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Three pairs of eyes watched the door of the office close behind JD's parents and little sister.
"Well, that went better than I had hoped." Sherry slid off her desk and sat down on the sofa.
"JD, you're handling your mother's opinions well, today." Millie nodded in approval.
"Well, Millie, your running interference helped a lot."
"I really didn't do much."
"But with you here, I was able to avoid getting sandwiched between Sherry and my Mom."
"Hey." Sherry made mock complaint and she and Millie exchanged amused glances.
JD looked from one to the other, enjoying their amusement for a moment. "Yeah. So, Sherry, do you have time to go over this network we just proposed?"
"Can I help?" Millie asked.
Sherry glanced out the window. "Well, I'd actually kind of like you to work up three reports of the two-meetings-in-one we just had. We'll need one for the network hardware design, another for the house party support system proposal, and another for the house party rules."
Millie blinked and thought. "Nothing's set yet, so these reports will be initial documents."
"Right." JD sighed. "Paperwork. The least fun part about computers and information systems. Sorry. Is it okay if we ask you to get a start on those while Sherry and I work out some details? We want to be ready to talk when James is."
"Sure. Maybe half an hour to get something started, then I can see where James is?" Millie stood up and collected her tablet terminal and other materials.
"Sounds good. Thanks."
Millie nodded and left.
Sherry watched the door close behind Millie. "We're going to be able to trust her, I think."
JD nodded, also watching the door. "I've had a gut feeling about her since my mom introduced us, that Mom had once again helped us in ways she was not intending." He chuckled, then sighed.
"Mixed feelings?"
"Be a lot less mixed if you'd only ... be willing to go see a specialist."
Sherry breathed deeply for few moments before moving to dig around in her desk. "I guess this house party idea isn't going to let me hide from the truth any longer." She pulled out a notebook terminal. "If I go as a guest and not just as a network engineer."
The two turned to look at each other.
"You're surprised I'm giving in so easily."
"Are you? Maybe. Good. Keep me in the loop?"
"Sure." Sherry broke eye contact and looked at the door again. "So, we need two more engineers. Millie will be one?"
"If she doesn't object. And we'll try to get Hodge to be the other."
"Hodge. So soon?" She put her notebook down on the desk.
"It's getting harder to stall my mom, and gut feelings aren't guarantees."
"Nothing's guaranteed."
"True." JD dug in his desk for another notebook terminal, then picked up one of the wall warts on his desk. "Should we do the mock-up in the office or take it to a lab?" He put the wall wart and notebook back down.
"Here is good. I wouldn't be on board with the party at all, if it didn't give us the perfect excuse to give Millie time to figure out what she really wants." Sherry went to a closet and pulled out a mostly empty equipment rack, loading it with more wall warts and network cable.
JD followed her and pulled out another rack. "That's my thinking. I'm kind of hoping it'll give us a chance to reason with Hodge, too."
"You still have hope for him?"
JD shrugged. "You know I prefer to hope for the best from people."
"I know, and I know it makes it easier to manage our employees. But Hodge is not an employee. Not any more."
"Yeah. Not any more. Getting him here will be no problem. I'll make an indirect suggestion to my Mom, who to consider for the rich-boy crew, so that the invitation isn't too obvious."
"Mmmm."
They busied themselves preparing the hardware to simulate a small network, stopping from time to time to diagram it on the whiteboard as they worked.
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Copyright 2019 Joel Matthew Rees
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Keep it on topic, and be patient with the moderator. I have other things to do, too, you know.