Jacques grunted softly.
He was one of the few board members Dar liked. She had developed a respect for his practicality, and what she’d felt was an honest desire to simply attend to business, caring more about share value and making money than any politics behind it.
“What are you going to do, Jacques?” Dar asked, after a long silence.
“I have taken the chairman’s slot, yes?” He said. “After some contention.”
Dar could only imagine that. Jacques had been one of Alastair’s biggest allies on the board. “Would have liked to have seen that dogfight.”
He chuckled dryly again. “I believe you can fix this problem, yes? “
“Probably. But I’m not going to.” Dar responded, a little surprised to hear herself say the words. “That would be bad for both of us.”
“Yes, exactly so.” He agreed in a mild tone. “I had no intention of asking you to do so. Which I would think maybe surprises you?”
“Depends on how desperate I think you are.” Now it was Dar’s turn to chuckle a little. “C’mon, Jacques. You didn’t call me just to pass the time of day.”
He cleared his throat. “To be sure, I did call just to advise you of my new position.” He said, in a careful tone. “And also, to see if you would speak with me and not just hang up the telephone.”
“I would never do that Jacques. You were always fair with me.” Dar said. “I’m glad you took charge. You’ve got an even hand and you’ve been in the mix a long time.” She pushed off the console and went to the rail, looking out over the harbor.
“You were very close with Alastair.” Jacques said. “He continually defended you, and that’s what was the reason for his leaving. “
“And Hamilton’s I’m guessing.” Dar said.
“Now that is an interesting story. Hamilton was let go yes, because he refused to follow the board’s directions. But… “ Jacques paused. “He is also a large stockholder, and threatened to bring suit against the board if they brought suit against you.”
Dar was charmed. “Good for him.”
“So this brings me to the real reason for this conversation.” Jacques said. “I would like to ask you for your opinion. I would like you tell me, Dar, what you would do if you were in my position, to resolve all these difficulties.”
“Huh.”
“We have many people who have left. We have systems that are not doing well. We have customers who are very upset at is, and contracts at risk. What would you do to resolve that?”
Dar was silent for a few minutes, thinking. “You need those people who left more than you need anyone’s egos, or to save face.” She said, finally. “You’ll never get them back if you keep your new guys. Get rid of them, and call the people who walked out and ask them to come back. Including Hamilton.”
“It would be very difficult for me to get the backing enough to do that.” Jacques sounded regretful. “There is quite a lot of pride involved.”
“Money trumps pride.” Dar said, bluntly. “They want to lose money? They keep going down this route you’ll lose everything. One of your customers has already called me and said they were thinking of terminating your contracts.”
“Do they want to offer them to you?”
“Yes, but I don’t want them. It’s not the direction I want my new company to go.” Dar told him honestly. “I would rather you repair that relationship and keep them.”
Jacques sighed. “Your opinion in fact walks side by side with mine. I just do not know that I can make this collection of people on the board go along with it. “ He said. “Dar, I thank you for taking your time on this Saturday night to speak with me. I wish you good luck with your new enterprise, though it seems to me you don’t need it as you are doing quite well.”
“We are.” Dar said. “At the rate we’re going, we’re going to be able to hire all the people who walked out on you so if you’re smart, get those board asses turned around before you lose the chance to make things right.”
He chuckled softly. “Do you need an investor?”
“When we’re ready for that, I know who to call.” Dar replied,. “Gotta go. I just parked my boat and it’s getting nippy out here. “
“Thank you, Dar. I can’t say I will be able to follow your advice, but it’s good to have it. “ Jacques said. “Good night to you, and please give my regards to your house mate.”
House mate. Dar pinched the bridge of her nose. “Well, I've heard her called worse. I will.” She said. “Good night, Jacques. Good luck.”
She hung up the phone and stuck it in her pocket, before she closed the weather proofing around the console and retreated back down onto the main deck. She checked the door to make sure it was locked, then she hopped off the boat and onto the dock, walking along the wooden pier past the rows of gently bobbing yachts.
As she came up onto the marina side, she detoured past the path leading back to the condo and went into the little island store instead.
“Good evening, ma’am.” The cashier greeted her as she entered. ‘We have fresh stone crabs, and hand churned chocolate ice cream today.”
Dar paused, and eyed her. “You sure have us pegged.” She remarked, with a smile. “Give me a pound of each.”
“Yes’m.” The cashier smiled back, a fresh faced young girl with dark streaked blond hair pulled back into a neat pony tail. “We like to keep track of our nicer residents.”
Dar brought the box of dog biscuits up to the counter and put it down, waiting as the cashier put together a goodie bag for her. “Are there residents who aren’t nice?”
“Oh sure.” The girl put the bag on the counter and took Dar’s resident’s card, sliding it into her system. “I mean, there are all kinds of people everywhere, you know what I mean?”
“Sure.” Dar took her card back. “I’ve run into some idiots here. But most everyone minds their own business.”
“Most people do, but some people act like because they live here, it gives them carte blanche to treat everyone who works on the island like servants. We’re not.”
Dar blinked. “Do they?”
“They do. A man was in here about twenty minutes ago.” The girl said, obviously remembering with irritation. “He got all ticked off at me because we didn’t have fresh goats milk.” She handed over Dar’s package. “He actually took a bottle of the stuff we had and threw it against the wall. Can you believe it?”
Dar took her items and shook her head. “There are jerks in the world.” She said. “That seems like a crazy thing to get mad about though.”
The girl shrugged. “He’s rich.” She said. “His family owns like ten properties, and they go from one to the other. He’s got a big sailboat, and a personal assistant. His name’s Grossner – do you know him?”
“Nope.” Dar said. “I don’t’ think we travel in the same circles.” She smiled. “I actually work for a living.”
“Right?” The girl waved. “Good night ma’am. Have a nice weekend.”
“Thanks.” Dar pushed the door open and started down the path, with a thoughtful expression. The gravel crunched under her sandals, and she hooked the bag by one finger and slung it over her shoulder.
How narrow a life did you need to have to worry about goats milk? She pondered that as she passed between the ring of trees and started to cut across the golf course towards their home. Or was that a different perspective you got when you had so much that worrying about the basics of life never happened, and so you focused on the sharp points of tiny details.