Out of Nowhere

By Robin H. Pine

Seth tries to do his job the best he can. Yes, he’s the head of the company; yes, his meetings include playing poker; and yes, it works out fine. This time is no different, even though the news is more worrying than usual. But he’s going to take it one step at the time and be just fine. It’s more of the same in the end -- talk to these people, arrange that meeting, and don’t panic anybody. The stakes are higher, but it’s nothing he hasn’t done before. And he gets to spend time at the fire station with Connor. Seth should be good.

And there’s nothing out of the ordinary on Connor’s end. It’s a normal day, spent doing normal things, with the normal people. He happens to love his life and, though some things could be better, they could also be way worse. Connor is satisfied, and nothing is going to change that.

Everything is going according to plan. There’s no reason to believe that anything has to change. Right?

• Language: English
• Publisher: JMS Books LLC
• Release date: Jun 27, 2020
• ISBN: 9781646564224

Book preview

4

Chapter 1

Seth looks at his cards. Two of hearts and seven of spades. Hmm, not much, but it would be interesting to see where he can take them since this is such a low stakes game. With Karen raising and then Simon raising even further though, Seth decides to quit while he’s ahead. His father taught him well.

Fold, Seth says.

He tosses back the cards to Lisa, who is dealing, and sits back to enjoy the show. By accident, though, Seth bumps into Karen’s notes and they fall off the table. It’s a mildly annoying part of turning company meetings into poker games, but the rest are just advantages.

There used to be some mutterings against it, but that all ended when he made it clear he didn’t have high stakes in mind. Seth isn’t the gambling sort. He just realized long ago that poker was engaging enough to make people pay less attention to anything else and perfect for staff meetings where Seth could listen to his employees’ real opinions. A meal every two weeks was by no means noticeable in any of his department heads’ finances.

Of course, that led to this—people betting way too much with too little in hand. Bluffing led over the extreme to the illogical. However, that didn’t seem to deter anybody. They got into it with the same relish every time.

Bending over, Seth murmurs his excuses as he gets Karen’s notes back. He gets back unintelligible noises. Karen’s focused on beating the shit out of Simon with absolutely nothing in hand. Seth leaves her to it. Karen’s HR and knows them best, so who is Seth to stop her?

Where are we with the parking spots? Seth asks.

Lisa blinks at the increasingly ridiculous sums of fictional money thrown in and shakes her head. Yeah, I don’t think we can just add cameras. The parking lot is getting too big, there’s no way we can reach that part in time to be of any use. If we can’t secure it, there’s no point in having the extra parking.

That’s a very Lisa answer. Security is her business, Simon’s too, but apparently doing something in person and doing it online makes all the difference. And though Seth’s company started in Simon’s realm, they all listen to Lisa on the subject.

We need more parking spaces, Peter says. His voice is a little muffled by having his head in one hand. He sounds bored but implacable. We brought the restaurants in and that stretched the parking lot. It’s great, I’m not saying it isn’t, but it’s going so great that they hired more people and we just don’t have the capacity. There won’t be security at all if they park down the street, or you’ll have an increase in activity, Lisa, what with everybody fighting for parking space.

Peter has a way of being practical that generally pisses off everybody. Dorothy too, the practical bit and the annoying bit. Considering that Building Management worked most with the Creative Department, Seth doesn’t know how the company’s HQ hasn’t burned down yet, but he’s thankful for it. He guesses that those two could probably find common ground, but he hasn’t seen it happen yet.

Do we have to work out a package for people who can’t park safely? Scarlett asks absently while she keeps up with the bets. It’s clearly a fight between Karen and Simon, Scarlett is just there. And the funny thing is, the former have such a vicious competition, they don’t notice that there’s somebody else still in the game.

We can’t, Seth says.

Very off-brand, Dorothy agrees. Cook Services is primarily a security company. We can’t let that go because we have a parking issue.

So, we’re back to the problem, Joshua says with a sigh. Hey, I’ve got an idea. Everybody pauses. Not about the parking lot, unfortunately. Seth rolls his eyes and he’s not the only one. Joshua continues, How about you two can go all in and spare us the process?

Joshua is the voice of reason. That’s what’s happening here too. He’s right, of course. But does anybody care? Not particularly. He’s got a very organized mind, he has to if he’s a doctor leading the Activities Department, but no one listens to him. This is a bit surprising, seeing as they all have a good head on their shoulders, but what can Seth do?

Scarlett, in particular, is very detail-oriented. She heads the Finance Department, though, and that means she’s a bit of a shark. Is that enough to discount Joshua’s words? Perhaps.

If Seth thinks about it, most everybody lets the department they head touch their personality a bit. Or maybe their personalities lend some traits to the departments. If nothing else, it means that they are the right people for their jobs. That minimizes their complete and utter disregard towards the only medical professional at the table.

A bit.

Scarlett huffs. Three, she says, reminding Joshua she’s still in the game.

Three, sorry, Scarlett, Joshua says. But really.

Simon seems to consider it for one whole second. Raise.

Joshua throws his head back exasperatedly.

Are we hiring more people? Karen asks, eyes narrowing playfully at Simon, but talking to Seth. To cover the parking lot, I mean.

Seth would say something to them about the tension, but he’s pretty sure there’s nothing more than sibling rivalry going on. It’s that feeling they have: an enmity close to getting out of control that comes hand in hand with a fierce sort