Retreat (33 page)

Spritzer &
Spritzer, Inc.

Corporate Retreat

Saturday Afternoon

AGENDA

1:00
p.m.

Strategic
Teambuilding in Challenging Environments

3:00
p.m.

Free time and clean
up

3:30
p.m.

Challenging
Environment Debrief

4:00
p.m.

Equalizing Human
Capital through Culinary Exercises

(You are in group
2)

6:00
p.m.

Culinary
Presentations

8:00
p.m.

Congregate for
campfire at Firelight Falls Cabin

    
Clara wondered if culinary presentations
meant dinner. It didn’t much matter; she was too late to attend anything except
the campfire later on.

    
As she set the card back down on the table
she heard someone fiddling with the padlock on the front door, which swung open
a few moments later as Rebecca and Elizabeth trooped in. Elizabeth looked like she’d been crying.

    
“Hey,” Clara said. “What’s up?”

    
“Where the hell have you been?” Rebecca
asked, obviously pissed. “You missed the whole afternoon.”

    
“I got sidetracked,” Clara said, not about
to give Rebecca even an inch of information. “Did I miss much?”

    
Elizabeth
started to whimper and Rebecca heaved a frustrated sigh.

    
“Everything okay?” Clara asked,
instinctively standing and heading toward Elizabeth.

    
“She’s had a rough afternoon,” Rebecca
said. “Can you watch her for a few minutes? I have something I need to go take
care of.”

    
“Sure,” Clara said, smiling at Elizabeth’s quivering
bottom lip. “I’d love to.” She held out her hands and Elizabeth ran over. Clara pulled her up into
her arms.

    
“Now what’s all this about?” Clara said
softly, using her finger to wipe away the little girl’s tears. “We can’t have
any crying on our big camping trip, right? Everything’s going to be just fine.”

    
When Clara looked up Rebecca was already
gone. Still holding Elizabeth,
Clara wandered over to close and lock the front door as the minivan fired up
out front.

    
“Let’s go get you freshened up,” Clara
said. She carried Elizabeth
back into Rebecca’s room and pulled out a fresh set of clothes for her. By the
time she was done getting her changed Josie and Meg had returned.

    
“There you are,” Josie said. “We were
wondering what happened to you. It’s kind of hard to build a team when a key
member isn’t around.”

    
“Sorry, Mom,” Clara said. “Lunch ran a
little longer than I expected.”

    
Josie raised her eyebrows at Clara. She
couldn’t tell if her mother was really angry with her for missing the afternoon
or not. Clara had a feeling she was only mentioning it because Meg was with
her.

    
“Is that so?” Josie asked, glancing around
the cabin. “Where’s Jon? I want to have a word with him.”

    
“He’s not here,” Clara said, smiling. “He
went to get Marcy.”

    
“Come to think of it she was missing today,
too,” Josie said. “For two people interested in investing in the company they
aren’t showing a whole lot of interest in what we’re doing.”

    
“Marcy had work she had to get done,” Clara
said. “Both she and Jon will be back in time for the campfire. They’re looking
forward to getting to know the team tonight.” Clara plopped down on the large
armchair next to the couch, as Elizabeth
kneeled down at the coffee table in front of her to color. “So did you get to
go to any of the sessions?”

    
“Yes, I did,” Josie said. “They were
fabulous. Karen really did a top-notch job. Rebecca stayed here with Elizabeth. She said she
wanted to run into Valleyview to find a jacket for her. I guess she didn’t
realize how chilly the nights would get up on the mountain. I let her take the
minivan.” Josie glanced around. “Where is she now?”

    
“I don’t know,” Clara said. She’d assumed
by the way she acted that Rebecca had been out at the retreat all day boiling
that Clara wasn’t there. She was glad to hear that Rebecca had owned up to
watching Elizabeth
so Josie could be part of Karen’s sessions. “She came in, dropped off Elizabeth and bolted.”

    
Josie frowned as she walked over to the
front window. The minivan was gone.

    
“You don’t think…” Josie started but then
trailed off. The fading sun bathed her in golden light as she stood at the
window. Clara could only hope she looked that youthful when she reached Josie’s
age.

    
“I’m sure she’ll be back,” Clara said
confidently. “Otherwise we won’t be able to get home.”

    
Josie nodded.
 

    
“I’m going to go out and see if there is
enough kindling around to start that campfire,” Clara said, pulling herself up
from the comfortable chair. “Can you keep an eye on Elizabeth?”

    
“Of course,” Josie said, taking a seat on
the floor across the table from the little girl and picking up a crayon.
“There’s nothing I’d rather do.”

    
“I’d be surprised if that campfire isn’t
already started for you,” Meg said, buffing her hair dry with a large sea green
bath towel as she emerging from the back bedroom. “Karen has been totally on
top of everything. That woman has more stamina than the Energizer bunny.”

    
Clara slipped on her sneakers and headed
for the fire ring. A thatch of kindling was neatly tied with twine and placed
on top of a symmetrically stacked cord of firewood. A sure-start fire log and a
long-handled lighter were waiting for her in the fire pit. A dozen wooden and
canvas chairs encircled it.

    
Clara kneeled down, picked up the lighter
and unwrapped the starter log.
 
It didn’t
take long before it caught. She reached over and placed some kindling around it
and made a little teepee of larger logs. She wasn’t entirely sure what she was
doing but she seemed to recall seeing someone start a fire that way before.

    
“Nicely done,” Josie said, pulling a
sweater around her as she came down the cabin steps. “I didn’t think you knew
how to start a campfire.”

    
“I don’t, really,” Clara admitted. “But
whoever set this place up for us made it pretty much idiot-proof. Where’s Elizabeth?”

    
“Meg’s sitting with her. She’s pointing at
different colored crayons and Meg is using them to color in a picture.”

    
“She’s really a good little girl,” Clara
said. “She’s hardly fussed at all and you know this has got to be tough on her
getting uprooted and then whisked off into the woods.”

    
“I’m sure it is,” Josie said, taking a seat
near Clara as she poked at the fledgling fire. “But she’s not the only one
who’s been uprooted lately. How are you doing?”

    
“I’m good, Mom,” she said as she pushed the
starter log deeper beneath the fresh wood, causing a wave of bright red sparks
to float into the air. “I think I’ve turned a corner.”

    
“What corner is that?” her mother asked.

    
“The one that lets me accept everything
that’s happened and move on.”

    
“That’s the best corner you can turn. Did
Jon help you with that?” she asked. She paused and looked at her daughter, as
if searching for the right thing to say. “He seems like a good man, Clara.”

    
“He’s alright,” she said, smiling.

    
Josie laughed. “I hear you talking, honey.
I don’t want to push, but give the guy a chance will you?”

    
“What did he say to you guys?” Clara asked,
standing up from where she’d been stooping in front of the fire to take the
seat beside her mother. “Now he has both you and Dad in his corner.”

    
“We’re in your corner honey. Always your
corner,” she said, reaching over and patting her on the knee. “Now, where the
hell is Rebecca?”

    
Clara’s gaze traveled to the darkening
woods around them. “I don’t know, Mom. She said she had something to take care
of and then she rushed out. She must have had to go to town.”

    
“Maybe something happened and she didn’t
get a chance to get Elizabeth
a jacket earlier,” Josie said. “That would explain it.”

    
“I’m sure that’s it, Mom. Don’t worry about
it. Come on, let’s go inside and have a glass of that champagne that’s in there
before the rest of the crew shows up,” she offered Josie a hand to stand up.
“We can celebrate surviving the first twenty-four hours of the retreat.”

    
An hour later, the campfire ring was
buzzing as the whole staff of Spritzer & Spritzer, with the exception of
Rebecca, gathered round. As she watched the group interact, Clara had to admit
that they seemed closer, or at least jollier, than they’d been the night
before. Everyone except Karen, at least, who wouldn’t even look at her.
Apparently Clara’s actions had managed to crack Karen’s perpetually positive
veneer. Clara couldn’t help but smile at the thought.

    
The last of the sun had slipped behind the
trees, leaving only the firelight surrounded by darkness. Patrick, Mark and Joe
were laughing heartily as Clara took a seat with them. Patrick explained the
exercises they’d done that afternoon, starting with a massive scavenger hunt.

    
“The challenging environment turned out to
be the Bear Claw Trail,” he laughed. “We had to find all the gadgets we need
for tomorrow’s hike scattered in the underbrush.”

    
“So did you find everything?” she asked,
happier than ever that she’d decided to skip out.

    
“We did,” Mark said. “But the booby prize
is that now we have to hike Foster’s Folly tomorrow.” He gave her a leveled
look. “Do you think you’ll be able to join us? Karen already has us pegged into
teams. You’re going with your sister.”

    
“I think Josie and Meg found everything
you’ll need,” Patrick continued. “Since you weren’t around.”

    
The men exchanged glances. Clara smirked at
them. “Yeah, sorry about that,” she said. “I see you got your revenge by
sticking me with Rebecca.”

    
“She’s your sister,” Mark said. “We thought
you’d love it.”

    
Patrick snickered, then smiled at
Clara.
 

    
“So did you ever get to talk business?” she
asked.

    
“What business?” Joe piped up. “I thought
this was a camping trip.”

    
“What about the culinary exercises?” Clara
asked. “Did you get to eat anything?”

    
Mark explained that they had to make a meal
using only the items they’d discovered on the scavenger hunt. It amounted to an
elaborate trail mix and a drink from an old spring.

    
“You must be starving,” Clara said. Her own
stomach growled as she realized that she hadn’t had anything to eat since lunch
with Jon back at the campsite.

    
“Karen promised us food at the fire,” Joe
said, looking around. “So where is it?”

    
Karen had pulled up a collapsible camp
table and loaded it down with fruit, marshmallows, pretzels, juice, water, hot
dogs and rolls.

    
“Finally,” Joe said. “Some real food!”

    
Clara watched as Bill and Josie filled
their paper plates and then sat down next to each other beside the fire,
holding hands and sipping champagne straight from the bottle she and Clara had
opened earlier. They looked so happy, like none of the mess that had chased
them for so long made a difference anymore.

    
As they warmed their hot dogs over the
fire, the rest of the men spiraled through an in-depth sports conversation that
included a play-by-play of the last Steelers season and hope for a decent
Pirates run. When the conversation turned to hockey, Clara decided to go inside
to check on Meg.

    
“How’s it going in here?” she asked,
carefully pulling the door closed behind her.