Chapter Nine
Clarity decided to overrule Cynthia's decision and brought in Darrell at lunch time the next day to discuss on her own with him the location and design of the new shower at Stevenson. They met in the parking lot area of the garden company, after Clarity finished work at five thirty. She wanted the new shower to feel special, and she didn't like the idea of an indoor shower that much, she kept thinking that there was a better spot for it than near the washrooms of one of the company floors. Finally, she found the location she was seeking, the rooftop pool area. Yeah, that was perfect, and the new shower might even go unnoticed. She inquired about sleek shower designs offered.
"Sleek? Well, there's the horizontal shower, it's new, it's not bad, you might like it."
"Horizontal?"
"Six jets flowing vertically into a reclining bench made of ivory marble." Darrell added that the water bars sprayed water gently, for a new 'dimensional experience', according to the manufacturers, Bormbayle.
"Price?" asked Clarity.
"Twenty five thousand five hundred dollars, because it's you," he said, "and because this place is becoming a good customer for us, we like repeat business."
Darrell agreed to come in after office hours to install the new horizontal shower. Everyone at Stevenson left the office at five in the afternoon. Flake let Darrell inside the building at five thirty in the afternoon, and he stayed for two hours working on the shower until seven thirty or so, for two weeks, while Clarity supervised his work, replacing Taimi during her rooftop maintenance pool hours. The result was impressive. Clarity brought Cynthia to the rooftop pool area after working hours, and her friend began by taking her clothes off to try it.
"I like this," said Cynthia.
Clarity turned on the manual control panel of the shower for her friend, adjusting the temperature of the water bars. Cynthia lied on her back and let the streams of water hit her soft skin. Clarity sat on a reclining chair, looking at her friend, noticing Cynthia's nipples were getting harder. After a few minutes, Cynthia stepped off the reclining table and dried her body with a towel. The teleoperator saw Cynthia grab her phone and begin texting. She looked over her friend's shoulder into the smartphone, she was texting Brock.
"What are you doing, since when are you texting Brock?"
"Not long ago, a day or two, you're not going out with him, are you?" Clarity dismissed the question.
"This is not a polyamory relationship," said Clarity, "Brock is a good friend and he may become more than a good friend, and he is my friend. He is working on a job for me and he has to watch the stock market, and then he has to solve all of this complaint issue and the article Atkins wrote. Don't distract him with other things. Did you tell him about the new shower?"
"No, I'm working on a presentation for Pepperdine explaining my view of talent development here at Stevenson. You know, I never thought of polyamory," said Cynthia.
Clarity dismissed the topic and inquired further about the talent development work Cynthia was preparing. She learned that Cynthia did not believe in traditional human resource techniques, she just wanted people working at Stevenson to be comfortable, in order to make information flow more smoothly across departments. Clarity placed her hand under one of the shower jets. According to Cynthia, if people weren't comfortable talking to each other across departments, information could not flow properly, and this was one of the possible causes for the dip in sales. Cynthia stopped texting and shut off her smartphone.
"All right, I won't text him anymore, let's come back here at night," said Cynthia.
"What about the payment of the shower, Darrell is bugging me, saying this shower is very expensive, he wants down payment. Are you going to tell your father about this?"
"No, I'll just tell my mom, if she knows of this, everything will be all right. I have to think about payment, this is a lot more money than the first one, it's not that simple."
Cynthia said good bye and left the terrace, leaving Clarity thinking. She wasn't comfortable with not paying Darrell, with a new shower built, unauthorized. She remembered that Cynthia had a power of attorney for 'exceptional' circumstances that she could use at Stevenson. She wasn't an employee, or a member of the general activity committee, but she had access to some of the company's departments, if need be. Intrigued by the thought, she went back to her cubicle, and turned on her computer. Just as she thought, Cynthia's power of attorney username was valid as a user, and Clarity used it to send a payment instruction to accounting, this time a single payment of twenty three thousand five hundred dollars. She allocated the expense to 'talent development', to which she added, 'informal conference room refurbishing and idea sharing area'.
More calm after having used Cynthia's access path to settle the payment issue of the shower, Clarity went home for dinner. Around ten o'clock in the evening, she made her way back to the office, waving at Flake, who was accumulating a sizeable amount of gas tank refills, with all the people coming and going out of the building at night. The night shift at Stevenson was becoming a profitable venture. Clarity reached the rooftop pool and admired the view, while changing into her swimsuit. She was looking forward to a skinny-dip in the pool with Cythia. A few minutes later, the pool area door panel opened, and Clarity saw Mrs. Stevenson walk in.
"Hi," said Jill. Clarity was flabbergasted to see Cynthia's mother, there was something wrong with the whole meeting.
"Where is Cynthia?" asked Clarity.
"She went to meet Brock, she's working on some type of presentation addressing the sales issue, and wanted to get Brock's opinion on it. She told me about the new shower, and that it was your idea, just wanted to see it."
Clarity began boiling inside. How untactful of her friend, knowing she, herself, and Brock, were practically going out together, knowing they might even be going out of the company together because they were defending clothing optional rights at Stevenson. What nerve. Clarity watched Jill caress the marble reclining bench of the new shower.
"This is very nice, not bad, never seen one like this." She glanced at Clarity. "Would you like to try it? I'll rub your back."
Clarity melted when Jill said that. She needed the loving support of Cynthia's mother; finally, she would be able to try the new shower. She also felt like showing herself naked in front of Jill spontaneously. She took off her bathing suit, and placed it on the wood floor. She lied on her stomach on the reclining bench, and felt the warm hands of Cynthia's mom caressing her back and moving towards her bum. Cynthia's mother turned on the jets and Clarity felt thin streams of warm water landing softly on her back. She was in heaven and closed her eyes. After a few minutes, Mrs. Stevenson lied on her stomach beside her. Clarity opened one eye, and saw a shade marked by the night light illuminating the rooftop pool. She noticed the silhouette of Avery behind the fifty gallon electric water heater that Darrell had installed for the shower. She got up and grabbed a towel to cover her breasts, leaving Mrs. Stevenson naked on the reclining bench.
"What are you doing here?" she whispered.
"Just hmm, looking around, been told people are meeting here at night. Flake said I could find you here."
"You can't be here, this," said Clarity, pointing at the rooftop floor, "this is private property, we are not on the street, we are not on a road, we are not even on a beach, where nudity is not allowed in general, we are in someone's workplace. This is not the police station."
Avery bobbed his head sideways, partially agreeing, and at the same time, walking to the elevator, sensing trouble if he insisted on staying, forgetting that he was the Law. The investigation would have to continue somewhere else, he thought, or the following day at the very least. There wasn't much to report, but his own diligence had been thorough, the shower-discovery process, getting through Flake at night and finding the rooftop area, was identified. A new shower meant the clothing option at Stevenson was not being undermined completely, something his uncle Clifford wanted and thought he had achieved by dismantling the company's
outdoor shower.