Chapter 60

I woke up snuggled to the delicious Kelly. I almost felt guilty, but I wasn’t sneaking around since my loves knew I was with her. I gave her a nudge and she wrapped herself around me, kissing me, and telling me to hold her for another few minutes while she tried to wake up.

“Oh, no you don’t. That’s just a copout to get me to let you sleep another couple of minutes. Let’s get going so we don’t make the plane, pilot, and hostess wait.”

One eye opened on the beauty and she stuck her tongue out at me. She swiveled to sit up, and asked, “Are we going to exercise or pass on it this morning?”

“We’ll pass this morning. It’s more important to get to the airport than exercise. We’ll work on it tomorrow morning or this evening.”

We did our thing showering, me shaving, and then dressing. Kelly was sneaky as she had worn what she was going to wear today, so she didn’t have to open her suitcase. She had her cosmetics in a pocket on her pull bag.

I dressed in a suit, remembering to put my shoulder holster on with my Glock that I had left on the nightstand. We went down to the kitchen where there was a Mr. Coffee with a fresh pot. The two of us had some coffee and then plates of bacon, eggs, and toast were put in front of us. Donte and Brindle received the same treatment, so the four of us quickly ate before going out the front door to the BMW. I loved this car because the back seat is so comfortable.

We arrived at Bob Hope Burbank Airport where our airplane was lit up, letting us know that we were expected and they were ready fifteen minutes ahead of time. Maggie greeted us at the stairs where I introduced her to Kelly. Maggie said, “Your schedule is pretty tight the next two days. We’ll do everything we can to help you do what you want.”

The day went well, as Taz met us when we arrived and quickly had us at the office. We went over the contract addendum and what it would mean to him. His people were in early, so we did a tour and saw that they had a great weekend with nineteen sales for Saturday and Sunday. The Sales Manager said that he thought there were four more sales that were coming through, but he couldn’t report them because he didn’t have contracts in hand yet.

Taz was ready to hit the air for Seattle. We flew to Seattle and were able to get right down to a tour and some conversation with the Manager. That group was happy and had enjoyed a nice weekend, so we headed for the airport to go to Portland over an hour ahead of schedule.

Kelly was perfect for this push through the offices as she was doing her queries with the Manager’s secretary and the receptionist. She was typing notes on her laptop between offices.

Portland traffic was screwed up because of road construction, but we were able to get to the office before the expected time. We did a tour and discussed the office’s advertising. The guy was still resisting spending so much on radio ads since he was a TV addict and liked double-page newspaper ads for both Saturday and Sunday. I told him that the way the other offices had been able to increase sales had been through radio. He should study how they did it and how it may be a part of their success.”

We were in the air and on the way to Salt Lake City an hour and half ahead of schedule. Sheila met us at the airport and took us to the office. We did a tour, reviewed her advertising, and looked at the progress they had made to sell the high end homes in the new development. It had been a great success.

I had both Sheila and Rebecca across from me at the small conference table in the Manager’s office. I went over the new Manager’s contract that Sheila would work under in San Jose. I told her that she didn’t have to get it back to the home office until the Friday after next, but that would begin to shorten the time she would have to staff her office. She said, “The only difference is the lack of an automatic renewal. I’ll have to walk out and leave the office to die if you or another Regional doesn’t bring me a new contract.”

I told her, “I agree with you, Sheila. I want you to write a note exactly like that and send it to Ken and Forest. I think they want some control over how long the contracts are, but this will hurt them if they neglect to prepare for it. I’ll watch your dates, but you’ll still need to be pushy when your contract anniversary is coming up. It’s a good contract since you do receive a little better percentage of the sales.”

I went over the same contract for Rebecca. She didn’t even look at it and just smiled at me the entire time. She finally said, “Who cares what all those words are about? You’re promoting me to be a real Office Manager. This is so exciting that I’m totally nuts about it. You told me that it was going to happen, but I couldn’t believe I could get this chance as a woman. Sheila convinced me that it was possible and now it’s happening. Just show me where to sign, and I’m your girl. Taz is going to be my Regional Manager, but you’ll still be around to help me.”

Sheila hugged Rebecca, and said to me, “Rebecca was the best person you could have sent me. We instantly knew how to work with each other and worked together to build the business. Do you know that we’re third in the nation for our size office? We’re going to grow into the next level very soon. Rebecca will be recognized as someone special because of our growth.”

They both signed their contracts, copied them, and then put them in a FedEx envelope going directly to Forest. Sheila said that she would be moving to San Jose over the next week, and already had most of her staff committed. She said that she had been working on people for at least three months. It almost blew up, but it’s all working out now.

I looked at Sheila and asked, “Can you take us to the airport so that we can take Taz home and I can get ready for another crazy day tomorrow.”

On the ride back to Reno, Taz said, “I don’t know whether I could handle the pressure you seem to operate under so well. Today was an amazingly successful day except for Portland. I’ll get the man to work on his advertising. He’s throwing his money away on TV and heavier than needed newspaper advertising when we need to have the radio to get the listeners’ attention.”

We dropped Taz off and flew to Oakland. We found a hotel near the office and ate at a nice place next door. During supper, Kelly said, “I love the way we push through the offices. Tomorrow won’t be bad because we can do this one, Sacramento, San Francisco, run down to San Jose, and bring Andy back to Oakland. We might have been smart to meet Andy in Sacramento, but I think I want to see Oakland first thing.”

Kelly and I made slow and gentle love before going to sleep after one last kiss. Kelly was a true ‘what if’. She might have been the one if Jules and Katie hadn’t totally overwhelmed me. She was still someone special to me, as well as to Katie, Jules, and Willy.

We were up early and used the hotel’s gym for a half hour workout. We had some breakfast and waited for Andy to pick us up. I told Andy on the way to the office that we were going to be moving rapidly, and not in the manner I expected him to supervise the offices. I told him to go to an office and get a feel for it. He knew how an office was supposed to operate, so all he had to do was to impart that knowledge to the Office Manager and his staff.

Yuri commented that working in a Foxworth office had been an amazingly fun time. He hoped that he had learned how to relax enough to enjoy life like these people do.

It was good to see Yuri. Andy had already discussed traveling with him to the offices to help others with projects. We did the tour and went out to the airport to fly to Sacramento. Sandy was there to meet us and bring us back to the office. The little person said that Wombie had been very subdued this morning, so she wasn’t sure what was going on.

We were greeted by Wombie as soon as we came in the door. She came from behind the reception counter and rushed to me giving me a hug. She said, “Don’t take my Sandy away from me. We haven’t had her long enough for her to learn everything. I want to keep her here for a little while longer. I love her like my Conestoga who now wants to go an office and become an Assistant. She did graduate third in Business Management at the University. I know that she needs to spread her wings, but I’m going to miss her too.”

Sandy hugged the crazy lady, and said, “Brad isn’t taking me away. I think he has his offices staffed right now and I’m here to learn.”

Dino came out and gave us the glad hand. He was waving a piece of paper in the air. “Look at this, will you. We did nineteen sales yesterday after a forty sales weekend. Everything you’ve pushed me to do has brought more and more sales in, and that translates into bigger commissions for everyone. Our insurance office just made a sale to one of the large manufacturing plants here in Sacramento. We were able to upgrade their health coverage and reduce their premiums. That sale pays for every dime we’ve put into the insurance office.”

We did the tour and I spent a couple of private moments with Semetry Tommetray, the Title Manager who had been a pain in the ass before. She hugged me before I left and thanked me for waking her up. She was now enjoying a life with a new man friend who was the head of the Engineering Department at the University. She said, “It might even be serious.”

I went over Dino’s contract with him. I told him that he didn’t need to worry about this one until after his current contract had expired. There was a slight increase in commission in the new one, but not enough to get rid of the auto-renewable contract he had now.

Dino looked relieved when I told him that I was promoting Andy to become the new Assistant Regional Manager and who should become the Regional Manager. He said, “I was so afraid you were going to make me become that person. Andy’s a great guy and a good Manager. We’ll work well together in building sales.”

Sandy drove us back to the airport where the plane was ready to go. We flew to San Carlos airport on the south side of San Francisco closer to where the office was. Kenneth Martin, the Office Manager, arrived to take us to the office at the exact right moment. We did the tour, checked out his advertising, and went over his new contract. Kenneth only had his original one year new Office Manager contract, so this one would become his working agreement. It was then that he introduced me to Marietta Foxworth, his new secretary. The two were moony-eyed with each other, but were obviously working well together. I asked where Marion Counterman, the former secretary, was.

Kenny smiled and pointed at one of two desks that were on the other side of the room. “Marion is one of my Assistants. My other Assistant is out at a development checking on the progress of some model home remodeling. He’s going to be ready in six months or so.”

I had introduced Andy as the new Assistant Regional Manager. Ken thought this was great. He said, “I’ll have to learn from this guy since he might become my father-in-law.”

Andy colored as he said, “There are just too many of them, Brad. I think every family has at least ten kids with two thirds of them female. We have to put their names and pictures in one of those dating sites to get rid of them.”

Kelly, Donte, and I broke up because we were familiar with the family’s craziness.

I asked Kenny, “Do you want to drive us, or should we rent a car to check out the San Jose office?”

Ken said, “Take your plane. The new office is five minutes from the airport. Rent a car, check out an unfinished building, run out to a development, and then get the hell out of there. I’ve already met Sheila when she stopped in to say hi. She’s been coming down on weekends to check on the models and inventory homes. She’ll do well there.”

I left Ken with some encouraging comments. “You’re really making progress to make this office into something special. Your sales are up over a hundred percent from two years ago, so enjoy the bonuses and commissions.”

Ken took us back to the airport and we flew to San Jose instead of the hour drive. The building was going to be a duplicate of almost all our offices except that it was an additional fifty feet longer to accommodate more closing offices and a larger sales room. The floor track was complete, so now there were electrical outlets in the floor, correctly spaced for desks. Communications cable to be pulled through conduit was everywhere. The place looked to be within a month or less of completion. Andy was excited and said, “This office is going to produce numbers rivaling LA. I just know it because the area is exploding with new large businesses. We’re about to have that in Oakland, so watch our numbers, Brad. It’s going to get crazy.”

We went back to the airport, flew to Oakland, and then flew back to Burbank. I told the pilot and hostess, “I want to leave at six at the latest to get to San Antonio tomorrow. It will probably take more than two days to go through Texas, but we’ll see. You’re perfect by being ready to take off as soon as I arrive. I’ll be out of your hair for a week or so since I’ll be going back to Hawaii as soon as we get back from Texas.”

Brindle was waiting for us and asked Kelly, “Do you want me to take you home, or will you stay over tonight?”

Kelly said, “I’ll call home to make sure everything is OK, and probably stay the night. We have to be at the airport by six in the morning.”

Brindle shook her head and said, “You’re a glutton for punishment by the way you’re following Brad around.”

Kelly answered with a smile, “There are benefits that I’ll soon no longer have. I want all I can get for as long as I can have them.”

The house staff repacked for me, and assisted Kelly in getting her clothes cleaned, washed, and ironed for another two or three days of pushing through offices.

We were served a great supper of grilled steak with mushrooms and some special potatoes, along with a good salad before the main dish. I was sipping my favorite after supper when I called home with my laptop on the bar. Katie answered and said, “Are you coming to us yet?”

“I will in a couple of days, Katie. I have to go to Texas tomorrow. Can you go to a PC so that we can Skype? I really miss you guys and would love to see you.”

I had the app already up and my loves’ three faces appeared. “That’s what I needed. Are you guys feeling alright? Are your critters behaving in those swelling bellies?”

Jules said, “It’s going to be one hell of an active girl if this isn’t a boy. Katie and I are comparing how they are twisting and turning. I exaggerate because they’re not doing all that bad, but they sure are active. Willy is going to have either a lazy boy or a petite little girl who is frilly and toe dances for us. This is so much fun, Brad. I think the idea of us having three at once is a great idea. They will be best friends with each other and just think of how crazy it will be with them running everywhere.”

“I’m looking forward to it.”

Jules asked, “Where’s Kelly?”

“She’s upstairs getting her clothes ready for Texas. We just spent a couple of days pushing through from Seattle to San Jose. We were lucky to be able to get through all the offices we went to so quickly.”

Kelly came into the saloon and to the laptop. She said, “Hi there. Thank you for having me accompany Brad on his trips. The man goes nonstop from the early morning until night. Do I need to tell you anything?”

Katie asked, “Is he still as good a lay as he was before?”

“Oh yes, but you guys had him locked up tight before I ever was able to sample him. I would petition to become an addition to the family if I didn’t want to be an Office Manager so much.”

I asked the girls, “What about your siblings and their kids, Katie?”

Katie said, “They are all trying to get enough Mexicans to work the farm so they can come. I think one couple will stay to manage, while the rest and all the kids come here. The couples will swap about once a month.”

“Uh, so are you guys planning on staying there for months?”

Jules said, “Yuu said he wants his kids to spend time here with some of his wives, at least the mothers of his kids. They have their teachers with them and they are having a great time. Yuu is playing golf with the guys every day. Hideki is as happy as a grandfather can be. Nobuko said that she thinks you need another lesson so that you’ll know how to make love to a pregnant wife.”

I told the girls, “I’ll be coming back to see you for a week, but I’ll need to come back here to get ready for the north LA office’s opening. That will be followed by the San Jose and San Antonio offices. I might not be able to be back except for a couple of nights a week if I can make connections.”

Jules said, “You don’t have to worry about connections. You order up an airplane and tell them to get you here. We have relations with all the different private carriers if our plane is busy. You come every weekend for a couple of days. You can skip out on Friday and go back Sunday night the way you just did it. We need you to love us up.”

Katie said, “Don’t worry about cost. Your fabulously sexy, slant-eyed, dark babe made us about two hundred million this past week. She is piling up a bunch of cash to buy up stocks when the EU crashes because of Brexit. She says that we’ll be able to pick up some really good buys when the market bottoms. She thinks that she can try to grow our cash reserve to some unheard of numbers. All our money is secured with taxes already paid, and is backed by gold. Even gold was off, but it came back and gained some. Never fear, Lover; your women are going to make you one rich mother.”