Cliff's Good Deed

30 - Making Plans

Cliff was pulled from a deep sleep by a knock on his bedroom door. "Go away," he uttered.

"No problem," Izzy's voice came from the other side of the door. "I was just returning your key fob, but I'm only too happy to keep the Corvette this weekend if you don't want it."

He opened one eye and remembered today was Saturday. He sat up. "Wait! Get in here."

"Are you decent?"

He sat up and kept the sheet covering his lap. "Yeah, come on in."

She entered wearing one of her tennis outfits, dangling his fob between a thumb and forefinger.

"Did you gas it up?" He asked.

She gazed at the ceiling as if thinking. "I can't remember."

"Which means no."

She dropped the fob on his dresser. "I'm sure there's enough fuel for you to get by."

Cliff thought about giving her a hard time, but it wouldn't do any good. He had allowed her to take advantage of him for too long. In his heart, he enjoyed indulging his little sister and then acting indignant when he did so. She knew it too. It was a game the two of them played.

Izzy checked the time. "It's half past eight. Why are you still in bed? It's so unlike you to sleep in." Her eyes went wide. "Are you not feeling well?"

"I'm fine. I was up late finishing the New Jersey business proposal after working all day with the crew on one of the trash runs. I was beat."

"When is the proposal due?"

"Monday. I need to Fed-Ex it this morning before noon in order for it to get there in time."

"I'll do it for you," she said. "I can drop it off with Fed-Ex on my way to the club."

"Another tennis date with Kayla?"

"Nope. Aaron and I have a tee time. We're playing a round of golf. By the way, you're off the hook. Kayla found a date to the summer social."

Cliff rubbed his eyes and yawned. "I didn't know I was on the hook. I already told you I wouldn't ask her, and you already know I'm taking Hannah."

She tapped her foot, as if impatient. "Chill, Cliffy. Of course, we've already established that. What I mean is when the parental units bring it up again, you can tell them someone already beat you to the punch."

"They'll blame me for procrastinating."

"Of course, they will, so you'd better prepare."

"Speaking of that, I've been preparing Hannah. She wants to meet them tomorrow."

His sister went still. "Are you sure you want to do that? You chose her over Kayla. It won't sit well with them, especially Mom."

"It was Hannah's idea. I didn't discourage it. They'll have to meet her sooner or later. If Mother gets catty, I'll be quick to set her straight."

Izzy seemed contemplative. "Good luck with that."

"Thanks. By the way, who asked Kayla to the social?"

"Why do you care?"

"I don't. I'm just curious."

"Some guy named Peter. I haven't met him yet. He's interning for her dad."

Cliff let the subject drop. "The proposal is on my desk. It's addressed, sealed, and ready to drop off."

"Got it." She headed for the door.

"Hey, kiddo, wait a minute."

She stopped.

"I need you to do something else for me. Not today. Sometime next week. Our existing contracts for three large municipalities expire at the end of the year and are up for renewal. I know it's only July, but I don't want to take the competition for granted. I need to get a jump start and take a hard look at pricing for our renewal proposals."

"Good idea, but what do you want me to do?"

Cliff glanced at the door and lowered his voice. "I'd like you to use your finance expertise to scrutinize our company's salary cap. If we go into the three renewals without raising prices, I want to know if we have room to give everyone a bump."

Izzy's brow wrinkled. "You're thinking of not raising prices? In this economy?"

"Only if it's feasible. That's what I need you to tell me."

Izzy stood there, thinking, before she spoke. "Sure, I don't mind helping you. I'm confident I can do it, but wouldn't you rather have our corporate accountant run the numbers? She's more experienced with personnel than I am."

"Yeah, but she's one of Dad's people. I want to keep this just between us for now."

"Color me intrigued! What are you up to, Cliffy?"

Cliff didn't keep secrets from his sister, and he never lied to her, but he wondered how much he should reveal. "Regarding the company, Mom and Dad have been making things increasingly difficult for me, even though I've grown the business way beyond their projections. I want to continue to innovate, but they oppose all my new ideas."

"Are you referring to your community outreach plans?"

"Yes, and other ideas I feel will make us more competitive. Also, there's you. I want you to be my equal partner in the business."

Izzy said nothing.

Cliff continued. "I'm planning a way out for us, to eliminate the threat they hold over us."

Izzy sighed and spoke barely above a whisper. "You're talking about a coup, aren't you?"

This time, Cliff stayed silent.

"Tell me the details," Izzy said.

"No. It's too risky. If they catch wind of my moves, I want you to have plausible deniability. Look, the last thing in the world I want to do is financially harm Mom and Dad, but if they continue to put the squeeze on us, we'll need options. When the time is right, I promise to confide in you all the details, because I'll need your support and insight."

"You'll always have my support. You know that, right?"

"I know."

Izzy walked to the door and turned to face him before leaving. "Cliffy, it's a dangerous game you're playing. Please be careful."

We have to hope Cliff knows what he is doing.