Authors: Liv James
“I’ve met everyone except Joe,” she said,
smiling at them. Joe stood and walked over to her. He was about her age, with
blond hair and blue eyes. He looked like he carried about fifty extra pounds.
“Hey,” she said, shaking his pudgy hand. “Great to meet you. I think we’ll end
up working a lot together. My Dad tells me you really know the regulations
we’re working under inside and out. I’m sure I’ll need to pick your brain.”
“Nice to meet you, Clara,” he said, casting
a sideways glance at Bill. “Your dad told us a lot about you.”
“Now sit down, you two,” her father said.
“No need to start talking shop yet. We have all weekend to do that.”
“So, what’s the game plan?” she asked,
taking a seat beside her father.
“Your guess is as good as mine,” he said.
“Karen and Josie cooked this all up. I think tonight’s pretty low-key. Tomorrow
will be a little more intense.”
“Everyone, gather round, please!” Karen
called.
“I guess we’re about to find out,” her
father said.
Josie took a seat across the fire ring from
Clara and motioned for Rebecca to sit next to her. Meg sat on the other side of
Bill. Karen stood in front of the fire, its light flickering across her face in
a pattern that made Clara think of witch trials and ceremonial sacrifices. She
began to wonder if they’d all survive the weekend.
“We’re
going to start by having everyone introduce themselves,” Karen began, “and tell
us the position you hold in the company and then tell us something interesting
about yourself that we don’t know.”
Clara tried to stifle a groan but it
partially escaped.
Karen flashed her anti-depressant smile.
“Why don’t you start, Clara?”
Clara let out a breath. “Okay,” she said,
sitting up straighter in her camp chair. “My name is Clara Spritzer and I’m an
account executive.”
“Great, now Clara, tell us something
interesting about yourself.”
I like to string up consultants and pull
their hair out strand by strand, she thought, but said:
“I enjoy red wine and coffee.” She smiled
sweetly.
Karen looked at her. Rebecca chortled from
across the fire ring.
“Let’s see if we can be a little more
introspective than that,” Karen said, gazing at each of them in turn around the
fire. “Maybe dig a little deeper. Give us something we don’t already know. Okay
Bill, how about you?”
“I’m Bill Spritzer and I’m the president,”
he said, casting a cheerful glance at Clara.
“And there’s nothing I enjoy more than a good cigar and a strong Manhattan.”
“I can see we have our work cut out for
us,” Karen said. “Okay, next?”
“I’m Meg Taylor, I’m the receptionist and I
like peanut butter.”
Karen nodded politely. Clara could tell she
was hoping for some deeper revelations.
“Okay, Josie, you’re up,” she said. “Give
us something good.”
Josie smiled broadly and stood up. “I’m
Josie Marie Broadhead Spritzer Madagan Campbell and I once danced naked at a
Janis Joplin concert.”
Karen clapped vigorously and laughed. Clara
put her head in her hands. Bill rubbed her shoulder and whispered, “It’ll be
okay, don’t worry.”
“That’s what I’m talking about. Open up a
little bit!” Karen exclaimed. “Rebecca, you’re next.”
“I’m Rebecca Madagan and I danced naked at
three Grateful Dead concerts.”
“Very interesting!” Karen laughed, clapping
her hands again, obviously thrilled with where this exercise was headed.
Clara determined at that moment that there
would in fact be no actual business purpose for the retreat, that it was as
she’d feared: a group therapy session with a pseudo-shrink.
Mark, the CFO, squirmed in his seat next to
Rebecca, purposely keeping his eyes averted from her.
“Okay, sir, you’re up!” Karen sang,
pointing at him.
He cleared his throat. “I’m Mark and I’m
the chief financial officer.”
“Tell us something interesting, Mark.”
“I’ve never danced naked anywhere.”
The group roared. Even Clara had to laugh.
“Okay, next?” Karen said.
“I’m Joe and I’m an engineer. I enjoy going
with Bill when he’s smoking cigars and drinking Manhattans.”
“Okay, one more,” Karen said, pointing at
Patrick.
“I’m Patrick, I do the IT.
I minored in world history in college.”
“Very interesting!” Karen replied, as she
glanced around the fire, giving them each in turn a very satisfied look. “What
an eclectic group we have here!”
Karen wandered over to a large off-white
tote bag that was overflowing with papers. She pulled out a packet of
materials, removed the paper clip from them with a flourish and proceeded to
flit around the fire giving each member of the Spritzer & Spritzer team a copy
of the park map.
Clara studied the map as Karen spoke. There
was a tent campground and the lake, which they’d passed on the way in, and ten
hiking trails of varying length and difficulty. There were at least two that
appeared relatively short and looked like they’d be good for running. The most
difficult trail was Foster’s Folly, which was marked on the map with warnings
about steep and rough terrain. It cascaded in a large v-shape down the
mountainside in a series of switchbacks that gave hikers glorious views of more
than twenty waterfalls of varying sizes and structures.
Each of the other trails and the cabins at
the park was named after one of the waterfalls along Foster’s Folly. The trails
appeared to intersect and split off frequently, giving the park map the
appearance of a maze.
“Over the next two days you’ll have the
opportunity to explore many of the areas on this map,” Karen was saying. “We’ll
get to know each other and our place in the Spritzer & Spritzer community
as we work together through a variety of exercises, all of which will lead you
closer to a common mission and give you the chance to see the wonderful forces
of nature around us.
“In a few moments I’ll dismiss you and you
can retreat to your cabins,” Karen continued. “Inside you’ll find a copy of
tomorrow morning’s agenda. While I know it’s tempting to stay up late and watch
these magnificent stars, I have to suggest that you try your best to get a good
night’s sleep because as you’ll see on the agendas, tomorrow is going to be a
very busy day.”
Josie stood up.
“I’d just like to thank Karen for putting
this retreat together for us. Let’s give her a hand before she leaves for her
cabin,” she said, patting her old friend on the back.
CHAPTER
13
Clara was spent by the time the women
started down the trail toward Firelight
Falls, their shadows
thrown long by the shimmering moonlight that surged through the canopy of
leaves. A damp breeze lingered on her skin, a chilling contrast to the hot
fireside against her bare arms. She unwrapped her jacket from her waist and
slipped it on, the heavy scent of burning wood embedded in the cloth fibers.
She emerged from the trail’s cocoon first,
followed by Rebecca and Elizabeth, who’d drifted off in her mother’s arms as
Karen droned on. Meg and Josie were close behind, talking too quietly for Clara
to make out their words.
The cabin loomed dark, backlit by the
moonlight, the open windows giving it the cadence of a winged creature
struggling to lift from the ground.
Clara started toward it but paused when she
spotted the weak glow of a fading flashlight sweeping across the front porch.
She glanced at Meg and Josie, but their flashlights were dark.
As she drew closer she could make out the
form of a small woman or child pacing across the porch.
“Hey there!” she called out. “Can I help
you find something?”
“Clara?”
“Marcy?” she cried, recognizing the
familiar voice at once and breaking into a jog.
“Oh thank God,” Marcy said emphatically,
stepping down from the porch. “There you are. I was starting to think I got the
wrong place!”
“What in the world are you doing here?”
Clara asked, smiling as she impulsively hugged her. “I’ve missed you so much.”
“I could tell from all your newsy phone
calls,” Marcy quipped, hugging her back. She leaned in close and whispered in
Clara’s ear so the others couldn’t hear. “Jon’s here, too.”
Clara pulled back, her eyes wide. “He is?”
she whispered as the others approached. Marcy motioned toward the woods with
her head and winked at her.
“Who’s there?” Josie called as she came up
to them.
“Mom, this is Marcy, you remember, my
roommate from college?” Clara said, stepping back so the rest of the group
could see Marcy.
“Yes, yes. Of course. Hi Marcy,” Josie
said, as she looked at Clara quizzically. “Did you invite her?”
“Let me explain,” Marcy interjected,
starting back up the wide porch steps. “Inside if you don’t mind, it’s kind of
chilly out here and the mosquitoes are chewing me up.”
Josie obliged by unlocking the padlock and
pushing the door open.
Clara dawdled on the porch as the ladies
filtered inside.
“Are you coming?” Meg asked.
“In a minute,” Clara said. “You go ahead.”
“Okay,” Meg said, giving her an odd look
from under her bangs. “Is everything okay?”
“I think so,” Clara said, squishing up her
nose and nodding at Meg.
She waited for the cabin door to close
before she glanced back toward the woods. A spark of light caught her attention
off to the right, but then it was gone. She stepped off the porch and
cautiously headed toward it.
“Jon?” she called out softly.
She recognized him from the familiar tilt
of his body as he stepped from the shadows near the trees and motioned for her
to come closer.
“What are you doing here?” she asked,
pulling her jacket tighter around her as she neared the colder microclimate of
the trees. “Hiding in the woods?”
“I’m not hiding,” he said as she got close
enough for him to see her. “I didn’t want any company.”
“Well, then I’ll go back,” she said,
pointing over her shoulder toward the cabin.
“No. I want to see you,” he said, grinning.
“Just no one else at the moment.”
“What are you up to?” she asked
suspiciously, looking up at him. She suddenly felt very awake. “I’m shocked to
see you here.”
“I couldn’t wait until Monday to talk to
you again,” he said. “And, I came to meet the team before I commit to
investing. Surely you understand that, Ms. Due Diligence. Now come with me.” He
started down the dark trail that veered off in the opposite direction of the
men’s cabin.
“Where are we going?” she asked, hesitating
as she gazed down the trail that disappeared into deep darkness beyond the
swath of light from his flashlight. The trees back there must have been denser,
because not even the bright moonlight seemed to break through.
“Someplace where we can talk,” he said. His
dark curls were illuminated by the moonlight. “Come on, Clara. It will be
fine.”
“They’re going to wonder where I am,” she
said, clicking her own flashlight on and falling into step beside him.