need to make about the company. I need to determine if I’m going to stay and continue to run things or if I’m going to leave. If I intend to stay, I need to figure out what changes I need to make.
I start considering what I could do if I left RangeMan and I realize that I’m screwed. Vinnie gave my job to David, and even if I went and blackmailed him again, I remember Tank’s words that morning in my apartment. Vinnie would definitely make me share skips with David, just as he occasionally handed my skips to Joyce. So he would make me and David, and Joyce, fight for them and he doesn’t lose anything because it just triples his chances of getting the skip brought back in. I could probably get the skip faster with the RangeMan training, but why work for peanuts for Vinnie when I can run RangeMan?
I acknowledge that I enjoy the RangeMan work, even when I think it will drive me insane. Just like when I was a bounty hunter, no two days are the same. I am constantly on the lookout for new ways to grow the company, save money, and cut costs. I’ve found lots of ways to do the last two, but I haven’t had a chance to put any of those ideas into practice. I suspect the growth has come from doing simple things related to backing up the XOs. The XOs and strategists are proving that they have their positions for a reason, so I just have to make sure I understand what they are attempting to do.
I know that a large part of my frustration comes from the lack of privacy and control. I don’t get to control where I go because I have to coordinate with Hector to ensure I have security. I feel as if I’m being treated like a child. Hal, Hector and I are going to have to come to some kind of compromise on that. I can’t go see my parents, see my friends, or shop without a guard. The President is lucky to have the Secret Service; if he had RangeMen, he’d never get to greet world leaders!
So, if I choose to stay I’ll have to pass standards, but once I pass standards, I can be considered an ‘active’ RangeMan and go off on my own once I’m ‘offline’. So passing standards (if I choose to stay) has become important again.
If I leave then I’ll really miss Danny and Hal cheering me on. Hal tells Danny everything about my progress towards standards, and I’ll occasionally get a bouquet of flowers from the Atlanta office congratulating my success. I hadn’t thought of it until now, but those flowers were really my only markers showing improvement in the past four months. The cheers I got from Atlanta and Trenton when I evaded Joyce still stands as one of my proudest moments.
If I leave I won’t get to see who wins ‘The Race to the Top’. Trenton and Atlanta are in a race to knock Mark down, and Hal came within two percentage points of doing it last month. I really want to see if he can manage it. I really want to see if Javier and Jorge can turn NYC around, and I won’t get to snoop around Miami and Boston if I go.
The prospect of finding something out of place in Boston helps me make my decision. I’ll stay, but there are going to be some changes.
Now that I’m determined to stick around for the year as CO, I can make some simple decisions. I hop out of bed and walk into the master bedroom office. I pull out my laptop and my legal pad and start making notes.
First decision: I want reports on my progress toward standards. Just as I receive status reports from the men every week, I want a status report on my success toward standards too. That way I’m not left in the dark about how I’m doing. Plus, I’m sitting down to talk to Hal when I go back. If he has set some arbitrary goal line for me to reach, beyond RangeMan minimums, I want to know what it is. I want some say on the goals I’m supposed to reach. I never want to be left in the dark on my progress toward standards again.
Next, I boot up my laptop. While I wait for my schedule to appear, I brew some coffee. Ella’s left Danishes on the desk with a note: In the pool. Use the phone (intercom 3) if you need me. I smile at the note. As usual, Ella’s giving me exactly what I need. She’s available if I need her but otherwise? She’s found something to do. I take a quick shower, tame the scary hair and brush my teeth. When I return to the office, my coffee and calendar are ready.
I take my Danish and coffee back to the desk and take a look at my schedule. On the face it doesn’t look so bad, but I’m left without any real personal time each day. I usually have 30 minute meetings with 30 minutes in between to write notes and think. In reality, the calls usually take 15-20 minutes (RangeMen are quick and efficient) and I have 45 minutes to kill. I begin restructuring my schedule in Excel and, once I have a working schedule, I start moving meetings around in Outlook. I immediately receive ‘Accepted’ responses back, so again Ella was right. They will accommodate whatever I need, as long as I’m clear about what I’m going to do. Now, I have a better schedule and my entire Wednesday is free after 11AM.
I decide that Wednesday night is going to be my night to have dinner with my family. Mom calls RangeMan all the time (Hal is turning into her new favorite) wanting to see me and have the men over to dinner. I call her and let her know that we’ll join her and Dad on Wednesday night. She’s thrilled and wants to speak to Ella about appropriate meals.
I cringe. I want gravy, but I walk down to the pool and ask Ella to talk to her. Ella happily agrees. I hand the phone over and listen as Ella immediately begins chatting about appropriate meals and promises to send some of her favorite recipes to Mom. I listen, stunned, as Mom and Ella chat as if they’re old friends and at the end of the call, Ella smiles at me.
“You mother wants you to succeed.”
“My mother wants me to get married and have babies.”
Ella shrugs. “Every mother wants to see their child happy. Your mother believes marriage and children lead to happiness. She’s entitled to that view. It worked for her.” Ella looks at me pointedly. “What makes you happy, cariña? Do what makes you happy. Just make sure you can live with it.”
I decide to think about that later. “Did any of your meals contain gravy?”
“Maybe.”
I decide Ella is worse than Ranger. She’s teasing me about gravy.
I realize that the other large part of my unhappiness comes from the fact that my relationship with Ranger is up in the air. Correction: my potential relationship. He refuses to talk about the obvious until his op is over and I realize that it means that I’m just hanging in limbo until he returns. I realize that I have to accept his reason for doing it; I’m assuming he wanted to make sure he wasn’t the rebound, but I’ve made my choice. I’m sticking with it and him. I need to tell him that the next time we’re together so that we can have a discussion about it.
It’s been four months. I think that’s enough time for him to accept that I made this decision from my heart, not just because I was hurt and looking to throw it back in Joe’s face. I’m working under the assumption that we’ll have something when he returns. I assume we will, since he showed me the Miami home that no one else knew about, but again, it’s like being given a car when mine blows up. That’s nice but how should I classify this action? What do I do?
I realize I’m beginning to sound more and more like the RangeMen. How do I classify this action?
I pull out my legal pad and Ella’s list of important things to think about. I have eight months until the op is over (unless it ends sooner), so I can move these things around as I need to. Ranger gave me his criteria: Safe houses, panic buttons, a loaded gun, no running from arguments (which I guess means no ‘Denial Land’) and having to acknowledge that he does kill people. I’m not sure what comes under ‘all the things you run from now’ but I’m betting diet and exercise are in there.
1. What do I want from the man I love? Support, encouragement, love . . .
Hmm . . . this is harder than I thought. The things I want from Ranger I largely get. Support, encouragement, approval, help and no pressure about marriage and babies. What I don’t get is acknowledgement, speech, and openness.
2. What am I willing to do for him? I’ll submit to the exercise . . .
Uh boy. This feels like Algebra homework. Simple at first, difficult once you dive in.
3. What compromises am I willing to make? I’ll exercise. I’ll carry a weapon. . .
Hmm . . . I don’t know. In order to know what I’m willing to compromise, I need to know what else he’s going to demand. He’s already specified the loaded gun, so I move that to #2.
4. What do I need to be happy? Support, love, the ability to make my own decisions (I stop and add that one to #1), acknowledgement of my successes and no judgment when I fail.
Crap. I also need sex, sugar, meatball subs, pizza, and the occasional family dinner. It may be petty, but I add those to the list. I’m not sure I can live in isolation all the time.
5. What’s non-negotiable in our relationship? Love. Support. Honesty. Friendship. Encouragement. Trust. Sex. Sugar.
Ella is sneaky. No wonder she told me to think about this once a month. It will take me that long to fill out this list. I go looking for Ella, to discuss it, and she looks over my answers and smiles.
“Do not attempt to fill this all out at once, Stephanie,” she smiles, “But I do want you to consider this. Write it down as another thing to think about if you must.”
I grab a pen and sit at the kitchen table. Ella is sitting at the head, head back, biting her lip. She finally looks at me and I see tears in her eyes.
“You have two men in your life, Stephanie. I will not advise you on who you should pick. Your heart will advise you.” I love Ella even more for that statement. “In either case, based on what little I know of each of them, you are attempting to love a man with deep wounds, cariña. He has been trained not to open his heart. He has been trained not to let anyone in close. You will have to be patient with him, but you cannot allow him to dictate to you. Questions 1 and 4 are all about your needs and what you must demand of him to be in a relationship, but Stephanie,” she leans forward and grasps my hand, “relationships go both ways. Questions 2 and 3 are all about what you are willing to do for him.
How are you willing to make love to him,” she grins, “and not in an intimate, ‘in the bed’ way. How do you love your man? How do you show him you love him? How do you show him you appreciate him? Men need these things just as women do. They need to be reminded that they are loved too. It is easy for a woman to demand these things and never give them back to the man she loves.”
Ella wipes her eyes. So do I. I swallow hard and walk into the kitchen, pour two glasses of water, and return to the table. Ella smiles and we drink our water quietly.
“Luis has never failed to appreciate my cooking, vocally. My willingness to cook his favorite foods, some of which are incredibly time intensive, is my way of showing my husband my love. I buy his favorite cologne. I leave him little notes in our apartment that remind him his loving, sexy wife misses him,” she grins and I laugh. “I’ve sat through more than one incredibly boring futból game with him because it is his favorite sport. Luis said he realized how deeply I loved him the day I asked him why a futból player had been red-carded instead of yellow-carded.”
We both laugh, although I don’t get it. My face must show my confusion because she grins. “It showed that I’d taken the time to learn the sport, its rules, and the players on the field. Plus, I was asking my husband, the fanatic, for his opinion. He’d been very careful not to bore me with futból knowledge. It showed him that I was willing to share his interests, just as he attempts to find something worthwhile in telenovelas.”
Now that I understand, and we both laugh. Ella pats my hands and stands, headed back to the pool. She turns at the door and smiles.
“Romance goes both ways. What you demand of the man you love you must also give him.”
For the rest of the weekend, I enjoy my time at Point Pleasant. I walk on the beach, eat small amounts of junk (Ella was half right. I kept it down but hello diarrhea! Damn.), and watch Ghostbusters. I ask her if anyone knows where we are and she replies that Hector does. She told him, in the garage, that if he wanted to know where we were, he could check his trackers but he needed to make sure I was left alone. Hector will inform Tank to field calls for me over the weekend.
Thank god for Ella. We play checkers, Monopoly, and poker and I learn that Ella is both a real estate tycoon and a card shark. My cell phone never buzzes and I search for it only to find it’s been set to silent, no vibrate. I have a backlog of messages, but I don’t care. I finally have a small amount of peace and privacy.
And we talk. Ella tells me stories from her life before RangeMan, from when she and Luis were newlyweds, and her life after joining RangeMan. Some of her RangeMan stories are hilarious, like the time she walked in on the men on 4 watching a surveillance tape. I’m rolling on the floor in the sunroom laughing.
“So Stephanie, you had to see it! Imagine, 10-15 young men in this room, running around trying to find cushions and blankets all because this surveillance tape is basically a customer porno! The customer forgot he had just installed cameras everywhere and he was in a back room, with his secretary, doing things the Church does not approve of,” the tears are just rolling down my cheeks now, “and they’ve gotten together in a little party to watch it, as if the ones who watched it live didn’t get enough of a peep show! And of course, when I stopped into this apartment to restock the supplies, none of them are smart enough to turn the TV off! Oh no, they’re blushing red and looking for the remote and trying to hide and I’m trying not to laugh!”
I’m leaking tears and snot and this is absolutely hilarious! I wonder who the culprits were.
“So I turned around, told them the supplies were outside, and went back to 6 to laugh my head off. For the next few days, none of them could look me in the eye, which was good because I was never issued the ‘blank face’.”
Ella stops the story to wipe her eyes. “I did tell Ranger that he needed to inform the client that some of his more ‘personal’ activities were caught on tape and the men were too discreet to say anything but it needed to be handled. So everyone came out of that clean and I have blackmail on every man involved.”
Oh my god, Ella is not only a domestic goddess and a card shark, she’s devious. I want to know who was involved in that little viewing party. I could use that kind of blackmail.
Four days at the beach is great to restore me to sanity. I realize that next week is the 4th of July, so I call a realtor to see if I can rent a house somewhere in the area for a weekend. Ella and I meet June, the realtor, and tour five houses before I find one I like. I sign the contract to rent it for one month for $3200. I think about choking on the price (my apartment was $600 a month!) but I decide that the peace of mind for one month is worth it. Besides, my bank balance has never been so big. Renting this house for one month will not break the bank.
I call Mom and tell her that I’d like to bring the family to the beach for the weekend. We’ll grill and relax and have fun. I can catch up on family gossip and spend time with my nieces. Mom gets excited. She starts planning menus and determining what to bring. She’s mentally packing sheets and pillows when I stop her.
“Mom, the place is fully furnished.”
I can hear the silent disdain. “Stephanie, you don’t know who slept on those sheets! Do they have a washer and dryer?”
“Yes.”
“OK. Then I’ll bring sheets, pillows, towels, and everything we need, wash the sheets that are on the bed, and we’ll put them back on when we leave.” I can hear her shudder. “You don’t know what those people have done in that bed and how clean they are.” I say goodbye, hang up, and tell Ella what Mom said, rolling my eyes.
“I agree.” I stop rolling my eyes and look at Ella. “I wouldn’t sleep on those sheets either. I would do just what your mother is doing. I don’t even like sleeping on hotel sheets.” She shudders. “How do I know they cleaned those sheets today? Have you seen the way they clean floors and tubs? They just spray some solution in the tubs, swish a sponge around and call themselves cleaning!”
I’m thinking of all the hotels and B&Bs I’ve ever stayed in. I wonder how clean they were.
As we get close to Ranger’s house, Ella says, “Ranger left instructions that all his property was available for your use so if you need to get away, go to the beach, Stephanie. You need a stress reliever and I know you love the beach, which is why I chose to bring you here. If you don’t feel comfortable staying in Ranger’s home, perhaps you should consider extending the rental agreement on that house for a few more months, but you cannot allow yourself to become as frustrated as you have been. Take a laptop, work from the beach. Ranger often did. He was offline more often than people realize.”
“Who knows where Ranger’s house is located?”
Ella smiles. “The Leadership Core Team, you, me and Hector. That’s it and it needs to stay that way.”
“Did Hector know about it before this weekend?”
“Yes.”
Great. So now I can get away and take Hector with me. When we get back to Ranger’s, I take a look at my calendar and find one weekend a month to go offline. I’m putting Ella’s advice into practice now. I send the calendar requests to Hector, who approves all of them. The house phone rings.
“Are we about to become beach bunnies?”
Hector as a beach bunny? I laugh. Where would he hide the guns and knives? “Yup. I need time away.”
“Good idea. Feeling better?”
“Yeah. How did you . . .”
“I heard the scream. Once I saw where the trackers were heading, I figured out what Ella was up to.”
Nothing gets by Hector, at least not for long. “I made arrangements to rent a house for a month here.”
“Why?”
“I want to bring my family out for a 4th of July at the beach, but I just had a thought. Do you want to come with us?”
I can feel Hector shudder. “No thanks. Your granny may choose to molest me while I sleep. I’ll set up camp at Ranger’s. That way, I’m close by if you need me, but you can have your family time. What are you going to do the rest of the month?”
“I’m still going to use the house. I’m thinking I might work from the rental for a week or two. I need a change of scenery.”
The line is silent. Finally, I hear Hector. “Sounds like a good idea. Since you’re renting a house, how about we change the guard? Only I know about Ranger’s home, but if you rent one, you can take anyone you want.”
It’s a great idea. I love my partner, but I wouldn’t mind getting away from him. I wonder if Ram or Manny would mind a week at the beach. Manny’s been doing so much for Ranger and his op. I’m sure he’d love a week away to relax. Ram’s been pulling double duty too, covering for Hal and Manny. Maybe Hal? A lot of his duties require him to be in Trenton in person, but I can’t remember the last time Hal had an actual vacation. My Core Team needs a vacation. They’ve all been working so hard since they took over. Nikki and Hector Manuel are supposed to come up for some time with Hector in July and Nikki wanted to hit the beach. This would be a great time to do this.
“You know what? I think I’ll extend the rental to six weeks. Nikki and Hector Manuel can stay here and hit the beach with you and me when they come visit you for the month. What do you think?”
“I think that is very generous, Angelita, and I know both Nikki and Hector Manuel would enjoy the trip. I will pay you for our week and I don’t want to hear an argument.” I can hear Hector’s smile and I decide to allow my partner his pride.
We disconnect and I look at the calendar. The more I think about, the more I realize that I’d like to do this with the XOs, strategists, and liaisons. I remember what Lester said about jam sessions and it will be a way for me to encourage them to work together to grow the company. I call June to see if I can rent the house for two extra weeks. It’s available, so I tell her I’ll know if I need it in thirty minutes. I send calendar requests to each group to join me at the house for one week each. That way, I have plenty of RangeMen with me and I can spend time with them learning more about each man.
I send the invites and I’m shocked to see that I get acceptances from each one. Even Mark. Shit. An entire week with Mark. That’s going to be awkward, but I call June back and rent the house from the 30th of June through the 10th of August. Six weeks.
I sit back and consider what I’ve done. I’ve taken my alone time at the beach and invited guests week after week. I don’t have any brains. I shake my head. Well, the problem was being in the building all the time. Just because they’re here doesn’t mean I have to be with them all the time. I can work with them and take breaks to hit the beach and have fun. I want more balance through the day and this will be a good way for me to test that.
Again, I think about the fact that Ranger made all his personal property available to me. I’m wondering how many places he has. I go searching for Ella and ask.
“Two apartments and two homes that I know of. I’m sure there are more. The apartment on 7, the apartment on 8 in Miami, this beach house, and a home somewhere in Miami. I know that the home in Miami is known only to Ranger, although he may have left you a clue somewhere in one of the apartments.”
Again, something to think about. Ranger did say that this would be an element of his life, having homes that no one knew about and not being able to tell anyone. I’m shocked to realize that I’ve now seen, and stayed in, all his homes. Well, the ones Ella knows of.
“How did you know about the house here?”
“Ranger has had me stock it before, and he wanted me to know where it was just in case I ever had to bring you here in a safe house situation.”
Ah. “But there are other safe houses that RangeMan uses.”
“Yes, but the beach house is the most secure. Known only to seven people, private access and a boat slip. If necessary, Ranger could secure you here and get you both out on a boat before anyone was the wiser.”
He has extraction plans for his homes. Another thing to think about. Later.
“Who decorated this house, Ella?”
She beams. “I did. The best part of working for Ranger is the number of places I get to decorate!” We laugh. “I decorated the Miami office, the Trenton office, and all his homes. The Miami home was a chore because he’d only give me pictures and floor plans. I have no idea what my finished work looks like.”
I decide that the next time we’re in Miami, I’m taking pictures of the interior for Ella. This house in Point Pleasant is stunning, and it’s really similar to the Miami house. On the water, boat slip, private beach, four bedrooms, five baths. I was too upset to really poke around last time I was here, but this time, I examine each room. Ella has exquisite taste. Each house is beautifully furnished and comfortable.
I bet she’d even find a way to make the hideous bathroom in my old apartment look good.
The rest of the weekend is spent relaxing and sunbathing. Ella and I hit the stores on the boardwalk and enjoy the scenery. It’s the Jersey Shore so we have a lot of fun people watching. I spend time in the house napping or eating Ella’s healthy meals and watching stupid stuff on TV. I spend time doing things that restore my sanity.
By the time we return to Trenton, I’m ready. When we arrive, Ella turns to me and passes me a piece of paper.
Managing egos-the over- and under-inflated, the forceful and the fragile-is one of the great challenges facing any leader.
“This is the true demand of your position. It’s the management of people and it’s a tiresome duty. But, when done right and done well, it is an awesome responsibility that can give you a great deal of personal satisfaction.”
The next morning my first stop is Hal’s office. Hal spots me, stands up and immediately gives me a big bear hug. We stand there for a few minutes before I whisper, “Thank you.”
“No problem,” he whispers back. I let go and Hal closes his office door. “What do you need?” He sits down with his folio, ready to take notes. I make a mental note to find out Hal’s birthday and get one embossed for him.
“I’m going to stay at RangeMan.” Hal exhales and grins. “Yeah, thought I would tell you that first.”
“I’m glad you did, Steph. I was worried you would leave. So, I’m guessing we’re smothering you?”
I nod. “I’ll get to that, but the first thing I want to know is what goals you’ve set for me passing standards?”
Hal sits back and looks serious. After a while he speaks. “I’m of two minds telling you. On one hand, I want you to know so you know what we’re trying to get you to. On the other, I don’t want you to stop trying just because you’ve reached the goal or gotten close.”
Ella said the same thing. “I understand Hal, but part of my frustration comes from never knowing if I’m doing well or not. You know when you’re doing well here every week when you get your numbers, or a skip is brought in or we get a new contract. I have no idea how I’m doing with standards. I need to know.”
Hal looks at me quietly. Finally he starts writing some numbers. Hal has beautiful handwriting.
“In the military, you get a certain number of points for each item. The minimum passing score is 150 total. To get 150, the minimums for a woman your age are, in a two-minute cycle, 9 push-ups, 34 sit-ups, and a time of 23:06 minutes on the 2-mile run. Right now, you’re clocking 20 pushups, 45 sit-ups, and 25 minutes on the run. You’ve got to get the run down. So your score right now is 171.”
I grin and clap. I have passed the minimums in everything except the run! I feel fantastic. I look over at Hal, who is smiling back at me.
“OK, so where are you trying to get me? What’s your goal?”
“The goal is to get you to the 65 point mark in each category. So that’s 21 push-ups, 43 sit-ups and a 21:00 2-mile run and you’re almost there in everything except the run.”
My eyes widen at Hal, who blushes and nods. “RangeMan fitness standards call for 70 points in each category for men. Anything under puts you on probation until you meet again. That’s why every man is in the gym every day. You can’t afford to lose a training day.”
I narrow my eyes. “My standards are the female ones, right?” Hal nods and I relax. “So, if I meet these standards, do you think that’s the standard that will be set for women in the company?”
Hal shrugs. “I don’t know. I think Tank and Bobby will take your opinion into consideration. The Army recently revised their standards to include pull-ups and rowing, which is why Sarah’s had you working on both. Just in case.”
I’m thinking that I’m not sure if I want 65 points set as the standard. Then again, I met the minimum requirements for everything except running and it is lower than the male standard, just barely. I think about that. I have to shave four minutes off my run. Yikes!
“Why did you set my standard lower?”
“Well, Sarah, Cal and I followed military standards on this. The military usually sets standards slightly lower for women.”
Hal walks over to his computer and prints some pages. It’s the military standards for men and women, side by side. The female standards are much lower, in some cases less than half the male standard. 26 pushups for the men vs. 9 for the women to get 50 points, the minimum for my age group. I’m slightly insulted for some reason and I frown at the paper.
Hal grins. “I can set your set your standard at 70, if you want.”
I nod. “Yes. I’m a RangeMan . . . well, RangeWoman. The bias is already built in. Might as well meet the same requirements as everyone else.”
Hal stares at me then smiles broadly. “CO, I’ve never been more proud of you than I am right now. I’ll tell Sarah to get you to 70 points.”
Good. I’m the CO. It’s the right thing. Besides, 70 points is 23 pushups. I can squeeze out 3 more. I hope. I take a quick look at the other pages. 51 sit-ups and 20:12 on the run. Sigh. I hate running.
“OK. Let’s talk about the second thing. I have no freedom.” Hal looks solemn. “I can’t go anywhere without a bodyguard, I don’t see my family and friends like I used to, and I feel as if I’m living in a fishbowl. You’ve done a great job of making sure that everyone understands that once I hit 7, I’m unavailable, but I’m in this building all the time. I have to get out.”
I sound as frustrated as I feel at the end of my sentence and Hal passes me his handkerchief. I smile.
“Completely off topic, but why does every RangeMan seem to have an inexhaustible supply of hankies?”
Hal laughs. “Multi-purpose tool. A hankie can be used for tears, but also as a rough water filtration tool, tourniquet, splint, bandage, dust mask, and, in extreme cases, toilet tissue.” I look at the hankie and Hal chuckles. “Of course, after use as toilet tissue, you throw it away.”
I’m still disturbed by the idea.
“SOPs call for every man to have at least three hankies at all times. You never know.” Hal smiles. “Since you became CO, informal SOP in this office is five. We know you aren’t a crier, but just in case . . .”
I laugh.
“So, we need to come up with a balance, right?”
“Yeah. Starting next week, I’ve rented a house in Point Pleasant for six weeks and I’m staying there. Hector will be nearby next week for 4th of July, but I’ve invited the XOs, strategists, and liaisons separately to the rental for a week. One, so I have a RangeMan partner with me while I’m there.” Hal nods. “Two, so I can sit with each group face to face and talk to them one on one about the company, their goals and objectives, and where they think I can improve and what they need from me.”
Hal writes notes, smiling.
“NYC taught me that I have to be prepared to back you guys up, so I need to know what you need. Three, some of you need a vacation, or at least some extended time out of the office. I looked and realized you haven’t had a vacation in 3 ½ years. Did you realize that?”
Hal looks surprised and, after thinking about it, shakes his head. “No, I really haven’t. I mean, I’ve been so busy here that I hadn’t given it a real thought. Plus, each man gets a four day ‘weekend’ each month to make up for all the on-call duty.”
“Well, I did notice this weekend. I realized that if I don’t do something to encourage all of you not to live in the office, you’ll burn out on me. I’m just getting used to you and Danny and Javier. I can’t lose you now!” We laugh. “While I’m at the beach the first two weeks, I’ll leave it to you and Hector to figure out a balance.” Hal looks surprised and I smile. “Again, I’m trying to keep my promise to you. Left to me, I’d scream until you agreed to remove all my guards, but you and I both know that won’t happen.”
Hal grins. “Yeah. I might be able to remove all other RangeMen, but Hector would just look at me and raise an eyebrow. I might be able to take Hector on the mats, but why lose my spleen trying to be right?”
We both burst into laughter.
I head back to my office, stop in the doorway and gape. A flower shop has exploded in my office. I walk in slowly and admire the offerings. There are roses, tulips, lilies and orchids everywhere. There are also a few potted houseplants in the office and I grin. I have my own botanical garden. I stop in front of one incredibly gorgeous spray of pink roses and purple freesias and look at the attached note.
From the Miami Leadership
The beaches are beautiful right now, if you’re interested!
Armando, Thomas, and Shane
I grin and sniff the roses. Scented. This is wonderful. I check the next spray: tulips, lilies, and roses.
From the Atlanta Leadership
The men demand the right to show you some more Southern Hospitality. They feel the Trenton men are doing a crap job of making you happy!
Danny, Chase, and Adam
That causes me to laugh and I hear shuffling at my doorway. Junior and Ram are standing there, looking around.
“What happened here?”
“We decided you needed some cheering up. Problem is, we told the other Core Teams,” Ram says, looking annoyed. “I promise you, this is teaching us to keep our mouths shut.”
I laugh till I cry. Junior is less amused. “Seriously, Steph, this is about as bad as seeing you in NYC swag.”
I find an envelope on the table. I open it to find that the NYC men have purchased a membership to the Grounds for Sculpture, in Hamilton, for me. It’s about four miles from the office and I’ve heard the onsite restaurant is excellent. I do a little dance in front of the table and the guys groan.
“NYC?” Ram asks. I grin. “We hate them most of all. We didn’t even know there was a botanical garden in Trenton but somehow those busters found out.”
I giggle and continue looking. There’s a particular gorgeous display with gladiolus and roses and I eagerly read the card. I’m shocked.
From the Boston Leadership
Our beaches might not be Miami gorgeous, but we guarantee it’s a lot cooler here.
From Mark, Pat, and Rod
I look up and Hal is standing right inside my doorway. He grimaces. “They sent the potted plant behind you too.” I look. It’s a pretty plant, big and made entirely of green leaves. I turn back to Hal, wide-eyed.
“Only because it was for you did it make it into the building,” he grumbles.
Junior snorts. “Only because it was for you did we not decimate it. It was the last plant to arrive. We feel we’re being invaded.”
I smile. Well…maybe I should think about asking Mark for his opinions more often. This was sweet.
I look around my gorgeous office and watch as Ella walks in and stops in her tracks.
“Someone’s wedding is short a few dozen roses,” she says, looking around wide-eyed. She turns to the guys and says “Le puse en tus manos muy capaces y no me decepcionaste.” (I put it into your very capable hands and you did not let me down.) They blush and grin and everyone except Ella leaves my office. We stand and admire my flowers.
I got parts of that sentence. Time to restart the Spanish lessons.
The rest of the week is much better. I’m calm again so the men stop tip-toeing around me and start joking with me again. Hector and I restart the Spanish lessons and I’m surprised to realize that for at least 30 minutes we have a conversation entirely in Spanish. I only realize what happened when Hal enters the office and joins the conversation and I’m lost again, which makes Hector smile. Hal is the only person who knows about the Spanish lessons and Hector wants to keep it that way. Hal and Hector have agreed that when I travel to Miami, they will both be at my back.
Sarah is slightly peeved that I missed three days of training so I apologize and tell her I needed a mental health break. She stares at me hard, nods, then starts her grueling regime again. At the end of it, she tells me to do whatever it was I did more often, as I shaved a full minute off the two mile run and I was much more focused during the push up and sit ups, managing three more of each. I can’t help but grin ear to ear hearing that and she smiles.
“Seriously Stephanie, your mental fitness is just as important as the physical fitness. Whatever you did, it worked, so if you need some time off, just call me and let me know. It does mean that I’m going to expect to see some real improvement when you come back,” she grins evilly, “but I think we’re getting close to the end of the boring exercise regime.”
Great, Sarah. I learned that from Ella but thanks for finally telling me. I tell her about the beach house plans and give her the six weeks off, which she happily accepts. I have RangeMen; I know they’ll force me to exercise each day. We also discuss the possibility of her doing contract work with the NYC RangeMen. She’s thrilled to be able to work with us and with her client at the same time, so I tell her to discuss the contract with Hal and Tank. She walks out smiling and I lie back on the gym floor and grin.
I’m still in a glass cage and I don’t have my independence back yet, but I can at least see freedom in the distance.
A/N: I’ve eaten at Rat’s restaurant and toured Grounds for Sculpture when I was based in Trenton. If you are ever in the Trenton/Hamilton area, it is worth the stop. I chose the destination for my beloved co-worker’s retirement party and it was a stellar night. FYI, ‘Rat’s’ refers to the character from Wind in the Willows.
Also, if you’re trying to figure out how and why Miami and Boston sent flowers: Diego mentioned to Armando that they were sending the CO a ‘cheer-up’ gift of flowers. Miami arranged theirs then Mando told Mark to send the CO a floral arrangement to cheer her up. Mark and Pat arranged to send a flower and a houseplant. That’s why all five groups sent a gift and note.
