Chapter 22: Resolutions

February, 1985, Chicago, Illinois

The flight back to Chicago was uneventful and when we arrived home, dinner was almost ready. Kara and I put our stuff upstairs and joined our housemates at the dinner table.

"How was the weekend?" I asked.

"Quiet," Elyse replied, "just as it usually is when you aren't here. Not that it's rowdy or anything when you are, but some people don't show up when you're going to be out of town."

"Joyce is coming to town on Friday. She's probably going to stay the entire weekend, but I don't know for sure. She and I have a lunch meeting on Friday with the attorney, and I'm flying down to Cincinnati on Saturday morning to see Bethany."

"Is that to set up the corporation?" Julia asked.

"Yes. It'll be a Delaware corporation with the necessary papers filed with Illinois to do business. Once we have the papers filed, we'll get the investment money and then we can get started. I figure it's at least a month away, so there's no need to worry about it right now. It's more important that everyone graduate."

"Did you talk to Mr. Brown?" Cindi asked.

"I did. He said that he'd work with us to develop the software for doing estimating and job planning. He's insisting that he pay us, and I agreed, though I explained that he'd receive royalties if we sell it to anyone else. That makes up for giving up a competitive advantage, but as he put it, they'll all catch on, so he might as well profit from it right away."

"He's a smart guy," Katy said. "His son is even smarter."

"Jackie thinks so, too," I replied. "She says that he's basically a prodigy. That's why she comes on Saturday afternoons — so she can work with him. She and Jamie have had Jeremiah and his girlfriend over for dinner a few times."

"She's starting to recruit him before she graduates!" Cindi laughed.

"How was the race?" Sofia asked.

"Awesome! Bill Elliott, the guy I root for and whose house I've been to, won pretty easily. Well, he had a minor issue, but he overcame it pretty quickly. He dominated most of the race!"

"How's Stephie?" Katy asked.

"Engaged!" I grinned.

"I guess that isn't really a surprise, is it?" Elyse said, as they all calmed down from the collective shriek of glee at the announcement.

"I don't see how it could be," I said. "They've been together since they were two, with a slight detour through Rose for Red and me for Stephie. I'm not even counting the preacher's kid that Stephie was supposedly with because I don't consider that a real thing."

After dinner, we relaxed in the sauna, and then the great room, before heading to bed.

The next big scandal broke on Tuesday, when the University reported that thousands of dollars of illegal calls had been made from the Academic Computing Center. It wasn't clear from the article in Tech News, but it sounded as if it could have been 'blue boxes' or simply people making unauthorized calls through the university phone system. Because I wasn't involved in any way, shape, or form, I said nothing to anyone about the article. The last thing I needed was to be drawn in, even tangentially.

Wednesday was Sofia's birthday, and we celebrated with a 'family' dinner, joined by Pete, Melanie, Kurt, Kathy, Kenneth and Dave. Kara, Elyse, and I worked together to make dinner, as well as a traditional Swedish birthday cake. There was a group present, suggested by Katy — a radar detector. It turned out, unbeknownst to me, that Sofia had a lead foot and had received several speeding tickets on Lake Shore Drive since she'd bought her car. My gift to her was a new purse, which Kara had helped me select.

After the group sang Happy Birthday I did my best to sing «Ja, må hon leva!». Sofia did her best to suppress her giggles at the horrible rendition, but she kissed me tenderly afterwards.

"I take it he can't sing very well?" Cindi teased.

"Let's just say he should stick to computers and sex," Sofia giggled. "He's good at those! But I appreciate the effort."

"What did you wish for when you blew out your candle?" Kara asked with a smirk.

"She's going to get THAT," Cindi laughed, "she didn't need to wish for it!"

Sofia just smiled. She did indeed get exactly what Cindi had suggested, joining me in my bedroom that evening after karate and homework. After we made love, we cuddled until we fell asleep.

On Friday, Joyce was due in town. She'd called me on Thursday night, interrupting my time with Penny, to let me know that she'd meet me at Mr. Jacobsen's office. I invited Elyse to meet us there, given her proposed role, and the three of us arrived within a few minutes of each other. At noon, the secretary showed us into Mr. Jacobsen's office and then brought in sandwiches, chips, and soft drinks.

We all introduced ourselves and I handed Mr. Jacobsen a copy of our business plan. He had prepared some basic incorporation papers, but needed to fill in some details.

"You need three officers, at least — President, Treasurer, and Secretary."

"That would be me, Elyse, and Joyce, I think."

"And the initial share division?" he asked.

"Five percent to Joseph Grossi. Five percent to my dad, Ray Adams, both in exchange for their initial investment. Three percent each to the names listed in the back of the business plan. The remaining shares should be in my name. I'll want to set up a plan to hand them out over time."

"OK. You're going to need corporate counsel, which is me. You'll also need an accountant. I can recommend one who handles new companies like yours. It'll take a couple of weeks to get the Delaware corporation registered and then a few days to get the Illinois papers filed. I have a stack of papers for the three of you to sign. Once I complete the corporate resolution filings, you and Miss Clarke will need to jointly open the bank account. Miss Abbadelli will need to sign a corporate resolution permitting you to do that. I'll draft one once everything is ready."

"Is there anything special that we need to know?"

"Keep accurate records and ask me or the accountant if you have any questions or aren't sure about something. Pay your quarterly taxes. You'll also need to take out a city business license here in Chicago. That's fairly simple and can be done with at the Clerk's office. Here's the card for the accountant. Call him right away. He and Miss Clarke will need to stay in close touch. I can't reiterate enough about accurate record-keeping and paying your taxes. Those are the two principal ways that new businesses get in trouble."

"Got it," I said.

"And when you're ready to sign clients, I can draw up contracts for you and review any agreements. Once again, another way companies get into trouble is bad contracts."

"I understand."

"And, finally, there's the matter of my fee."

I chuckled, "Of course. I have a check for a retainer. It's out of my personal funds, so I'll need to figure out how to reimburse myself for it."

I handed him the check. He looked at it and nodded, then wrote out a receipt.

"That's pretty straightforward. We'll take care of that once everything is set up. Just hang on to the receipt; it's your first business record."

We finished our lunch and listened to some very good advice from Mr. Jacobsen, and asked him quite a few questions. Elyse kept a list of everything he told us and the things we needed to do to appoint a board of directors, have our annual meetings, and so on. I remembered all of this from various things I'd read as well as classes and was absolutely sure I was doing the right thing having others do all the BS that went with a corporation. I made a note to talk to Doctor Bauer, Scott Bannerman, and Beth Pater about sitting on the board.

When we finished lunch, Joyce went back to Hyde Park with Elyse and I went to IIT for my afternoon classes. After my last class, I found Jake, and he rode back to the house with me.

"Jake, this is Joyce Abbadelli. Joyce, this is Jake Tarrance."

They greeted each other and immediately left for dinner in Chinatown at a place I'd suggested. I could tell by the look on Jake's face that he was quite pleased with the date I'd set up for him. Joyce was going to use one of the guest rooms and drive home on Saturday. I was flying because it was so much quicker, but she couldn't leave her car in Chicago.

I went to the kitchen to make dinner and Katy came in to help. I hadn't really talked to her much since the night we'd made love.

"How are things, Katy?" I asked.

She was quiet for a moment.

"I don't know. Sometimes I'm just terribly confused. I have these strange ideas that make no sense."

I suspected those had to do with whatever it was Kara felt was bothering Katy, but which Kara couldn't identify.

"Can I help?" I asked.

"Maybe. I don't know."

"Do you want to talk? I can get Elyse to finish making dinner."

"No, not yet. I need to think some more."

"You sound depressed. Are you sure that you're OK?"

"I'm fine. I promise I'll talk to you when I'm ready."

I didn't believe that she was fine, and neither did Kara. Something was really gnawing at Katy and she needed to talk about it. I couldn't force her to talk, so I'd just have to wait until she was ready. We finished preparing dinner and took everything into the dining room and called our housemates to dinner. When we finished eating, Cindi and Elyse did the dishes, and then Julia left for a date with Dave, and Katy left to see Kenneth.

"Cindi," I said, "can we talk?"

"Sure. Privately?"

"That's best, I think."

I took her hand, and we went to my study and sat down.

"I have a problem," I said.

"It must be something strange because usually you would talk to Bethany or Elyse."

"It's about our agreement," I said. "I'm having serious second thoughts."

"But you promised!" Cindi protested. "We have an agreement!"

I nodded, "Yes, we do. I said I was having second thoughts, not that I wasn't going to keep up my end of the bargain. That's why I'm talking to you instead of simply saying that I'm not going to do it."

"So, what's the problem?"

"My rule about fooling around with girls in a committed relationship. And the more important fact that the person you're committed to is a friend of mine. I've turned down Melanie and Katt because of my rule. It's kept me out of a world of hurt in several other situations, too."

"Chris won't know. He can't know! That's the deal with my friends."

"But I'll know. That's why I'm conflicted. If it were some random guy who I didn't know, it would be easier, though I'd still have serious concerns."

"Did you have this rule when you made the promise?"

"Yes," I said.

"So what's changed?"

"Me. I made the promise without thinking it through and now that I have, it's really starting to weigh on me. It's important to me not to do things that hurt my friends, and to be true to my own principles."

"And you think that it would hurt Chris? And would violate your basic principles?"

"Yes. And that's why I'm struggling so much with it. Because one other thing that's extremely important to me is keeping my word."

"Can't you just put all the philosophy and ethics aside so we can have a good time fucking each other?"

"That wouldn't be me," I replied. "You know me well enough to know that."

"Have you ever made an exception or violated the rule?" she asked.

I smiled, "That's a question without a simple answer. Jennifer constantly reminds me that every rule has an exception. I guess the question that I have to answer is whether this qualifies or not."

"Chris knows I haven't been just waiting for him to propose. Heck, he's fairly sure we've already done it. And that doesn't bother him."

"And Mikael offered me a chance to be with Katt, and she very much wanted it to happen. Even so, I refused. So what Chris thinks isn't going to make any difference."

"Then how do you plan to resolve this dilemma?" she asked.

"I don't know just yet. I'll talk to Bethany about it when I'm in Milford tomorrow."

Cindi got up and came and sat in my lap.

"Look," she said. "You and I both know it's just going to be a bit of fun. Nobody is going to get hurt. It's just going to be a great fuck."

"Let me talk to Bethany about it, then think it through. I'll talk to you when I get home."

"I guess that's all I can do at this point," she said.

Cindi pressed her lips against mine, kissed me softly, then got off my lap and left the study. I sat down at my desk and turned on my computer. I had homework I wanted to finish before leaving in the morning. I had just started when the phone rang.

"You know, not figuring out what you want is no excuse for not calling me!" Jessica Wilton said as soon as I'd answered the phone.

"I've been busy," I said lamely.

"That's no excuse, either. Your penance is to take me to dinner again on Friday the 1st. I'll meet you at the same place."

"Do I have a choice?" I asked.

"You'll be there. I'm sure of it!"

"You're quite confident of yourself, aren't you, Miss Wilton?"

"So are you, Mr. Adams. See you next Friday at 6:00pm."

I said that I'd be there, and then hung up and went back to my computer. I was still working about midnight when Joyce appeared at the door to my study.

"Have a good time?" I asked.

"I did. He's sweet, intelligent, and a perfect gentleman."

"Sounds like a good Naval officer to me," I said, then asked, "Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"

"A good thing, at least for now. He has another year of school and then who knows where he might be assigned? We agreed on a second date tomorrow night. I'll go home on Sunday."

"I'm heading for Cincinnati early in the morning. We have you set up in one of the guest rooms downstairs."

"I plan to sleep late. I'll see you when I come back so that we can open the bank account."

"Good night, then," I said. "I'm going to head to bed shortly; I'm just finishing some homework."

She left and about ten minutes later, I shut everything down and went to bed. Sofia was already in my bed, waiting for me. I brushed my teeth, undressed, and then got into bed with her. We made love twice before falling asleep in each other's arms.

February, 1985, Milford, Ohio

Bethany and I were sitting on the couch after lunch when I raised the subject of my dilemma with Cindi.

"You know it's OK to go back on a commitment if the circumstances change, right?" she asked.

"Sure, but there weren't any conditions on the promise. I simply agreed."

"And your pride won't let you go back on a promise if there's any way to fulfill it. But your rule tells you not to do it. It's an interesting conflict — your pride against your honor. Which should win?"

"Aren't both about honor?" I asked. "Keeping one's word and keeping one's ethics? Both are honorable."