Page 5 of Lorna's Savior
“Maybe later, once they’re done, but can I call on you if I need some help?”
“Absolutely.” Marc nodded. He picked up his own coffee, looked at his watch, then drew in a deep breath, and let it out slowly. “You ready?”
“As I’ll ever be.” She looked at him, and said, “Whatever happens, know that I am still your friend.”
“You too.” Marc took her hand and squeezed it. As they left the break room they made their way to Finnegan Larson’s office. In the last year he’d been here, there had been a lot of shake-ups in the office, and in Lorna’s opinion, it’d all been for the better. This meeting they were going to was part of that shake-up. They were about to know what their fate with the company was. For the last three months, Finn had interviewed everyone and changed people’s positions. Marc and Lorna were the last two to be interviewed. She had told Murphy that she might be getting a promotion, but in reality, she might be losing her job. It didn’t matter that her best friend in the entire universe was engaged to Finn. Ronnie had nothing to do with the running of The Larson Foundation. With Eric retired, and William moving into his father’s position, Finn was now taking over from his father. Both of the older Larsons had given Finn free rein to run his part of the company as he saw fit. They realized what worked for them, might not work for Finn.
As they approached the office, Lorna paused long enough to laugh, bend down, and scratch the ears of the dog waiting outside the office.
“Morning, Major, is the boss in?” She laughed when the dog gave a small woof and went through the door before them. The pair smiled as they watched Major begin to close the door behind them, and Finn had to put his hand out to stop it from being shut in his face.
“Whoa, there, boy. At least let me in before you shut the door.” Finn hurried inside, and the door closed behind him. Major lay right there with his head on his paws, and heaved a sigh.
“Well, guess someone woke on the wrong side of the bed this morning,” Finn joked as he took his seat behind his desk. He indicated for the others to take the seats before him.
“Good morning. I’m going to get right to the point here. As you both know, I’ve been talking to all the employees for the last three months. Have you heard what’s being talked about?”
“No.” Lorna frowned as she looked at Marc, and saw him shake his head.
“Good, I had everyone sign an NDA before I talked with them. When I started these talks, I had one position to fill. I had it narrowed down to the two of you.” Finn paused, then frowned. “You do know what I’m talking about, right?”
“Yes, Janet’s job,” Marc said.
“Correct. I have narrowed it down to the two of you. However, I ran into a few problems last night, and I think I might have a solution.”
“Okay,” Lorna frowned. “What problems?”
“Last night I had a talk with Simon. However, Dad and Grandpa were here when he came in for his talk. One thing led to another, and Grandpa fired his ass.”
“Holy fucking shit!” Lorna yelled, then slapped her hand over her mouth. “I mean, holy monk balls!” She grinned at their confusion. “I’m trying to quit swearing, so I’m going to say monk, or monk balls from now on.”
“No monkey balls?” Marc laughed.
“No.” Lorna said this next part so seriously, the men gawked at her. “I’m not into bestiality, so I can’t really tell someone to go suck big hairy monkey balls. It wouldn’t seem right.” When she winked, they laughed.
Finn shook his head at her. “We have to get back on track here.”
“Oops, sorry.” Lorna grinned at him.
“It’s okay, and I’m glad you’re trying to clean up your language. Now, to get on to why I called you in here. Before last night, I only needed to fill one position. But, after the fiasco with Simon, another person put in their notice. They’ll be leaving the company in two weeks.” Finn paused and saw the shock on both Marc and Lorna’s expressions. He drew in a deep breath, and let it out slowly. “Maggie Pennyworth gave me her notice.” They continued to stare at him in shock, so he proceeded. “As I said, we need to fill three positions. However, Maggie won’t be leaving until two more weeks. I’m going to be honest here, and tell you that you are both equally qualified for both Maggie’s and Janis’ job. But...” He held up his hand when they went to say something. “I’m going to leave it up to you two to decide what job you want to do.”
“How the hell, can you do that?” Lorna demanded. “Shit, I mean, monk balls. How the monk can we decide what job to take?”
“Because, I know who I want to see in what position, but I’m giving you the opportunity to figure it out for yourselves.” Finn leaned forward and looked at a paper on his desk. “Here’s what’s going to happen. Marc, you have an appointment with Maggie at nine. Lorna, yours is at ten thirty. I want you to talk to Maggie exclusively. Ask any question you want regarding her job responsibilities, and what it will mean to you if and when you decide to take the job. But remember, the two of you, regardless of who takes which job, will still be working closely together.” When he saw he had their undivided attention, he nodded and continued, “Then, I want you both to take a two-hour lunch, to talk to each other. Discuss the pros and cons of each job. Together, you two decide who wants Maggie’s job and who want to fill Janis’ empty position. Then, meet me back here at three, and we’ll discuss it.”
“What about Simon’s position?”
“I’ve come to the conclusion that both Janis and Simon did the same job, and only one person needs to do the same thing as the two of them did.”
“Will there be a raise involved?” Marc asked.
“Yes, however, I don’t discuss employee wages in front of others. Once you decide what position you want, then I’ll talk to you about a raise.” When he saw them frown, he stated, “Individually.”
“Ah,” they said together. After being dismissed by Finn, the two went to their desks, and Marc said, “I know what position I want, but I don’t want to say anything until I talk to Maggie, first.”
“Me too. Let’s get all our information, and when we meet for lunch, we can say what we wanted first, then if that changes we can discuss any issues we might have.”
“Agreed.” Marc nodded and sat at his desk. He picked up his ringing phone and began work for the day. Lorna sat at her desk, and pulled the file for the fundraiser she’d been given at the end of business the day before.
