The Chauffeur (#40) The Trip

The Chauffeur (#40) The Trip

By: PABLO DIABLO

Copyright 2019

CHAPTER 1

When the alarm went off, I dragged my tired ass out of bed. Ronda was still sleeping peacefully all curled up into me. I gently shook her awake. I tried to get up out of the bed without disturbing Jill.

Once I was out of the bed, I headed to the bathroom to do my morning duties, shave, and shower. Once I finished shaving, I got into the shower. I felt the rush of cold air as the shower door opened behind me. Instantly I knew that it was Ronda. I pushed her towards the shower water causing her to make a sigh as the hot water cascaded over her beautiful body.

I soaped her up and rinsed her off. She did the same for me. It was very difficult to not have sex with her. She’s beautiful, she’s willing, and she’s right there in front of me. However, we didn’t have the time to play around.

She shampooed my hair and I did hers. Once the water was turned off, we stepped into the cool air of the bathroom to dry off. I went into the bedroom to see my gorgeous wife still sleeping. I wasn’t sure when she came to bed, but it couldn’t have been too long ago.

I put my cobalt blue long sleeve shirt on with a black tie. Once I was dressed, I carried my luggage stopping at the dresser to collect my phone off the charger, my wallet, and my keys.

Ronda sat at Jill’s makeup table putting makeup on. She stopped with the makeup and went into the bathroom to dry her hair. I knew that it would take a few minutes, so I took my luggage out to the front door.

I set it down next to Ronda’s luggage. Dakota came out wheeling hers behind her. Jennifer was already sitting at the kitchen table and her luggage was next to the dining room table. I grabbed it and wheeled it to the front door.

Neither Bobby nor Sammy were up yet, as 3 am was way before they usually get up. I decided on another bowl of cereal.

As I finished my cereal, Ronda came around the corner and shocked me. She looked stunning for 3 am. Her hair was perfect and her makeup too. She had a conservative dress that stopped mid-thigh with a beautiful pair of shiny black heels. She came over to me and kissed me, wiping the milk mustache off my upper lip, giggling the whole time.

Dakota indicated that the limo had arrived. We all got our luggage and headed out to the car. The driver took our luggage and put them in the trunk. The back door was already open waiting for us. Dakota got in, Ronda got in, and Jennifer got in leaving me for last. It felt weird not having John with us. He’s been my sidekick for several months now and him not being here just felt…well, weird.

I asked the driver if he knew where we were going, he assured me that he did. I texted Paula a thank you for sending a much better driver than last time.

Oddly, the streets were quiet as we buzzed along towards the private part of the airport. When we arrived, the chauffeur pulled right up close to our jet. We all got out and the chauffeur unloaded our luggage. The co-pilot came down the steps picking up the luggage and carrying it into the plane. I pulled out three $100 bills, folded them over and handed them to the chauffeur. He thanked me, put them in his pocket and left.

Ronda had taken a position right next to me with my Dakota on the other side. Jennifer kicked back on the loveseat and draped her legs over the arm putting her earbuds in and putting on a movie. She chose to watch the Tom Cruise movie “Far and Away”. I thought about how that was a nice choice since it’s a nice long movie with a run-time of 2 ½ hours.

I felt Ronda snuggle up to me, laying her head on my shoulder. Occasionally Jennifer would look over at me and just smile. I winked back at her causing her to smile even larger.

The flight was uneventful, however, when we got off the jet in Tampa, my phone lit up. It was Jill asking if I knew where Ronda had gone off to. I chastise myself for not reminding Jill that Ronda was going on the trip with us. I called Jill and assured her that Ronda was on the jet and asked if she wanted to speak to her. Jill declined as she was just worried that when she came to bed, Ronda was snuggled up with me but when she woke up, Ronda wasn’t anywhere to be found. We said our ‘I love you’ and hung up.

Since it was just barely 9 am, I suggested we hit a diner before we go to the restaurant to visit my favorite manager to propose the project, I would like him to oversee.

Jennifer chose Village Inn to eat at since many of them had gone to 24 hours. The three of us shrugged our shoulders and the limo driver took us to the nearest Village Inn. When we arrived, we asked if he would like to join us, but he declined to say that he had just eaten before he came to pick us up.

I was surprised at how busy the restaurant was, yes it was just a few minutes after 9 am but the place was jumping for a Tuesday. In my head, I thought about how to make our restaurant group have units that had big sales on off days, like a Tuesday. Maybe the answer lies with the manager I liked here in Tampa.

It’s often difficult traveling with such gorgeous women. There are looks from all the men, but even more so the comments from the wives or girlfriends that were just loud enough to be annoying. Thankfully, at this V.I. there were lots of retired seniors. The women talk loudly, because, their husbands can’t hear that well. Funny thing, the retired community don’t seem to be jealous of the spouse enjoying the eye-candy. Guess after so many years of being together a spouse is not threatened by looking. My Grandmother used to tell me that even if you have the ‘Mona Lisa’ in your home, you still look at other art, you just don’t touch. Sound advice I always thought.

We sat there eating and enjoying each other’s company. A gentleman, probably about 70, came over and asked if I was David Greene. I assured him that I was indeed that guy. He shook my hand and laughed at how nice I travel. The ladies all giggled but I wasn’t sure that he could hear them as I saw hearing aids in both ears. He asked me for an autograph, which surprised me. The gentleman had a thin Sharpie marker and had heisted a paper carryout menu. Instead of just my signature, I put a small note. It read “To my friend Albert, it was very nice to meet you. David Greene, CEO Jaxson, Inc.”

When I handed it back to the gentleman, he thanked me. Now, many more eyes were on us. The waitress came over and joked that we must be someone famous if Albert knew who we were. She laughed at her own joke and asked for our breakfast order.

Dakota, Ronda, and I all ordered a breakfast. Jennifer was the wildcard of the bunch; she ordered a BLT on white toast with extra mayo and a large glass of white milk.

“Anything you’d like to tell us, Jen?” I asked smiling at her. This made the Dakota and Ronda turn and look at Jennifer.

“No, you silly people, I’m just hungry. I didn’t get a bowl of cereal, just a cup of coffee before we left the house,” she said to the table.

All our meals arrived quickly. I thought about how nice a restaurant can be when it is functioning properly. Clearly, this restaurant was properly staffed and running like a well-oiled machine.

We ate. We laughed. We even had a nice couple stop and ask if they could take a picture of them and me. I stood with them for a couple of minutes, but unfortunately, technology was not their strong suit. Dakota once again stepped in and saved things. She asked for their cell phone and took three pictures of me standing with the couple. Just to be cute, I reached over to another table and grabbed a menu holding it in front of me. The couple thanked me and off they went, the husband with a cane, the lady with a walker.

I thought about a business that Bob Jaxson had mentioned in his diary, a medical equipment place. His point was that people will not stop needing medical equipment, but he thought about the retail end of it. I watched as the senior couple slowly made their way to their car. He held the door open and it took her several minutes to get in the front seat. Once she was in and her seat belt fastened, he folded up the aluminum walker and put it in the back seat. I was truly amazed at how loving and caring he was to his wife. However, I came back to my senses when he backed the car out without looking and smashed it into another vehicle that was coming down the aisle.

None of the ladies jumped up hearing the crash of the two vehicles colliding. Many of the restaurant patrons ran outside to check on the occupants. The hostess pulled out her own cell phone and dialed up 911. She explained quickly what had happened.

I asked the ladies at the table with me, “Isn’t anyone going to run out there to help the people?”

Only Ronda replied, “Why should we? There must be 25 people buzzing around the two cars. I’m sure medical and police help will be along shortly,” smiling at me as she said this.

Almost on cue, the nearby paramedics arrived as did two of the local sheriff’s deputies. Now it was a whole production outside. Dakota was the first to notice that our limo was stuck behind the emergency vehicles. She dialed the company up and let them know our limo was stuck and for them to reach out to their driver letting him know that we see he is boxed in with the other vehicles. They assured her that they would call him.

Since we were not going anywhere quickly, I ordered pie for all four of us. Of course, the ladies all tried to politely decline, but not my Dakota she decided she wanted two slices of pie. She chose one cherry and one French silk. I leaned over to Ronda and asked, “Are you ready for that? The food cravings and the such?” I said smiling before I kissed her on the cheek.

“Oh yes, funnyman. I’m ready for all of it,” she said before she kissed me back, hard and passionately.

It took the waitress only a few seconds to clear the empty breakfast plates away. She had plenty of time to take care of us as nearly 75% of the restaurant patrons were outside watching the goings-on. An ambulance arrived taking the passenger of the second car away on a stretcher. The police were talking to the retired couple. I’m not sure if they were stunned or just couldn’t hear the officer as he looked like he was getting frustrated with them as he kept having to repeat himself. We all heard the officer from inside saying, “No sir, I’m asking you what happened.”

The three ladies all smiled and even giggled a bit. Me, I just felt a bit sorry for the older couple. Here he was polite and asked for a picture, that Dakota had to take for him. He lovingly put his wife of many years into the car. He carefully folded up her aluminum walker and then promptly got in the car and never looked before he backed up. Clearly, the three ladies didn’t see what I saw. The gentleman was the sole means of taking care of his wife. If he loses his license, then what happens to them?

The whole incident was cleaned up in less than 90 minutes from the occurrence of the crash. As patrons were filing back into the restaurant, all the waitresses came around asking if the cold beverages needed to be refreshed. Most people declined but a few were a bit rude about it as if the waitress caused the car crash just to make their juice warm. I shook my head as we left the restaurant remembering why I was so happy to be out of the daily grind of the restaurant world.

When we reached the limo, the driver pulled me aside and let me know that the limo company was not charging us for the nearly two hours that kept the car boxed in. I thanked him and asked for his card. He didn’t have any as this limo service doesn’t want people to single out specific drivers as the management felt it screws up the scheduling. I handed him one of my business cards and told him that my company owned three limo companies, two in LA and one in Vegas. His eyes seemed to light up when I mentioned Vegas. He told me that his sister lives in Vegas and has been wanting him to move there. I asked why she would want him there. He replied, “She needs help raising her 8 children. The husband passed away in a construction accident and while the insurance made her financially sound, she still needed help with the children.

“Call my office in LA and ask for Paula. She runs the limo companies for me. Tell her that I sent you and you are interested in Las Vegas. She’ll be happy you called,” I told him. He smiled and put my card inside his coat.

Once we were all inside our driver headed towards the restaurant of my favorite manager. I noticed a small little flyer that was almost hidden in a pocket. I pulled it out and read it. The flyer said, “Experience Christmas in high fashion. Christmas light tours one flat fee. Call for further details.”

I put the privacy window down and asked the chauffeur about the flyer. He told me that after Thanksgiving the business slows down dramatically. The owners didn’t want to lose any of the drivers, so they came up with this plan to keep the drivers working and yet make the whole thing family friendly. He said that the first two years they did this it really didn’t work very well. However, once they put these flyers almost hidden in the back of the limo, people thought they had found something like a coupon and the business quadrupled the following holiday season.

He went on to tell us that they want to make the whole thing delightful and bring repeat business. The owners now take multiple helicopter flights around the area to find the well-decorated homes. He went on to tell us that they also give a 10% discount to a customer who refers another customer. He finished telling us that so far this season they are up another 20% versus the same time last year. I thanked him for the information, yet it had me thinking.

What could we add other than the armed driver program? Do our three car services experience the same slowdown during the holiday season? What about wine tours, since we are in California? How about trips to Hoover Dam or to the north to visit an Indian reservation? Are there other times that are notoriously slow in the car service business? I texted Paula about the chauffeur that might want to move to Vegas. I also texted that she and I need a sit-down to discuss business opportunities.

While we were driving to the restaurant, I called up my contact at BF Goodrich to check on the tire order.

“Hello Mr. Greene, what can I do for you today?” He asked.

“I’m just calling to check on how much of the tire order has left already,”

“About 65%. We can’t completely empty the warehouses, so they are working feverishly to complete the order,” he tells me.

“That’s great news. We have a large waiting list and want to fulfill the needs of the customers as soon as possible,” I tell him.

“I know. I’ve heard some grumblings from some of your competitors who also purchase from us,” he tells me. This makes me smile knowing that we are impacting our competition.

“That’s good news. Send the rest of the order when you have them. Oh, and I’ll have several more trailers of tires to be recapped. Is your plant ready?” I ask.

“YES SIR!” he couldn’t have said that without any more positive emotion.

I thank him and end the call.

As we pull into the restaurant parking lot, I see three beautiful women’s faces get all squished up. They clearly think that the appearance of this unit is in horrible shape. The chauffeur parks and opens the door for us. We all get out, however, Ronda clutching my elbow as we head inside.

I ask for the manager, telling the hostess who I am and that I’m expected. She hands me an envelope with a letter inside. It read “Mr. Greene, I am very honored that you want to put me in charge of your project. However, I respectfully decline. There are a couple of reasons for me to not take your position. First, I love what I do. I love the daily interaction with my customers. I love seeing their families grow and watching the children become teens then young adults and finally parents of their own. Second, my own family is here in Ybor City. Moving away or being on the road isn’t something that I want. Time with my family is precious and the little bit I have I cherish. Third, and finally, I want to recommend my assistant Raul Fernandez. He speaks three languages fluently. He is single. He knows all my secrets and he helped form many of our successes that you see here. I give him my personal stamp of approval if that carries any weight with you at all. I apologize for not being there and leaving you this letter, however, my Grandmother is in Tampa General Hospital and I feel that I should be there. Thank you for the offer, it means a lot to me, Regards Luis Garcia”

I ask the hostess, “Is Raul Fernandez here?”

“Yes sir, he’s in the kitchen helping out to get ready for the lunch crowd Let me get him for you,” she says smiling and swinging her cute ass as she walked towards the kitchen doors.

Jennifer leaned in and whispers in my ear, “Kind of has a swing like Dakota, huh?”

I just smile and don’t reply, but in my head, she has a good eye. This nice young lady could pass for a Hispanic version of Dakota.

“Hello Mr. Greene, I apologize for my appearance, but our kitchen is a bit behind in prepping for lunch and I don’t want our customers to suffer,” he says to me.

“Can we sit for a few minutes and talk?”

“Of course, let’s take the table right over here. Does any of your party need food or something to drink?” He asks as we walk to a table in the corner of the dining room.

Ronda does ask Mr. Fernandez for a coffee. She was completely surprised when the hostess arrived with a Cuban coffee, something that she had never had.

“Mr. Fernandez, I have a letter here from your boss. But before we discuss it how is his Grandmother doing?” I ask.

“She’s got heart disease. She’s 88 and has had a long good life, but now it is a struggle every day for her,” he tells me.

“Please tell your boss that she’s in my prayers,” I say to him.

“Mr. Greene, please call me Raul. Mr. Fernandez just sounds too formal,” he tells me making me like him more.

“OK, Raul. I’m David. I have the same outlook on life as I don’t like people that I trust to call me Mr. Greene,” I tell him as I begin.

I continue by saying, “Raul, your boss gives you high praise. He tells me that you speak three languages and you are a large part of the success of this restaurant.”

“Well, that’s really nice of him, but truth be told, he is THE driving force here,” Raul tells me.

“Raul, let me put all my cards on the table. What I am looking for is someone to travel to specific restaurants and teach the managers and the district manager to do what you have done here. Keep the primary menu, but add local cuisine to enhance the customer’s experience,” I tell him. I see him nodding his head.

“If I may ask, how much traveling would I be doing and is this all US-based or would I be traveling outside the country?” He asks.

“Good questions. I would suspect that you would travel about every 10 days or so. I wouldn’t want you to spend more than two weeks at any one spot. Second, this would be a US-based position.” I tell him.

“Does it pay well? I mean I make really good money here at $35,000 a year, the most I’ve ever made in the restaurant business,” he tells me. I see Dakota trying not to smile. She looks away towards the hostess.

“WOW, $35,000?” I say in a serious manner.

“Well, let me discuss my offer with you first. My offer will contain a corporate credit card to handle your company expenses such as renting a car. It comes with the usual boring benefits such as medical, dental, vision/hearing, student loan assistance, and you will travel via first class in every flight you take for us.” I pause for effect before I tell him the salary that I’m thinking.

“So far that all sounds nice, but I have to pay bills,” he tells me. I know that I have him at this point.

I wait for him to take a sip of his Cuban coffee before I say, “I was thinking about $75,000 a year and we can discuss a bonus plan after the first of the year,” He nearly drops his coffee causing the ladies to giggle a bit.

He sits there staring at me as if he was looking to see if I was pulling his leg or that I’m serious.

“While you’re thinking about that offer, how goes the move of the restaurant?” I ask.

“Well, not good. The first two choices have been taken already. We don’t like another place anywhere near as much as choices one and two,” Raul tells me.

“Jennifer, did you know about this?” I ask.

“No boss, I didn’t. I will get back in touch and work with them to find and secure a different location,” she says to me obviously a bit embarrassed.

“Raul, what would you think about building a new version of this place, not take some other place and just make it work. Design a new restaurant, complete with a larger and more organized kitchen. Do you think your boss would agree to that?” I ask him already knowing the answer.

“Yes, and Yes,” he says to me.

“Yes, you think your boss would like to design and build a new version of this place and Yes, you will accept my offer?” I say.

I reach my hand out and we shake on the deal. He wants us to stay for lunch since they open their doors in 5 minutes. I politely declined telling him that we are heading to Atlanta next. He begins to tell me the secrets about Tampa International Airport and how easy it is to navigate the main terminal. I let him know that I fly in the corporate jet, but I would like to bring him and his now former boss out to the Chateau one weekend. He accepts and we say our goodbyes. As we are leaving the restaurant, I hear a large and loud ‘WHOOPEE’ coming from him in the kitchen. It makes me smile as we get into the limo.

I tell our chauffeur that it’s back to the airport to the jet. As we travel towards the airport, both Dakota and Jennifer are on the phone. Ronda just laid her head on my shoulder again.

Dakota was calling the pilot to let him know we were on the way to the jet to head to Atlanta.

Jennifer was on the phone with Diane. She was asking for all the emails to be pulled for this Tampa restaurant location and any other correspondence regarding the new sites.

Traffic was much busier from our trip this morning from Village Inn. We didn’t move very well as we just seemed to hit red light after red light.

While we were sitting at a red light, I called Captain Perez.

“This is Perez,” I get when he answers the phone.

“Hey Captain, it’s David Greene,”

“Yes, sir. What do I owe for this call?”

“I wanted to let you know that I will be in DC tomorrow, we’ll fly in tonight. I thought maybe we could get together for that beer and cigar that you suggested,” when the words cigar left my mouth all three ladies pinched their noses and shook their heads no. I just laughed under my breath.

“Would you be open to meeting for dinner and then heading over to a nice cigar bar that I like?” He asks.

“Since you’re picking the cigar bar, how about dinner at Charlie Palmer’s?” I ask.

“Mr. Greene, that’s really expensive,” he replies.

“Well, my treat. You’ve seen my house, I think that I can afford it,” I say laughing a bit.

“You do realize that when someone offers me a free steak dinner it’s like waving a red sheet in front of a bull, don’t you?” He asks me with a bit of laughter in his voice as well.

“I’m visiting the new building and I’ve been trying to reach out to my Senator Kamala Harris,” I tell him.

“Oh, you’ll really like Senator Harris. She’s smart, she’s beautiful, and she’s tough as nails. Did you know she was a district prosecutor in California before she went into politics?” he asked.

“Yes, that’s why I wanted to just see her for a few minutes since I’m in town. Of course, I have to take a look at that building that I bought and make notes on how to fix the issues you pointed out,” I tell him.

“David, you have my phone number, call me at some point and we will discuss dinner plans. Sound good to you?”

“Sounds perfect, I’ll talk to you tomorrow,” I said to him just as the limo was finally at our jet.

We all got out and I gave the driver another three $100 bills, which he took and put in his pocket. I reminded him to call Paula, which he said he would do today.

As everyone took a seat, again Ronda was sitting close to me. Dakota took up a seat on one of the reclining chairs. Jennifer was back in the same position with her legs draped over the arm of the loveseat. The flight from Tampa only takes an hour so it felt quick. As we touched down, the jet had to wait in line as Atlanta is Delta’s main hub and thus, they rule the airport.

Although it only was about 10 minutes, it seemed as if it was an hour waiting for the larger commercial aircraft to come and go from the various gates.

Our pilot was directed to one of the distant fingers as Atlanta is set up much like a comb. One main spine and several teeth that jut out. We were parked in the very last spot available on that finger. We ended up between two Learjet. I thought that our newer Gulfstream looks much classier.

CHAPTER 3

We had to wait another 15 minutes as the limo driver had issues getting to our gate. I’m not sure who our pilot spoke to, but they suggested going inside the terminal and taking their ground transportation. I just laughed out loud, apparently, they are not used to dealing with top end people, or maybe our pilot just spoke to an idiot.

The chauffeur turned out to be a beautiful blonde lady. In my head, I was guessing about 23. Ronda whispered in my ear, “Down boy. You don’t need to do any recruiting here. You have plenty of willing pussy right here riding with you and if I get my way, riding you period,” she says smiling the whole time.

Jennifer had to give the chauffeur the address of the building that we were thinking of buying. It was downtown on Peachtree Street, but as we drove towards the business district it seemed as if all the streets were Peachtree something.

The trip took nearly an hour that Dakota’s GPS said should be about 35 minutes. I thought to myself how the GPS never factors in traffic nor traffic lights.

When we arrived the size of the building was impressive, however, the first thing that we all noticed was about the lack of curb appeal. No one likes to work in what appears to be a dirty building. Dakota took her assistant book out as we got out of the limo. I handed the chauffeur three $100 bills and told her to find a place to parkas we had some work inside to do. I asked for her card and again, the chauffeur had no business card for us to reach her. However, she did give us her personal cell phone number which Dakota put into her phone.

We began by going inside the building. In the lobby, we found no security guard, no concierge, no receptionist. The tenant board had not been updated in a while as it still listed an office for the now-defunct PanAm Airways.

All three of the ladies declared that they had to use the ladies room, which there was no signage for anywhere. Jennifer found the washroom and summoned the other two ladies. I followed figuring that the men’s room must be close by, but I was wrong. It was on the opposite corner of the main floor. I only spotted it by accident as a well-dressed man came out a door wiping his hands dry with a paper towel which he threw into an overflowing waste container.

I went into the restroom and couldn’t believe the smell. I thought maybe something had died in there. I peeked underneath the stalls to see if I saw any shoes, but there was none. I pushed each stall door open thinking that maybe someone had not flushed or that there was a stopped-up toilet. However, I couldn’t find either one as I opened each stall door.

I suddenly realized what the smell was, it was sewer gas. I looked around for a floor drain which was in the last stall. I laid an unfolded paper towel over the drain and saw that there was air pushing the paper towel up off the drain. This told me that they have a leak somewhere that allowed air from somewhere else in the building to blow out here in the men’s room. I went to wash my hands and found there to be no soap in any of the dispensers. Now, missing soap isn’t a reason not to buy the building, but it certainly is a reason to fire the maintenance company, if there is one.

I just dried my hands using the paper towels, but there wasn’t very many of them either. I went back out to the lobby area and waited for the ladies. One by one they came out, each with a sour look on their faces.

When they all reached where I was sitting I asked, “Well, what did you ladies encounter in the restroom?”

“It’s not very clean. A couple of stalls appeared as if they weren’t cleaned since last week. Only a few paper towels and no soap,” Jennifer told me. The other ladies both shook their head in agreement.

“Jen, call Diane and have her pull whatever information about this building and send it to my email. I would like to find out some things that I suspect,” I ask of her. She dials up Diane as the four of us head towards the elevators.

When Jennifer hangs up, I ask, “Isn’t this the one that is going for $27 million?”

“Yes, and you said to call Jill and buy it. The contracts have already been signed,” Jennifer tells me.

“So, when and where do we close the deal?”

“Let’s get the information about who handles the maintenance here. Is it a third-party vendor or employees of the building?” I ask Jennifer.

“Well, we can find out right now. Their go-to person is a lady named Sandy. Let’s head up to their 13th floor to the offices,” she says smiling. I remember her joking before about the similarities between Sandy and Sindee.

We step onto the elevator and poke the button for the 13th floor. When the doors open, I notice there is no ding or bell or announcement that you are on the proper floor. We step off and are greeted by an elderly lady.

“Hello, I’m looking for the go-to lady of the building named Sandy,” I tell the lady.

“I’m Sandy. Who are you?” She says flooring me.

“I’m David Greene, the new owner of this building,” I tell her.

“Sir, not to argue, but you can’t be the new owner. The new owner is named Jack Son,” She tells me.

We all just smile. Clearly, this poor lady is way above her head doing multiple jobs.

Dakota hands the lady my business card. Jennifer speaks up saying, “No Ma’am, this is David Greene. He is the CEO of the company that just bought the building. The company’s name is Jaxson, Inc.”

The lady ponders what Jennifer tells her. “Well, I guess that could be true. They don’t tell me a lot here. I miss my old job being a school teacher, but now I’m too old and the kids are too rowdy. Things have just gotten way too fast for me, but I try to keep up,” she says.

Jennifer is annoyed. I’m saddened that this nice old lady is working the work of three or more people instead of having just one nice easy job or even being retired.

Ronda is speechless. She is clutching my arm once again, but now each time the lady speaks she squeezes my arm clearly stunned at what she’s hearing.

Dakota is just plain mad. Not at the lady, but at the corporate bullies that have this lady working so hard for them to save a couple of bucks.

“Sandy, may we walk around and look at the offices here?” I ask her.

She replies, “Sure, but I don’t know what you’re looking for as I’m the only one on this floor. I eat here and when I have to use the lady’s room, I have to lock the elevator so no one can step off while I’m not at my desk,” This makes Dakota and Ronda even madder.

“Ladies let’s take a walk around on this floor and take notes,” I say trying to get Dakota away from this poor old lady before something is said. As we start to walk away Jennifer stops and asks, “Who is the company that takes care of the bathrooms in the lobby?”

“Oh, we don’t have a company. I take care of them before I go home,” she tells us. Now, I’m mad as well. This company has clearly taken advantage of this lady. Dakota asks, “Miss Sandy, do you have Grandkids?”

“Oh, I have 6 grandkids, 5 great-grandkids, and 2 great-great grandkids,” she tells us.

“Then how young are you?” Dakota follows up with.

“Oh, dear. I’m 82 years old,” she says.

I interject, “Miss Sandy, who do you report to? Are they here in this building?”

“Yes, sir. It is the real estate company on the 39th floor. Would you like me to call them?” she asks.

“I would. Who would I speak to?” I ask.

“Ahmad Marmasupial. Oh, that’s not his actual name, but it’s as close as I can get to the way it is supposed to be pronounced,” she tells us.

“Could you dial him up and let him know that I’m coming up to see him, right now, Please,” I tell her as Jennifer poked the elevator button.

All four of us rode the elevator up to 39. When we stepped off, the man Ahmad came out to see us.

“Hello. Sandy tells me that you wanted to speak to me. May I ask about what?” he asks.

“Well, as the new owner of this building, why do you have an 82-year-old woman doing all the work and then having to clean the bathrooms?” I ask in a short fashion.

“Because that’s her job,” he tells me making me more annoyed.

“Well, effective now, she is not cleaning the bathrooms. I expect to see a new janitorial service handling this starting tomorrow,” I tell him.

“I’m not sure what position you hold here, but we own the building,” he tells me.

“Not any longer. My company bought the whole building. Your company already received the money. I expect Sandy to be handling phone calls and paperwork only. Have a nice day,” I tell him. Dakota is quite annoyed that this sweet lady is being drug around without any help.

We don’t even say a pleasant goodbye as we step onto the elevator and ride it up to visit the long term tenant, Carlton Fields.

When we step off the elevator, we are greeted by a receptionist. I ask to speak to the Director of Operations. She dials up someone who comes to the reception area in just a minute or two.

“Hello, I’m Daniel Davis. I’m the Director of Operations for Carlton Fields. How may I help you?”

“Mr. Davis, I’m David Greene, the CEO of Jaxson, Inc. I just wanted to stop by and let you know that my company bought the building. We are going to be making several changes, one of them is to clean the building. I’m not happy with it at all and I expect my team to turn this place into a place your company and your clients can enjoy. If you have any suggestions, here’s my card, feel free to contact me. Thank you for your time,” I say to him. We shake hands and my team gets back on the elevator.

When we get to the bottom floor, we head out to the limo. Our chauffeur pulls the limo to the front door.

Once we are all inside, I ask the group, “Well, what did everyone think about this place?”

Jennifer led, “David, I’m sorry. It seemed like a good purchase. I guess I’ll have to start visiting before we make decisions to buy,” she says with a look of disappointment on her face.

Dakota speaks next, “Daddy, not much right now, but if we put a team on it, we may have a really nice building. I’m sure that the last company will appreciate cleaning up the building and making it presentable. And, who thought that putting the building office on the 13th floor was out of their mind, plus that poor old lady needs some help and some security,” she says as I agree.

Ronda is the last one to comment, “The building needs a cleaning crew. They need a receptionist on the bottom floor and there needs to be a maintenance group to fix the many issues, like that smell in the bathrooms,” she says.

“I agree with all of you. Jennifer let’s get things going here to fix all these issues. Call Diane and let’s get started,” I tell her.

The chauffeur takes us back to the corporate jet. We all get on. I give the chauffeur three $100 bills for her hard work. She thanks us and off she goes. Once we are all situated in the plane, we taxi down the runway and head towards DC.

Once we are in the air, Ronda asks Dakota where we are supposed to spend the night.

“I booked us in the Watergate. They had suites still available. Daddy and Ronda in one room and Jennifer and me in another room,” she tells all of us.

I see Ronda’s big smile hearing that she is in my room.

“You may not get much sleep tonight lover,” Ronda says to me.

“That’s alright. Maybe I’ll just take a nap now,” I say smiling at her as she snuggles into me.

Dakota takes out her earbuds once again and puts on a cute movie called ‘Larry Crowne’ starring Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts. The movie is short, but then again so is the flight to DC.

I kick off my shoes and stretch out on the couch. Ronda lays on top of me and we drift off together to take a nap. I hear Jennifer and Dakota talking but I’m not paying attention.

When the Captain announces that we are on the descent into National, Ronda and I wake up and straighten ourselves.

CHAPTER 4

Once we deplane, my cell phone again goes off. It’s the secretary to Senator Harris. Unfortunately, she is unable to meet with me as she was called into a roll call vote on a controversial bill. One that I was absolutely against.

We take the limo to the building that we just purchased. Captain Perez told me about the building needing some work to make it more appealing. When we arrived, we immediately saw what he was referring to. The whole building needed pressure washing at the very least. The trash disposal area was a mess and needed to be cleaned up.

The ladies had already seen enough buildings; however, I did ask Jennifer to join me inside. Much to my relief, there was a security guard at a desk giving directions as to what floor certain companies were located on. I sent Jennifer into the ladies’ room to check things out. I headed into the men’s room. Thankfully, the men’s room was clean and odor free. When I went back outside, Jennifer said the ladies’ room was also clean and without odor. We didn’t stay very long as we had to get cleaned up for dinner with Captain Perez.

The chauffeur drove us to the Watergate. We were greeted by some very nice people who worked hard at putting our luggage on the cart and taking us to the front desk for check-in.

The front desk people checked the four of us in and gave us each a keycard and sent us with the bellman and our luggage up to our suites.

Ronda again held my elbow on the ride up. I saw Jennifer and Dakota just watching me.

“Jennifer, Dakota are either of you joining Ronda and I for dinner with Captain Perez?”

Both ladies declined. Dakota said she was very tired since we had been going since 3 am Los Angeles time. She opted for room service and a nice hot bath to relax. When she mentioned the bath, Jennifer agreed that a long hot bath sounded like such a good idea that she was going to have one herself. She also was going to have room service.

Ronda was all excited that we were staying in the same suite. The bellman took us to our suite and used the keycard to open the door. The room was nice and clean. I kicked off my shoes and tipped the bellman two $100 bills. He set the bags on the luggage stand and left. On the way out he did point out that the room service is available 24 hours a day.

Laying on the couch, Ronda sauntered over to me. She kissed me and put herself on top of me. I felt myself begin to stir. I pulled her into me and kissed her hard. She responded in the same manner. We began to make out as I felt her beautiful body press into me. My cock began to ache and wanted its release. As she had her lips on mine, I unclasped my pants and let her hands pull them down. In just a moment or so, my cock sprang from its confines. Ronda put her delicate hand around my shaft, and she began to stroke me. Her movements felt wonderful.

As she continued to stroke my manhood, I felt her slide down and wrap her lips around my manhood. I felt her hot breath as her lips began to swirl around the head of my cock making it ache with more intensity. After several minutes of her oral assault on my cock, she finally engulfed me into her wet mouth. As I felt her warm wet mouth, I began to thrust up into her mouth with a purpose. My hands found their way to the sides of her head and my hips continued to thrust into her.

She slid my pants and boxers down past my knees. I felt her soft hands play with my balls as her mouth worked the head of my cock. I leaned my head back on the couch as the delight of her oral skills gave me such enjoyment. As my body neared an orgasmic peak, I pulled her up to me and kissed her passionately. I whispered into her ear how much I loved her and she responded in like fashion. My hands found their way all over her body, removing her clothing. I could hear her breathing change as I licked and sucked on her neck. She continued to stroke me as I thrust upwards toward her womanhood.

At some point, she threw a leg over me and lined her love hole up with my manhood. Gently, I thrust myself into her. As I did, I heard her moaning into my ear.

“Oh David, I love you so much. You make me feel so wonderful. I want to have your baby more than you will ever know. Please give me all you have. I want you, I need you, I love you,” she says as she impales herself on my cock.

As she is riding me, I feel her wetness coating my cock and balls. I put my arms around her and roll her onto her back thrusting myself deeper into her. I see her eyes glazing over as I thrust repeatedly into her. My cock, my balls, and my entire pelvis area keep getting wetter and wetter. I’m thrusting into her as gently but as deeply as I can get.

“OH DAVID, I LOVE YOU SO MUCH. YOU MAKE ME FEEL WONDERFUL. OH FUCK, I’M CUMMING ON YOUR COCK SO HARD,” she says as I feel her body spasm on my cock.

As the first big orgasm rolls through her body, I feel another on the beginning, “OH DAVID, I’M CUMMING JUST FOR YOU. FUCK ME, I’M CUMMING SO DAMN HARD.” Her body still spasming underneath me. I begin to really thrust into her, my balls slapping her making loud sounds of pure ecstasy. She is moaning and writhing as her body makes my pelvis wet with her womanly juices.

“OH DARLING, HERE I CUM. YOU ARE SO WONDERFUL. YOU MAKE ME FEEL SO LOVED,” I say as I cum into her feeling her body grasp my cock and milk it for everything it has.

We pull each other tightly as we continue to orgasm again and again. I cum into her a second time feeling her pussy milk my hard cock. We roll off the couch and onto the floor, laughing as we land on the carpet. She declares her love for me once again as I kiss her face.

“OH DAVID, I LOVE YOU SO DAMN MUCH,” she says into my ear as my cock remains hard and deep in her pussy.

As we begin to settle down, our bodies continue to spasm as we kiss each other and declare more feelings of love for each other. I pull her tightly to me and kiss her before I nibble on her ear causing her to moan.

I pick her up and carry her honeymoon style to the bed. I lay her down before I slide my cock back into her wet cum-filled pussy. She asks me to fuck her once again. I push myself into her and push deep. I feel all the cum making it easy to fuck her again She is begging me for more and more cum as I thrust hard into her.

Tears of joy begin to stream down her cheeks as I continue to push deep into her. I feel yet another orgasm fast approaching, “OH GAWD RONDA, I SO FUCKING LOVE YOU,” I say as I shoot yet another sizeable amount of baby making juice into her already sloppy pussy. I see her eyes roll to the back of her head as she reaches another orgasmic peak.

“OH DAVID, GAWD DAMN, I LOVE YOU. OH MY GAWD, I LOVE YOU SO MUCH,” as she continues to orgasm on my hard cock.

As we begin to regain our senses, I see that it is time to get ready for dinner. I pick up my lover and carry her to the shower where I turn on the hot water and set her down gently. We take our time and soap each other up. Ronda takes her time to shampoo my hair. I, in turn, push her against the shower wall and put my cock into her ass causing her to moan loudly. I thrust harder and harder into her. I feel her wetness bathing my pelvis as I thrust hard into her. Once again, she reaches an orgasmic peak. As I feel her ass clamp around my cock, it begins to milk me for all I must give her. I shot several ropes of cum into her anal cavity.

Once I am all spent, I lean against the glass of the shower and enjoy the hot water cascading over my body.

“OH DARLING, I SO LOVE YOU,” I tell her.

“And I love you, David,” she says back to me.

We spend a few more minutes rinsing off before we turn the shower off and step out to dry ourselves off. She takes me by the hand and leads me into the bedroom. I lay down on the bed and just watch that beautiful body get dressed. I think to myself how beautiful our child will be with her so gorgeous and sexy.

Ronda pulls out a short skirt and a tight top. I am stunned at just how beautiful she is. As she nearly finishes getting dressed, I begin to get dressed as well. I put one of my suits on since we are going to a very upscale restaurant for dinner.

CHAPTER 5

Ronda and I made our way down to the lobby of the Watergate. She clutched my elbow the entire way. When we reached the lobby of the hotel, our limo was waiting for us. We stepped inside and headed off to the restaurant. I texted Captain Perez that we were on our way. He texted back that he would meet us there. I must admit that Ronda and I seemed to be a different set of lovers. Maybe Dakota and Jennifer were right about us, we seemed to have a passion for each other. I know she wanted me and of course, I want her.

The trip from the Watergate didn’t take long as our chauffeur made his way through traffic. When we arrived at the restaurant, I gave our chauffeur a tip of three folded $100 bills. He took them, thanked us and parked the limo in a far corner of the parking lot.

Ronda and I went inside to wait at the bar. It wasn’t too long before Captain Perez arrived. He looked great. A dark blue suit with a white shirt and red tie. For a moment, I had thoughts that he was an ardent supporter of our President, but he just likes the suit and tie combo.

Ronda hugged him and kissed him, causing him to be totally surprised. The hostess took us to a table. Perez and I sat across the table from one another, Ronda sat between us. We had a great meal as both of us guys each had a steak. Ronda had a salad with some grilled chicken on top and a balsamic citrus vinaigrette as the dressing.

I saw Ronda’s hand snake underneath the table in what I was sure she was stroking his cock through his pants. In my head, I worried about her having sex with our fearless Captain. If she is going to carry my child, then he can’t put any baby juice into her.

We had a great time discussing all sorts of things, such as the building we visited earlier today in Atlanta. Perez was shocked at what we saw, specifically the old lady having to clean the bathrooms before leaving. As we finished our meal, Perez suggested that we head to the cigar bar. However, Ronda had other suggestions. She texted Jennifer and told her that we were bringing someone back to the hotel for her to play with. She texted that she would be waiting in our suite.

I paid the bill, and Perez thanked me. We got into the limo and headed back to the Watergate. The chauffeur asked if we were going to be headed towards the cigar bar or just back to the hotel. We opted for the hotel.

As we were driving along, Ronda unzipped Perez and began her oral talents on his manhood. He looked surprised when her lips wrapped around his cock. She began bobbing her head up and down causing him to moan. I just sat back and enjoyed the show.

Jennifer met us at the concierge desk. When she saw Perez, she just smiled and took him by the hand and led him to the elevators. The four of us rode up together getting off at our floor. Jennifer was still leading Perez to our suite. When Dakota opened the door to the room, Perez asked, “Holy crap David, how many beautiful women do you travel with?”

“A couple,” I said to him as Dakota took him by the hand now and pulled him into the suite.

“Which one is your wife?” He asked.

“None of them. My wife is back home at the Chateau,” I tell him. His eyes get large.

“NONE of them are your wife?” He asks again.

“Nope,”

“How the hell did you get your wife to agree to that?” Perez asks.

“There was no ‘getting’ my wife to agree. We have an open swinger type marriage. Heck, she’s probably at home getting some sex from my assistant,” I say to him.

Jennifer takes Perez by the hand and pushes him down on the couch. She unzips him and sheds her own pants and panties. She straddles him thrusting herself onto his hard cock.

Ronda, meanwhile, is also impaling herself onto my hard cock. Looking over Ronda’s shoulder, I see Dakota coming out of the bathroom all dry but naked.

“Oh goodie, someone new to play with, “she says as she makes a beeline for Perez. As Jennifer is riding the Captain, Dakota straddles his face grinding herself onto his extended tongue. She begins to wiggle that cute ass as he is nibbling on her clit and thrusting his tongue into her as deep as he can get.

I feel Ronda’s soft gentle hand take my own and lead me into the bedroom. We both shed our clothes and climb into the bed together, once again declaring our love for each other. It doesn’t take very long before we hear Perez announce his orgasmic peak. Clearly, he is shooting what he had into Jennifer as I hear her reaching her peak as well.

Ronda and I begin to make passionate love to each other. As I’m playing with her body, I think about Dakota’s statement about how I act differently with Ronda. We are touching, caressing, kissing and doing all the things that people in love do with each other.

After three hours, I hear the front door open and close. Since Ronda and I were done with our entanglements, I got up and went out to the living room to check on what was happening. I see Dakota, but no one else.

“Where’s Jennifer?” I ask.

“She, um, left with the guy you brought to the hotel,” Dakota tells me.

“Really?” I say a bit shocked, but as I took a couple of moments thinking about it, I knew that Jennifer was perfectly safe for if the FBI can trust her, can’t I?

Dakota had put on one of my white tee shirts, and of course nothing else. She flipped the backend of her tee shirt at me, giggling as I headed back into the bedroom. When I got in there, I found my lover fast asleep. I thought about what was said earlier that we had started out at 3 am LA time.

I found myself being hungry. I put on a pair of shorts out of my suitcase and walked back into the living room where I found my Dakota watching a movie, “Hey, Darling, are you hungry?” I asked even though I knew the answer before she said yes.

She reaches over to the little side table next to the couch and opens the menu. There are lots of things that are very high society, both Dakota and I wanted regular food. In my head, the BLT that was ordered back at Village Inn sounded wonderful, made exactly the way Jennifer liked it. On white toast, extra mayo and I wanted to add extra slices of tomato. The menu said it comes with one side plus a pickle. I chose French fries as the side, with lots of ketchup for Dakota could feed them to me.

Dakota, on the other hand, had decided on a large Italian pizza. She was happy with just a cheese pizza along with two bottles of Coke and a large glass of white milk. She was nice enough to call it in for us, but then again, she always takes good care of me. I stretched out on the couch and after the phone call Dakota stretched out on top of me.

Dakota said, giggling as she says, “With the price of things here on the room service menu, John would have killed us,” which caused me to laugh as well.

“Well, maybe they have an All You Can Eat buffet downstairs,” I say to her causing more laughter.

“Dakota, what do you think about the two buildings we saw today?” I asked taking a moment to be serious.

“Well, you already know that the Atlanta building only pissed me off. That old lady should be doing something easy like filing or giving people directions not cleaning bathrooms,” she began with.

“The Eagle, well that one needs help. It’s clean enough inside, but the outside looks terrible. We need to hire a staging company as they would make the outside look wonderful and make the first impression of the building something memorable,” she continued on with.

A staging company. I had not thought of that. They are used in residential real estate all the time, but in commercial real estate, I have never heard of them being used. I lean down and kiss Dakota, as once again she is contributing to our success.

I text Jill our Dakota’s idea of a staging company. She texts back that it is a genius idea. To be funny, Dakota takes her phone and opens the bedroom door to a sleeping Ronda. She snaps two pictures and puts with them, “Guess who can’t go the distance with David?” She shows me the picture before she hits send. She giggles as she climbs back on top of me once again. She snuggles all into me. We watch a mindless movie, one that I really enjoy the Tom Cruise movie, “The Last Samurai” I struggled to keep my eyes open, even though we had food coming.

Finally, after a while, there was a knock at the door. Dakota bounced off the couch and went to the door. There a young man, college-aged, stood with a tray of food covered in silver plate covers. She invited the guy in and pointed to the dining room table. I didn’t have my cash with me, so Dakota brought me the bill. I put a $300 tip on the bill then totaled it.

“Sir are you sure about the tip?” the young man asked.

“Let’s say yes. I’m sure that you deserve this tip,” I say to him.

“It’s not that I get a tip such as this,” he replies. I think to myself about the cheap ass bastards that probably only tip $20 rationalizing that they don’t have to tip very much.

The young man thanks us, even calling Dakota my wife, which made her giggle. As usual, Dakota took good care of me, bringing my BLT and fries over to me on the couch. She even slathered ketchup on them. I took one fry covered in ketchup and pushed it into her mouth, laughing at the ketchup on her upper lip.

I went back to being serious for a moment, “What do you think about Jennifer’s handling of the two purchases?”

“I think she did just fine. Maybe, as she said, she needs to make unannounced trips to check out the buildings before we do the deal. Are we still going to stop in Phoenix and surprise Tina, I think she would like that,” Dakota says to me?

I don’t answer her, but instead, I just sit and think about Tina. She and I have come a long way since we met at Happy, Happee Limo. In my head, I was hoping that we would find a very happy Tina, moving her life along.

As we watched the movie, I ate my sandwich feeding my lithe darling fries with ketchup, both of us giggling as we fed each other. It was about 4:30 am when Jennifer returned to the hotel room. I saw Perez be the gentleman and kiss her at the door before she came inside. I knew that look in her eyes. She wasn’t in love, but she certainly was smitten by him.

“Welcome back my darling,” I say to her.

Dakota keeps eating her pizza. She’s about three slices in as I finish up my BLT. Jennifer takes a slice of pizza and grabs a couple of ketchup covered fries.

Neither Dakota nor I ask Jennifer how the night went. Clearly, she enjoyed herself and I didn’t have to worry because she was with someone that the FBI trusted.

She folds the pizza slice in half and stuffs it into her mouth. I hear Dakota giggling as she also folds a slice in half for her as well. I put my empty dish on the side table as I now have finished my fries and have drunk one of the Cokes.

Jennifer can’t contain herself any longer, “David, he took me to this wonderful bar where we danced and danced. We walked the park that they call ‘The Mall’ which we were approached by several police and he had to flash his badge for them to leave us alone. We walked past the Capitol building, past the White House, and past several of the monuments such as the Washington Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial. But now, my feet hurt, What I want to go take a long hot bath,” she says to Dakota and myself.

I see her shed her clothes as she heads into the second bedroom.

“Darling, let’s get a couple of hours of sleep then head towards Phoenix,” I say to Dakota, who takes another slice of the pizza. As she puts the tip of the slice into her mouth, I playfully push the pizza slice into her face, which causes her to giggle.

As we progress into the movie, a clean but tired Jennifer comes out to tell us she’s going to bed. We both kiss her as she patters off to the bedroom that she and Dakota are sharing.

Just as the bedroom door closes, a sleepy Ronda comes scuffling out to Dakota and me.

“What are you guys watching?” She asks.

“The Last Samurai, it has Tom Cruise and KenWatanabe,” I say to her. Ronda plops herself down on the couch at our feet taking a slice of pizza.

I push Dakota off of me and sit up taking Ronda’s feet and begin massaging them. Her head leans back on the couch telling me how good it feels to have a foot massage.

“So, I’m guessing that you’ll be wanting these once you are pregnant?” I ask smiling the whole time.

“WOW, does pregnancy come with foot massages?” Ronda asks me.

“Aren’t you a doctor? Don’t you know what comes with pregnancy?” I ask causing Dakota to giggle.

I keep rubbing her feet and she keeps eating. Dakota teasingly reaches for the last slice of pizza, which she giggles and tells Ronda to have the last slice. Dakota kisses me passionately and asks, “What time should we get up tomorrow to fly to Phoenix?”

“Let’s get out of here no later than 10 am. Are we all set up for car service to our plane?” I ask.

“Of course, Daddy,” she says as she walks to the bedroom. I now have Ronda all to myself. I continue to massage her feet, but now I’ve also included her thighs and calves.

Ronda picks up the remote to the TV and sets a wake-up timer for us, just in case we fall asleep.

As I’m watching the movie, I find myself fighting the sleep which is overtaking me.

CHAPTER 6

When the TV alarm goes off, it takes me a couple of minutes to figure out how to turn it off. Ronda, of course, only takes a moment hitting the proper button to silence the alarm.

Jennifer comes out of the bedroom looking for coffee. She goes into the kitchen area and wrestles with their coffee pot. She curses a couple of times before she finally gets it working. It was kind of cute to hear her curse at the machine. It made me think about John and wonder how he was doing. I went into the bedroom and grabbed my phone and texted John asking how the window project was going. I didn’t get a response, which I didn’t expect.

I kissed Jennifer and asked her to get ready to leave, knowing that she will take a few more minutes. It dawned on me that we never used the second hotel room that was booked for Dakota and Jennifer, we only used the two that my suite provided.

“Will you go wake up Dakota before you start getting ready to leave,” I ask Ronda.

She heads off to the second bedroom and I hear her trying to wake Dakota up. Jennifer was in the kitchen complaining about how lousy their brand of coffee tasted. She suggested to me to complain about their coffee and maybe they’ll deduct some money off a room that we didn’t use.

Dakota scuffs her feet out to the kitchen. Jennifer tells her just how bad the coffee is. She pours herself a cup and takes one sip, spitting it out in the sink agreeing with Jennifer. Ronda says that she isn’t even willing to try it, which made me shocked that it scared a Marine off from even trying it. I’m sure that Ronda has had some bad coffee in her active military days, but I guess in a $1000 a night hotel room, one expects much better coffee.

All three ladies disappear to get ready. I’m sure that Ronda was in our bedroom bathroom and Jennifer, who was up first was in the second bathroom. Dakota was trying to figure out what to drink since the coffee was so putrid.

After a few minutes, Ronda came out to the living room again looking stunning. Jennifer wasn’t far behind. Both ladies were magnificent in their appearance. It wasn’t long before Dakota was ready as well. Jennifer pushed me towards the bathroom that Ronda used.

When I was finally ready to go, I summoned a bellman to our suite. I took the packet of coffee along with me to the front desk.

“Hello Sir, are you checking out?”

“I am now. You mean to tell me that my suite which cost me $1000 can’t have decent coffee?” I ask before I pay the bill. In all actuality, I didn’t expect any money off for bad coffee.

I hand the front desk clerk the package of coffee. He tells me that we have the old brand of coffee, somehow no one changed out to the new brand. I thanked him for the explanation, but still wanted to pay the bill. The front desk clerk went to someone who was obviously a supervisor.

“Mr. Greene, my boss has told me to not charge you for the second room. He apologized for the issue with the coffee, as he practically mainlines coffee, so he knows how good coffee is important. Will that be OK, removing the second room?” He asks.

“Yes, that will be fine. We should be having a car service show up with a limo for us momentarily,” I tell him.

“They’re already here,” The clerk tells me.

I pay the bill, putting everything on my AMEX since they take practically every form of a credit card.

We head to the limo, which was sitting at the main entrance. I handed the bellman three $100 bills as we get into the limo. I ask the chauffeur if he knew where we were going. He did and off we went.

The flight to Phoenix was quick as there is something about flying west early in the day. When we arrived at the Phoenix airport, I thought about the three reasons to be here. One was to visit this casino that we now owned, two to check out the two different buildings that we were considering for purchase, and three to visit with Tina.

Once again, we were all hungry, but this time we chose to head to a local diner. This time we all had breakfast. The local diner was doing steady business. The smell of bacon permeated the air inside along with hash browns. All three ladies had coffee, good coffee and I had a glass of juice, not my juice but apple juice will do just fine. I also ordered a tall glass of white milk to come with the meal. Our server was clearly Hispanic, but she slung the hash just like any other diner waitress.

The ladies were all drinking their coffee, no one was chatty as the coffee hadn’t taken effect just yet.

I suggested that we drive past the two buildings before we visit the casino. I knew that any casino was open 24 hours a day, so going early would give Tina time to get home from class. I ask the waitress where the casino was located, she gave directions to both casinos, not knowing that we owned both.

We ate our breakfast, paid the bill and headed out to the limo. I gave the driver the address that the waitress wrote down for me. The chauffeur knew both of the casinos well and told us he would take us to the closer one first, which was fine by me.

When we pulled up to the first casino, we were greeted warmly by a young man, of college age. I asked the chauffeur to find where they park the limos and go wait there. The four of us went inside the casino, I felt like I was watching the movie 21 with Kevin Spacey. Here at 9:30 am the place was jumping. I stopped at the reception desk and asked to speak to a manager. A few minutes passed before a manager arrived.

“Hello sir, I’m to understand that you wanted to see a manager. How may I help you?” The manager asks.

“Well, I’m David Greene, I’m the CEO…….” I don’t even get a chance to say anything as the manager cuts me off.

“Yes sir, you’re the CEO of Jaxson, Inc. the company that owns this and our sister casino. How may I help you?” He asks.

“Well, I just stopped in Phoenix to see a friend and thought I would show up unannounced to see how this business is doing,” I tell him.

“Well sir, as you can see, we’re doing just fine. However, we do have a request, can we either build or buy a hotel? We lose quite a bit of business to people staying at other hotels,” the manager tells me.

“We do? Do you have any numbers to support that?” I ask.

“Yes, sir. He pulls out his phone and in just a couple of minutes, he turns the phone around for me to read the statistics. I read them. He’s right we show a 42% loss of clientele after more than 4 hours of play. The numbers get worse at the 6-hour level.

I ask, “Do we have a parking garage?’

“Yes sir, we have a 500-spot garage. Our statistics come from the number of people who leave. We track them all day and all night,” he tells me.

I see my three ladies all playing. Jennifer is playing blackjack, Jennifer playing craps, and Dakota watching me and playing some sort of slot machine.

“Mr. Greene, would you like me to call over to our sister casino, which is much newer and tell them you’re coming over?” the manager asks.

“No, please don’t do that. I want to just show up as I did here, If you call them and alert them, I won’t get a true feel of what the customers are experiencing,” I tell him. He nods his head. I gather my ladies and we head out. On the way out I ask for his card and give him my card. I turn my card over and give him Jill’s personal cell number as I know she wants to be able to look at the financials. I also tell him that our IT guy will most likely get in touch with their IT people.

We leave, but I don’t want to head to the other casino. I’ll get the dog and pony show instead of showing up unannounced. Next, I ask Jennifer to direct us towards these two places that we are looking to purchase, the Dial and the new one that is unfinished.

The chauffeur tells us that the Dial has been up for sale for quite a long time. Jennifer asked if the new one was something that we should be looking towards buying, he said that the city is very excited about having this building having a new investor. Jennifer corrected him that we were not going to be an investor, we would be the owner.

The drive to each building wasn’t that long as they were just a couple of blocks from each other. The Dial building was very nice looking and had that good curb appeal. The second building clearly was under construction as it had that large construction crane over the site. I really liked both buildings.

“Unless you find something out, let’s buy both buildings,” I tell Jennifer who smiles that beautiful smile.

“Done boss,” she says to me. I see the chauffeur watching us through the rearview mirror.

Dakota gives the chauffeur Tina’s address. It was on the other side of town closer to the university. When we arrived at the address, we were all a bit stunned. I asked Jennifer and Ronda to stay in the car as Dakota and I walked up to the front door.

The door ball was hanging from the house. I tried to poke the button, but it shocked me. Dakota just knocked. A nice lady came to the door, clearly, she was Tina’s Mother as you could see the resemblance.

“Hello Ma’am, I’m David Greene and this is my assistant Dakota,” I say to her.

“Please come in. Tina talks about you two all the time. You’re not here to take her away from me, are you?” she asks.

“No Ma’am, nothing like that. We were in Phoenix for business and we thought that we would just stop in and check on her. How’s she doing?” I ask her Mom.

“She’s doing just fine. She’s close to finishing her AA degree in business management. She hasn’t decided if she will go on and get her BA or not,” the Mom tells us.

Suddenly, Tina bursts through the front door.

“I just knew that you had to be here. No one pulls up a limo in front of a house in this neighborhood,” she says to us.

I hug her and kiss her on the cheek. Dakota on the other hand, kisses her passionately on the lips, causing the Mother to stir.

“May we take you and your Mom for a ride?” I ask, not wanting to leave Mom out of the equation.

Mom nods her approval. We all head out to the limo.

“Mr. Greene, could you show me the buildings that you are looking to buy? I’ve lived here quite a long time and can probably give you some history, if you interested,” her Mom says.

We head back to the two buildings. Mom has little to no information about the one under construction except for what has been read in the newspapers. However, she had lots of information about the Dial building. We sat in front of building for over an hour with Tina’s Mom chatting about it.

As she began to fade on the information, I suggested we head to someplace to eat. She politely declined. Tina expressed that she missed everyone at the Chateau. I kissed her as we returned to Tina’s home. I watched both ladies walk to the front door thinking to myself that they need some help. I texted Aurora and asked if they have a franchise in Phoenix. She texted back that it was a corporate store and not a franchise. I dialed her up and told her that I needed work done at the address for Tina asking her to put it on my bill. She thanked me some more for the business.

As they both got inside, I had the chauffeur take us to our jet. On the way to the jet, I thought about being a chauffeur and how much Jill and my life changed. When we got to the jet, we all got out and got situated inside with the co-pilot carrying up our luggage stowing it away and off we went back to LA, to home.

IF YOU ENJOYED THIS CHAPTER, PLEASE LEAVE ME A COMMENT. THANK YOU, PABLO DIABLO.

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