I am Baaack! Part 5

Joan was neutral about Vaingirls. She knew Louise and Edwina hated Joyce, but that was because Lou and Ed had made mistakes in handling her. Joan had met Joyce and the others casually on several occasions, and their relations had been pleasant. The fact that Rose was staying there, therefore, did not by itself raise any danger flags, but there were so many unanswered questions.

'Why did she contact me?' she had thought at first. 'By all logic, she should hate my guts.' Yet, when she had mentioned that, Jessica had assured her that while she did not know why Rose wanted a meeting, Rose HAD told her that, "She harbors no animosity toward you."

Joan had agreed to the meeting because she wanted to hear Rose's story, but she would take precautions; she hadn't gotten to where she was by trusting people. The meeting was in a week, so she had time to put some safeguards in place. Safeguards in addition to her friends Smith and Wesson, which she kept in her upper right hand desk drawer.

As she sat there, she debated on whether to tell Lou and Ed that Rose was back, and about the meeting. She decided not to. While she rather liked them, kindred spirits and all that, her relationship with the two was strictly a business relationship, at least in her view, and she gave them information on a "need to know" basis. She was not yet sure they needed to know about this. For one thing, Joan had a nose for money, and she thought there might be money, Ben Hariesh money, so quite a lot of it, in this. No need to share before she determined she had to.

She reached forward to push the intercom button to summon Robbie and get the ball rolling to prepare for the meeting. She had borrowed Robbie for the week from Lou and Ed, because her own receptionist/secretary was on vacation, and also so she could evaluate "his" progress in light of her plans for him. She thought "his" in quotes, because it was obvious that under Lou and Ed's manipulation, Robert was progressing nicely. Oh, there were still some rough edges. Robbie, at 6'1", barefoot, two hundred, twenty-five pounds, size 11 feet was a big girl, and would have to be ultra feminine to be convincing. To go ultra femme at that size without crossing the line to drag queen was tricky, and she wondered how Lou and Ed would manage it.