Page 21 of On the Fly
“Mrs. Jorgensen—”
“Uh uh, dear. It’s Aurora. I can see you’re skeptical, so I won’t insist on ‘Mom’ just yet.” She winked.
What was wrong with these women?
“Aurora, it’s not—”
“I know, I know. Even if it’s for a few days, you put a smile on Ander’s face, and I can’t remember the last time he smiled. Go, enjoy yourself, dear.”
Emma didn’t have a reply, so she took her refilled wineglass and headed out of the room, bypassed the porch filled with her extended family, and headed up to her room for a little bit of quiet. Rod Serling wouldn’t even believe this trip to California. The entire thing would be too bizarre for an episode ofThe Twilight Zone.
Chapter 9
Ander glanced at the wall clock across from his dad’s desk. How did time fly by so quickly while looking over financial documents? He sat back and stretched his shoulders. He’d hoped to have a minute to call and check in with his mom to make sure Emma had settled into his room all right.
He had about five minutes before his meeting with senior management. He hadn’t planned on that meeting, but John Mannus, the current CFO and his dad’s long-time friend and confidant, had called him last night and strong-armed him into this Friday morning get-together. Since Ander’s plan for the next two days was to pore over as many internal financial documents as possible to get a feel for the company before he met with his family Sunday morning, he hoped meeting with the men currently running the place could help shed additional light on the state of the airline.
He pushed himself out of his chair and headed toward the bar area in the side wall of the office. He’d noticed a Keurig there yesterday. After plundering in a couple drawers, he located a few pods and set to work adding the water and letting the machine do the rest. With coffee in hand, he grabbed a notebook and pen, and headed toward the conference room adjacent to the office.
No one had arrived yet, so he took a seat to the side of the oval table not wanting to appear confrontational, as if he were walking in and taking over a company they’d worked hard for. They’d called this meeting and he’d hear them out.
John walked in less than five minutes later, carrying a large pink box wrapped with baker’s twine, looking relaxed in his jeans and polo shirt. For a man in his mid-seventies, he pulled off the casual look. His fit and trim appearance helped him look much younger than his years. Not like Ander’s dad. No matter how fit the man had stayed, he’d still looked a decade older than he actually was.
“Hey, Ander. Thanks for meeting us here today.” John reached across the table for a brief but firm handshake, then ambled over to the service bar to drop off the box.
Mandy appeared in the doorway, carrying a tray with a carafe of coffee and multiple mugs. John directed her to set it on the bar next to the box and then she left the room.
John took the seat across from him and smiled. “The others will be here shortly.”
“No problem. I’ve just been going over the financials, getting a feel for the state of things.” Ander wouldn’t lie. He hoped this meeting would give him intel. He’d never worked with a company whose financials were this hard to decipher. Hopefully he’d learn something that would allow him to convince his family to sell and be done.
“If you need help with that, let me know. I don’t know everything your father did—he liked keeping it all close to the vest—but I do know where most of the skeletons are buried.” John laughed at his own joke, and Ander tried to smile, but those potential skeletons worried him more than they probably should. He hadn’t seen anything untoward since he’d started his review, but the potential was there.
The other old cronies arrived in short order, and greetings were made all around. Coffee and pastries were gathered before they took their seats. Not a one of them appeared upset or stressed over the meeting, which set Ander’s mind at ease for what he’d have to deal with. He’d wondered if they’d intended to gang up on him and demand answers he just didn’t have yet.
John clapped his hands once to draw attention, obviously taking charge of the start of the meeting. “Ready?” He waited for nods all around, then look at Ander. “Ander, we didn’t get a chance to get together before the long day of meetings on Wednesday or the full pomp and circumstance of the rah-rah corporate shindig yesterday, but we wanted to get you alone to discuss a few things.
“First, we wanted to express our condolences on your dad. I know we saw you at the funeral, but it bears repeating. You know he was one of our brothers, our best friend, for decades now. You and your siblings are like our own kids, and that will never change. We’ve known you all your lives, watched you all grow up into fine adults.
“But it brings us to the second point we wanted to discuss with you today.” John looked around the table, where he had the rapt attention of the entire executive crew. He got nods from them all again before taking a deep breath and continuing. “We’re old.”
There were a few snickers and a few groans as John smiled.
“It’s true. We’re not washed up and useless, but we’ve worked hard to make this airline a success, and it’s time for new blood to take over. Years ago, we set up a retirement plan for all of us, so that when the time came, we had our futures set. Your dad’s retirement account went to your mother, of course. We’d have taken ours years ago as planned, but your dad didn’t want to leave the airline to just anyone. He wanted family to take over, but he said you all weren’t quite ready.”
John sat forward, placed his hands on the table and took a deep breath before continuing. “You’re here now. It’s your turn at the reins. So, as of today, we’re officially tendering to you, as acting CEO, our plan of retirement. We know it’ll take time. And we’d never abandon Rora. As long as we’ve been here, it’s hard to hand it over. But we’re giving you six months. Get your siblings in here—I know some of them can be hard-headed.” He glanced at Ander again, as if he were somehow the worst offender. Ander sat up straighter but bit his tongue from any retort. “Or hire new directors. We’re more than happy to train and share our knowledge, but we wanted to officially set the clock ticking.”
Well hell, Ander hadn’t seen that coming. And he wasn’t sure what to say. They made it easy on him, in that he’d been prepared to replace them all going forward. But their easy acceptance of the need to do just that left him speechless. All eyes remained on him, awaiting his response.
“Oh boy, we’ve rendered him mute. Should we worry?” John laughed, and the other execs followed suit, while James, the head of public relations, seated next to him, slapped his shoulder. Ander’s face heated, disconcerting him since he hadn’t blushed since he was a teenager. He gave a wry grin and tossed his pen on his notebook, not having taken a single note.
He lifted his hands in defeat and the room quieted. “I admit that’s not what I expected to hear today.” Ander shook his head. “Okay, I can work with that. Six months. That’ll give us time to figure out the new path for Rora, if the family agrees not to sell.” A few men at the table stiffened at the mention of selling, but Ander wasn’t willing to sugarcoat anything. “We certainly have things that need fixing, need updating to the current successful US business models. But we also want your help with that because you know where Rora started and how she got to this point.” Ander took a deep breath. “I appreciate that you’re willing to step aside for new blood to take over, and that you’re more than gracious with your time frame as well as your help. I’m…shocked, actually.”
James spoke up then. “It’s what family does. Don’t try to come in and treat this company like any of the businesses you restructure or sell off in parts. It won’t work. We’re a family. You’re going to have to get to know Rora in order to find out her secrets and what makes her tick. It’s the reason your dad never took the company public.”
“Because he had secrets he needed to keep?” Ander’s brow furrowed as he tried to figure out what James meant.
James laughed. “No. It would have killed what makes us special. He believed in family. Since Rora is one big family, he could set up scholarships or change around incentives or any manner of things that allowed him to keep the employees strong and motivated. That’s not something he’d have control over if he had to bow to the will of shareholders, who would be more concerned with their bottom line than the employees as a whole.” James glanced over at John while pointing a thumb back at Ander. “Kid worries too much. You’d think he’d know his dad better. He’d never do anything to jeopardize his family…whether that be the Jorgensen clan or Rora Air. Alex made us all stronger, safer, closer. We’d never have worked with him all these years otherwise. And now you can continue that legacy.” James winked at him and took a big bite of the glazed doughnut he’d brought to the table.
