Almost Perfect

Chapter 14

 
“Hi, how’s sunny Toronto?” Ray asked with a grin. It was the morning of their third day in Toronto.

“It’s not. It’s cold and dismal and I have no fucking clue what I’m doing up here!”

“Gus, you’re learning, that’s what you’re doing up there. No one is expecting you to have all the answers. No one; not your dad, not your mom. You watch and take meticulous notes so that when Brian or Melanie asks your opinion, you can formulate one based on the facts. And if you don’t know the answer, don’t let them bully you into offering one until you're ready.”

“How do I do that?”

“You simply state that you require more data before you can give them an answer.”

“And you think that’ll work? This is Brian Kinney we’re talking about. The man that can stop a herd of charging ad men at one hundred yards with just the arch of one brow,” Gus replied with exasperation.

Ray cracked up with laughter. His laughter was infectious enough to put Gus at ease and make him laugh with him.

“Oh god, thank you,” Gus said once he caught his breath.

“For what?”

“For always knowing what to say; for putting things into perspective for me; for, for everything.” The last part came out in a whisper.

“You’re very welcome. What are the plans for today?”

“We have a few more buildings to look at then later today, interviewing potential employees from artists to agents to assistants,” Gus explained. “Why?”

“Nothing really. You don’t sound too happy about it.”

“Yeah, he’s driving the realtor and my mother crazy. He’s rejecting everything; he says nothing feels right. What’s there to feel?”

“Do you know what type of building your dad’s interested in?” Ray answered the question with a question.

“No, why?” Gus could hear the clicking of computer keys. “What are you doing?”

“Research.”

“What kind of research?”

“Real estate research.”

“I repeat, why?”

“Your dad is Kinnetik and Kinnetik is known for their unique approach to everything including each office.”

“Yeah, and...?”

“I’m sending you a set of listings; look them over.”

“The realtor already gave us a set.”

“Yeah, but I bet none like these. You forget where I’ve been working since I was a kid,” Ray reminded Gus. “Go check your email, on your laptop not your phone. I want you to see the larger picture. I’ll wait.”

“Okay,” Gus said with a sigh. Ray held on while Gus booted up his computer. “Got it.”

“What do you see?”

“I see churches, a whole bunch of churches.”

“Four churches and two chapels to be exact. All of which have either been decommissioned or declared unsafe or repossessed due to lack of money.”

“Your point?”

“My point is that Kinnetik doesn’t have a church.” Ray let Gus mull that point over for a minute.

“You are a genius!” Gus shouted into the phone.

“Yup,” Ray crowed.

“Damn, I wish I was there right now,” Gus said as he adjusted himself.

“Hold that thought until you get home,” Ray said finding himself in the same state.

“I love you,” Gus said pouring as much emotion as he could over the phone.

“I love you too. Go be brilliant then come home.”

“With you waiting for me, inspiring me, I’ll be home as soon as I can.”

The boys sighed then begrudgingly hung up.

Gus walked out of his room holding his laptop high in the air like a waiter holding a tray. Brian and Mel were sitting at a table in the small kitchenette of the suite Brian had taken for their time in Canada. They were poring over files of real estate listings, rejecting all of them for being boring and average.

“Pop, I need you to look at something,” he said excitedly.

“Sure, Sonny Boy, what ya got?” Gus put his laptop down on the table then swivelled it around so his dad could see the pictures. The six churches were neatly arranged in a collage. “What am I looking at?”

“The next Kinnetik North?” Gus said. Mel slid her chair over, insinuating herself into Brian’s personal space.

“A church?” she said with a crinkle to her nose.

“What’s wrong with a church?” Gus asked.

“I don’t know, isn’t that sacrilegious or something?”

“No, churches are re-purposed all the time,” Gus adamantly replied thinking of the Limelight in New York.

“Do you have the files on each of these?” Brian asked, ignoring the banter. He wanted to take a better look at the buildings. Gus hit a few keys to bring up the individual photos with the attached file.

While Gus and Mel debated the use of a church as an office building, Brian studied each building, its square footage, the surrounding environment and the approximate cost of repairs to bring the building up to code. He also studied the local ordinances to determine if a business was legal.

“Is this your idea?” Brian asked his son.

“I wish I could take credit for it but I can’t. I was talking to Ray about our lack of progress.” Gus gave his father a glare that Brian ignored. “He came up with these.”

“I’m spending thousands of dollars flying us up here, wasting time with some lame realtor and your boyfriend comes up with these while he talks to you on the phone. Un-fucking believable!” Brian hit print and in a few minutes hard copies of the files were spat out from the wireless printer in their suite. Then he emailed the realtor.

“I want to see these and today,” Brian growled. “And when your boyfriend graduates, I want him working for me!” He chugged down his coffee before heading for the shower.

“He’s serious, isn’t he?” Gus asked his mother.

“He sounded serious to me,” Mel said.

“But you’re Kinnetik’s lawyer.”

“And we’re growing. There’s no reason not to have more than one lawyer. Besides, Ray knows real estate. I know contracts. We play to our strengths,” Mel said wisely.

“Huh,” Gus murmured as he studied the files.

 

*****
 

They were cranky and tired by the time Brian, Gus and Mel pulled up and parked behind the realtor. This was the third church on the list. As pretty and quaint as the chapels were, they weren’t nearly as large as Brian would need even if they wanted to start small. Brian envisioned expansion. This church was fairly modern, it also had a small school attached and its own chapel.

“Tell me why this church is no longer in business,” Brian demanded as he pulled his sunglasses out of his pocket and sat them on his nose. The sun had finally come out. It was still cold but at least it was sunny. They were standing just outside the larger main church.

“A few reasons,” the realtor replied.

“Such as?” Brian growled out.

“Changes in the neighborhood. Fewer families with young children; more need for industry rather than residential and the church ran out of money to maintain the property. Pick one or all. The community that’s left is upset; they’re forced to travel into another neighborhood for mass,” the realtor explained.

“Huh,” Brian murmured to himself. “I’d like to see inside,” he said.

With several keys in hand, the realtor gave Brian and party the entire tour. Hours later, they were back at the hotel.

Brian disappeared into his room.

“So what do you think?” Brian asked. He was on a web conference with Ted, Cynthia, John and Justin.

“Architecturally speaking, it’s doable and practical,” John said. “If you’re serious about this I can fly up to take a closer look then interview local firms who will stick to your vision.

“I like it, a lot,” both Cynthia and Ted agreed.

“Sunshine?” Brian awaited his spouse’s opinion.

“I’m not sure if it’s bad form or not but I love the dichotomy between the original Kinnetik and its northern counterpart. You know, gay bathhouse versus church.” Brian could see the big grin on Justin’s face.

“So bottom line, you all like the buildings and agree with my plan?” Brian asked. With four affirmatives, Brian went back out to the main suite.

“I’m glad you pushed back the interviews a few hours, I’m so hungry and tired that I don’t think I could ask an intelligent question,” Mel complained as Brian came in. She was sitting on the sofa, shoes off and rubbing her tired feet.

“I’ll get room service up here and order a few carafes of coffee and tea for the interviews,” Brian said as he began to dial the phone.

Gus had flopped into a chair with his arm draped across his eyes. His parents couldn’t tell if he was awake or asleep until he spoke. “I like the idea of a group interview. You get to see the interactions between potential co-workers,” Gus said from under his arm.

“How do you know so much about the interview process?” Mel asked.

“I took interviewing workshops in college,” Gus told her. “And I’m hungry too.”

“Food will be here soon,” Brian announced.

After lunch and before their applicants were set to arrive Brian discussed his vision for Kinnetik North.

“You both liked that last church,” Brian confirmed. He received affirming nods from both. “This is how I see it. All three buildings get upgraded, stripped back, gutted where necessary. We keep the main church for the art department and for impressing the clients. It’s large and airy and we can install skylights to let in more natural light. The top two or three floors of the school are for the grunt work, the execs and sales. There’s an entrance via the rectory that connects the church directly to the school.”

“What do you have in mind for the main floor?” Mel asked.

“A day care center for Kinnetik employees, but we can make it open to the local public and if there’s enough interest and pending permits we can support a small school. Same with the chapel, if the Church will allow. We’ll maintain the chapel but the local dioceses will have to furnish a priest. The grounds have a large enough parking lot for employees plus a small yard area for a playground.”

“That’s...I don’t know what that is, but wow,” Melanie said slightly flabbergasted that Brian Kinney, the man who grew up hating the church would actually back one.

“You’re serious?” Gus asked.

“Yup. We can discuss it further later. There’s a lot of what if's that we’d have to iron out before any or all of my plan can work. We don’t even know if there’s anyone interested in working for us. So we table this for now. Do the interviews then meet with whoever we have to meet to see if this is doable.” He received more nods. They had just enough time to freshen up before their applicants knocked on the door.

The next shocker of the day was when one of their applicants was French Canadian. She was young and a little nervous being surrounded by male competitors so she kept breaking into French. Melanie smiled smugly at Brian when she put the applicant at ease by conducting her interview in French.

Brian was duly impressed.

 

*****
 

JR was fussing over the flowers on the dining room table when Jacqueline came into the room.

"Everything okay?" she asked.

"I can't make these flowers look right," JR replied as she moved another blossom around. She studied the arrangement for a moment before moving another flower. "Does that look better?"

"I thought it looked fine before," Jacqueline said. JR sighed as she moved another flower. "The petals are going to start falling off, if you don't leave them alone," Jacqueline advised. She took JR's hand and squeezed gently. "The table looks lovely. Leave it alone."

"I just want everything to be perfect," JR sighed.

"It will be."

"How can you possibly know that?"

"Because we love each other and we're fun to be around and the meal will be good. Won't it? How is the food anyway?"

"Salmon's in the oven with the scalloped potatoes. Asparagus is ready to steam as soon as we want to eat."

"Should I make the salad now?"

"Sure, I'll help you."

"Sounds good. Let's have a glass of wine."

"I should stay focused," JR said looking at the flower arrangement one more time.

"You should relax and enjoy the party."

"Is this a party?" JR asked as she followed Jacqueline into the kitchen.

"Yes, it is, and I want everyone to have a good time, not like that other dinner."

"Oh," JR said. "How are we going to make that happen?"

"By enjoying ourselves and being natural. Everything looks great, and the food smells wonderful," Jacqueline said as she poured them each a glass of wine.

They clinked glasses making a toast to a good time. Then Jacqueline retrieved all the things she needed to make her Greek salad from the fridge. She was finishing up a few minutes later when the buzzer sounded.

"I'll get it," JR said setting down her wineglass.

When Michael and Ben appeared at the door to the loft, there were hugs and kisses. Michael stepped inside and scanned the loft. Ben followed not being so obvious.

"This is nice," Ben said.

"What did you expect?" JR asked.

"We had no idea since we haven't been invited here before," Michael said, unable to keep from accusing his daughter of cutting him out of her life.

"What Michael means is that we are happy to finally see your home, and it was lovely of you to ask us. It's a great apartment," Ben corrected, giving Michael the evil eye. "Right, Michael?"

"Um, yeah, it is nice," Michael said quite impressed with the way the place looked. At least his daughter had a good home ... for the moment.

"Would you like a glass of wine?" JR asked as she headed towards the kitchen.

"That would be nice," Ben replied as he followed her. "Hi, Jacqueline," Ben said as he came into the kitchen.

"Hi, Ben, good to have you here. Red or white?"

"Red, please."

Jacqueline nodded and poured a glass of red. She handed it to Ben and turned to Michael who was looking around the kitchen. "Mr. Novotny, red or white?"

"Red," Michael said. "And why do you call me Mr. Novotny and Ben, Ben?"

"Because Ben told me to call him that at dinner the other night. You never said anything about what to call you, so I thought I should use Mr. Novotny."

"Well, Michael will be fine, Jacqueline," Michael said smiling and looking at JR's reaction. He made sure he didn't hesitate when he said Jacqueline.

"Of course, Michael. Did you say white or red?"

"Red, please."

As Jacqueline poured him a glass, Michael continued to study the loft. It reminded him vaguely of Brian's loft, but also different in a lot of ways. But then this was a woman's home. He accepted the wine that Jacqueline offered him.

"I thought we'd eat right away," JR said. "I just need to finish steaming the asparagus."

"Everything smells good," Ben said.

"Yeah, good," Michael added.

"Shall we sit at the table?" JR asked. "It'll just be a minute for the asparagus. Jacqueline made her delicious Greek salad. We can have some of that first," she added taking the salad out of the fridge.

They all sat down at the table and started to enjoy the salad. JR got up a couple of times to check on things and Ben and Jacqueline continued to talk. Michael watched his husband and the woman. She didn't seem so bad in her own home. She was gracious and attentive.

After Michael finished a bite of salad, he turned to Jacqueline. "You made the salad?" he asked. She nodded. "It's very good."

Jacqueline smiled. "Thank you," she replied.

"I didn't know you could cook," Michael added never clever enough to leave well enough alone.

"Salad isn't exactly cooking," Jacqueline said with a mischievous smirk.

"You know what I mean," Michael said feeling that nobody ever understood him.

"Yes, yes I do," Jacqueline answered quickly, not wanting to upset the apple cart that had been rolling along a nice smooth route so far.

Michael actually smiled back at her. "This salad is really good," he stated.

"Thanks, I make it all the time. It's fast, healthy and delicious."

"You'll have to show me what you do. It's really great," Ben said.

"Happy to."

"And here's the main course," JR announced as she returned to the table.

They all enjoyed the salmon and the rest of the meal. There was lots of talk around the table, and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves very much.

When dinner was over, they moved to the living room where JR and Jacqueline had another glass of wine. Ben and Michael decided on no more wine since they were driving home, and it wasn't good for either of them to overindulge.

"This was really nice," Michael said as he gave his daughter a kiss at the door, when he and Ben were ready to leave.

"Really enjoyed it," Ben piped in.

"Glad you could come and that you had a good time," Jacqueline replied with a smile.

"Maybe we can do this again," Michael suggested.

"I'd love that, Daddy," JR agreed.

"Good night, Jacqueline," Michael said as they left.

Jacqueline shut the door and slid down to the floor giggling like crazy. "That was almost fun," she gasped as she finally stopped laughing. "But I'm so glad it's over."

JR looked at her. "I thought it went really well," JR said, all serious and worried about her girlfriend's reaction.

"It did."

"Then what are you laughing at?"

Jacqueline stopped laughing and got up. "It's nerves. I've never been that nice for that long in my whole life," she explained.

"So none of that was really you?" JR asked not liking at all what she was hearing.

"Of course it was me ... on my best behavior," Jacqueline stated. "And I only do my best behavior for you, sweet thing."

JR smiled in spite of herself. "It was a good evening. I actually enjoyed it, and I think Daddy and Ben did too."

Jacqueline picked up their wine glasses, handed one to JR and clinked hers against it. "Here's to an enjoyable evening that went very well and is ... over."

JR shook her head and laughed before taking a drink of her wine. She had a crazy girlfriend, but that was just how she liked it.

 

*****
 

"I enjoyed myself tonight," Michael said as Ben drove them home.

"See what happens when you relax," Ben informed his husband.

"Jacqueline was really pretty nice tonight."

"I'm glad you thought so."

"I was kind of worried about this whole dinner thing, but I liked the apartment and I ... liked Jacqueline."

"That's real progress," Ben said with a smile.

"Yeah, but they sure seemed to drink a lot of wine."

Ben groaned inwardly. He knew he would hear about the wine consumption for weeks to come. He just prayed that Michael wouldn't mention it to JR and ruin what had been a perfectly nice evening.
 

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