***Jonathan's House***
Jonathan came in and Max could immediately tell he was angry. Jonathan headed straight to the bar, and poured himself a scotch.
"Hey Mr. H."
"Hey Max".
Max wasn't technically Jonathan's dad, but he was the closest Jonathan had ever gotten to a dad. Without Max, Jonathan wouldn't have made it out of his teens.
"Ok, out with it. You have that look again".
"It's nothing, Max".
"Horse feathers. What's her name?"
"Jennifer, I think".
"What happened?"
"Well, she came into my office wanting to sell me some stock and we immediately realized we don't like each other. We had an argument, and now instead of selling me the stock, she left angry. And now my company is at stake".
"What did you two argue about?"
"She claims she bought her house and the certificates were already in it. I don't buy it. But the thing is, she made me so angry. Angrier than I have been in a long time. But I didn't want her to leave my office, Max. And I haven't stopped thinking about her since she left".
"I thought you didn't like her."
"I do like her. I DO like her. I just don't know what to do about it".
"Give it some time, Mr. H. You got heated, she got heated. Next time you see her, just apologize sincerely. Maybe check out her story if you really think she's lying to you. No reason to think now that it's always going to be like this".
"Yeah, that's a good point, Max."
He poured himself another Scotch and slammed it.
***Sunday***
Jennifer and Hayleigh met for lunch.
"So, what did you find out about the stock certificates?"
"They are real. They are worth a lot. And the owner of Hart Industries was a real ass".
"He didn't give you a hard time, did he?"
"He raked me over the coals and called me a scam artist. He tried to get me to give him the certificates so that he could give them to their rightful owner".
"I thought you were the rightful owner".
"I am, according to the lady at the auction. And I looked through the auction papers last night and found that in the paperwork also".
"Do you need me to be your lawyer?"
"I might. How much do you charge?"
"For you? My fee will be….1.00".
"Sold".
"Ok, so tell me everything he said".
She filled her in from beginning to end.
"Ok, did you say there was a meeting or something?"
"Yes, I believe it's tomorrow at 5".
"We are going. And I'm going to put this guy in his place".
"What for?"
"Well for starters, during his conversation with the secretary, he came very close to discriminating you based on age. And then he absolutely discriminated you based on gender when he mansplained to you how to calculate the value of the stock. He also crossed a line into lawsuit waters when he defamed your character and accused you of being a scam artist not once, but twice. So, I think if you and I show up at 4:30, we can have a little chat with him. He can apologize sincerely, or we can sit in on the board meeting and make everyone uncomfortable".
"I like the way you think".
"Now, between now and then, you have to decide whether or not you want him to buy the stock from you or whether or not you want to keep the stock and your seat on the board".
"I've never been on a board before. It would be kind of fun, and it's something cool I can put on my resume".
"That's true".
After they were finished eating, Jennifer and Hayleigh drove by Jennifer's new house.
She had bought some paint and wanted to paint at least one room.
She opened the front door, and then opened the back door and a few windows.
She and Hayleigh got 3 rooms painted and then took a break and ordered dinner.
They were in the bedroom painting again when they heard a voice call out "Hello".
"Coming".
They came out of the bedroom and Jennifer stopped dead in her tracks. Jonathan was standing in the foyer. She turned to Hayleigh.
"Mr. Hart, in the flesh".
She turned back to Jonathan.
"What in the hell are you doing here?"
"I came to see if this was a real house".
"Of course, it's a real house, why wouldn't it be?"
"Like I said, I was making sure".
"Why, because you think I made it up?"
"I didn't say that".
"You didn't have to".
"Hi, I'm Hayleigh Farmer, Jennifer's lawyer. And I should warn you, everything you say is potentially being added to the lawsuit I'm preparing on her behalf against you".
"Lawsuit for what?!"
"Age discrimination. Sex discrimination. Defamation of character, for starters. Keep talking, I'm sure I can find more to add".
"That's ridiculous".
"Is it? You're standing here in her home, uninvited, I might add. To me, that looks like stalking".
"Oh come on!"
"Ok Hayleigh, that's enough."
Jennifer turned to Jonathan.
"So, if you aren't stalking me, why are you here?"
"Like I said, I came by to make sure this address was real. I am unable to honor the stock certificates if the address given isn't valid".
"There you go again, putting words in my mouth. I never said I wanted you to honor them".
"Fine. Well, there's a board meeting tomorrow, are you going to insist on coming to that?"
"I'll be there".
"So will I".
"Wonderful!"
"Fantastic!"
Just then, he took a step back and accidentally kicked her paint bucket, causing it to spill on the carpet.
"Oh, that's just great! Now you've really done it!"
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to".
"Whatever". Jennifer started trying to wipe it up, but it was no use. She ripped up the carpet instead.
"I'll just go."
"What a great idea!"
"Hayleigh!"
"Hope you have a full ink pen tomorrow, Mr. Hart. I'm going to have a lot of lawsuit papers for you to sign".
"I'm looking forward to it". He gave her a smug look and then turned and headed out.
"What an ass".
"He wasn't near as bad today as he was the other day".
"No, I mean, what an ass. Did you see that man's behind? He could crack walnuts between his cheeks with very little effort".
Jennifer blushed.
"No, I wasn't looking at his physique".
"Well next time, pay attention. You could grate cheese on his abs".
"Ok, I get it".
They resumed painting till their dinner arrived and then ate it outside on the patio.
"What are you wearing to the meeting tomorrow?"
"I'm not sure. I won't have time between work and the meeting to change."
"What about that silver and black dress you wore to the New Year's Party?"
"That dress is strapless and isn't made for sitting down in. Remember, I have to work all day".
"Yeah, right".
They worked on the house till 9, and then set up fans to dry the paint. Jennifer left one window open but closed all the doors.
As she drove home, she kept thinking about her encounter with Jonathan and hoping that the board meeting went better.
***Monday***
Jennifer and Hayleigh met at Hart Industries at 4:15 in the lobby. They headed up to the 12th floor and told Jonathan's secretary that they wanted to see him.
"Let me see if he's available".
She buzzed him.
"Yes, Deanne?"
"Miss Edwards and her lawyer are here to see you".
"Send them in".
"Thank you".
Jennifer and Hayleigh walked into Jonathan's office.
"Listen, I don't have a lot of time, so if you came here to argue-"
"We didn't. I did draw up these papers though."
She tossed them on his desk.
"If you read them, you will see that we are suing you for age discrimination, gender discrimination, and stalking and harassment."
He quickly leafed through the papers.
He turned to Jennifer.
"When exactly did I discriminate against you?"
"It was when-"
"I'm talking to Jennifer, mouthy. When I need your input, I know right where to find you".
"Insulting the person who is suing you is never a good strategy".
"Neither is aggravating the person who can have security throw you out".
He turned back to Jennifer.
"It was when I came to meet with you about the certificates."
"Ok, and?"
"And your Harvard educated secretary left the door open when she came in to see if you would meet with Jennifer. She heard every word of your conversation, especially how you asked if she was old, or young, and how you sounded irritated and aggravated every time you said the word 'she'. And since I'm the one filing the suit, I'll explain the rest. You also gender discriminated against her when you decided to mansplain to her how to figure out the value of the stock certificates. And the harassment and stalking is from you coming by her house yesterday, coming inside without invitation and destroying her property by willfully kicking over the paint".
"Look, I apologize for my attitude the first time we met. But is a lawsuit really necessary?"
"That's Hayleigh's call. I retained her because I was afraid you were going to sue me for the stock".
"I'm not suing you for the stock".
"Ok".
"Look, what if you come by tomorrow afternoon, say around 2, and we start over? Clean slate. I'll answer any questions you have about the stock, I promise. I will even smile and be polite."
Jennifer chuckled.
"I appreciate the offer but I have to work. I don't get off till 5".
"Ok, fine. We can meet here at 5:30. I'll make it a dinner meeting."
"Fine".
"No lawyers. Just you and me. And if we resolve this to your satisfaction, you agree to drop the suits".
"It's a deal".
They shook on it.
"Now, I think we have a board meeting to get to".
"Yes, we do. Where is that?"
"In the conference room, down the hall on the right."
"Thank you".
Jennifer and Hayleigh walked down the hall and stood outside the conference room.
"Hayleigh, we have a lawyer on the board already. So, unless you own stock and have a seat on the board, this meeting is just for members".
Jennifer turned to Hayleigh.
"I promise I'll take notes and I'll call you tonight".
"Be careful".
They went into the conference room and sat down. All eyes were upon her.
Jennifer had chosen a dark red sweater dress that hugged all her curves to perfection, and some brown stiletto boots.
She pulled a legal pad and pen out of her tote bag and set it on the table.
Jonathan came and sat next to her.
"If you would like some refreshments, please help yourself. We aren't having dinner at this meeting, but we do have drinks and some muffins".
"Thank you".
She went and got a bottle of water and came and sat back down.
"Here is a handbook that will cover our meeting policies. I promise we will take it easy on you this time. And here is a memo detailing what we will be covering tonight".
She scanned it.
A few minutes later, when they were all assembled, he called the meeting to order.
"We have a new member of the board, so I will let her introduce herself and tell you all how she obtained her seat."
"Hi, I'm Jennifer Edwards. I'm a journalist, currently working for the LA Daily News. And I obtained this seat in a rather unexpected way. I purchased a house at an auction. I was expressly told when I signed the papers that anything in the house at the time of the auction was now mine. I went to my house, and after a series of steps, I found the stock certificates."
They all welcomed her and then Jonathan started the meeting.
"Ok, so the first order of business is the Environmentally Friendly Initiative. We are currently sitting at 34% effectiveness. We need to up that to at least 50%, higher if we can".
They tossed around a few ideas and then Jennifer spoke up.
"Do you own a shipping company?"
"Yes, we own 4 or 5 fleets".
"What color are the ships?"
"I have no earthly idea".
"Well, if you want to improve your image and your environmentally friendly score, paint the ships green".
He thought a moment and then agreed.
"I like that".
The other board members voted and it passed unanimously.
"Ok, so second issue is whether or not we want to make the transistors out of copper versus making them out of nickel. Copper would be cheaper and would have the same effect but would take up less space in the radio and less time to assemble".
Jennifer was lost, so she decided to just go along with the others.
"And the final issue is whether or not we want to go forward on acquiring the Brownfield Factory. Acquiring them would expand our factory production by almost 30%. But the building does need some repairs."
"Like what?"
"Like a new roof for starters. And the wiring needs to be brought up to code".
They all voted to acquire it, and then Jonathan adjourned the meeting.
The other board members introduced themselves to Jennifer and after about 20 minutes of mingling, they all headed out.
Jennifer headed to her car and had just pulled away when Jonathan made it to the parking garage.
***Tuesday***
Jennifer was at the LA Daily News, working on an article. She was investigating a company and had just found out that they were not as environmentally friendly as they appeared to be.
"Heads up, Edwards, you got a delivery".
Michelle, the receptionist set some flowers on her desk.
"Thank you".
She looked up and could not believe her eyes.
The vase was skinny, crystal and extra tall. The flowers were jam packed in there, and spread out perfectly. There was larkspur, lilacs, pink roses, white ranunculus, blue gladiolus, green bells of Ireland, wisteria, and sunflowers. It was the prettiest arrangement she had seen in ages.
She dug for the card and opened it.
"Looking forward to our meeting tonight-Jonathan Hart".
'Well that was kind of him'.
She got back to work and then clocked out precisely at 4.
She hurried to her condo and freshened up and put on some black pants, black chunky heels and a black tank top with a sheer metallic green top over it.
She sprayed on some perfume and then headed to his office.
She arrived right at 5.
"Hi, I'm here to meet with Jonathan".
"Yes, he's expecting you. He wants you to circle what you want from this menu, and then you can go on in".
She looked at the menu and made her selections and then headed into his office.
"Hi, you made it".
"Hello".
"Please, have a seat".
She sat down at the small table over by his couch. He came and joined her.
"Did you bring the stock certificates?"
"Yes, they are right here".
She handed him the folder.
"Ok, so one of these is worth one share of my company. If you sell this, you will get what one share of my company is worth. I did the math, and 422 of these at today's market value would be worth $35,870. 422 shares of stock equals 24% of the company, and our company bylaws state that you must own greater than 20% to obtain a seat on the board, unless you are appointed. If you sell these, you will lose your seat on the board".
"I understand".
"Do you have any questions?"
"Not that I can think of".
"I have a policy here that I follow pretty religiously. When we obtain a new board member or a new employee, I give them a little history of the company."
She nodded.
"When I graduated high school, I joined the Navy. And I served 8 years. And then I had this idea on how I could improve their radios. So, I get out of the Navy, and went to business school at USC. When I graduated, I applied for a bank loan so I could start the business. I was turned down. I ended up getting the loan from my father, and I started my company. First thing I did when I got off the ground, was pay back my father. And then I bought the bank that turned me down. And then I built my company. Part of the company focuses on electronics, because that's my passion. The other part focuses on helping struggling companies get out of the slump, because they help increase our cash flow".
"I see".
Just then, the doors opened.
"Mr. Hart, your dinner has arrived".
He stood up and handed Deanne some cash and then brought their dinners to the table.
"Deanne, can you get us two glasses with ice, please?"
"Right away, Mr. Hart".
He started getting their dinner out of the bag.
Jennifer had chosen chicken Scaloppini and a garden salad.
"Great choice".
"Thank you".
Jonathan had chosen Chicken Marsala and a Caesar Salad.
Deanne brought their glasses and Jonathan pulled a bottle of wine out of the cooler.
"Thank you, Deanne. You can go home now, if you want".
"See you tomorrow, Mr. Hart".
He turned back to Jennifer.
"I have red, and I have white".
"White, please".
He poured them both a glass and then sat back down.
"So, I thought back over our previous conversations. And I sincerely apologize to you for how our initial meeting went. I was in a bad mood when you stopped by Friday, and I took it out on you, and I shouldn't have. And I also apologize for spilling the paint on your carpet and coming into your home uninvited. If you say you got the stock certificates when you bought the house, I believe you. So, as a token of goodwill, I am willing to pay for the damages".
"I'm sure we could work something out. I accept your apology, and also, thank you for the gorgeous flowers you sent today. That was a nice surprise".
"You're welcome, I'm glad you liked them".
They ate in silence for a few minutes.
"I apologize for the whole lawsuit thing. That was Hayleigh's doing. I promise you, until she told me that I had a lawsuit, I never thought of suing you. Well, not for the things she listed. I was simply going to see if she could draw up a document of some kind that would keep you from forcing me to sell the stock to you".
"I figured that's what you were thinking".
"Also, she shouldn't have insulted your secretary. She wasn't really involved in this."
"Thank you".
"Hayleigh's a great lawyer, she just gets ahead of herself sometimes. However, she researches everything to the nth degree, so when she shows up in court, she knows what she's talking about".
"I gathered she was successful. After all, she's driving a Jaguar".
"No, she isn't. The one you saw in the driveway was mine".
"You have a Jaguar?"
"Graduation present from my father. I graduated college one day, and drove it out to California the next".
"Where did you graduate from?"
"Well, I graduated High school in Massachusetts, from a prep boarding school known as Gresham Hall. I was the valedictorian. And then I got my undergrad in Journalism at NYU, and I got my masters in linguistics at Vassar and Smith. And I also have a couple certifications in a few other areas".
"Like what?"
"Business, International business, economics and foreign policy".
"So, if you have a certification in business, why did you ask me about the stocks?"
"Because, the first thing they taught us in business class was that every company does things their own way. Not every company will award a seat on the board to someone just because they have shares of stock, just like not every company will honor stock certificates of companies they purchased".
"You got me".
She smiled at him and took a sip of wine.
"So, how often do you have board meetings?"
"First Monday of the month, at 5. If an emergency meeting is called, everyone gets two hours' notice".
"Good to know".
When they had finished their dinner, he cleaned up after them and then came and sat by her again.
"So, did all of your degrees come from USC?"
"I only have my Bachelors. I never went for my MBA. When you start your own company, it's not a requirement".
"I'll keep that in mind".
"So, here's the million-dollar question. Would you say that you and I have resolved this to your satisfaction?"
"Yes, I would. Consider the suit dropped".
"Great. Now, I am officially adjourning this meeting."
"Wonderful. I am heading home".
"Are you moved into your house yet?"
"No, I'm not. I have a condo that I purchased when I first moved out here. But I wanted something with more space and a garage. I still need to finish painting, and put new carpet in throughout the bedrooms. And I want to change out a few light fixtures and put in some ceiling fans before I move in".
"May I walk you to your car?"
"Sure".
He turned out the lights and they headed to the elevator.
"Where did you park?"
"Level 3".
"Great, me too".
He walked her to her car and opened the door for her.
"Thank you for meeting me."
"Thank you for dinner and for meeting with me also".
"If you ever decide to sell your stock, give me a call".
"I will".
She got in the car and headed home and he did the same.
She called Hayleigh on the way.
"Hello?"
"Hey, it's me".
"Hey. How was dinner?"
"Very nice. He was very polite, charming, gracious. Call off the suit, Hayleigh".
"Fine. But if he steps out of line again, I can reinstate it rather quickly".
"I don't think he will. I really and truly think this was all a misunderstanding".
"Whatever you say".
She told her all about their dinner and how he walked her to the car.
"Jennifer, did you have a business meeting or a date?"
"Would you stop? He was just being a gentleman. And no, it wasn't a date. But he was more of a gentleman on this non-date than the last 10 men I've gone out with combined".
"Raise your standards, Jennifer. Not all men are Elliott's."
"Thank God for that".
