Savannah Girl Novel: Making the Grade

By Michael Roberts

The fourth novel of Sarah's story continues the tale of both herself and the group of friends she calls her family.

Continually meeting with new challenges along the way, she struggles to overcome them--often with extremely unorthodox ideas. Her assignments at work increasingly grow more intricate and involved. People count on her, and she is determined never to let them down. Unfortunately, something from her past threatens to rear its ugly head. She knows that just because things are buried does not mean they cease to exist.

She also knows that sometimes it is harder to stay legit than you would think. Sarah continues to strive toward her ultimate goal of making the grade in the business world of finance. Unfortunately, she does not know the true cost until it is too late.

Her family does everything they can to support her. However, there are some things she can never let them know about. Never, never, never.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Mar 20, 2023
• ISBN: 9798886549799

Michael Roberts

Michael Roberts is the fashion and style director of Vanity Fair. He served as fashion director at The New Yorker from 1997-2006 as well as the fashion editor of The Sunday Times, style director and art director of Tatler, design director of British Vogue, and Paris editor of Vanity Fair. He has contributed his photographs and illustrations to numerous publications, among them Vanity Fair; L'Uomo Vogue, British, Italian, French, American, Chinese, Brazilian, and Japanese Vogue; The Sunday Times; and The Independent on Sunday. He is also the author of four books of illustrations: The Jungle ABC, Mumbo Jumbo, Snowman in Paradise, and The Snippy World of New Yorker Fashion Artist Michael Roberts.

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Savannah Girl Novel

Making the Grade

Michael Roberts

Copyright © 2023 Michael Roberts

All rights reserved

First Edition

PAGE PUBLISHING

Conneaut Lake, PA

First originally published by Page Publishing 2023

ISBN 979-8-88654-970-6 (pbk)

ISBN 979-8-88654-979-9 (digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

About the Author

Other books in the Savannah Girl series:

Savannah Girl: Street Smart

Opening the Door

Dealing the Cards

This is dedicated to someone I dearly love, whom is often ‘Enfeebled by her own morality.' However, I, on the other hand, do not have that problem.

Sarah Collins

If you can find it in your day dreams, you can find it in your day job.

—S. J. Tucker

Special thanks to Tara and Valerie from the Paperbacks Ink bookstore in Newport News, Virginia, for their encouragement and ideas—plus cookies and caffeine.

Also to Sara Hankins who has taken the pictures for the cover of this book as well as my last two. You are my own personal Wildling.

Chapter 1

I could hear Ann being sick in her bathroom. She tries to be quiet about it, but how discrete can you be when you are puking in a toilet? While her bouts of morning sickness are getting less and less frequent, they are still a constant reminder to me of but one of the many reasons I never wanted to get pregnant.

Ann honey, I left you some saltines and a bottle of water by the bed. I need to go to work now. Call me later when you get a chance.

Not even waiting for a reply, I headed out the door.

There were a lot of things going on at work today. The most important of which was the meeting this morning with Mr. Kostas and his two grandsons. I had met the oldest one before, and he seemed like a younger cloned version of Mr. Kostas. Everything from the way he stood to the way he spoke and treated others was exactly the same. I am looking forward to meeting his cousin, the other grandson.

Mr. Kostas requested that both Christopher and I be at the meeting with him and Beverly. This should be interesting. What might be even more important was that Beverly had finally decided against expanding our office again where we were. She had selected a site off J. Clyde Morris Boulevard where we would not only have all the room we could ever need for ourselves but also could rent out the adjacent office spaces to others as well.

This afternoon, she and I would be going there to take a final survey of everything and decide what modifications need to be made. I had been the one to supervise the other moves and expansions, and this was one of my jobs as office manager. I tried to play it off, and only my family (and Beverly, of course) knew how much that title meant to me.

*****

While being careful never to let it show, Beverly was very trepidatious about this morning's meeting with Mr. Kostas and his grandsons. While the upcoming move was necessary for the business, it was going to be costly both in initial expenses and as an added drain on the company's finances. At least until certain financial obligations were met.

These were obligations no sane person would refuse to meet. The last time Beverly had done this well and reached this far was when she had partnered with her brother and fiancé. Those were the two men in this world whom she felt could be trusted. It was a disaster. The only thing that had saved her was Mr. Kostas and an honorable older man named Bill. Without them, it was unlikely that Beverly would be here today. It was equally unlikely that she would have made it to a prison either.

Unfortunately, no matter how good her relationship was with Mr. Kostas, the sad fact was that he was getting older. He had begun passing off more and more of his business decisions to his grandsons. Originally, it was only to Alexander, the oldest one. However, now Nicholas was becoming more and more involved.

Both of them were very polite and cordial to each other in public. However, it did not take a genius to see the tension and the rivalry between them.

Her special meetings with Mr. Kostas had always been private one-on-one affairs before this. Now he was requesting a group conference with not only his grandsons and her but also had specifically asked for both Christopher and Sarah to be there also. Sometimes change was good; sometimes it was not. She would have to wait and see where this one would take her.

*****

Things had been going pretty well at the office. I had been grooming Rachel as a junior supervisor for those times when I was down in Wilmington seeing what I considered to be the rest of my family. I really did wish Dave and I could be closer together. I also missed his niece and nephew who called me Aunt Sarah and clung onto me every chance they got. Not that I would ever complain.

But as I always said, First things first.

The volume of work we were getting in kept increasing, and we were about to become overloaded. This move needed to be done quickly so we could keep growing. I knew Beverly already had several new hires in mind, but we needed some place to put them first.

While still going to school at St. Leo on Langley Air Force Base, I had cut down on my obsessive studying and was satisfied that I would continue making perfect As the rest of this school year. By cutting down I meant that I would go to school for ten hours a week and only study an extra ten (or so), which meant, of course, that the extra time I saved was spent in the office either before or after hours to make certain everything was running smoothly.

The deal I had made with Beverly was that the day I finished my bachelor's degree from St. Leo University, I would be made a partner in her company. In many ways, that would be the fulfillment of a dream for me. All my life I had wanted to be somebody. By that I meant what the old folks would refer to as somebody of standing in the community.

Now that dream was drawing steadily closer. But somewhere in the darkly paranoid part of my mind was an old Savannah saying: They promise that dreams can come true, but forget to mention that nightmares are dreams also.

*****

Ann was really tired of having morning sickness almost every day. Sometimes it wasn't even in the morning, which seemed so unfair to her. Last night, it happened when they were cooking something on the grill in the backyard. She was turning around and grabbing the tongs to flip over a steak when she had been hit by a wave of nausea. She barely made it to the closest bathroom in the house. Sarah had run in after her, of course, and thankfully, Rico and Marie were there to turn the steaks, so dinner wasn't ruined. However, her appetite for grilled meat went away. Sarah and Marie had pretty much forced her to eat a cold-cut sandwich and crackers so she would have something in her, but that was all she could handle at the moment.

Most of the books said that morning sickness would begin tapering off now. Of course, other women all had wildly varying stories of their trials and tribulations regarding both this and childbirth in general. She wished her mom and godmother were still around to talk to.

*****

I asked what accounts the Kostas family wanted to review so I could have the files close at hand. I did not want to leave the room for them. Beverly simply shook her head and said it was a strategy meeting and that I needed to remember what was said; nothing was to be written down. Nothing.

Sometimes it was harder to stay legit than you would think. But one consolation was Beverly was always adamant that everything we said and did was above board and legal (at least technically). So I doubted we would have an FBI raid anytime soon. People did not come to us expecting an accomplice but for experts to guide them in how to stay within the law—all while making the most of their money and paying out the least amount of taxes. I could say with a fair amount of pride that we were very good at doing things like that. Also that our services did not come cheap.

It did not take a genius to see that this was a milestone meeting for us. The Kostas family provided us with most of what I called our special accounts. Some of those accounts were mine to handle, and some were Christopher's. Beverly also handled some things personally. I did not want to know which accounts those were.

Each of them came separately. Mr. Kostas was driven over by a young woman who was quick to get out of the car and run around to open his door for him. Family? In the gangster movies, the Old Man always had a big, beefy bodyguard to take him places. Guess times have changed.

The three of us met Mr. Kostas at the door, of course. Beverly took him to the conference room and silently closed the door behind them. Christopher and I did not have long to wait for his grandsons. Both men arrived almost exactly fifteen minutes later. You could look at the set of their postures and see there was tension between them. They both did their best to hide it, but it was still there.

Not sure why I did it, but I asked Rachel to take the driver to my office so she could wait undisturbed. Also to offer her any refreshments she might like. There was no sense in not being courteous. Mr. Kostas was the kind of man who appreciated courtesy.

Christopher and I stood side by side as the two grandsons came in the office. I did not think I would ever really understand what it was that made Christopher tick. However, in this showing of a united front, I was glad to have him standing next to me.

I had met Alexander several months ago at the Mariners' Museum. Ann and I had been invited to attend a wine tasting event that was being held by the Bronze Door Society. Beverly's stated purpose was for Ann to be introduced to someone who could help her illustrate her book series.

This turned out wonderfully for Ann. It took perhaps all of five minutes for Beverly's other purpose to become obvious, which was not only for me to mingle and meet people who, in her words, would be good for you to know but also to do that in Alexander's company. While he was a perfect gentleman all evening, I knew it made some people wonder about us.

Her third objective was to see if Alexander and I would have a good personal relationship so that we would be comfortable working together in the years to come.

We did.

Now I was meeting his cousin but was not sure why. The only thing I knew about him was that his name was Nicholas and he was a younger grandson from Mr. Kostas's second wife. Evidently, Mr. Kostas had a large amount of daughters but no sons, and these were his only two grandsons. It was obvious that Nicholas and Christopher knew each other, but probably not well. After Christopher did the greetings and introductions, we led them into the conference room. I closed the door on the outside world so there were no distractions.

Rachel knew to handle any problem that came up. We would not be disturbed.

Mr. Kostas was in the middle chair on one side of the table with a grandson on either side of him. Beverly sat in the middle chair on the other side of the table, with Christopher and I on either side of her.

After his usual polite courtesies, Mr. Kostas began to tell us what he wanted done. Also how he wanted Peninsula Accounting to accomplish it.

The long and the short of it was there were several substantial disagreements on how his companies should be run. Each grandson had some solid differences of opinion on what approach should be taken.

Mr. Kostas's solution was to give each of them several of his business concerns to look after and see which of them did the best. That was where we came in. Christopher and I were each to oversee a number of accounts from different businesses that Mr. Kostas had an interest in. Which means these are what is usually called a front company. Many of these were usually handled by their own people. This time we were to do everything. This was to ensure that everything was exactly what it seemed and nothing was slanted in anyone's favor.

During all this, I had been seated across from Nicholas and was trying to get as good a read on him as he was trying to get on me. I noticed that he did not appear to be trying to study Christopher or Beverly. That was either a mistake on his part or he had already made up his mind about them. I didn't think he was the kind of man who would make mistakes like that.

The upshot of everything was that Christopher and I were told that Beverly knew which accounts each of us was to work on. Mr. Kostas also looked each of us in the eye and stated very categorically that neither one of us were to work with the other. If there were any problems, we could bring them to either Beverly or one of his grandsons. But no one else, not even him.

After that, things were pretty much wrapped up. When the door to the conference room opened for everyone to leave, Rachel notified Mr. Kostas's driver, who hurried out to play chauffeur and get his car door. Watching her, the thought struck me that there was something else going on about her. Also that I had seen her somewhere before.

No time for that now.

Beverly's plan was to meet with Christopher and I tomorrow morning concerning which accounts we were both being assigned. Meanwhile, the two of us were going over to see our new property and assess what needed to be done there prior to our relocating. There was no doubt in anyone's mind who would be in charge of the move.

When we pulled up, it was apparent that some kind of landscaping was in order. Also, there was a lot of trash caught up in the bushes—mostly food wrappers, cigarette packs, soda cans, and stuff from convenience stores. The source was fairly obvious. There was an open bus stop in front of our parking lot. No trash can or bench, simply a sign and people hanging around waiting for a ride to go into work or wherever. Something would have to be done about this. Not sure what, but I knew I would think of something.

The last people who were here had left with scant regard for the shape of the building. There were several holes in the drywall, and some of the electrical outlets were torn from the walls. Some of the ceiling panels needed to be replaced too. A few of them were showing some signs of water damage, and that would have to be looked into. The carpets had also seen better days.

However, the layout for the office spaces was perfect. Besides Beverly's office, there were two more for Christopher and myself plus a small alcove that I had mentally reserved for Rachel. Beverly had given her tacit approval for Rachel to take on more duties around the office. Mostly because it freed me up for other things. Christopher would sometimes refer our other people to her when he was out of the office too.

*****

Beverly knew she had everything riding on what would happen with the various Kostas accounts. Plus certain other select accounts her associates did not know about. Or need to know of either.

No matter what happened, one inexorable fact was that their business needed to grow to maintain their momentum. To do that, they needed more space. This was going to be much more complicated than the last time everything was moved. More costly too.

At the moment, she was watching the worry line on Sarah's forehead that formed every time she was really concentrating on something. So far, there was nothing she had assigned Sarah to do that had not been done perfectly and often exceeded expectations. Even if her ways were often slightly more than a little unorthodox.

The best way to use Sarah to her full potential was to give her a few general guidelines then sit back to watch what she did.

Since the first time they had met, it was obvious that not only was Sarah used to working on the shy side of legality but also that she was no one's fool about it. Several of her innovative solutions to potential problems were extremely educational and at times entertaining. Not that she would ever tell her that.

Now to set Sarah to work and see what happens.

*****

Beverly, how much do we want to spend moving over here?

No more than is needed. But it has to be done quickly. There are already clients for the adjoining business spaces, and they are planning to move in here by the end of next month.

This was a surprise. While our business was obviously the largest and most prominently visible, there were also two adjoining business office spaces, which technically made this a mini-strip mall. Plus a large area of open land both beside and behind the building. In the future, it would be relatively simple to add on to the back as an expansion.

No idea what this was all going to cost, but it would not be cheap. This was a busy area, and the city was encouraging the smaller stores to relocate. That way, other more modern ones could come in to rebuild and replace them. The modern ones would also have to pay the city from a higher tax base, of course.

What businesses? Also, do they have any special needs or simply the usual type office areas?

One is an insurance agency. The other is a realty office. Sounds like a good mix for synergy.

Shouldn't be a problem. I hope. I will begin to make some calls and get the cost estimates to you in a few days. What are my priorities between spending time here and at the office?

The Kostas accounts come first, of course. This is second, and anything else third. Rachel is working out very well as the office assistant. You're doing a good job training her. Blushing internally now. Use her to fill in for you as you see fit. Then after a slight hesitation, she added, But remember she is not you. Do not expect more than others can give or try to give more than they can take.

With that last piece of advice, Beverly handed me a set of keys and left me on my own to make some decisions as to the where and how it was all to get done.

For some people, this might have been a problem, but there were many advantages to having a BF whose family ran their own construction company. Even if it was out of state. While granted I, too, was a part owner, they were the ones who did the actual work as well as the cost estimates. My specialty was accounting and finance, which was something I would admit that not only was I very good at but also was getting better at all the time.

Time to take a lot of pictures and make a lot of calls. Starting with my wonderful BF, Dave, and the rest of the family down in Wilmington. I really did miss being around his niece and nephew and looked forward to seeing them every other weekend and Skyping with them almost every other night.

*****

Despite the problems with being a pregnant fitness instructor, Ann had decided to turn this into an opportunity instead of a setback. Her series of books on fitness and nutrition were beginning to catch on. She had even received her first royalty check. If Ann hadn't needed to have it cashed, then it would have been framed over her bed.

Her book agent was very interested in doing a series of fitness workout tapes for pregnant women. It was planned to be filmed with a different episode every ten days, following her recommended workout and stretching routines throughout her entire pregnancy and for three months beyond delivery. This also included some common sense tips on nutrition and several medical issues that occurred when a woman and her baby were going along the pathway to birth.

The filming had already started at her fitness center but was not going to be released until it was completed. They had explained that it was in case of complications with the baby. In her head, Ann knew that this was a precaution that made complete sense. However, in her heart, she prayed that nothing would ever harm her child. (Didn't every mother pray for the same thing?)

There was one important stop she had to make first.

When Brian, her now ex-BF, had been informed about her pregnancy, he had been furious and demanded she terminate the baby immediately. He had told her in no uncertain words that either she got an abortion or the two of them were done. He then began to rant about how she was trying to trap him with child support payments and was a gold digger like every other woman. He was even screaming that Ann only wanted to get her claws into him for his family's money.

This was a side of Brian she had never seen or even knew existed. To say she was shocked was to put it mildly. There had only been one falling out before. That was when Brian's friend Doug had decided to throw Sarah in the pool at a party.

That Sarah did not want to go in should have been obvious. Unfortunately, his friend, who was an idiot and was drunk at the time, decided to physically force the issue. The result was that Doug did manage to throw her in where she almost drowned, but not before Sarah had begun to tear off part of his ear. Literally tearing it off the side of his head. It had not healed well and looked slightly lopsided.

When Ann and Brian had managed to run to the pool, all she could see was Doug sobbing like a little girl while holding a washcloth to the side of his head where the blood kept seeping out. Someone had pulled Sarah from the bottom of the pool where she was drowning. That was when everyone found out the reason she had refused to go in.

Sarah couldn't swim.

When Ann had run up to her, Sarah was almost finished hacking and puking up everything she had swallowed. She was slowly beginning to recover. When Ann pulled Sarah to her feet, she and Brian had almost needed to carry her to their car and get her home before she had recovered enough and could start round 2.

No sooner had she and Sarah arrived home when Brian called her frantically from the ER threatening about lawsuits and medical expenses. Their friend Marie was there and had instructed her to forward any and all issues like that to her boss's law firm. The same law firm she was pulling up to right now.

*****

After sending a host of pics to both Dave and his brother, Michael, down in Wilmington, I called Ben and his wife, Sally. I did it both to check in on them as well as let them know that we would soon have need of his computer services again. Also, since Sally and Ann were both expecting, I was worried about them. In some areas, I might have a complete lack of what Ann called life skills, but I