Saving Ma

Disclaimer: I do not own these characters and I do not make any profit from this

Chapter 7

The next morning Natalia got up and cooked breakfast for all of them. They ate together discussing everyone's plans for the day. The older kids promised Emma that they would be on time to pick her up and that they would definitely be getting ice cream Sundays at company. They walked her to the bus and let their mom's get ready for their day.

It was decided that the older kids would ride in with Olivia and Natalia to work and get one of the Beacon cars to drive for the day. They got to the Beacon and Natalia grabbed the keys for them for the smaller SUV. After the kids left they went to their own offices and got set up for the day.

A little while later Olivia came into Natalia's office and closed the door. "Hey, you got a minute to talk?"

Natalia looked up with a smile. "Of course. What's up?"

Olivia sat on the couch and Natalia came and sat with her. "I've been thinking about my plan to expand the Beacon brand and franchising. I think I have a plan in place but I wanted to run it by you."

Natalia nodded. "I know you've been wanting to do this for a while. So what's the plan?"

Olivia took a deep breath. "In order for me to focus on franchising I need to stop directly running things here. I am CEO of this company but you and I both do the job off COO and general manager as well as you doing the job of my assistant. I want to change that."

Natalia looked worried. "Am I not doing a good enough job? I can do more if needed."

Olivia shook her head. "No you do a wonderful job, I have never had a better assistant. The closest I have ever had was when Ava worked here. The problem is that we are doing the job of four people. I want to give you a promotion to COO and hire a general manager and new assistant for us. That way I can focus on franchising."

Natalia shook her head. "Olivia, I am not qualified to be a COO."

Olivia chuckled. "Nat, you are already doing that job as well as two others. No one else can run this place like you can. The staff loves you and we have never had a better year. You are an asset to me and the Beacon. A college education would not change that."

Natalia thought for a moment. "Ok I will agree to this but if at any time I am not performing up to your standards I want you to promise to talk to me. If I cannot do this I want you to tell me and I will go back to just being your assistant or whatever and you can hire someone else to do the job. I will not put the Beacon in jeopardy because I am not doing a good enough job."

Olivia nodded. "Ok, I can agree to that, but honestly the only real big change is that I will add you on to the expense account for you to sign off on payroll. Otherwise when we hire a GM and a new assistant you will actually have less to do and so will I. It will make this place run better and give us more time with Emma and Rafe."

Natalia smiled. "Ok, if you're sure. Do you want me to put an ad out for a new assistant and GM?"

Olivia sat back. "Well I actually had an idea about the assistant position." At Natalia's curious expression she continued. "I want to offer that position to Rafe."

Natalia looked shocked. "Rafe. You want him to be your assistant?"

Olivia smiled. "I want him to be our assistant. I don't think we both need separate assistants. We can train him ourselves like I did with you. This way, like you, he is trained the way I want and I am not hiring someone with bad habits coming from somewhere else. If after his required year of working here if he wants to move on to do something else he can, but it will give him good work experience."

Natalia just sat there thinking. "Are you sure this is what you want to do. You're not just doing this because you love him?"

Olivia sat forward. "Of course I'm doing it because I love him, but I also know just like I did about his Ma that he can do this and do it well. I want to give him this opportunity but I will not offer this to him if you don't want me to."

Natalia grabbed her hand. "If this is what you want to do and you are sure you think we can both do this than offer him the job and promote me. I assure you that we will both do the jobs to the best of our abilities."

Olivia leaned in and hugged her. "Thank you. I know you both will or I wouldn't offer it to you." She got up and clapped her hands together. "I need to call Ava and have her bring him by so we can talk to him." She rushed out of the room. Natalia got up chuckling and shaking her head. She settle back at her desk to get some more work done and wait for her to come back with Rafe.

An hour later Olivia called her into a meeting with Rafe in her office. When she entered Olivia's office Rafe hadn't arrived yet. Olivia motioned her to a chair she had placed next to her. "Ava and Rafe should be here soon. Have a seat and look over this offer and see if I missed anything."

Natalia looked over the offer and added a few notes to it. Olivia looked over her notes and agreed. She added them in the computer and reprinted the offer. She was just taking it out of the printer when the kids walked in. Olivia looked up, "great you're here. Ava I need to have a talk with Rafe about his job here. You can stay if you like, it shouldn't take that long then you guys can be off to go shopping."

Ava nodded and chose to stay sitting on the couch getting her phone out to check her emails while they conducted business. Olivia motioned for Rafe to sit. She explained to him the changes she was making with a new assistant, GM, and Natalia's promotion. She handed him the offer and explained that she wanted to offer him the assistant's position.

He listened to all she said and read over the offer. "You really think I can do this. You think I can actually do ma's current job?"

Olivia nodded. "I really do or I wouldn't offer it to you. You are smart just like your ma. I am positive that we can train you and you will do very well in this position."

He looked at the offer again. "Is this salary really what I would be making? Isn't it a bit high?"

Olivia shook her head. "No it's actually competitive. It is less than your ma makes now but you will have less responsibilities then she does. That's the point of this, to spread the work around properly to be more efficient. I am confident that you will work well with us and be able to do an excellent job, but if you don't want to do this we can find a different position in the company. It's totally up to you. If you want it you just have to sign the offer."

He was in shock that she had this much faith in him. "If you really think I can do this than I accept." He reached over grabbed a pen, signed the offer and handed it back to her.

Ava had been listening once her mom had started talking about restructuring the management staff. She stood up once Rafe signed and sat in the seat next to him. "You said you were looking for a GM as well."

Olivia nodded. "Yes I need a GM to take over some of the other duties I was telling Rafe about."

Ava sat forward. "Would you consider me for that job?"

Olivia was shocked and just stared at her for a moment. "You want to move home and work here?"

Ava smiled. "Yes, I actually quit my job last week. I was up for the GM slot there and my boss promoted someone else into the position because I am a woman. Besides, I am ready to come home. I was going to talk to you while I was here to see if you had any positions open."

Natalia just beamed and Olivia was still shocked but started to smile brightly. "The job is yours if you want it. I would love for you to come home and for all of us to run this place. It's my dream has always been for this to be a family run business."

Ava leaned back, "Great, this is awesome. I was prepared to do whatever you had open. I just wanted to come home. Get me an offer typed up and I will read it over and sign it. After our vacation next week I can stay in California and get my stuff packed up and shipped out and be home by Saturday and ready to work the following Monday."

Olivia turned to her computer, opened a file, typed a few things, hit print and headed to the printer. She came back, handed the paper to Natalia. She read it over added a few notes, Olivia reviewed the notes, revised them in the computer, printed again and handed it to Ava. "I actually typed this up earlier when I was working on Rafe's. Read, sign and the job is yours."

Ava read over the offer grabbed a pen, signed it and handed it to Natalia. "It's official. The Spencer Rivera clan is going to take the hotel franchise business by storm."

Olivia was about to get up and hug her but Natalia's hand on her arm stopped her. Natalia handed her the offer, pointing at the signature. Olivia gasped, the signature read Ava Marie Spencer. She looked to Ava "When did you do this? Is it official?"

Ava smiled. "I did it a couple months ago. You don't mind do you? I wanted to share your name with you and Emma."

Olivia got up, came around the desk and pulled her into a bone crushing hug. "Of course I don't mind. You're my baby and I love you. I could not be more honored then for you to carry my name."

They hugged for a moment longer and Olivia pulled back. "Ok, you guys need to get out of here or you won't get your shopping done before Emma gets out of school." She turned to Rafe. "You are going to need to get at least six sets of dress slacks, shirts, shoes and ties. You need at least one more two or three piece suit besides the one you have at home. Ava will know what you need and how to pick them out."

She turned to Ava. "You will need to get all of that as well as the list I gave you last night. You know the limit for the card. Make sure he looks sharp for work."

Ava chuckled knowing that the limit on the card is actually unlimited and she didn't want Natalia thinking she was spending too much more than she was originally going to. "You got it mom." She turned to Rafe, "Come on little bro. We gotta get you suited up for work and play and we only have a few hours to do so."

They kissed both of their moms' bye and headed out. Natalia came around the desk to stand my Olivia. She bumped shoulders with her. "You got your wish. She's coming home."

Olivia squealed and pulled Natalia into a hug. "Oh my god I can't believe she is actually coming home."

Natalia pulled out of the hug a few moments later. "Ava's about to spend and insane amount of money isn't she?"

Olivia tried to look innocent. "I don't know what you're talking about" she deadpanned. She smiled then shooed Natalia out the door, "get to work, lots to do so we can go play for a week."

Natalia just laughed at her and headed back to her office to get her work done so they could get out of there at a decent hour.

Ava and Rafe were in the car on the way to shop. He turned to look at her. "Do you think the plan is working so far?"

Ava shrugged. "I think it is. They seem ok with us calling them mom and ma. Happy with it even. When I told Emma about the plan to get them together she squealed so loud I thought she was going to burst my ear drums. I'm sure she will drop some bombs on them that will help. She told me she's already been working on them for months."

Rafe Chuckled. "I'm telling you that kid is a worker. I bet you she is going to rule the world before she's able to drive."

Ava shook her head. "Sucker bet. I think we can move on to the next part of our plan next week and push more."

Rafe nodded. "Agreed. If we work this right we will have them declaring their feelings by the end of the week."

Ava pulled into a parking space in front of a small building. Rafe looked up confused. "I thought we were going to the mall?"

Ava chuckled. "We are, after shopping here. I looked at your suit this morning to see what kind mom bought you so I knew what kind of stuff she would want you to have. This is the only place in town that that suit could have come from. She's going to want something similar for work."

Rafe looked at the place apprehensively. Ava ran a hand up his arm "Do you trust me?"

He smiled. "Of course. I have no idea about how to pick these kind of clothes. I need your help."

Ava just smiled back. "I know what I'm doing. Let's go I promise not to steer you wrong."

When they left they had three Armani suits, several pairs of slacks, dress shirts, a dozen ties, polo shirts and four different styles of Allen Edmonds dress shoes. Rafe was shell shocked at the prices but Ava assured him that it's what mom would want.

They headed off to the mall and got the rest of his clothes then headed off to drop everything off at home before picking up Emma.