Chapter Three - Continued - Blog Date 052006

Cedar Rapids 18April05 - 1815

Melanie checked herself out in the mirror yet another time. This was the third casual top she had tried on in the last ten minutes. The slim cut designer jeans were fine. The black leather, one inch heeled ankle boots were both stylish and comfortable. The simple, brass buckeled belt went well with almost anything. She had thought that the first top, a crisp, white dress blouse looked a bit formal for Norm's Place. The second choice, an Italian silk floral number, needed a dress jacket, which was definitely out of place at Norm's. This long sleeved, finely knit cashmere sweater-top was a suitable compromise. She had always liked how she looked in burgandy, and the boatneck collar and form-fitting shape added some low-wattage sex appeal.

The house phone rang. "Hello?" she said. "Hi. It's me," came the reply. It was Holly.

"So ready for the big date?" asked Holly. Melanie could tell from Holly's tone that she was enjoying this bit of teasing. "Donovan tells me to tell you to take it easy on Frank," continued Holly. There was laughter in the background.

"I know that you see some humor here, but it's pretty thin. Did you find a suit?" asked Melanie.

"A light gray pin-stripe that will allow for lots of colors in the shirts and ties. Donovan can hardly contain himself," said Holly. "It was much easier than I had thought beforehand."

"Say," Holly continued, "We ran into Joe Reilly at the mall and he said that you had emailed him after lunch about getting in to see Denton on Monday. What's up? Is there anything I can do?"

Joe Reilly was Melanie's account manager at Capital Asset Advisor's and Denton was Denton Endicott, President, founder and sole shareholder of CAA. Joe handled day-to-day activities for the account, but since it was the biggest single account in the firm, Denton Endicott was always kept in the loop. During her review of the resume file, she had decided that she needed to review the cash flow projections for the account now that the special dividend from Cyberware was delayed. Joe could work up the analysis, but she knew that Denton would want to be involved in any withdrawal decisions. So she had sent the email to Joe to get CAA alerted to her information request before the typical Monday morning bustle.

"No," responded Melanie. "I just need a little analysis work done on my stuff early next week and I figured that if I gave Joe a 'heads up' today, my request would be first in line on Monday."

"Melanie," said Holly, "This may come as a surprise to you, although it shouldn't, but your requests are ALWAYS first in line at CAA! Surely you know that?"

"Well, I suppose I do, but I don't like to be that demanding client who waits till the last minute to ask for something and then complains when the results are not immediately available. This way, Joe can do his thing for me and not have to drop other projects that he might have otherwise started on Monday," explained Melanie.

"You're too nice, Melanie", said Holly. "But anyway, it may not matter. Just so you know, Denton may not be in on Monday. I think he has a meeting Tuesday in Phoenix and he may be leaving as early as noon on Monday to meet with one of his old college friends in Scottsdale on Monday night. He may not be able to meet with you until Wednesday."

"Hmmm," considerd Melanie. "I'll still want Joe to do his preliminary work. If I can't get together with Denton until Wednesday, that should be okay."

"Holly, I've got to go or I'll be late," said Melanie. "I know you'll want to know, so I'll call you tomorrow with a report on tonight. Thanks for calling. Bye"

"Bye yourself", said Holly.

Melanie hung up the receiver and quickly went to the garage. She had ten minutes to make the 4 mile trip to Norm's Place. It would be close.

Cedar Rapids 18April05 1833

Calhoun was sitting on a park bench in the patio bar at Norm's. He saw the Jag enter the parking lot on the South side of the restaurant. Melanie McDermott stepped out of the car and walked toward the entrance, waving at him when he caught her attention midway across the parking lot. Wow. She looked like a model. Keeping his eye on the ball, the business side of this meeting, was not going to be easy. He stood to greet her.

"Melanie! You look great. I know I have on jeans too, but I feel underdressed", said Calhoun in what he hoped was taken as a complimentary allusion.

Melanie smiled, pecked his cheek, and said, "Frank, don't be so modest. You look pretty good yourself." She reached and took his hand in hers. "Let's get inside and see if Norm has a dry red that's not sold in a box ."

Her hand was soft and warm and their fingers laced naturally together. Their many prior social meetings made them far from strangers. But this simple act of holding hands while going into Norm's gave a new feeling to Calhoun. This was going to get complicated.