Page 25 of The Grizzly Situation
“And that’s part of the adventure. That stomach churning fear of what to do next. Embrace it. Let it guide you both.”
“And you won’t miss us?”
I chuckled. “Like crazy, but we’ll understand.”
She reached out and clutched my wrist. “I guess we’ll give it a go then.” Then she squeezed gently. “But if we don’t like it, we’re coming home.”
“And we’ll all be waiting with open arms,” I promised.
Our lives were changing fast, and I needed to do something to keep up with it all.
Because things falling through the cracks? That would be unacceptable.
Chapter Seven
ULY
I woke,my stomach rumbling. It had been two days since I’d had my appointment and Dr. Ross explained to me about the new medication. While I hated taking pills, I was willing to pray that these worked. That for the first time I’d be granted some peace from the racing thoughts that had plagued me my whole life.
I was genuinely touched that Mr. Lockhart contacted me to see if I’d gone to the doctor, what was said and, most importantly, when I’d be starting in my new role—whatever it was going to be. It was weird how Mr. Lockhart actually seemed to care, even though he didn’t know me beyond our interaction at the diner and and sharing the cake. Maybe that was it. The cake had been what sealed the deal.
“Uly?”
“Hm? Oh, I’m sorry, I was thinking about something.”
“It’s fine. I was asking when do you think you’d like to come visit our headquarters? Sit down with HR and start going through the process. We can also do it online, if you’d prefer, butsince you were so nice in Milwaukee, I figured I could show you around our town.”
I had looked up Bear Mountain. It was bigger than I’d expected, though not by much. The town had about five thousand people, and from the pictures it was surprisingly modern, given the remoteness. Ursine itself was an eight story building of glass and steel, all sourced in the US, according to the website’s ‘about us’ page. That led me to reading the rest of the information, like how green they were, and I had to admit, I was shocked. Ursine was one of the leaders in the industry with its take on renewable energy.
From everything I saw, Ursine appeared to be an amazing place to work for. Even when I looked for grumps—those people who had bad things to say—it mostly seemed to be from companies who’d been outbid on projects or someone who got an order from one of the subsidiaries that had broken during transit. Even when Ursine replaced it, the complaint remained.
“I’ll have to come up with the fare for?—”
“Already paid. I have transportation for you too.”
“That’s too much,” I complained. “I haven’t even agreed to take a job. And even if I do say yes, I’m still worried I’m not a good bet yet. Hoping to be, don’t get me wrong.”
He chuckled, and it was warm and soothing. “You’re going to be just fine,” he assured me. “Come check us out. Sit down with HR and find something you’re passionate about. And if you don’t come out soon, I’ll come get you myself.”
And I could picture him doing that.
“Don’t you have too much to do? I mean, I know you have to be insanely busy.”
“Well, yes and no. See, when my wife died?—”
“I’m so sorry.”
“No, it’s okay. When she died, our sons became my primary focus. I deal with the really big stuff, and I’m kept in the loop oneverything else, but most of the day-to-day things are handled by my management team. Stuff like the visit to Milwaukee? That’s all on me. I have the final say on what happens to underperforming branches. Usually we’ll retool and bring things back to where they should be. Sometimes, like in the case of Milwaukee, we’re forced to close the division, then move our people to different areas. We do our damnedest to never let someone go, provided they’re doing the best they can.”
It was hard to believe that there were businesses like Ursine in the world. Ones who cared as much about their people as they did their products. I’d discovered a couple while conducting my research—in between binging on crappy reality TV—but they were the exception, not the rule.
We talked for a bit longer, with me promising him after my followup appointment next week, I would happily make the trip to Bear Mountain.
After that call, I was surprised to get a few others from Mr. Lockhart. He’d call and say he had a cup of tea steeping and wondered if I had time for a chat. I never said no. It made no sense that he wanted to speak to me, but I was grateful for a little bit of his time. It got to the point where I set up my own cup of tea to be ready for his call. I liked talking with him. Even if he was rich, he seemed pretty down to earth.
He told me about fishing with his twin sons, how his wife had died and how the boys had been in the room when it happened, how his day was going. It was as if the man needed someone to unload on, and I was happy to be the recipient.
This evening’s conversation was a bit different. It had started off as normal. Mr. Lockhart was talking about his sons and a play their school had done recently and how proud he was of them and their accomplishments. Then he switched gears.
