“Because it’s true,” Chas said. He planted his palms down on Bastien’s desk, leaned forward and said, “The minute G-Paw and Remy make you start thinking that there’s nothing else outside of this company, that you’ve got no life outside the one they make for you, then they’ve got you, Bastien. You hear what I’m telling you? You have to protect your health. Physical. Mental. Emotional.” He ticked off on three fingers as he spoke. “This place can suck the life right out of you if you’re not careful.”
“Is that why you took a sabbatical and let Remy take over this company?”
Chas was in his early forties, premature gray sprinkled through his dark hair.
As much as Bastien admired Chas, he didn’t completely get him. “You had this company, Chas. You had it in the palm of your hand. But now Remy’s in line to run it. “
Chas shrugged his shoulders, like it was no big deal to him.
“Remy working your last nerve?” He laughed softly when Bastien muttered an unkind assessment of his cousin’s abilities.
“I can’t believe you let go of something you’ve worked over half of your adult years to get. I know you busted your ass to get where you are, Chas. You had to put up with a lot of crap from G-Paw and Remy to do it. And now you’re just hanging back and letting Remy take it all?”
“I let go to get something I wanted more,” Chas admitted. He opened one fist, imitating releasing the company and closed the other fist, pressing it to his chest over his heart.
“Jacie,” Bastien said, knowing exactly what he meant by that pantomime. Jacie was Chas’s wife. But that simple word didn’t come close to describing all that she was to him. Chas never actually used the words soul mate, but he didn’t have to. Anyone who ever saw them together could easily recognize the depth of feeling he had for her.
“When I met her, everything changed, including my priorities. I met her, hired her then married her. A year later, we started having kids. Next thing I knew, being up here twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week wasn’t all that important to me anymore.”
Bastien was almost envious of the spring in Chas’s step as he and Jacie, the office manager, walked out hand in hand at the end of each day. Like two teenagers who couldn’t get enough of each other, they left the cares of CT Inspectorate behind them while Bastien remained behind to be the good company man that Chas used to be.
“Don’t get me wrong,” Chas tried to clear up a wrong impression. “I love the work. I can even tolerate making money.”
“Tolerate? Who are you trying to fool? The Thibeadaux family wouldn’t know what to do with ourselves if we couldn’t make money.”
“Now you’re sounding like G-Paw,” Chas accused him.
“He raised you. He must have beaten that into your thick skull, too.”
“I’m not saying that he didn’t. Just don’t lose perspective. Don’t let the job make you miserable. When it gets to be like that, it’s not a job anymore. It’s a prison.”
“Yeah? Well, thanks for the advice, cousain. ”
“I know what you’re thinking. Only worth two cents. I’m willing to back up my words with action. If you need anything from me, anything at all to make sure you get what you need, you know Jacie and me have got your back.”
“I appreciate the offer. But you’ve got enough on your plate. Let me handle my business. You don’t need to babysit me.”
Chas got up to pour himself a cup of coffee from the six-cup brewer that Bastien kept in his office.
“Texas. Louisiana. Oklahoma. Those are your territories, Bastien. You run it the way you want and don’t take no lip from that old man or from Remy. Don’t think I haven’t noticed how he’s been ridin’ you, too.”
“It’s no secret that my division has had some screwups up in here lately. Everybody thinks that I’m not cutting it.”
“Don’t get down on yourself, Bastien. Nobody who knows you thinks that. Those accidents weren’t your fault.”
“Maybe not my fault but my responsibility. Four accidents in four months. Come on now, Chas. How can I justify that? I’m not liking those numbers and neither is G-Paw.”
“So what are you going to do about it?” Chas issued a challenge.
“I’m thinking about bringing in a consultant.”
Chas made a face at Bastien’s response, then tried to play it off as if he were dissatisfied with the coffee. “What kind of consultant?”
“Health, safety and environmental. Solly Greenwood recommended her.”
“Her?” There was genuine intrigue in Chas’s question.
“Yeah, her,” Bastien said, emphasizing her gender. “Her name’s Phaedra Burke-Carter.”
“Of the Houston Burke-Carters?”
“You know them?”
“I know them. They’re a very powerful family.”
“Worth the money?” That’s what it all boiled down to for Bastien.
“Depends on who you ask. One thing I can say for certain, if you’re dealing with a Burke-Carter, you’d better bring your A game. When it comes to making their money, just like G-Paw, those people don’t play. They’re dead serious about making sure that their name stays spotless. If you’re going to work with her, be up front about what you expect and get everything in writing. That’ll protect you both.”
“I already told her that she didn’t have to sign a nondisclosure agreement,” Bastien confessed.
“Oooh, rookie mistake.” Chas laughed at him. He didn’t seem too concerned that Bastien had already disregarded his first bit of advice. “There’s still time to correct that. When’s your first meeting with her?”
“I set up a consult for this Thursday.”
“That soon? You don’t waste time.”
“I don’t have time to sit around and wait for Remy to fire me because I can’t get the work done.”
“Nobody’s going to fire you, Bastien,” Chas assured him.
“Okay, then. Replace me. Or demote me. I’m not gonna let that happen, either.”
“What makes you think she can help you?”
“She’s got credentials coming out of her ears. Her client list reads like a roll call for the Fortune 500.”
“She sounds expensive. You’ve got the budget to bring in outside expertise?”
“You mean after Remy blew it on detailing the van? Nope. So, I had to get creative. The first consult is free.”
“How’d you manage that? You ain’t that smooth of a talker. How did you manage to get on her schedule?”
“Turns out we went to school together. Here, take a look.”
Bastien pulled the college annual from the drawer and flipped to the page that he’d marked with Phaedra’s business card.
“Hmm…interesting,” Chas said, barely managing to keep his expression neutral.
“That’s not the way she looks today,” Bastien said. He swung the computer monitor around and pulled up her Web site.
This