Wendy Pt. 05

"That's not clear?" Wendy asked. "I'm firing you, Sharon."

"I think that I'd like to talk to Mr. Hooks," Sharon said. "I've been here eight years and never had a complaint about my work."

"You're welcome to do that, but you will hear what I have to say first," Wendy replied. "You do not appear to do anything but sit behind a desk. You do not interact with problem employees. You are dismissive of the evaluations of the department heads. You act as though all of our properties have nothing to do with you, all 10,000 of our employees. In short, you are nothing but a waste of space."

"How dare you talk to me like that!" Sharon said, quivering with indignation.

"I'm sorry if hearing an honest evaluation of your work performance from your superior bothers you," Wendy said, glaring at her. "I have here two forms, one, an NDA, the other, a non-compete agreement. If you sign them both, I will give you a severance check equivalent to a year's salary in consideration of your 8 years working here. The NDA states that you will never divulge anything about our operations, period. The non-compete states that you agree not to seek work in the hotel industry for a period of 5 years. If you sign the NDA, we will not seek to enforce the non-compete unless we hear that you have violated the NDA. If you do, we will use every remedy at our disposal to make sure that the non-compete is enforced."

"I still want to talk to Mr. Hooks," she insisted, quickly signing both documents.

"You're welcome to, but notice that it is his signature on your severance check," Wendy said as she handed it to her.

"Well, I never!" Sandy said, snatching the check and getting to her feet and leaving.

"Hey, you okay?" Shirelle asked, sticking her head into the office. "She looked like a bomb looking for a place to go off."

"I think that I need a drink," Wendy said with a sigh. "Is there a bar nearby?"

"Sure, lots of them," Shirelle replied. "Hey, Wendy wants to go to a bar," she said to Mary as she showed up.

"Great!" Mary replied, then saw Wendy's face. "Is everything all right?" she asked.

"I'll tell you at the bar," Wendy said, getting to her feet.

They went to a nice bar around the corner where everyone was dressed for business, everyone blowing off a little steam at the end of another work week. Wendy ordered a bottle of white wine and drank half of her glass before sitting back and sighing.

"I just fired Sharon Moore, the department head of Human Resources," she said with a sigh, then told them what had happened.

"Honey, you never, ever fire anyone without someone else present," Shirelle said, shaking her head. "For your safety and also in case they try to say something later on that isn't true when they calm down and start thinking mean."

"Well, I've never fired anyone before and I hope that I never have to do it again," Wendy said.

"So now what are you going to do?" Mary asked.

"Get a new department head," Wendy replied. "In fact, I already found one."

"Really! Who?" Mary asked.

"Why, Shirelle, of course," Wendy replied, then smiled at the shock on Shirelle's face. "If you'll take the job, that is."

"Damned right I'll take it," Shirelle said. "Oh, my lord! Really!?"

"We are wasting you as a receptionist," Wendy said. "And you're more than qualified for the job. It comes with a raise, too."

"How much?" Shirelle asked, her eyes wide.

"Your new salary will be $50,000 a year," Wendy replied, smiling when she saw tears start to form in the corners of her eyes which she quickly brushed away with the back of her hand.

"Wow, that's great, Shirelle," Mary said. "Congratulations!"

"I-I need to go to the bathroom," Shirelle said, her voice choked up.

"Mary, do you trust me?" Wendy asked.

"You know I do," Mary replied.

"Please don't be disappointed that I gave Shirelle that job," Wendy said. "It's not for you. I have other plans for you, I just need you to be patient."

"I wouldn't have a clue how to do that job anyway," Mary said. "Besides, I like being your PA. Shirelle is like a sister to me, my whole life. I'm only 100% happy for her. You have no idea how much this will mean to her."

"Well, you sure know how to ruin a perfectly good bottle of wine," Shirelle said when she returned. "I never saw that coming."

"We're going to make a lot of changes about how things are done," Wendy said. "You'll be pulling your hair out, but I really think that this is the perfect job for you. You'll have the responsibility for approximately 10,000 employees."

"I'll do you proud," Shirelle said. "I swear it."

"There's not a doubt in my mind," Wendy said, smiling.

"But what about the receptionist position?" Shirelle asked, the realization hitting her.

"That's your first job," Wendy laughed. "You need to find one."

"I might know someone," Shirelle said, smiling. "I hired her about a year before I left Chick-fil-A. She's 19 or 20 now, I think. Monique Larue. Anyway, she was a sweet girl that the manager used to treat really badly, always assigning her the worst tasks. It pissed me off because she was the best person we had when things got really busy. She never got flustered, never panicked, never lost her cool, just dealt with it. I think the manager heard the same things about her that I did, though I never saw anything to support the rumors."

"What rumors?" Mary asked.

"When things weren't busy, I heard that she liked to play with the boys in back, suck their cocks, let them fuck her," Shirelle said, smiling. "Nothing that I hadn't done before I got promoted to assistant manager. I never saw it happen and I also never caught her shirking her duties, but that was the talk. I think the manager wanted some of that action, but I'm sure that she'd never even considered it. He was a pig more than 20 years older than her."

"Do you think that she'd come work for us?" Wendy asked.

"I'll sure find out," Shirelle replied. "I heard that she quit the same day I did. I don't think that she's had much luck finding another job."

"Well, it's your responsibility now," Wendy said. "The sooner you find someone and get them trained, the sooner you won't have to worry about that and you'll be able to focus 100% on your new job."

"My Momma is going to be so happy when I tell her," Shirelle said, tearing up again.

"Maybe she'll even let you fuck the twins without sermonizing for once," Mary suggested.

"That'll never happen," Shirelle laughed, "but I am going to make sure that they fuck me ragged tonight. That'll be my present to myself."

They found a taxi and he dropped Wendy and Mary off at Destinations, then took Shirelle home at Wendy's insistence.

"I really should hate you for being so perfect, you know," Mary said as they rode the elevator up to the condo.

"There's nothing perfect about me," Wendy said, shaking her head.

"Uh-huh," Mary said as the doors slid open at the foyer. "I've known Shirelle my whole life and I've never seen her cry before. I almost cried, too."

"I hope that she knows that I want her for the job because she's the best person, not because she's my friend and a fuck buddy," Wendy said.

"That's why she was crying," Mary said softly. "She knew."

Wendy was more than content to sit on the side of the pool letting Mary eat her pussy, the stress and tension of the day draining away with her pussy juices as Mary drank her up. They ordered room service for dinner, then crawled into bed, eating each other until they were exhausted from cumming before falling asleep in each other's arms.

Despite Mary's protests, Wendy chose to work the next day, sitting at her desk naked, a glass of wine on the desk as she worked on the website photos, relenting every few house when Mary would come in and insist on eating her, leaning back in her chair, a foot up on the desk, the other on the window sill as Mary slurped on her pussy.

"Work would be so much nicer if you'd let me do this for you, you know," Mary said after sitting back on her heels after eating Wendy to several orgasms.

"Just think what people would say," Wendy laughed.

"They'd say that Mary was really lucky," Mary said, laughing.

"Wendy Rose," she answered her phone, not recognizing the number on the display.

"Would you like to go out to dinner?" she heard Gianni's voice ask.

"No, I'd rather go to bed and fuck," Wendy replied. "If I get hungry, I can suck your cock and you can cum for me."

"Mama mia!" Gianni gasped, then laughed. "Pussy is my favorite meal. I'll see you in 10 minutes."

Wendy was waiting at the elevator when the doors slid open and Gianni's eyes opened wide, his smile ear to ear as he looked at her naked body.

"Oh, I am going to miss this," he said as he stepped into the foyer and took her in his arms, one hand on her ass as they kissed. "I brought you something," he said when they broke from the kiss, holding up a bottle of white wine. "This is from Villa Antinori, my family name. It is the best white wine that they make, though that doesn't necessarily say anything. I have worked in the vineyards where the grapes are grown that make this wine."

"Let's open it, then," Wendy said, taking him by the hand and leading him into the kitchen.

"Well, hello!" Mary said when she saw Gianni, a big smile on her face. "How come one of you is dressed and the other's naked?" she asked.

"I plan on correcting that shortly," Wendy said as Gianni opened the bottle, then poured three glasses. "We'll see you tomorrow," she said, taking Gianni by his free hand and leading him to her bedroom, smiling at an open-mouthed Mary when she turned and closed the bedroom door. "I want you all to myself tonight," she said when she turned to him, kneeling to remove his pants, opening her mouth for his cock as she pulled them down.

"Coffee?" Mary asked late the next morning when they came into the kitchen, Gianni the only one of them dressed.

"Perfect," Wendy said, kissing Mary. "Sorry."

"That's okay," Mary said, smiling. "You've earned it."

"I hate to go, but I must prepare for the trip with Paulo," Gianni said. "It will give me something to look forward to when I return."

"Hey, what about me?" Mary asked.

"I was referring to the two of you," Gianni replied, grinning.

"Well, okay then," Mary said, hugging him, then kissing him, really kissing him. "Just so that you don't forget," she said, letting him go. "Have fun?" she asked after Gianni had gone.

"Yes," Wendy replied. "It was great. Just what I needed."

"I'm happy for you," Mary said.

"I saved something for you," Wendy said, smiling.

"What do you mean?" Mary asked.

"The last time we fucked, he came in me," Wendy replied, her smile ear to ear.

"Now we're talking!" Mary said, laughing. "I knew that you weren't totally selfish," she said as she followed Wendy's naked ass to her bedroom.

"I understand that congratulations are in order," Jonathan said the next morning at their meeting when Shirelle brought the coffee in.

"Thank you," Shirelle replied, unusually restrained. "I appreciate the opportunity more than you can know."

"If Wendy didn't think that it was warranted, we wouldn't be in this position, would we?" Jonathan asked. "I'm sure that you'll be exactly what we need."

"Thank you," Shirelle said, then left.

"I think that she's still in shock," Mary said, laughing.

"Do you have anything for me, Wendy?" Jonathan asked.

"No, and there won't be anything until perhaps Friday," Wendy replied. "Gianni's been dealt with and I expect to have the new website ready to roll out by the end of the day, though I'll have Phil go through it first. I want to go live Friday, barring any obstacles. I'll be providing Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices with copies of the photos and expect their sales promotion for the suites to also kick off on Friday to coincide with the new website going live."

"The whole point of this peroration is that this is a perfect time for you to take a few days off. Take Vera to one of the resorts. How long has it been since you actually took any time off or had a vacation?" she asked.

"So long that I can't remember the last time," Jonathan admitted.

"I happen to know that she doesn't have anything on her schedule until the weekend," Wendy said, smiling.

"I see," Jonathan said, smiling. "You've cooked this up with her, have you?"

"I don't cook," Wendy laughed. "I could burn water. But I do have it on good authority that she's been packing a few bags."

"You'll call me if anything comes up?" Jonathan asked.

"Absolutely!" Wendy promised.

"So many changes," Jonathan muttered half under his breath. "It's all yours, then. I'll see you at the Friday breakfast meeting. Shirelle," he called out, "get the limo for me, please."

Wendy's heart was pounding when she went back to her office, then saw Jonathan leaving. It didn't really mean anything. He was just taking a few days off. But it felt significant being left nominally holding down the fort. She could actually feel the enormity of the responsibility on her shoulders and was awed by it, but not the least bit daunted.

Diving back into the webpage photos, she worked, determined to finish, knowing that this was the singular bottleneck holding everything up. Once this was done, it was then just a matter of steering the boat as the river of change ran beneath them.

"Hungry anyone?" Shirelle asked, entering with three bags of lunch and another bag with three large iced teas. "Crab salad today," she announced, sitting down on the sofa as Wendy and Mary joined her.

"I'm starved," Wendy said, almost not breathing as she shoveled a few mouthfuls of the salad into her mouth, then took a moment to breath as she chewed and swallowed.

"I talked to Monique last night," Shirelle said. "She's not working and is willing to come in for an interview tomorrow at 2:00 and see what the job is all about. The only jobs she's ever had were at fast-food restaurants."

"That means that she has people skills," Wendy pointed out. "That's exactly what reception calls for."

"Oh, she's got people skills and then some," Shirelle laughed. "But I liked working with her. She comes from a pretty tough background, yet she remained really sweet, if a bit wild at times. I always felt the urge to protect her."

"Before I forget, order yourself some business cards," Wendy said, smiling. "Your name, Director of Human Resources, and your phone and corporate email."

"Whoever thought that you and I would end up like this?" Mary laughed.

"Or me," Wendy said. "I was in my sophomore year at college when my parents were killed and they didn't have anything to leave me but a small life insurance policy. I was only 20. When I interviewed with Jonathan, I was down to my last thousand dollars or so of the insurance money. My saving grace was that my grades were so good, that all of my schooling got fully scholarshipped."

"None of us would be where we are if Jonathan wasn't the best boss on the planet," Mary said.

"Amen!" Wendy and Shirelle added.

Wendy sat back smiling, having finally finished with the last of the webpages, all of the photos placed. Getting to her feet and stretching, she told Mary that she was going to go talk with Phil.

"Phil, I think that we're ready to go live," she told him, sinking into the chair next to his computer station. "I want you to start testing the new sites, see what you think. I'm also going to have Mary and Shirelle surf it. I want to make sure that there's nothing obviously wrong before we make the transition on Friday."

"I can't believe that you got it all done already," Phil said. "Have you been getting any sleep?"

"Not much," Wendy admitted. "I'm too wound up to sleep, so I just keep working on it. Once it goes live, I'll sleep for a week."

"I've been testing the new reservation system with Tom," Phil said. "Neither one of us has found any glitches so far. It's pretty impressive; seems bulletproof."

"Thank god for small favors," Wendy said, smiling. "I'll go talk with him next."

"I have something that I want to ask you about," Phil said.

"Go ahead," Wendy replied.

"Since we're going to centralize everything, it would really be helpful to have a couple more people to monitor the new systems. There's no way I can monitor 41 different systems by myself. I guarantee that something will get missed and we'll have egg on our faces."

"What do you want to do?" Wendy asked.

"There are a couple of the site administrators that are really good," Phil said. "I'd like to keep them on for just that reason, to constantly monitor in real time what's happening. At least for the first six months until we're certain that there are no bugs."

"Would you want to bring them here?" Wendy asked.

"No," Phil replied, shaking his head. "That's the beauty of it. They can do it remotely. I'd be a lot more comfortable with the backup."

"Then do it," Wendy said. "It's not fair to you that everything should be on your shoulders. The most important thing is that everything works the way it's supposed to. Make whatever arrangements that you need and keep me advised."

"That's great," Phil said, sighing in relief. "I've been getting a bit stressed."

"Tell me about it," Wendy laughed as she got to her feet to go.

"Well, this is a treat," Tom said when Wendy walked into his office, a big smile on his face. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"What do you think about us starting to run the FreshBooks program on Friday in parallel with the old program?" Wendy asked. "I'm pretty sure that we're going to go live with the new webpages and I'd like to get the FreshBooks program testing in real time."

"I don't see why we can't," Tom said. "Most of the people involved at the various properties have done the training videos and taken the test. No reason not to let them start using it. If we do take it live in a test phase, that would be even more incentive to get everyone up to speed."

"We have to do it sooner or later to work out any bugs in the system," Wendy said. "If you think that it's okay to start Friday, then I want to do it."

"Then we'll do it," Tom said, smiling.

"I can't believe how tense you are," Mary said that evening when she lifted her face from Wendy's pussy as she sat on the side of the pool. "It took you almost 10 seconds to cum," she laughed, licking her lips. "Are you nervous about all of the new systems about to go live?"

"I keep waking up in the middle of the night in a panic attack," Wendy admitted. "If it doesn't work..."

"Do you think that it will work?" Mary asked.

"It should," Wendy replied, "but you never know until it gets put to the test."

"Well, I believe in you and obviously Jonathan does, too," Mary said. "What's the worst thing that could happen?" she asked.

"That it would all crash," Wendy replied, laughing. "Blow up in our faces."

"And what if that did happen?" Mary asked. "What would it mean?"

"We'd have to fix the problem," Wendy replied. "It would delay rolling out all of the changes."

"That doesn't sound so bad," Mary said. "At least you didn't say that we'd have to scrap the whole idea and start from scratch."

"I know, but still," Wendy sighed. "Eat me some more," she said, smiling as Mary lowered her face to her pussy.

"Do you have some plan for what you want me to do once I start my new job?" Shirelle asked the next morning as they had their coffee.

"Of course," Wendy replied, smiling.

"Why don't you let me get started, then?" Shirelle asked. "I'm going crazy. You know that there's not much for me to do at reception."

"Okay," Wendy agreed. "I want you to get each of the properties to do the same thing that we just did, comprehensive evaluations. I want to know about the hobbies and aspirations that everyone has. If we've identified problems or changes that need to be made with just our small group of people, I'd think that the same situation would exist at the properties who have far more people."