Page 32 of On the Fly
“I thought he’d be divorced three times by now,” Jakob, Lucky’s twin, interjected. What else did you expect from the attorney in the family? Ander rolled his eyes at their antics.
“But no children. He’s way too responsible to have children without having some chick chained to him for life,” Skye added.
“I need grandchildren,” his mother said as if they were all having a reasonable conversation. “I love we’re all together even if it’s by video. We should do this once a week.” There was a chorus of disgruntled huffs and grunts at her suggestion. Since they were all scattered across the globe, he’d often wondered if the Jorgensen family dynamic had been the catalyst that pushed each of them so far away to begin with.
He ignored them all and took the seat, straightening the paperwork in front of him. He blamed Emma for the sudden sense of loyalty and nostalgia as he stared down at the Rora’s financial reports. His father had had a great idea, but his business tactics hadn’t changed with the times. By today’s standards, he didn’t have what it took to succeed—or so it seemed. No matter what report Ander looked over, he felt like he was missing some element. His dad had certainly poured everything he had into making the company work. He just wished the man had been willing to include his family in the company rather than pushing them away. At the least, they’d have some sort of working knowledge of the airline.
Ander swallowed the lump in his throat as he looked up at the split screen, each of his siblings stared back at him. He had to stop thinking emotionally and do the job his family had asked him to do.
“All right, we’ve got enough to discuss without getting further sidetracked. I compiled this report and sent it to each of you. It’s lengthy before we ever get to the dire financial records or the impromptu meeting I had with the executive team on Friday. Of course, this is confidential information that must remain in the family. Has everyone become familiar with the report?”
All nodded except his mother and Jet. She sat there passively as if he’d handle it all, which he’d try to do for her. She wanted to keep the company in the family, reasonableness be damned. As for Jet, Ander understood him the least, but wasn’t surprised when he shook his head no and offered nothing further. Close-lipped SOB.
“I had prepared a long explanation, pointing out various problems over and above what we already knew, but I’m going to scrap that for now. We all know how mom feels about keeping this company, but my recommendation is to begin breaking it apart and selling what we can. It’s unrealistic to believe we have what it takes to make this work.”
“Ander, I’m going to disagree,” Jet interjected, and Ander completely ignored him. Asshole wasn’t dumping this in his lap to handle and then vanish on some work-related jaunt of his own.
“It’s more than the commitment we emotionally gave at Dad’s funeral. This is cutting our losses and moving on with the possibility of keeping Mom’s cash in her pocket. The overhaul required to make this company solvent is truly unfathomable. The entire employee base is lazy—”
“We can do this,” Skye said, interrupting him.
“We talked before you arrived. We’ve all committed to help do what it takes. Rora Airlines has been good to all of us. It’s time we gave back,” Erik said, using the same tone Ander heard from the executive board last Friday.
“I don’t think you understand—” Ander tried again, frustrated with the emotion still present after all this time, and confused as to what they weren’t seeing inside this report. Letting Mom get under their skin and direct their actions made sense, but why they felt any loyalty to their dad after he’d basically tossed them each out of the nest, even when they’d begged to work with him was nonsense.
“But we do. You were thorough,” Lucky said when he lifted a stack of printed pages, showing he’d at least printed Ander’s report. “The outlook is dire. We get it, but look at us. Every single one of us has something to contribute. Well, maybe not James Bond—”
“I’m not a spy,” Jet cut him off with a familiar refrain.
Lucky chuckled. “I’m an A&P mechanic,” he said, referring to his airframe and powerplant ratings issued by the FAA, which authorized him to maintain any aircraft. “Skye has her master’s in forensic accounting—now fully licensed and certified. Jet and I are pilots. Hell, so is Skye, but I don’t think she’s kept up her licensure on that. Jake is an attorney. Erik can talk the public into believing in Rora again. You’re the best puppet master out there, Ander. You handled the overseeing of us all. Dad set us up to be his successors. I feel strongly in my heart that he wanted us to keep this company going.”
What was wrong with them? Why couldn’t they see this was a bad idea? He’d folded to his mother’s desires to try to make this work, but that didn’t make this a good plan. And nothing could be further from the truth about their dad. If he’d wanted them to keep the company going, he could have involved them at any point of their lives. He hadn’t.
Ander cut his gaze toward his mom, his suspicions rising. “You know the executive team plans to leave and you told them. You played on their guilt.”
“Not guilt, Ander—” she started, but Erik cut her off.
“No, she didn’t, but she did help us see the truth. We can save Rora,” his brother said, drawing Ander’s ire back toward the screen.
“And you’re all willing to give up your lives for this company? You’ll have to relocate back here, because I’m sure as hell not doing this alone, letting youconsultwith me,” Ander said, and rolled his eyes, thinking that was exactly what they would expect him to do.
“I’ll move back home,” more than one voice chimed in. He sat back in the reclining desk chair, feeling the shackles lock in place as he stared at the screen.
The only brother who hadn’t agreed to move home was Jet. No surprise there. He was the most evasive of them all. When he nodded his agreement, Ander closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Jet said, “I will. I don’t think I’ll enjoy day to day operations in one location, but I could take a leave to help you get the kinks worked out. Maybe work with you between assignments.” He waited until Ander looked at the screen again before saying, “I think they’re right.”
Defeat had his shoulders slumping and his forehead landing in his open palm. At the funeral, he’d agreed that if they all came back, they’d make a go of this as a team. He really hadn’t thought they’d do that. He thought he could talk them into selling.
“For the record, I don’t think we can do this. I’ve made that clear, but it sounds like we’re trying. And from this point forward, we’re nothing but business. So let’s turn this meeting around and start outlining a plan of reconstruction.” He immediately started shuffling the pages to a possible revamp plan he’d created just in case it came to it.
His mom’s hand landed on his shoulder in a sweet, loving caress. “I’m going downstairs to help with breakfast. I wanted to tell you all thank you. I have the most wonderful children in the world. You’ll do me proud,” she said, giving him a side hug that he didn’t participate in. She might have him wrapped around her finger, but that didn’t mean he had to like it.
“Don’t think you’re getting out of this. You’re the only one of us with flight attendant training and experience. We’ll be leaning on you for guidance with the flight teams,” Ander said to his mother in his hard-professional tone. The one thing his family had to start doing was treating this airline like a business, not a family pet project, no matter what anyone else thought.
His mother stood straight and saluted him before deflating into a giggle. “Anything you need.” She kissed the top of his head before blowing kisses to his siblings and leaving the room. She shut the door tightly behind her as if it were the door closing on all his hopes and dreams.
“Where do we start?” Jakob said. Ander stared down at the report.
He audibly sighed and decided right then, if they were going to redirect his entire life then he’d redirect their entire Sunday. “Let’s start from the beginning.”
