The Restaurant (The Nantucket Restaurant #1)(10)
“I’ll call to schedule a meeting next week with Ray and Paul to go over everything.”
“Okay, then it’s settled.” Jill lifted her water glass. “To Mimi’s Place.”
Emma and Mandy clinked their glasses together.
“To Mimi’s Place.”
Jill strode into her office at a quarter to four.
“I’m so sorry about your grandmother. How are you doing?” Amy’s face reflected concern and care. She was a stellar receptionist, in her mid-fifties and was so naturally kind and caring that she had a calming effect on everyone from nervous candidates to Jill and Billy and the rest of the staff.
“Thank you, I’m doing okay. Is Billy in?”
“He’s in his office with Tony and Nicole. They seem excited about something.”
Jill headed back to her office, which was down the hall from Billy’s. As co-owners, they each had a corner office with floor to ceiling windows overlooking the city.
As she walked through the office, various employees offered their condolences. The energy level was high as usual. Everyone was either on the phone or tapping away on their keyboards. Jill caught a glimpse of the ‘board’, where everyone tracked their placements for the month and saw that the overall number was up considerably. They must have closed several deals in the last few days. She dropped her bag and coat in her office before going to see Billy.
Tony and Nicole, two of their recruiters, were still in his office, the three of them gabbing away as she walked in.
“Hey! How are you?” Billy got up from his desk and walked over to give Jill a big hug.
“I’m fine. So, what are you all celebrating?”
Billy’s eyes lit up as he glanced at Tony and Nicole before answering. “These two just set a record for the biggest placement in our company’s history.”
“They filled the MacGregor search?” It had to be. Typical fees were in the twenty-five to thirty percent range of the candidate’s starting salary, but this client offered to pay forty percent to ensure that they were given the highest possible priority, given that this was also an extremely difficult search and they wanted an added incentive to stay focused and not give up.
“That’s right. A $420,000 fee!”
“Congratulations you two! That’s quite an accomplishment.” Tony and Nicole were two of their top performers. Tony, the seasoned recruiter, was grinning like a little kid, and Nicole who was still considered a ‘rookie’ with less than two years of experience was beaming.
“On days like this I really love this job!” Nicole exclaimed, then added, “and it still amazes me sometimes how much we’re paid to just find people. I know there’s way more to it, but still it’s a lot of money.”
Jill was thrilled for all of them and even after her many years in this business, it still amazed her too at times how they were able to command the fees that they did.
“Billy, when you have a minute, could you swing by my office? I need to talk to you about something.”
He immediately looked alarmed. “Is everything okay?” and then, “Am I in trouble?”
Jill chuckled. “Of course not. Nothing’s wrong. I just want to bounce an idea off of you.”
Twenty minutes later, she finished telling Billy about Mimi’s Place and Grams’ request and that she wanted to work from Nantucket for the next year. It didn’t go over very well.
“You want to what? How can you run the business from Nantucket? I need you here?” Tiny beads of sweat broke out on his forehead. He raked his hand through his hair several times and Jill noticed for the first time that there was a smattering of gray along his hairline. It was usually kept undercover by the heavy gel he used to keep it in place.
“I have complete faith in you to run things without me being physically here. I bet you’ll barely notice that I’m gone, and I’ll be fully accessible by email and phone and can conference in for the weekly job order meetings. Depending on my schedule, I might even be able to make those in person from time to time as I’m hoping to be back once or twice every month.”
“You want to do this for a whole year?” He looked miserable at the very thought of it.
“No, I don’t want to. But I don’t have much choice, not if I want to respect Grams’ last wishes and do what’s right for my sisters as well.” She put on her brightest smile. “It’s just a year. It’ll go by in the blink of an eye.”
Chapter 5
Mandy made Cory’s favorite dinner, veal Marsala, and planned to tell him about Mimi’s Place after they’d eaten and maybe had a glass or two of wine. When she spoke to him earlier in the day, he’d sounded exhausted already and distracted. He also said he’d most likely be home by six thirty, seven at the latest.
So, she planned accordingly. She fed the kids at about six, chicken Marsala for them, and then she set about preparing the rest of the meal that she and Cory would share. At six-thirty she put the asparagus on a sheet of tinfoil, sprinkled a little parmesan cheese, salt and pepper, a drizzle of olive oil over them and a quick squeeze of lemon. She threw them in the oven, next to a casserole dish of tiny fingerling potatoes that were glistening with butter and starting to brown nicely.