Wheels (19 page)

"Broadsides at you
.”

Like every other company wife, Erica knew that Hub
was Hubbard J. Hewitson, executive vice-president in charge of North
American automotive operations, and an industry crown prince with
tremendous power. The power included ability to raise up or break any
company executive other than the chairman of the board and president,
the only two who outranked him. Hub's exacting standards were well
known. He could be, and was, merciless to those who f ailed them.
"Partly at me," Adam said. "But mostly Hub was sounding off. He'll be
over it tomorrow
.”

He told Erica about the Orion add-ons, and the cost,
which Adam had known would trigger the blast it had. On returning from
the proving ground to staff headquarters, Adam had reported to Elroy
Braithwaite. The Product Development vice-president decided they should
go to Hub immediately and get the fireworks over with, which was the way
it happened.
But however rough Hub Hewitson might be, he was a fair man who had
probably accepted by now the inevitability of the extra items and their
cost. Adam knew he had made the right decision
at the proving ground, though he was still aware of tension within
himself, which the martini had eased a little, but not much.
He held out his glass f or refilling, then dropped into a chair. "It's
damn hot in here tonight. Why did you light a fire
.”

He had seated himself alongside the table which held some of the flowers
which Erica had bought this afternoon. Adam pushed the flower vase aside
to make a space for his glass.
"I thought a fire might be cheerful
.”

He looked at her directly. "Meaning it isn't usually
.”

"I didn't say that
.”

"Maybe you should have
.”

Adam stood up, then moved around the room,
touching things in it, familiar things. It was an old habit, something
he did when he was restless. Erica wanted to tell him: Try touching mel
You'll get a lot more response
!
Instead she said, "Oh, there's a letter from Kirk. He wrote it to us
both. He's been made features editor of the university paper
.”

"Um
.”

Adam's grunt was unenthusiastic.
"It's important to him
.”

She could not resist adding, "As important as
when a promotion happens to you.
Adam swung around, his back to the fire. He said harshly, "I've told you
before, I'm used to the idea of Greg being a doctor. In fact, I like it.
It's tough to qua
li
fy, and when he does he'll be contributing-doing
something useful. But don't expect me, now or later, to be pleased about
Kirk becoming a newspaperman, or anything that happens to him on the
way
.”

It was a perennial topic, and now Erica wished she hadn't raised it
because they were off to a bad start. Adam's boys had had definite ideas
about their own careers, long before she came into their lives. Just the s
ame, in discussions afterward E
rica had
supported their choices, making clear that she was glad they were not
following Adam into the auto industry.
Later, she knew she had been unwise. The boys would have gone their own
ways in any case, so all she succeeded in doing was to make Adam bitter
because his own career, by implication, had been denigrated to his sons.
She said as mildly as she could, "Surely being a newspaper writer is
doing something useful
.”

He shook his head irritably. The memory of this morning's press
conference, which he liked less and less the more he thought about it,
was still with Adam. "If you saw as much of press people as I do, you
might not think so. Most of what they do is superficial, out of balance,
prejudiced when they claim impartiality, and riddled with inaccuracies.
They blame the inaccuracies on an obsession with speed, which is used
the way a cripple uses a crutch. It never seems to occur to newspaper
managements and writers that being slower, checking facts before they
storm into print, might be a better public service. What's more, they're
critics and self-appointed judges of everybody's failings except their
own
.”

"Some of that's true," Erica said. "But not of all newspapers or
everybody working for them
.”

Adam looked ready for an argument which she sensed could turn into a
quarrel. Determined to snuff it out, Erica crossed the room and took his
arm. She smiled. "Let's hope Kirk will do better than those others and
surprise you
.”

The physical contact, of which they had had so little lately, gave her
a sense of pleasure which, if she had her way, would be even greater
before the evening was over. She insisted, "Leave all that for another
time. I have your favorite dinner waiting
.”

"Let's make it as quick as we can," Adam said. "I've some papers I want
to go over afterward, and I'd like to get to them
.”

Erica let go his arm and went to the kitchen, wondering if he realized
how many times he had used almost the same words in identical circum
stances until they seemed a litany.
Adam followed her in. "Anything I can do
.”

"You can put the dressing on the salad and toss it
.”

He did it quickly, competently as always, then saw the note about
Teresa's call from Pasadena. Adam told Erica, "You go ahead and start.
I'll see what Teresa wants
.”

Once Adam's sister was on the phone she seldom talked briefly, long
distance or not. "I've waited this long," Erica objected, "I don't want
to have dinner alone now. Can't you call later? It's only six o'clock
out there
.”

'Well, if we're really ready
.”

Erica had rushed. The oil-butter mix, which she had heated in the fondue
pot over the kitchen range, was ready. She carried it to the dining
room, set the pot on its stand and lit the canned heat beneath.
Everything else was on the dining table, which looked elegant.
As she brought a taper near the candles, Adam asked, "Is it worth
lighting them
.”

"Yes
.”

She lit them all.
The candlelight revealed the wine which Erica had brought in again. Adam
frowned. "I thought we were keeping that for a special occasion
.”

"Special like what
.”

He reminded her, "The Hewitsons and Braithwaites are coming next month
.”

"Hub Hewitson doesn't know the difference between a Chiteau Latour and
Cold Duck, and
29 couldn't care. Why can't we be special, just the two of us
.”

Adam speared a piece of beef tenderloin and left it in the fondue pot
while he began his salad. At length lie said, "Why is it you never lose
a chance to take a dig at the people I work with, or the work I do
.”

"Do IT'
"You know you do. You have, ever since our marriage
.”

"Perhaps it's because I feel as if I fight for every private moment that
we have
.”

But she conceded to herself: Sometimes she did throw needless slings and
arrows, just as she had a moment ago about Hub Hewitson.
She filled Adam's wineglass and said gently, "I'm sorry. What I said
about Hub was snobbish and unnecessary. If you'd like him to have
ChAteau Latour, I'll go shopping for some more
.”

The thought occurred
to her: Maybe I can get an extra bottle or two the way I got the
perfume.
"Forget it," Adam said. "It doesn't matter
.”

During coffee, he excused himself and went to his upstairs study to
telephone Teresa. -Hi there, bigshot? Where were you? Counting your stock options
.”

Teresa's voice came clearly across the two thousand miles between them,
the big-sister contralto Adam remembered from their childhood long ago.
Teresa had been seven when Adam was born. Yet, for all their gap in
ages, they had always been close and, strangely, from the time Adam was
in his early teens, Teresa had sought her younger brother's advice and
often heeded
it.
"You know how it is, sis. I'm indispensable, which makes it hard to get
home. Sometimes I wonder how they ever started this industry without
me
.”

'W
e're all proud of you," Teresa said. "The kids often talk about Uncle
Adam. They say he'll be company president someday
.”

Another thing about
Teresa was her unconcealed pleasure at her brother's success. She had
always reacted to his progress and promotions that way, with far more
enthusiasm-he admitted reluctantly
than Erica had ever shown.
He asked, "How have you been, sis
.”

"Lonely
.”

A pause. '-y
ou were expecting some other answer
.”

"Not really. I wondered if, by now
"Somebody else had shown up
.”

"Something like that
.”

"A few have. I'm still not a bad-looking broad for a widow lady
.”

"I know that
.”

It was true. Though she would be fifty in a year or so,
Teresa was statuesque, classically beautiful, and sexy.
"The trouble is, when you've had a man-a real one-for twenty-two years,
you start comparing others with him. They don't come out of it well
.”

Teresa's husband, Clyde, had been an accountant with wide-ranging
interests. He had died tragically in an airplane accident a year ago,
leaving his widow with four young children, adopted late in their
marriage. Since then, Teresa had had to make major adjustments both
psychologically and in financial management, the latter an area she had
never bothered with before.
Adam asked, "Is the money end all right
.”

"I think so. But it's that I called you about. Sometimes I wish you were
closer
.”

Though Adam's late brother-in-law had left adequate provision for his
family, his financial affairs had been untidy at the time of his death.
As best he could from a distance, Adam had helped Teresa unravel them. "If you really need me," Adam said, "I can fly out f or a day or two
.”

"No. You're already where I need you-in Detroit. I get concerned about
that investment Clyde made in Stephensen Motors. It earns money, but it
represents a lot of capital-most of what we have-and I keep asking myself:
Should I leave it where it is, or sell out and put the money into
something safer
.”

Adam already knew the background. Teresa's husband had been an auto-racing
buff who haunted tracks in Southern California, so that he came to know
many racing drivers well. One had been Smokey Stephensen, a consistent
winner over the years who, unusually for his kind, had shrewdly held on
to his prize money and eventually quit with most of his winnings intact.
Later, using his name and prestige, Smokey Stephensen obtained an auto
dealership franchise in Detroit, marketing the products of Adam's company.
Teresa's husband had gone into silent partnership with the ex-race driver
and contributed almost one-half of needed capital. The shares in the business were now owned by Teresa who received them under Clyde's will.
"Sis, you say you're getting money from Detroit-from Stephensen
.”

"Yes. I haven't the figures, though I can send them to you, and the
accountants who took over Clyde's office say it's a fair return. What
worries me is all I read about car dealerships being risky investments,
and some of them failing. If it happened to Stephensen's, the kids and I
could be in trouble
.”