Chapter 25
“Donna!” Josh shouted from the top of the stairs.
“Morning, Dad.” Ben greeted his father.
“Morning, Ben. Donna!” He shouted again.
“Mom left already.” Ally told him.
“She did?” Josh questioned. “I’ll just bet she did…You guys have breakfast
already?”
“Jenny’s making pancakes.” Ally informed him. Josh made his way to the kitchen
and found Tori helping Jenny with the batter. Apparently Jake was still sleeping.
“That looks good.” He commented.
“I’ll make one for you too, Daddy.” Tori offered.
“Thanks, kiddo, but I need to go to work a little early today. You be a good girl
today, got it?”
“Got it.” Tori was distracted by trying to measure the precise amount of flour the
recipe called for.
“What’s got both of you rushing in this morning? Problem?” Jenny asked.
“You could say that. Call if you need me.” Josh instructed and kissed his
daughter’s head. He called out a goodbye to his two other conscious children
and drove into work.
Liz took one look at the thunderous expression on Josh’s face and re-thought
the wisdom of calling out a good morning. She’d seen grim determination on
Donna’s face earlier and she had no doubt the two sightings were not
coincidental. Liz had seen Josh and Donna go at it before. You couldn’t work so
closely with two people for so long without witnessing a fall out or two, but this
did not look like those other times, so Liz just kept her mouth shut and kept
typing.
Josh burst into Donna’s office and slammed the door shut behind him.
“What the hell is this?” he asked waving a piece of paper in front of him.
“Good morning, Joshua. What is what?” she answered without looking up from
her laptop.
“You know damn well what I’m talking about.”
“Then why are you asking me.”
“This is bush league, Donna. You don’t convene a conference call of senior
staff and come up with this…agenda without talking to me. That’s what we do;
we talk to each other, partners.”
“I’ve seen little evidence of that lately.” Donna said as she closed her laptop
with a punctuated ‘click’.
“So because you’re pissed at me personally, you’re going to try to take it out on
me professionally?” Josh asked.
“I am no more pissed at you personally than I am pissed at you professionally.
But the personal we’ll take care of at home. This is business pure and simple.”
“Pure and simple? Are you kidding me? The two are hopelessly intertwined.”
Josh protested.
“Then maybe it’s time we separated them more completely.”
“What are you trying to accomplish here, Donna.” Josh asked more calmly.
“Just exactly what it says on the agenda, Josh.” Donna stood up and faced her
husband, going toe to toe with him. “I think it may be time to give someone else
a turn at the helm.”
“You?” Josh guessed.
“Oh, no; not me. I’m trying to cut down on my responsibilities not pick more up.”
“Then who?”
“I think Billy might be ready for shot like this.”
“Billy? Are you kidding me?” Josh shouted.
“I’m not, in fact, kidding you. But it doesn’t matter what I think, this is a group
decision after all.”
“But you’re calling the meeting. This is your agenda. If you get on that
conference call this morning and suggest we need a new President, how does
that make me look?”
Donna laughed humorlessly. “It’s still all about you.” Donna shook her head.
“Maybe that right there is the problem. Excuse me, I have an eight o’clock.”
Donna walked past her husband hoping that her shaky knees weren’t apparent
to him.
****************************************************
“Billy?” Brian called out to his colleague.
“Hey, Bri. Nice speech yesterday, Ms. Peterson.” Billy kept the smile on his face
but Julie and Brian both saw something underneath.
“Thanks.” Julie replied. “We weren’t expecting you. Were we Brian?”
“Not so much, no, but we’re always happy to see a friendly face.” Brian
narrowed his gaze at Billy. “At least it appears friendly. Donna send you?”
“Yep.”
“Okay, well, we’re heading to a breakfast thing.” Brian informed him.
“When you say ‘we’ I think you mean Julie and Holly.” Billy corrected.
“I do, huh?” Billy nodded and Brian kissed Julie on the cheek. “Go ahead with
Holly; you two will be fine and I’ll catch up with you later.”
Julie nodded reluctantly before joining Holly to leave for their event filled day.
“Let’s go back to your office. I need you on a conference call.” Billy told him
once the women had left.
“A Lyman consulting conference call?” Billy nodded. “The purpose of which
would be?”
Billy wouldn’t comment further but handed a piece of paper to Brian instead.
The first line read ‘senior staff conference call’.
“I’m not senior staff.” Brian pointed out the obvious.
“It’s kind of a field promotion.” Billy grinned. “Keep reading.”
“9 am Eastern to determine….” Brian stopped in his tracks and stared at Billy.
“Holy. Shit.”
“Well said.” Billy replied sardonically as he opened the door to Brian’s office.
“Look. I don’t think I should be within a city mile of this conversation. Josh is
already pissed at me and I’m not part of the senior staff.”
“Good news for you, Josh is about to pissed at a whole bunch of other people,
so you’re going to drop way down on his list. Don’t be a schmuck; your phone is
going to be on mute. Listen, but don’t speak.”
“No problem there.” Brian muttered while he waited for Billy to get on the call.
“Hey, congratulations by the way! Julie is a great woman.”
“Thanks; I think so. Is there any such thing as a secret with you people?”
“What do you mean ‘you people’? You’re one of ‘us people’. And before you
start clamoring on about offering your resignation, let me tell you
something…No one resigns from Lyman consulting. We’re like the mob; you
either retire or die.”
“Do I get to pick which one?” Brian quipped.
“Morning everyone, I’m on.” Billy ignored the younger man and listened to the
other greetings on the call.
“Hey, Billy.” Lou called back. “Are you still in Michigan?”
“Nope; pit stop in Minnesota. Everybody else on?”
“We’re waiting for Josh and Donna.” Mandy said with a sense of impending
doom.
“Liz?” Billy called into the phone. “What’s the mood like over there?”
“Frigid.” Liz replied. “There’s been a lot of door slamming and-“
“Morning everybody, it’s Donna.” Donna’s voice came through. “Are we ready to
get started?”
“Ummmm…We’re not waiting for Josh?” Lou ventured.
“He isn’t on already?” Donna asked and was met with silence. Billy’s eyebrows
shot up into his hairline. Josh and Donna ALWAYS took these conference calls
together on speaker in one of their offices unless they were in separate states.
This was bad; very bad.
“No, he isn’t on yet.” Mandy informed her.
“Okay. Then we can give him a couple minutes.” Donna decided. “How’s
everything on the west coast?”
“Fine.” Lou replied. “Just…you know, fine. How about over there?” Lou could
have smacked herself on the head. They all knew things were not fine there.
“Fine. If you haven’t all heard the news, Brian is now engaged to Julie
Peterson.” Donna changed the subject and there were murmurs of ‘that’s great’
and promises made to call him later. Brian smiled at the genuine pleasure he
heard in his colleague’s voices and looked over at Billy who was looking at him
with a ‘see?’ expression on his face.
“Josh Lyman.” Josh’s voice came on the call and Brian was surprised to hear
the sadness and defeat in his boss’s voice.
“Everyone’s on now.” Liz declared. Part of her job on these calls was to make
sure everyone was on before they proceeded with the agenda.
“I appreciate all of you making time for this at the last minute. We have only two
items on the agenda at this time, but I’d like to take the second item first. With
the very busy fall schedule, I’d like to review who is going where and whether or
not we feel, as a group, that we are spreading ourselves a little too thin.” Donna
announced.
Silence.
“Anytime we’re looking at a fall election, things are naturally very busy.” Allen
tried to play peacemaker, but as a numbers man, the diplomatic piece wasn’t his
strong suit.
“True, but I think it’s a little late in the election cycle to be taking on new clients,
or do you disagree with that?” Donna posed the question to the group and Lou
was all over that, just as Donna had guessed she’d be.
“Who’s talking about taking on more clients? Nobody brought any new
proposals to the group.”
“There seems to be a matter of a Senate race in Ohio, and a Congressional
seat in West Virginia. “ Donna rattled off. “Are there others, Josh?”
“I think that about covers it.” Josh sighed. “I’d just like to point out that they
HAVEN’T been taken on as clients. I was asked to review the races and make
suggestions.”
“We don’t do that without consulting the team.” Toby added.
“It was something I was asked to do personally.” Josh argued.
“Then it was a side job of some kind?” Mandy prodded. “Don’t we have strict
policies about offering advice and suggestions about races that we are not
professionally engaged in?”
“Right, because I was pocketing the cash on the side.” Josh said sarcastically.
“It’s not a question of cash. Don’t be an idiot.” Toby chastised him.
“The rule is in place so a) we don’t get sued by any number of people we don’t
have a contract with b) so we aren’t inadvertently stepping on one another toes
offering advice to opposing sides and c) so we don’t overextend ourselves
personally or as a team.” Donna reiterated.
“Are you actually reading the bylaws over there, Donnatella?” Josh snarked and
it hurt Donna to hear him use what had only been a term of endearment
between them as a weapon.
“No, but I can get you a copy if you need one. Perhaps if I highlighted the
particular passages and posted it on your wall?” she shot back.
“Whoa. Let’s just…Josh, you know we can’t take on any more clients, right?”
Toby affirmed. “There’s no way we can take on more without doing an injustice
to the ones we’ve already got.”
“We’re already in Ohio, Toby, adding to the work load there wouldn’t-“
“We’d need at least two more people; maybe three.” Allen chimed in. “Where
would be pull them from?”
“IF we decided to do this, we could hire more people.” Josh pointed out.
“Do we have the cash flow for that? And train them when?” Mandy questioned.
“We don’t have the people or the time. Maybe if Brian wasn’t in Minnesota full
time he could work with some new people, but to get them hired and up to par at
this late date?”
“Brian may not be in Minnesota much longer;” Billy added. “at least not for us.
He’s intending to tender his resignation.” He threw that out on purpose, knowing
the reaction it would get and wanting Brian to hear that reaction.
“What the hell is that about? Did he get another offer?” Lou asked.
“We had a personal disagreement.” Josh offered. “I’ll fix it.”
“I hope so, because we can’t afford to lose him right now.” Mandy interjected. “I
know he’s based in Minnesota, but he’s consulting on 3 other races in the
Midwest and he’s too good at what he does to lose him to some other firm.”
Again, Billy’s eyes met Brian’s and this time Brian nodded acknowledgment.
“He’s not making a decision this minute.” Donna noted. “I have every confidence
that Josh can turn that around.”
“So that takes us back to adding clients.” Toby steered the conversation back.
“It’s just not feasible right now.”
“Do we even want to consider the specifics or are we just rejecting clients on
principle?” Josh asked the group at large. “If I could turn the Ohio race around,
in particular, the publicity that it would garner for our firm would be incredible.”
“And you’re going to do this personally?” Peter asked. “With a client who’s
currently 16 points down and has been running a campaign most white
supremacists would endorse?”
“I understand it would be a challenge, Peter, I’m not a novice at this.”
“I wasn’t suggesting you are, Josh, none of us are.” Peter maintained. “That’s
why we’re more than a little skeptical about this; and that’s aside from the
personnel and logistical concerns. And I’m sorry, but publicity is not something
we’re hurting for. We have no shortage of clients and usually have to turn
people away. Has something changed that I don’t know about?”
“Our cash flow numbers are good.” Allen said, obviously consulting his beloved
spreadsheets. “In fact, we’re up 14% from this time last year as a result of the
ad buy percentages we got this time around.”
“So then why are we considering new clients?” Lou posed the question.
“Phillip Carter in Ohio asked me to take a look at and give my opinion on the
race. We haven’t gotten to the next step yet. It’s premature to talk about adding
them to our client list.” Josh pointed out.
“Josh…I think you need to throw that fish back in the water.” Toby offered
quietly. “It’s undoubtedly a compliment that the Ohio party thinks you could
salvage that wreck, but in the end you’ll just be re-arranging deck chairs on the
Titanic. You don’t want to be associated with that; none of us do.”
“So because you think it’s impossible, I shouldn’t try?” Josh shot back.
“You shouldn’t try because we need you on other races we can actually win.
You shouldn’t try because the guys a stuffed shirt and that’s never been what
our team is about. You shouldn’t try because we have more than we can handle
right now and you shouldn’t try because you’d be doing it alone and none of us
work best that way.” Toby’s voice rose more and more until his reasons
concluded. Then silence took over.
Finally, Liz piped up in her capacity as agenda keeper. “So do we need to vote
on this? Anyone in favor of taking on additional clients at this time?” Josh’s ‘aye’
was the only one heard. Okay, then, no new clients unless and until the agenda
item is revisited. The only other item is restructuring the senior staff.”
“I put that on the agenda because I have decided to resign my position at
Lyman Consulting.” Donna said it all in one quick breath; like ripping off a
bandaid.
“Excuse me?” Mandy nearly shrieked.
“I’d like to continue to work for the firm as a consultant, if that’s agreeable to
everyone, but I’m resigning the Vice Presidency and removing myself from a
senior staff position.” Donna explained.
“Donna, are you okay?” Toby asked softly.
“I’m fine, Toby.” Donna said sincerely. “I’m just ready to take a step back and
focus on some other things in my life and I can’t do that in my present position.”
“We’ve just come off a discussion about how we need all hands on deck and
then you announce you’re resigning?” Josh pointed out with a steely edge to his
voice. This wasn’t what he thought was going to come up under “restructuring
the senior staff”.
“I’m not abandoning anyone.” Donna said to everyone, but was speaking
specifically to Josh. “I’m not running out on you or the clients. I’ll maintain my
schedule until after November then draw it down considerably. I was thinking
part time.”
“With this kind of advance warning we could structure it into the schedule, no
problem.” Allen said and they could hear him hitting his computer keys. “With
the drop in time commitments after November, we wouldn’t even need to worry
about hiring a replacement at that time.”
“Do you have someone in mind to replace you as VP? Lou wanted to know.
“I think Billy is up for the challenge. He took on quite a bit of it while we were in
Minnesota and did a fabulous job.” Donna suggested.
“That doesn’t mean he can just fill your shoes.” Josh argued.
“I would hope not.” Donna joked. “But he’s got some ramp up time here. What
do you think, Billy?”
“I’d need to think about it.” Billy admitted. “And talk to Jen. It would be nice to
spend more time in one place with the new baby coming in December, but it’s a
big responsibility and I’m just not sure…”
“Think about it.” Lou ordered. “We’ll table it for now and come back to it when
we’ve all had time to digest this…news… and consider any other alternatives.
Agreed?”
Everyone assented and they lapsed into silence again.
“That’s it for our agenda. Does anyone have anything under unfinished
business or new items?” Liz asked. “Then I think we’re done. Thanks
everybody.”
There were several goodbye’s and clicks.
Donna’s line lit up almost immediately; it was Toby.
“Okay…what the hell is going on over there?” Toby’s voice was rising in pitch.
“I think you should be asking Josh that.” Donna replied succinctly.
“Will I get a better answer from him?”
“Probably not.” Donna admitted.
“Then I’ll stick with you thanks… Donna?” Toby prodded.
“He’s not talking to me, Toby.” Donna said softly.
“About the resignation thing?”
“About anything really. He didn’t know about the resignation until I announced it
on the call today.”
“You can’t just spring something like that on Josh, Donna. You know that. What
were you thinking?”
“I was thinking that maybe this extreme measure would open up some dialogue
between us, Toby.” Donna retorted. “We need to cut back; both of us.”
“Donna…what aren’t you telling me?”
“Ask your friend, Toby. Ask Josh.”
“I’m getting on a plane today.” Toby announced and hung up without another
word.