Bark to the Future (An Alpine Grove Romantic Comedy Book 5) Read online

  She twisted the chain of her necklace in her fingers. Men were so confusing. Today was one of those days when it felt like she didn’t understand Graham at all. Realistically, Beth wasn’t known for her keen social skills. Most of the time she didn’t understand most people, male or female. A social butterfly she was not. More like a social cockroach, doomed to be shunned even after successfully outlasting dinosaurs.

  Graham pointed at her with his fork. “Beth, aren’t you enjoying your enchilada? The spicing is quite traditional. It reminds me of the food I had on that trip I took to Mazatlan. Very authentic.”

  Beth looked up. Graham hadn’t invited her on that vacation. “It’s fine. I’m just not very hungry. I’m a little concerned about what my mother said when I talked to her.”

  “About the reunion? That’s just not smart, Beth. You told me what high school was like for you. I’m sure the small-town social dynamics will move on to other topics and your mother will get over it. You’re not a teenager anymore. You don’t have to do everything your mother suggests.”

  “I know.” Beth put down her fork and put her hands in her lap. “You’re right. That’s what I told her. But her birthday is coming up, and she asked if I would come visit. Even though I live far away, we’ve stayed close and I feel bad to be missing the celebration. She rarely asks me to do anything like that, so I’m worried there’s something else going on.”

  “Oh Beth, you always concern yourself with trivial worries about nothing. You know you have a lot of work to do for the launch.”

  “I know.” Even the thought of going back to work the next day was exhausting.

  “You should focus on your responsibilities. I’m sure your mother understands that.”

  “You’re right. I know. I’m just being silly.” But Beth couldn’t shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen, and that she should go to Alpine Grove.

  The next morning, Beth settled into work at her desk and logged into the company intranet. They were using a new system that connected all employees and gave them unprecedented access to communication and collaboration tools. She could see who else was working on the intranet at any time as well. This was such an exciting time to be in technology, and RTP was launching a new line of systems that were specifically designed to help employees work together in new ways. Beth found she was actually looking forward to the launch so she could talk more freely about the new technology with other people.

  She typed her password into the screen and went through her e-mail. There was a missive marked “high importance” that she opened first. It was a list of names and a draft of a letter that needed to be reviewed. She noticed that her name was on the list in the e-mail and then saved the attachment so she could provide her comments on the letter.

  As she read through the letter, her stomach clenched. It was a draft of an employee resource action notification. After the deep cuts in 1993, Beth had thought things were better. Back then RTP had slashed 50,000 workers. And that was only a few years after the devastating layoffs in Tucson, when they shuttered the storage-manufacturing facility. After those two major restructuring events, Beth had thought her job was safe.

  The letter was quite detailed and to the point. A portion of her division was being moved offshore. Unless she wanted to re-apply for her job and move to Bangalore, she would receive two week’s pay for each six months of service. The cuts were necessary to ensure shareholder value and keep earnings per share at the desired level.

  Beth stared at her monitor, not quite believing what she was reading. This couldn’t be happening. Her whole career and life revolved around RTP. She loved the company. They’d recruited her right out of college, and being an RTPer and a member of the Blue Wave was part of her professional identity.

  What was she going to do?

  One thing she definitely was not going to do was write comments on a draft letter telling her that her own job had been eliminated. They had to be kidding. Obviously somebody had made a rather serious addressing error on this e-mail. Beth looked at the addressee list and noticed the mistake. It was likely that after this major gaffe, Rachel would probably be getting her own resource action letter too.

  Beth stood up in a daze. She needed to talk to her manager and see if this was all some terrible mistake. Picking up the phone, she dialed Joan’s extension. When her boss picked up, Beth said simply, “Joan, I need to see you. I’ll be in your office momentarily,” and hung up.

  As she walked down the long carpeted hallway, it was as if the photographs of the products, CEOs, and distinguished engineers were mocking her. Maybe this was all some type of terrible joke. Or maybe her name had been a misprint. An accident. It had to be.

  She got to the door marked “Joan Bailey” and tapped lightly before walking inside, closing the door, and standing in front of the desk. Joan looked up at her. “Beth, what has gotten into you? You know my schedule is jammed. I have a call in ten minutes with the guys in China.”

  “Joan, I just got an e-mail that I need to discuss with you.”

  “Can’t it wait?”

  “No. It really can’t. I need to know if I’m being RA-ed.”

  Joan’s eyebrows shot up and a look of horror flashed in her eyes. “How do you know about that?”

  “Rachel sent an e-mail asking managers to review the draft RA letter. However, it appears I’m on the RA list. Needless to say, I’m not going to review a letter telling me my job has been sent overseas. Is this actually true?”

  There was a pounding on the door. Beth looked over her shoulder and saw the silhouettes of several of her co-workers, who were standing beyond the glass panel next to the door frame. Joan nodded at Beth. “I’m afraid so. I’m really sorry, Beth.”

  “I think you should reschedule that call.” Beth waved toward the door. “My name was not the only one on that misdirected e-mail. It looks like you have quite a few people to talk to now. I’m going to go pack my things.”

  “Wait, you can’t just leave. What about the launch?”

  Beth paused and placed her hands on her hips. “Joan, you can’t seriously believe that I’m going to invest energy into the launch at this point. Perhaps you can ask my replacement in India to do it. Right now, I need to go home and update my resume.” What resume? She barely even had a resume.

  Joan stood up. “But we haven’t hired anyone yet! Come on Beth, we’ve been friends for a long time. I need you.”

  “I’m sorry Joan. There’s no way. I was putting off a trip until after the launch, but now that things have changed so…so dramatically, I’m going to go to my hometown. My mother wants me to visit her. I also need to talk to my professors about my classes at the university. You know how hard it is to find a job in Tucson. I’ll have to find a new job and probably move, so I need to drop my classes before the cut-off.”

  “Beth, you can’t do that. We have to do a knowledge transfer!”

  “I’ll take my laptop with me. You can e-mail me if you have a question you believe I can answer. I should be back in Tucson in approximately a week. I’ll let you know when I return.” Beth paused at the door and looked back at Joan. Her shoulders slumped as she locked her gaze with her now-former boss. “Joan, I’ve invested my entire working life into this company. I’m sorry, but I just can’t be here right now. I need to go home and process this development. Otherwise, I’ll start to cry right here in your office. And frankly, I’d prefer not to be found weeping at work. It’s not professional.”

  She sniffed hurriedly, ducked her head, and left, weaving her way through the crowd outside Joan’s office. She walked briskly down the hallway, but it was difficult not to break into a run to get to her own cubbyhole more quickly.

  After she got to her space, she grabbed a few things and her purse and scurried out of the building. As she opened her car door, the first tears started streaming down her face. She dug into her purse and grabbed a fistful of tissues out of the little travel pack before letting herself start to sob. She squ
eezed her eyes shut and covered them with her palms, hoping her contact lenses wouldn’t float out of place or pop out.

  What was she going to do now?

  After crying in the parking lot for a while, desperately hoping no one saw her, Beth collected herself enough to drive home. She felt slightly nauseated and headachy after all the sobbing. Taking out her contacts and putting on her glasses and ugly sweatpants would feel so good. All she wanted to do was curl up on the sofa and escape into a novel for a while.

  Working at RTP hadn’t been just a job for her. Most of her life had revolved around the company. She had started work at RTP right after college and never considered working anywhere else. When was the last time she’d even considered updating her resume? She’d never had to look for a job before. With the exception of Graham and a few other people at the university, all of the people she knew worked at RTP. Beth had intended to work for RTP for the rest of her professional life. Countless people she worked with had been there for decades and she’d had no reason to believe her career there would be any different.

  At least the unemployment rate wasn’t terrible at the moment. Economic indicators were better than they’d been in some time. But to find work, she’d probably have to leave Tucson, since RTP was virtually the only high-tech employer in the area. Where would she go? She’d have to sell her house. The whole concept of uprooting her life and starting over was terrifying. It had taken her years to become comfortable with her colleagues at RTP. Now she’d have to completely start over at a new company that was filled with people she didn’t know.

  But first, she needed to talk to Mom. That was the extraordinary thing about mothers—they were always there to console you when the chips were down. And right now the chips had reached a new low point. Mom had comforted her countless times when she was growing up. Usually it involved some dreadful social situation that Beth had botched.

  Of course, there was also the humiliation of those horrible presidential fitness tests when she could only do one pull-up. And the incident when she had killed the terrarium that was supposed to be her sixth-grade science project. Mom was so supportive and assured her it wouldn’t be the end of her academic career. It hadn’t been, although it was notable that Mom never asked Beth to care for any of her plants.

  After Beth’s father left Alpine Grove when she was eight, it had been just Beth and her mom against the world. She rarely saw her father, who had a whole new family in Vermont. Growing up, most of the hours she wasn’t in school, Beth was busy helping her mother at the bookstore. All that reading time probably contributed to the perfect score she’d gotten on the verbal portion of the SATs. Getting lost in fictional worlds also helped Beth forget about her social inadequacies and the general stupidity of school. The day-to-day life of a brainy, uncool loser was depressing. Anne of Green Gables never had those problems.

  Beth smiled at the idea of spending time in the bookstore again. When she walked in, the unique aroma of old paper that pervaded the store was always comforting, somehow. Although Twice Told Tales mostly focused on used books, her mother had a small collection of new best-sellers and greeting cards, along with a few gift items. Margaret Connolly was brilliant at setting up creative displays of books and local crafts so they looked enticing. Mom had an amazing ability to take something pedestrian like an ugly quilted tea cozy and make it look adorable. Her mother also had a knack for finding the best lines of greeting cards. Customers would stand in front of the card display for hours just chuckling at the most entertaining ones. The store was a fixture in Alpine Grove, thanks to her mother’s many years of dedication.

  Beth opened the door to her house and spent more time than usual observing the nuances of the little brick bungalow. What if she had to move? Although the house wasn’t really any different from countless other desert homes built in the seventies, it was hers. She’d had the flooring re-done in dark rich hardwood and a landscaper had come in and installed a pergola for her backyard. Although most of the plants were southwest natives that didn’t need much water, her one indulgence had been a set of water misters installed on the pergola. During the scorching depths of summer, she’d sit outside in the shade, turn on the misters, and enjoy the little cool oasis she’d created in her backyard.

  Beth washed her face, removed her contacts, and tried to pull herself together a bit more before calling her mother. She dialed the number and smiled when she heard her mother’s voice. “Hi Mom.”

  “Beth! I’m so glad to hear from you so soon. I know you’re busy. How is the launch going?”

  She cleared her throat. “Um…well…I’m…I’m not quite as busy as one might imagine.”

  “Bethie, are you all right? What’s wrong? What happened?”

  “I was RA-ed. I haven’t even fully comprehended what that means yet!” Beth sniffed and grabbed a tissue from the box. “Laid off, I mean. F…F…Fired! RTP calls a layoff a resource action. An RA. Whatever. I was terminated. They are shipping my job off to someone in India.”

  “Oh honey, I’m so sorry. Is there anything I can do?”

  “No. But I want to get away from here. Is your invitation still open? I’d love to see you. I could come for your birthday, now that I don’t have to worry about work responsibilities. It would be nice to see Bea again too. She’s always been such a kind person, even when I was little. I promise I’ll try to cope with the cold and the snow without too much complaint.”

  Her mother chuckled. “Well that would be a first. Of course you can visit. And I know you don’t like the cold, but it really has been lovely here. I wasn’t just saying that. It will be so wonderful to see you, dear. We’ll relax and have a good time. I just got a great new shipment of books at the store. Don’t worry, everything will be okay. You’ll find a new job.”

  Beth pulled off her glasses and wiped her eyes with a tissue. “I know. Thanks. It’s just right now it doesn’t feel like it. I’ve never looked for a job before. I don’t even have a decent resume. But I’m looking forward to spending some time there, clearing my head. I’ll take some walks with Arlo too. That always helps.”

  “He is a sympathetic little fellow. Walking him gives you lots of time to think, because he doesn’t go very fast.”

  “I don’t suppose his digestion has improved, has it?”

  “No. The vet says he has an irritable bowel.”

  “I’m afraid it might be time to concede defeat on the rug, Mom.”

  Her mother laughed. “I know. Maybe we can shop for a new one while you’re here.”

  “I’d enjoy that. I’ll get my flights set up and let you know the details. I’m looking forward to seeing you.”

  “You too, Bethie. I love you.”

  Beth hung up the phone and started planning her trip. After traumatic events, talking to her mother always made her feel better. Now she needed to get plane reservations and a rental car. Unfortunately, at this time of year she really should rent a four-wheel drive in case it snowed. That would be an expensive proposition. Good thing RTP was giving her that severance package. She was going to need it.

  Beth shook her head in wonder. How could everything change so much in just one day? At least her mother hadn’t mentioned the reunion. Just because she was going to Alpine Grove did not mean she had to go compare notes with her former classmates. The thought made her shudder, particularly now that she wasn’t gainfully employed anymore. All the disapproving looks and critical comments would be just too humiliating.

  Of course, if people came back for the event, they might be wandering around town too. What if she ran into them? Certain people from her past really needed to stay in the past. It was all too easy to imagine herself ducking behind a giant snow bank to avoid someone. She’d done it before, after all. Fortunately, she’d heard almost nothing about her classmates since 1985, so odds were good that most of them wouldn’t show up. People had probably moved on. Maybe Graham was right. She shouldn’t give in to unfounded fears and feelings that had no basis in fact.r />
  Beth’s intuition had been appallingly accurate about the layoff though. She sighed. That was not a concept she wanted to ponder right now. Enough! It was time to get organized for her trip.

  Chapter 2

  Adjustments

  For Beth, the next few days were filled with tasks related to her new status as a member of the unemployed. She dropped her university classes for the semester and attempted to set up a meeting with her adviser to explain her situation. Maybe she should just settle for a master’s degree and give up on the PhD and her dissertation. It all seemed pointless now.

  Although Beth loved school, now that she didn’t work at RTP, getting an advanced degree was unlikely to help her career in the future. RTP was one of the only companies doing the type of advanced research that justified having a PhD. She had always quietly hoped that she might receive one of the coveted RTP honorary designations or receive an award from the Women in Technology group, like one of the general managers had. What an honor that would be. But all that was over. She needed to stop dwelling on what might have been.

  Beth called Graham and told him that she needed to cancel their Valentine’s Day date because of her trip to Alpine Grove. She apologized and explained about the resource action. He was initially surprised that RTP had “canned her so egregiously,” but then he went on a long tirade about corporate greed, the lack of ethics among the RTP leadership team, and the decline and fall of capitalism in America. Thank goodness Graham couldn’t see her face over the phone, because it was hard to hide her annoyance. Sometimes a girl needed a little sympathy, not a big philosophical rant.

  He wasn’t the greatest listener on a good day, but she’d just lost her job, for heaven’s sake. Couldn’t he be at least slightly interested in how she felt? It was also more than a bit irritating that he seemed to care so little about their Valentine’s Day plans. She had agonized about the best way to break the news to him. Perhaps she shouldn’t have been so circumspect.