The Third Part of Chapter 4: Merging and Reawakening

On the following Tuesday, James was busy at work when Courtney entered his office; James liked Courtney, who was always energetic, composed, and enthusiastic about everything to do with Valoix Consulting. Maurice liked her too, for the same reasons.

“Hi Jim. So, listen, I have the details of the account from that person, what’s-her-name, from Venneris. Oh, her name’s Eileen; I almost forgot. They seem to be doing fairly well, but I think they could diversify into printer cartridge paper. At the rate we’re going, we shall need plenty of cartridge paper,”

“It would also help if they stopped giving out free spools of newsprint to the local college; I know newsprint is cheap, but it can’t be that cheap, I mean, come on.”

“Yes, I also told them that. You know the details?”

“Yes, I received the e-mail, and it seems fairly straightforward. Diversify into cartridge paper and letterhead, there’s really not much to it in terms of economic advice, though on the technical side, I imagine it would be a little more difficult, and I ran a cost-analysis, and apparently, it will take a million dollars for them to convert some space in their mill to the production of cartridge paper. I don’t know, they might also look into egg cartons,”

“Perhaps someone should pay her a visit?” wondered James aloud, idly.

“Go to Newfoundland?”

“I’m sure a holiday there would be nice; it’s cool in the summer,” said James. He had wanted to go to Newfoundland for a while; for him, it was a mystical land, untamed with many unpopulated places, in addition to its lovely towns and villages. His view of the province owed plenty to the Newfoundland government’s concerted marketing campaign, and thus James thought of Newfoundland as a place filled with vivid colours, happy people, and lush vegetation. Whether this impression was accurate remained to be seen.

“So, how’s Clarissa?”

In surprise, James said, “Oh, it’s going very well, actually. You know the hiking trip we’re going on as a company fling just after Canada Day? Clarissa’s coming.”

“Really? That sounds exciting; I asked my boyfriend if he wanted to come, but he didn’t seem too interested. It’s mostly work that gets him excited, but me, I prefer a balance; the work week can only be so long before it completely takes over your life.” She understood the workweek to have a limit of sixty hours; Maurice, however, was of a different mindset, as everyone at the firm knew; his employees knew him for working over 100 hours in a week, being of an entrepreneurial mindset. He exalted hard, long hours at the office, and believed that this made him more macho. His wife disagreed with this sentiment, however, and everyone could guess that this was one of the reasons behind the divorce, which had just occurred; whenever Maurice was not talking about business, he was griping about Rose, who had taken custody of their youngest son.

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