Intent to Seduce & A Glimpse of Fire(62)
“Dallas, I’d really like it if you came. We haven’t had a family dinner in a while.”
A soft knock at the door drew their attention. It was one of the women with whom Dallas worked. Dressed in clean jeans and a white cotton shirt, Nancy smiled shyly. “I guess this is the place.”
“Yep. Come in.” Dallas motioned her inside. “You’re the first one. I’m really glad you came.”
“I’ll see you later,” Dakota said, acknowledged Nancy with a quick smile and then disappeared before Dallas could introduce them.
“How about some coffee?” Dallas set her cup down and picked up a clean mug.
“Sure.” Nancy glanced around the conference room, admiring the dark polished wood, the pair of Georgia O’Keeffe paintings on the cream-colored walls. Beyond the expansive windows was a spectacular twilight view of midtown. She walked closer to the glass. “Wow!”
“Do you take cream and sugar?”
“Just sugar,” Nancy said absently and then blinked at her. “Oh, I’ll get that. You don’t have to wait on me.”
“I get you the first cup, then you’re on your own.” Dallas added the sugar and then handed her the mug.
She accepted it, her eyes inquiring as they locked with Dallas’s. “Tony said you went to college.”
“Yes,” she said slowly, not wanting to invite conversation on the subject but not wanting to seem rude either. “So did he.”
“Yeah, but he dropped out after two years. He says you even have a graduate degree.”
“There are cookies here, too. The chocolate-chunk ones are awesome.” She was gonna smack that big-mouth Tony.
Nancy shook her head. Her brown hair, still a little damp, hung down around her shoulders instead of being pulled up in her usual work ponytail. “I don’t get it. If I didn’t have to do such a dirty job, I sure as heck wouldn’t be out there sweating every day. I’d even rather waitress if it weren’t for Petey.” She shrugged. “When you got a kid and no husband, you gotta make sure the money is steady coming in.”
“I understand. But that doesn’t mean you have to put up with the kind of abuse those jerks dish out. That’s why we’re here tonight.”
Nancy’s face darkened and she hunched her shoulders. “No one knows about the meeting, do they? I can’t afford to get fired.”
“Number one, they can’t fire you for this. That would be illegal. Number two, none of the guys know unless one of the women told them.”
“Who opened their friggin’ big mouth?” Jan walked in, shrugging off her backpack. She still wore her work jeans and boots. Her short dark hair hadn’t been washed but merely slicked back. “I’ll take care of ’em.”
“No one.” Dallas sighed. That’s all they needed. Jan was a loose cannon with enough muscle and attitude to cause some damage. Rumor had it that she’d decked one of the forklift drivers and sent him to the hospital. “I was just reassuring Nancy. That’s all.”
Three other women who Dallas vaguely recognized walked in together. They all worked for Capshaw’s Construction, too, but they were part of a crew that worked on the Upper East Side, which meant word was spreading.
Dallas ushered them toward the coffee and cookies and then poked her head out the door to glance down the hall. Another woman had just stepped out of the elevator. Alone. Not good. Apparently word wasn’t spreading quickly enough. It was already ten minutes past the time the meeting was supposed to start.
“Hey, are we gonna start soon? I only got a babysitter for three hours,” a short, stocky blonde said between bites of cookie. “And I already used up one of them.”
“Let’s wait five more minutes, okay?” Dallas foolishly checked her watch again. Only seconds had passed. Where the hell was everybody? From the responses she’d received, she’d been so sure of a larger turnout. But that was the basic problem. Their initial enthusiasm always seemed to evaporate into fear.
After ten more minutes of eating and chatting and exploring the conference room, the women began to get restless, and Dallas decided it was best to get started.
They all took seats and went around the table introducing themselves. Even though they all worked for Capshaw’s Construction, they worked for different crews and knew each other casually.
“Okay,” Dallas said after the room got quiet. “Who wants to volunteer to lead the meeting?”
Six blank faces stared back at her and then they glanced nervously at each other.
Jan spoke first. “I thought this was your party.”
Dallas shook her head. “This gender problem doesn’t belong to any particular individual. That’s the reason for this meeting—to pull together to decide what action we should take. There’s strength in numbers.”
“We already have a union .” Jan snorted. “Not that they give a rat’s ass about us.”
“Look,” Dallas said, “we need to make a stand together. Neither the union nor Capshaw’s Construction can ignore us if we make a joint statement.”
“But they can fire us.” Nancy clasped her hands so tightly that her nails dug into her skin.
“No, they can’t.” Dallas gave her a reassuring smile. “That would leave them wide open for a lawsuit.”
“They’ll still give us a bad time,” Sally said, her freckled face flushed. She looked twelve and sweet. Amazing what came out of her mouth. “I get enough shit from those pigs as it is.”
“Individually, yes, I agree, it’s hard to stop the harassment. It’s your word against theirs. But what I’m suggesting is that we all sign an informal complaint and give the powers that be an opportunity to talk to the men. Legally, once they know the harassment exists, they have to address the problem and make sure it stops.”
“You mean like put our names in writing?” Nancy asked, clearly horrified at the thought.
Dallas hesitated. She didn’t want them all running out of the room. “That’s something we have to discuss further.”
“I have a question,” Yvette said. A quiet woman with sad brown eyes and a heart-shaped face who hadn’t said anything since introducing herself, she seemed the most reluctant attendee.
“Yes?” Dallas prompted.
“What if the person giving you trouble is your supervisor?”
“That don’t mean nothing. He can’t do that.” Jan’s fists clenched. “Right, Shea?”
“Of course not. It makes the harassment even more despicable. He could be fired for that. Have you discussed the problem with anyone higher up?”
Yvette’s eyes widened. “Goodness no. He would have fired me!”
“Bullshit! Tell her, Shea.” Jan’s face reddened with anger. “Tell me who he is. I’ll kick his ass.”
“Jan,” Dallas said softly. “We have the law on our side. There’s no need for violence or threats. We just need to stick together to become more effective.”
“That’s why I’m here,” Jan said. “None of them guys bother me.” A couple of the women chuckled, and even Jan grinned. “But I see how those pigs act with some of you, and it sucks. It ain’t right. I wanna back you up.”
“Thank you, Jan.” Dallas nodded at her. “We appreciate your courage and support.”
“I got a question for you, Shea.” Jan studied Dallas for a moment with a hint of suspicion in her eyes and then asked, “Why are you here? Somebody told me you used to model and you went to college. You don’t need to do this stinkin’ job.”
All gazes riveted to Dallas. They all had the same question in their eyes, the same suspicion. Total honesty was required. And owed them.
Dallas cleared her throat. “Yes, I once modeled and I do have a college degree, and in fact, I have a graduate degree in business. But I hated the pressure of modeling and I realized the path I’d taken in school had been to please my parents. To be perfectly honest, I don’t know what I want to do.” She smiled wryly. “Except that I don’t want to work in construction all my life.”
They all snorted and glanced at each other.
“I admit this is temporary for me, a way to earn a living until I figure out what I want to do.” That her parents considered her choice an act of defiance was merely a bonus. But she didn’t want to share that tidbit. “But I still want to help improve the work conditions for women who choose this job.”
“Or have no choice,” Yvette said miserably.
“It’s not a bad job,” Jan said, shrugging. “You go home at the end of the day and that’s it. No worries.”
“Yeah, right,” Nancy said irritably.
“I didn’t mean nothin’. I get it that the guys give you a hard time.” Jan sighed loudly. “I’m just sayin’…”
Dallas slumped in her seat. “How about we try to be a little more constructive?”
The meeting continued for another hour but with little progress. They all agreed on only two things. One was to think about what had been discussed and then meet again the following week. The second was that Dallas should lead the charge. Too bad she had no idea what to do next.