Chapter 69: Reunion

August 2, 1994, Chicago, Illinois

“There’s a letter for you from Japan,” Amanda said when Jessica, Elyse, and I arrived home on Tuesday. “It’s with your usual mail.”

I walked over to the rack on the wall in the short hallway that led to the nanny room and retrieved a pink envelope with neat handwriting and an image of a cherry blossom. I took the letter opener from the small shelf at the bottom of the rack and carefully slit the flap of the envelope. I extracted the card, which had a cherry blossom on it, opened it, and read the neat handwriting.

“May I read it?” Kara, who had been in the kitchen with Amanda, asked.

I nodded and handed it to her and she read it.

“She’s very much in love with you,” Kara said, handing the card back. “Did you know that at the time?”

I nodded, “I did. What happened between us was necessary for both of us. It was the culmination of our very intimate friendship. But I’m not the man for her, and she was fully aware of that. Her husband will be a traditional Japanese man, most likely her grandfather’s student I told you about. By the time I might even consider another trip to Japan, I think she’ll be long wed, and happily caring for her husband as a traditional Japanese wife.”

I didn’t want her to think I’d forgotten her, so I went to my study and quickly penned a reply. I checked the postal guide, and added sufficient postage to the envelope. I put it in my bag so I could drop it in the mailbox in the morning.

August 3, 1994, Chicago, Illinois

“Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. How may I direct your call?”

“Anala Patel, please,” I said.

“One moment and I’ll transfer you.”

I heard two rings and then a very familiar voice.

“Mrs. Patel. How may I help you?”

“Hi, Anala.”

“Steve?” she gasped. “Steve Adams?!”

“The one and only!” I chuckled.

“Thank heavens for that! I’m not sure the world could survive two of you! How are you?”

“Seven kids, two wives, and a girlfriend.”

She laughed, “Still the same Steve after all these years. You should have called!”

“Your husband wouldn’t have approved. How is Avanti?”

“She’s six, and has a little brother named Abhishek, who is three.”

“Congratulations. Would it be possible to have lunch? Would Prajesh permit it?”

“Yes. How about today?”

“Sure. You’re on S. Michigan. How about we meet at Maxim’s? It’s closer to you, but I don’t mind the extra walk.”

“11:30am so we beat the lunch crowd?” she asked.

“Absolutely.”

We hung up and I spent two hours working before I walked to the Loop to meet Anala at Maxim’s restaurant. We greeted each other with a chaste hug, then followed the hostess to a booth. Anala was just as beautiful as I remembered, and was dressed in conservative Western business attire.

“So, what major spiritual crisis led you to call me?” she asked once we’d ordered our drinks.

I laughed, “Why am I not surprised you guessed? Let me tell you a story.”

I spent the next thirty minutes telling her everything that had happened, interrupted only by ordering our meal and having it brought to our table.

“Jorge?!” she gasped. “He was such a wonderful young man!”

I nodded soberly, “I know. And I miss him.”

“Go on,” she said.

I still hadn’t finished the story when we’d finished our meal, so we ordered tea. Fifty minutes after we’d sat down, I finally asked the question.

“What do you think?”

She smiled, “I think you should have listened to me ten years ago.”

“Which is your polite way to say ‘I told you so’.”

“Yes. Honestly, I think you missed one very important thing. How much time do you spend one-on-one with your wives?”

“Not much, because we’re a trio.”

“One of the things you said, early in your monologue, was about the matrix relationships. You spend time alone with Michelle, but not each of your wives. You spend time alone with Elyse. And Bethany. And your other female friends, but not Jessica or Kara.”

“An interesting point.”

“As for your issue of what’s missing, I think you know. You need more quiet time. Think how much quiet time you and I spent together, or you and Elyse before that. Your life became so busy, you don’t have enough time for yourself.”

“Well, that makes it unanimous.”

Anala shook her head, “Twelve years later and you’re still at square one? Failing to listen to the people who know you best?”

“I’ve resolved to change that.”

She smiled, “I’ve heard this before from you, and it’s not good enough. Don’t think about changing it. Don’t decide to change it. Change it.”

“What about the spiritual aspect?”

“I suggested you speak to my yogi more than ten years ago. I don’t think you’ve gotten around to it yet.”

“No, I haven’t. As I said, one of the things I realized in Japan was that you had taught me most everything I needed to know and I’d failed to act on it. I had all the tools in my toolkit and never bothered to open it.”

“So why am I here?” she asked.

“I suppose to let me tell the story to someone who hadn’t heard it all before and who could offer a fresh perspective.”

“And?”

“You did that ten years ago and I failed to pay attention.”

“Go see my yogi. I’ll write out his name and phone number. And visit the Buddhist temple on the North Side; it’s in Uptown. And go see the Russian Orthodox monk.”

“Despite the issues with the church?”

“Do you discount he might have some valuable insight? Might be able to provide guidance even if you could never join his church?”

“I guess I was more upset at the bishop for not being able to find a way.”

“You’ve chosen a very different path through life, one which precludes other paths. We discussed this years ago.”

I smiled, “Give me your yogi’s name and number, please.”

We finished our tea, exchanged another chaste hug, and promised to stay in touch. As I walked back to the office, I wondered if we actually would. Anala and I could never be intimate; her marriage simply didn’t allow it. The conversation we’d just had was nothing like the ones we’d had ten years earlier, and I had a strong suspicion that any future conversations would be more like that, than like the ones from years ago.

One thing was certain - I’d had the answers at my fingertips a decade ago, and let them slip away.

August 4, 1994, Chicago, Illinois

“I cannot begin to tell you how happy I am to be rid of Dante!” Sam said on Thursday morning.

“Me, too!” Penny said. “And the new owners are cool?”

“They seem to be,” I said. “The guy is a Smart Aleck and his sister tries to keep him in line.”

“I’ve read that novel,” Elyse laughed. “All seventeen parts!”

“So what’s the game plan?” Julia asked, ignoring Elyse’s teasing.

“We just answer their questions and do our best to make them feel comfortable. This is one of our most lucrative deals and it’s been based on my relationship with Dante as much as it has on Sam, Charlie, and Penny’s technical skills.”

“And his desire to stare at our asses,” Sam said ruefully.

“He’s just disgusting about it,” Charlie said. “Almost all guys do that. Some are just more obvious than others.”

“I’m not sure that says anything good about any of us,” Dave said.

“Dave, do you look at women, admire their form, and immediately want to have sex with them?” Charlie asked.

“His wife is standing RIGHT THERE!” Sam laughed.

“No, I don’t,” Dave said.

“Dante does,” Charlie said. “Do you see the difference? You’re a good-looking man, which I’m sure all the women here will agree. That said, we’re not treating you like a sex object!”

“Speak for yourself,” Julia smirked, causing everyone to laugh.

“How about we get back on track?” I asked.

“Sorry,” Sam said. “That was my fault.”

“It’s OK. Anyway, our goal here is to make Mark and Melissa comfortable with NIKA, and ensure that we’re their choice for the code for whatever their next piece of equipment is.”

“Do you know what’s happening with Daniela and Dario?” Sam asked.

“There is some kind of contractual agreement between them and Mark and Melissa,” I said. “As far as I know, they’re staying around. Given how much they disagreed with Dante, I don’t think it’s going to cause trouble, but then again, DP Engineering is not my company. They’ll be here in an hour. I’ll greet them, and then bring them to Sam first. She’ll take it from there.”

Penny and I went back to my office to work until Mark and Melissa arrived.

“Terry, Andy, and I had our DNA swabs yesterday,” Penny said as we sat down. “We should have the results in a couple of weeks.”

“And that should put an end to your mom’s BS once and for all. Did you go to Loyola?”

“Yes. Going to UofC might have led to too many questions because we know too many people. Did I tell you Pete is sick?”

“No! What’s wrong?”

“Not sure. He’s at the vet and they’re running some tests.”

“I’m so sorry, Penny. I hope he’s OK. I know you love Pete more than even me!”

“I do NOT!” she laughed. “Then again, both of you are dopes!”

“So you’ve always said,” I grinned. “And that dog of yours has been one bark from a stroke since I met him!”

“He is a bit excitable!”

“That’s like you saying you sort of enjoy sex!”

Penny laughed hard and stuck her tongue out at me.

“Thanks for making me laugh. You always were good at cheering me up.”

About fifteen minutes later, Lucas buzzed me to let me know Mark and Melissa had arrived. I went downstairs and out to the reception area to greet them.

“Before I take you to Sam, is there anything I can get you?” I asked.

“Melissa would like a look at your large staff ... OOF!” Mark gasped as Melissa elbowed him in the stomach.

“Damn it, Mark!” she spat. “Enough! That joke was funny once. Grow up and quit acting like a stupid grade school boy!”

I kept quiet and led them into the interior and to Sam’s office. Melissa asked for coffee and I brought it to them, then headed upstairs. About two hours later, everyone involved with DP gathered in the ‘Lemieux’ room for lunch. Based on the feedback I’d received from the staff after each of them had met with Mark and Melissa, I was confident that we’d made a good impression. After lunch, Melissa asked to speak to me privately. Penny was in the conference room, so Melissa and I went to my office.

“I need to apologize for my brother,” she said. “His self-control when he’s teasing me is pretty much non-existent.”

I chuckled, “That sounds like a couple of my kids. And me and a couple of girls over the years.”

“Yeah, but in business it’s not cool. My problem is he thinks he’s funny. One day he’s going to say the wrong thing to the wrong person and we’re going to be in deep trouble. I think you’re pretty smart and seem to have your head screwed on straight. Any advice?”

“Is he a good engineer?”

“He is. Bell Labs was upset to see him leave.”

“Convince him to stay in the lab and design cool stuff. You can be the public face of the company. I’ve had some really solid technical people with limited social skills. I kept them away from the customers. That’s what you need to do. And if he makes jokes like that to your employees, you could have just as many problems.”

She nodded, “That makes sense. He’s a super nice guy; he just doesn’t know when to keep his mouth shut.”

“Let me know if I can do anything to help. I mean that. Feel free to call. I want this to be a good relationship. It’s been very profitable for both companies.”

She nodded, “I’m a pretty good programmer, but if I have to take all the duties of leadership, we’ll need you guys more than I thought we would.”

“I’m a DAMNED good programmer,” I chuckled. “And I have to do all the leadership stuff. Sometimes that’s our lot in life.”

She laughed and extended her hand, “Well, here’s to a long, happy partnership!”

We shook hands and went back to the conference room.

August 6, 1994, Indianapolis, Indiana

“Everybody remember where we parked!” I exclaimed.

“Should I turn on the cloaking device on the cars?” Julia laughed.

“I have no intention of sharing my ride home with whales!” Dave laughed. “But pretty whale biologists...”

“We may have one less passenger on the way home,” Julia said menacingly, to laughter from everyone else.

“How far is the track from here?” Samantha asked.

“About a mile-and-a-half.”

“Then let’s get walking!”

Dave, Julia, Samantha, Brian, Kara, Jesse, Michelle and I were attending the inaugural Brickyard 400 courtesy of Jason and Abbie. Our seats were on the inside of the front stretch, and based on qualifying and pit selection, we’d be pretty much right above Bill Elliott’s pit. He’d run the fastest laps during tire testing and open testing in 1992 and 1993, but when it came to qualifying, he was sixth, a full two miles per hour slower than Rick Mast, who won the pole.

“I heard A.J. Foyt came out of retirement for the race,” Dave said.

“He did. And Indy Car driver Danny Sullivan qualified for the race. I think a total of 86 cars were entered.”

“Wow! Only 43 start, right?”

“Yes. And do you know the best part? The thing that made me VERY happy?”

“What was that?”

“That prick Loy Allen, Jr. crashed on his qualifying attempt and didn’t make the race. But that’s par for the course. He’s had seven DNQ’s this season already.”

“Man, you have a visceral hatred for him,” Brian said.

“Ringo,” I chuckled, “compared to how Jason feels, I love Loy Allen.”

“I swear I’m going to make one of those girls change boyfriends!” Brian laughed. “Anyway, it’s all because of the issues after the driver Jason crewed for died?”

“Yes,” I agreed.

“And why none of us would ever darken the door of a Hooters,” Dave said. “Not that any of us have ever been.”

“Is the same crowd going to Michigan in a few weeks?” Brian asked.

“We are,” I chuckled. “Your attendance depends on what Samantha does with her second ticket!”

“I think I might see my way clear to bring him. What do you think, Steve?”

“I think you’ll make up your own mind about that, as you do every OTHER thing in your life!”

“Nicely played, Steve,” Kara giggled.

“Dad?”

“Yes, Jesse?”

“Can I go see Dale Earnhardt?”

“And ANOTHER troublemaker heard from!” I chuckled, then sighed theatrically, “Yes, you can.”

“He just does that to get your goat,” Kara said quietly into my ear as we watched him start to walk away.

“Jesse?” I asked. “No way! I’m shocked and appalled at your underhanded accusation that my dear, beloved eldest son would be so crass as to even think of such a thing!!”

She cocked her head and smiled, “Like father, like son ... Jesse, what’s your favorite hockey team?”

“NOW who’s the troublemaker?!” I laughed.

“The Ducks!” Jesse said gleefully.

“They aren’t so ‘Mighty’, Little Duck!”

“And Penguins stink!”

“This year, all our teams were out. Let’s hope one of our guys wins today!”

“Earnhardt!” Jesse said firmly.

We made our way to the gate, joining throngs walking along the same route, presented our tickets, and made our way to the infield where we presented our garage and pit passes and went to find our favorite drivers. Brian turned out to be an Ironhead fan, so he and Samantha took Jesse with them. Richard Petty had retired, so Dave and Julia had switched their allegiance to Dale Jarrett. Michelle came with Kara and me to Bill Elliott’s garage.

“Steve, Kara, and...”

“Michelle,” I said.

“Michelle! Hi! Still can’t talk Jessica into coming to a race?”