Retreat (29 page)

    
Just as she thought she was pulling away
enough to be left alone she heard the sound of urgent footfalls coming up
behind her. She moved to the side of the trail, trying to avoid the puddles of
mud that threatened to overtake her running shoes. She waited for the footfalls
to pass but they stayed slightly behind her. She turned to look to see who was
coming upon her. When she saw who it was she stopped, breathless, resting her
hands on her thighs.

    
“Jesus Christ Jon, what the hell are you
doing?” she gasped.

    
“I wanted to see you before you met up with
Karen,” he said, stopping beside her. “I’m not planning on being in your
sessions today. Corporate kindergarten isn’t my thing.”
   

    
“Corporate kindergarten?” she questioned,
breathing hard.

    
“You know, all this … what did you call it
last night? Teambuilding crap, where an overpaid consultant reminds everyone to
play nice together and share. Not my thing.”
    
“Oh,” Clara said, aware of how she
must look, red-faced with sweat dripping down from her hair. “I’m just about
done here … I need to run for a few more minutes and then cool down. You can
run with me if you want to.”

 
   
She
turned and started jogging down the path. Jon fell into step beside her.

    
“I have a business proposition for you,” he
said as he leaped over a log that had fallen across the trail.

    
“You already asked me to come work for you
and I said no,” she reminded him.

    
“This is something different.”

    
She shot a suspicious glance at him.
“What’s that?”

    
“There’s a company in Büdingen that is
nearly identical to your Dad’s. Same competencies, about the same size,” Jon
said, sidestepping a root that jutted out of the ground. Clara moved over on
the trail, giving him a little more room on the flatter surface. “I’ve been
working with them on and off for two years now, seeing if there are any smaller
firms they can acquire. I want you to take a trip there with me to talk with
them and see what you all can learn from each other.”

    
“Büdingen?” Clara asked.

    
“Germany.”

    
“You want me to go to Germany with
you?” she asked, slowing to a walk.

    
“If I make the investment, yes,” he said,
matching her pace. “You may not be completely up to speed but you’re the
strongest member of the team besides Bill. You know that Clara. You know more
about what’s happening and where the company needs to go than anyone.”

    
“So why not take Bill?” she asked.

    
“He told me to ask you. Said he doesn’t
like to fly.”

    
Clara shook her head. “Unbelievable,” she
said.

    
“What?”

    
“He’s never expressed a fear of flying to
me.”

    
“You think he’s lying?” Jon asked.

    
“I don’t know what he’s doing.”

    
“So will you go?”
    
“I can’t answer that right now,” she
said. “You and Bill need to figure out if you’re going to be an investor. And
if you are then I’ll consider it, but only on the condition that it’s about
idea and information exchange. I’m not selling my dad’s company out to some
German competitor.”

    
“That’s all I can ask,” he said.

    
He picked up his pace and began to jog.

    
“Hey,” Clara said as he pulled away from
her. “Where are you going?”

    
“My work is done here,” he said. “I’m going
back to the cabin.”

    
“What?”

    
He turned and jogged backwards. “You
answered my question so I can leave.”

    
“You jogged all the way out here just to
ask me that?”

    
“Yes,” he said, turning forward again and
taking off down a side path that led back to the Slippery Falls Cabin.

    
Clara stopped walking and stood there
staring at the place where he’d veered off the trail.

    
She shook her head. What are you up to? she
thought.

    
She struggled to put Jon out of her mind as
she walked back to the cabin. She was never going to be able to concentrate on
the retreat with him in the same wilderness. She could almost smell him he was
so close.

    
When she got back to the cabin the rest of
the women were up and moving. Josie was feeding Elizabeth cereal and fruit while Rebecca
showered.

    
“Hey Clara,” she said.

    
“Hey Mom.”

    
“Good run?” she asked, breaking a piece of
banana off and handing it to Elizabeth.

    
“Interesting run.”

    
“Why’s that?” her mother asked.

    
“Jon met me out on the trail.”

    
“This early?” she said, an amused smirk
crossing her lips. “I’d have thought he’d of slept in after taking off with you
last night.”

    
“Yes, this early,” Clara said. “You don’t
sound that surprised that he’s here.”

    
“Bill told me he wanted to come up here and
meet the rest of the team.”

    
“He wants me to go on a business trip to Germany with
him if he invests. Dad told him he doesn’t fly.”

    
Josie smiled. “He did, did he?”

    
“What’s he up to?”

    
“What do you think?” her mother asked.

    
“Unbelievable.”

    
“Your father wants to see you happy, Clara.
I guess he must think this guy will make you happy.”

    
“We’ll see,” she said, looking around.
“Where is everybody?”

    
“Beck is in the shower and Meg went to help
Karen get set up. Marcy said she’d catch up with us later.”

    
“What are we supposed to wear today?” Clara
asked, grabbing a granola bar from the kitchen counter.

    
“Shorts and a t-shirt or maybe jeans,
whatever you have. It’s going to be cool in the morning.”

    
She handed Clara a hot pink note card.

    
“These were fanned out across the dining
room table when we got back last night,” Josie said as she gently wiped Elizabeth’s mouth with a
soft napkin.

Spritzer
& Spritzer, Inc.
Corporate Retreat

Saturday
Morning

Agenda

6:00 a.m.

Rise
and shine

7:00 a.m.

Breakfast

7:30 a.m.

Morning
Dialoguing

8:00 a.m.

Trust
Modeling Engagement Process

10:00 a.m.

Free
time

10:30 a.m.

Trust
Modeling Debrief

11:30 a.m.

Lunch

    
“Any idea what any of this means?” Clara
asked, scanning the agenda.

    
“Hurry up and get out there and you’ll find
out.”

    
Okay. I’m going to get a shower,” Clara
said, starting toward her room.

    
“But it’s already
8:30
,” Josie said. “You’re missing the first
session.”

    
“I think I had enough dialoguing last
night,” Clara replied. “Do you think she knows that isn’t a word?”

    
Josie just shook her head and made a funny
face at Elizabeth.
“You won’t be such trouble will you?” she said sweetly to the little girl.

    
Clara grabbed a fast shower and pulled on
shorts and a long-sleeved shirt. When she came out Josie was playing with Elizabeth on the porch.

    
“You’re not coming?” she asked.

    
“I thought it was more important that Rebecca
get to know the rest of the team.”

    
“So you’re babysitting?” Clara asked,
raising her eyebrows at her mother.

    
“You have a problem with that?”

    
“No. I … I’m just surprised I guess.”

    
Josie sighed. “I guess you never pegged me
for the grandma type, did you?”

    
“No, I didn’t.”

    
“I missed out on a lot with you girls
because I was so screwed up myself. I just want to spend a little time with Elizabeth, that’s all.
Get to know her while I can.”

    
“Before Rebecca takes off again you mean?”
Clara asked.

    
Clara walked down the steps and headed down
the path toward Slippery Falls Cabin. When she got there the rest of the group
was already assembled and Karen had started.

    
“Well, there you are. Good morning Clara.
It’s important that we start on time. That goes for everyone. Try to make sure
you are aligned with the agenda throughout the retreat so we can be sure to get
everything in. We won’t wait for anyone.”
  

    
“Sorry Karen,” Clara mumbled and took a
seat next to her father.

    
“It’s okay. Now we all know the expectations,”
Karen said, smiling broadly at the group, catching each person’s eyes one by
one.

    
“As I was saying, today is about learning
to trust each other,” she continued, projecting loudly. “If you’re all going to
work together you need to be able to say what you feel and trust in each other
without worrying about any backlash. This morning’s activities will help us
develop that trust.”

    
Clara leaned over to her father.

    
“I saw Jon,” she whispered.

    
He turned and looked at her. “And?”

    
“Thanks for warning me that you invited
him.”

    
“I thought I’d surprise you,” he said,
smiling and nodding at Karen as if he were paying attention.

    
“It worked.”

    
“I thought he might want to meet the rest of
the team,” he shrugged, feigning innocence. “He stopped in at the cabin this
morning while we were eating. Funny, though, he seemed more concerned about
where you were.”

    
“What did you tell him?”

    
“I told him you run every morning and that
if I had to guess where you’d run it would be on the Bear Claw Falls trail. Then I gave him a map.”

    
“You don’t fly, huh?”

    
He winked at her. “Pay attention or Karen
will have both our heads.”

    
“Nice try. Don’t try to play matchmaker,
okay?”

    
“Me?”

    
Clara shook her head. “You’re unbelievable,
you know that?”

    
“Yes, I do. And I want you to be happy.”

    
“I am happy.”

    
“I know. I have the pictures of the broken
artwork to prove it,” he whispered.

    
“It wasn’t that big of a deal.”

    
“Yes, it was. You may be able to close off
and block things out but I know deep down inside you are devastated.”

    
“I’m fine.”

    
“You will be.”

    
“And you’re going to see to it?” she asked.

    
“If I have to.”

    
“Let’s have one meeting here,” Karen called
over to them. “We’re getting ready to assign partners for the Trust Modeling
Engagement Process.”

    
“The what?” Clara asked.

    
“If you’d been listening you would already
know,” Karen replied and turned back to the rest of the group. Clara rolled her
eyes at her father. He winked at her.