Chapter 20: Celebrations

December 20, 1993, Los Angeles, California

I greeted Cindi and Charlie in the glass-enclosed dining area where breakfast was served at the InterContinental Hotel. There was a nice view of the plaza where the MOCA ‘Grand Avenue’ building stood. I wondered if I could use part of my downtime to tour it. I sat down, turned over my coffee cup and a waitress immediately filled it with steaming black liquid.

“How’d you sleep?” I asked the girls.

“Like a baby,” Charlie said. “I met Barbara, Cynthia, and Cecelia for a drink last night after I left your room. A couple of sloe screws and I’m out like a light!”

“Who isn’t?” Cindi laughed.

“A couple?” I asked with an arched eyebrow.

“That’s a quiet night for you,” Charlie laughed. “Did you do anything, Cindi?”

“I was in bed about thirty minutes after we left Steve’s room.”

The waitress came to take our order, and I had to make a few substitutions to avoid the bread and hash browns that usually came with the various bacon and egg breakfasts.

“You cut out all carbs?” Charlie asked.

“I try to keep it under about 50 grams a day, which is around 1.5 ounces. Sometimes I’ll splurge, but mostly that’s for a dessert, and not very often.”

“So where do you get your calories?”

“Proteins and fats,” I said. “Technically, it’s called a ‘ketogenic’ diet and can be used to control diabetes. That was Al’s original idea, but keeping my blood sugar low prevents manic incidents; and Vitamin D, sleep, and exercise prevent depression. There’s also some research that indicates that low carbohydrate intake helps reduce serum cholesterol. All my doctors, including those up at the Mayo clinic, agree with this plan.”

Our food arrived and I dug into the bacon, sausage, eggs, and fresh tomatoes, while Cindi had an omelet and Charlie had a stack of pancakes with a side of bacon. We finished our breakfast and headed upstairs to brush our teeth. The girls would head to the office and I would take a walk and then sit by the fountain in California plaza and read. I was waiting in the elevator lobby, when Cindi came out of her room.

“It’s too bad about that broken wing,” Cindi teased. “I might have asked to join you in bed last night!”

I chuckled, thinking of the vivid dream I’d had the night before. I’d actually fallen asleep in my clothes, but fortunately, it hadn’t been TOO vivid, and I hadn’t made a mess. If the coin flip had gone the other way, I would have actually considered inviting her. I chuckled more when I realized that in my dream, I’d talked just as much as I would have had it actually happened.

“I promised Jessica and Kara I’d stay away from dalliances while we work on putting our relationship back together.”

I actually had an exception for Cindi from Jessica, but I didn’t think I needed to let Cindi know that, especially given the decision I’d allowed the coin to make for me.

Cindi nodded, “Trust me, that’s way more important than a night of screwing in Los Angeles. Why the chuckle?”

“Trust me, I thought about it when we scheduled the trip, but given the circumstances...”

“Work on your marriage,” Cindi said. “It’s important.”

Charlie came out of her room just then, so I simply nodded in acknowledgement of Cindi’s statement. I pressed the elevator button, and when the elevator arrived, we rode it down to the Lobby. Cindi and Charlie headed across the street to the office and I walked along the pink-tinted cement to the large fountain. I found a nice spot in the shade, and sat down. I opened Submarine, a non-fiction book by Tom Clancy which described the inner workings of nuclear submarines.

Just after 11:00am I went up to my room to change from my sweatsuit into dress slacks and a polo shirt, and headed for One California Plaza, which was just past the fountain where I’d been sitting. I went to the correct elevator, and pressed ‘41’ to take me to the floor where Ford, Jackson, and Finch was located. I smiled at the sign in the lobby that read ‘Welcome Steve Adams, NIKA Consulting’ and let the gorgeous brunette receptionist know I was Steve Adams from NIKA Consulting.

“Mr. Jackson is waiting for you. Someone will be right up to take you to his office,” she said, flashing me a winning smile.

In slightly different circumstances, I’d have been VERY interested in her, but in addition to my promise to Jessica, she was off limits because she worked for a client.

“Thanks.”

“Have you recovered from your accident?” she asked.

I nodded, and held up my purple cast, “Except for the ‘broken wing’ as one of my team referred to it.”

“That’s good! When do you get that off?”

“Right after Christmas,” I replied. “And it can’t be soon enough!”

“I believe that! Here’s Jeremy. He’ll take you back to see Mr. Jackson!”

“Thanks,” I said.

Jeremy shook my hand and led me back towards Ben’s office. He was probably around twenty-one which meant, also taking into consideration the time of year, he was a paralegal, not an intern or freshly minted lawyer. He brought me to Ben’s office and when I walked in, Ben jumped up to shake my hand.

“How are you holding up?”

“Good,” I said. “You can call Al Barton and tell him I had a good night’s sleep, alone, ate a proper breakfast, and spent three hours relaxing by the fountain in the plaza, reading and watching the water show.”

Ben laughed, “How did you know?”

“Are you kidding? That man could give Lavrentiy Beria lessons in espionage and surveillance! Go on, call him.”

He laughed again and went to his desk and dialed what I was sure was Al’s new mobile phone. He’d bought one after having to borrow mine in the Cook County ER waiting room.

“Hi, Al ... Yes ... He did ... Yes ... I will. He’s right here. Do you want to talk to him?”

He laughed and pressed the speaker button on the phone.

“Hi, Steve.”

“I’m not sure if I should call you J. Edgar or Lavrentiy,” I chuckled. “I’m following your instructions to the letter, Al. I’m going to lunch with Ben, then I’ll go take a nap before dinner tonight. And I’m going back to my hotel room when everyone goes to the blues club.”

“Any problems on the plane?”

“No. Those earplugs you gave me worked perfectly to equalize the pressure and the noise-cancelling headphones made it VERY quiet except for the soft music from my Sony Discman.”

“Good. Make sure you get a good night’s sleep before your flight to Pittsburgh.”

“I hear you, Olin!” I chuckled.

Ben laughed hard, obviously getting the reference.

“Olin?” Al asked.

“The last warden at Alcatraz,” Ben chuckled. “Olin G. Blackwell. Only Steve would come up with THAT obscure reference!”

“I’m sure Mario will call you with a report from Pittsburgh, in addition to Cindi’s report!”

“Two more weeks, Steve. Then we’ll be reasonably sure your concussion is fully healed.”

“I know. Thanks, Al. I mean that.”

We said ‘goodbye’ and Ben pressed the speakerphone button to disconnect the call.

“I don’t know too many people who get personal attention from the Head of Emergency Medicine for a major teaching hospital!” Ben said.

“You know the story. Jess is his protégé and he and I became friends. One thing led to another, and now he’s on the Board of Directors, so he has a double-interest, if you will.”

Not to mention I was his son-in-law, but that was something I couldn’t share with Ben.

“Well, let’s go have lunch!”

We left the office and walked to the Los Angeles Athletic Club where we had a very nice, quiet, relaxed lunch. When we finished, we walked back to California Plaza, and I went to nap while Ben went back to the office.

With my thirty-minute nap out of the way, I took my book back to the plaza, bought a rare Coke as a special treat, and relaxed by the fountain. I’d been reading for about an hour when I saw movement very close.

“Hi!” the cute brunette from the office said.

I rolled my eyes, though she couldn’t see that, then put a bookmark in my book and closed it.

“Hi,” I said.

“I’m Jasmine. I’m on my break. Mind if I sit down?”

I suppressed a chuckle. I did NOT think I was sending out any signals or giving any indication that I was interested. And I was wearing my wedding rings. She was relatively new, so I knew she couldn’t be thinking back to a past encounter either.

“It’s a free country,” I grinned.

She sat down and took a drink from her can of Diet Coke.

“When did you start your company?”

“In 1985, right after my friends and I graduated from Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago.”

“Wow! That’s pretty gutsy!”

“I ran my own software company with two friends in High School, so I sort of knew what I was doing.”

“High School? Really?”

“Yes, including running a computer dating program.”

“Too funny! How did that work out?”

“We ended up running it at over a dozen schools before my younger friend graduated and we sold the company. We were mostly making money with software for veterinarians by that point. Is this your first job?”

“Yes. I graduated from Palos Verdes Peninsula High School in May.”

“I went to Lunada Bay Elementary for second grade,” I said.

“I went there, too! But you’re a bit older, right?”

“I’m 30. So you weren’t even born when I was at Lunada Bay! And I only went there a year before we moved to Tucson for a year. We moved to Ohio right after that.”

“You were born in California?”

“In Lynwood, but my parents lived in an apartment in Huntington Beach at the time. They moved to a small house in La Habra, then to a bigger house in Yorba Linda when my brother was born. From there we moved to Bermuda Dunes, out by Palm Springs, to escape the racial tension in LA. The drive into the city was too much for my dad, so we moved to Palos Verdes. But then there were complications with his business partner, so he sold his shares, and we ended up eventually in Ohio. We rented briefly in Glendale, then in Anderson Township, and finally bought a house in Milford. I went to Sweden for my Junior year, then ended up in Chicago for school.”

“Wow. We lived in the same house in Palos Verdes from the time I was born!”

“Where?”

“Just off Palos Verdes Drive,” she replied sipping her soda.

“We lived on Via Montemar,” I said.

“No way! My parents still live on Via Lazo! Where was your house?”

“1405. It was the first house on Via Montemar.”

“My parents’ house is two houses up from the intersection of Lazo and Montemar! They lived there starting in 1974. They bought the house right before I was born. They needed more room than our old house because I have two older brothers.”

“We’d moved to Ohio by then,” I said. “But it’s a small world.”

“I need to get back to reception! Nice talking to you!”

“Same here!”

She got up and walked back towards One California Plaza and I opened my book to read. At 4:30pm, I went up to my room, showered and dressed for the company party. As was our usual practice, we went to the Pacific Dining Car for our dinner.

“How are you feeling?” Andy asked.

“Pretty good. I’m under fairly strict doctor’s orders to take it easy and get lots of sleep. It seems like once you have a concussion, recovering from a second one is tougher. I thought I was doing OK, and then I started to get totally fatigued.”

“And the wrist?”

“I get the cast off on the 28th, but I can’t spar or hit the bag until at least May.”

“Nice scar!” Heather teased.

“They offered plastic surgery but I prefer to show off the battle damage, if you will.”

“Is it true all this happened because you fainted?” Barbara asked.

“Have you all heard about my problem with syncope?”

Several of the team said ‘no’ so I explained my problem.

“So there’s no cure?” Juana asked.

I shook my head, “Nobody knows for sure what the problem is. There is general agreement about the likely cause, but there are no solutions except to do my best to reduce stress, follow my diet, and get plenty of sleep.”

Our appetizers and salads arrived and while we ate, I gave a ‘state of the company’ talk, with significant input from Cindi. We had a great conversation during the main course, and when dessert was served, I gave a short ‘thank you and happy holidays’ speech. When we finished dessert, I said ‘good night’ to the team. They headed for the blues club and I headed back to the hotel.

I walked into the lobby and started laughing.

“Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, the third time it’s enemy action,” I said.

“This is only the second time!” Jasmine protested.

“Third. I met you at the reception desk. I do NOT need a babysitter!”

“Who were you quoting?”

I had an option to make a snarky, suggestive comment, and I decided to do so. After all, if she was a spy, then I was going to do my best to turn her!

“Auric Goldfinger from the Bond movie. But don’t change the subject! Ben Jackson sent you here to make sure I got into bed at a reasonable hour!”

She giggled, “He actually said make sure you came back to the hotel at a proper hour. And he warned me about you!”

“And what did my esteemed friend, Benjamin Jackson, Esquire, say about me?”

“That you were a major flirt!”

“Well, he certainly could have said far worse. Did I flirt with you? At all?”

“No.”

“Well, you did your job. You can make your report!”

“You could buy me a Diet Coke and I could still give a positive report.”

“Now who’s flirting?” I chuckled. “Come on, let’s get your Diet Coke.”

I walked over to the bar and ordered a bourbon for me and a Diet Coke for Jasmine and we went to sit in the lobby because she wasn’t 21.

“Are you going home tomorrow?” Jasmine asked.

“No. We’re heading to Pittsburgh. We have an 8:00am flight.”

“You have an office there?”

“Yes. It’s similarly sized to our office here in LA. Most of our staff is in Chicago, including all of our programmers. I have to ask, how did you get nominated to check on me?”

“I share an apartment with two legal secretaries about six blocks from here. I can easily walk home. Mr. Jackson asked if I would mind doing this and I said no. I’ll get a couple of extra hours of pay, too!”

I laughed, “So you ARE a babysitter!”

“Actually, once you arrived, I stopped being paid.”

“Well, finish your Coke and you can head home and make your call!”

“Do you come to Los Angeles often?”

“Four times a year. I’ll be back in March, most likely.”

“Stop by and say ‘hello’.”

“I’ll be in to see Ben for sure, so I’ll see you. Thanks for checking on me.”