Chapter 42: One Year Old

February 13, 1987, Chicago, Illinois

"How was San Diego?" I asked Mario as he came into the office for our Friday business development meeting.

"A heck of a lot warmer than here!" he said. "At least it's in the upper 30s today, so it's not too bad."

"No problems?"

"No. They're all set. I'm going to San Francisco a week from Monday. Zeke's headed to Milwaukee next Tuesday. Cindi's sending him to do a demo because she and I are both busy."

"Interesting," I said. "Does she see him moving into sales?"

"No. But he knows the software better than anyone, except maybe you or Penny. He's the perfect person to do a demo. Cindi did all the preliminary stuff."

"Hi!" Cindi said cheerfully as she came into the room, followed by Dave and Julia.

"Hey!" I said.

"Just the five of us?" Mario asked.

"Yes," Julia said. "We're getting too big to include everyone in this meeting. The Monday meeting will still include everyone. Cindi, do you want to present what we talked about?"

"Sure. Basically, it's a proposed structure for my team for the future. I want the framework in place so that when we grow, we're ready. The basic plan is to have three groups: Marketing, Sales, and Support. Obviously, for now, the division of labor is pretty fluid, but over time, we'll specialize more. We already have two support staff, and from the looks of things, we're going to need a third by the end of the year. And that's a fairly clear division. Marketing and sales are more or less intertwined for now."

"I think it makes sense," Julia said. "Setting someone as the head for each of those groups responsible for their area."

Cindi nodded, "We're not talking full-time managers, but just a lead person to coordinate. Right now, I have Barbara scheduling Zeke's visits."

"Are you thinking of her running that group? As opposed to Zeke?" I asked.

"I haven't given it much thought," Cindi said. "Right now, it makes sense because she's in the office and Zeke is out more than half the time."

"OK. I was just curious. It's your team to manage," I said with a smile.

We spent the next thirty minutes discussing the business prospects that we had, and how that would affect our staffing and revenues. Overall, things were good, with just one small cloud on the horizon.

"I got wind of some competition in the legal software area," Mario said. "There's a company in Boston that's about to release a system that competes directly with ours."

"Have you seen it?" I asked.

"No, but a lawyer at a firm I talked to in Pittsburgh told me about it. It sounds pretty similar to our offering, and the pricing is even similar."

"That makes sense, doesn't it?" Dave asked. "I mean, the features and functions that are needed are pretty obvious, and the pricing reflects our development and support costs, general overhead, and some profit."

"I do not want to get into a price war," I said. "We have to win on quality, features, and more importantly, support. That's going to be our differentiator. Which means that we have to ensure that we have the correct staffing levels, and the correct staff, to provide a level of support that nobody else can touch."

"But how do we do that and stay price competitive?" Mario asked. "That costs money."

"It does," Julia said. "But if we skimp in that area, it'll be obvious and it will cost us money in the long run. Maybe we lose some initial sales, but if a company goes with that competitor and they don't support the software, we can make a strong sales pitch to replace it."

"That's potentially a tall order," Cindi said. "If they've spent the money on the competitor's package, it's going to be hard to convince them to buy ours to replace it. Not to mention that we'd have to figure out a way to convert all the information stored in the competitor's system."

"We'd need to do some sort of conversion program," Dave said. "But then we'd need a copy of their software, or at least access to it. I'm not quite sure how we'd go about it, and I'd hate to promise being able to convert their data without knowing anything about it."

"It's an interesting dilemma," Julia said. "For now, all we can do is see what happens when we go head-to-head with them. We should probably at least get the specifications for their software. They probably have ours. We've had a good number of inquiries and Kaitlin sends out several information packets every week. Mario, could your contact get us a copy of their specifications or their marketing literature?"

"I think so," he said. "Let me make a call when we finish the meeting."

There was nothing else, so the meeting broke up. I asked Dave and Julia to stay, and Mario shut the door behind him on the way out.

"If we have real competition, then we need another programmer so we can get the new features done," I said. "Dave has his hands full managing seven of us, five major projects, supervising the testing that the support staff does, and trying to do some programming as well. Julia, you're doing design work, meeting with clients, and more or less running the company. When's the last time you wrote any code?"

"Months ago," she said. "And honestly, that's not the best use of my time. Until Elyse graduates and can come on board, the administrative work is all mine. Kaitlin helps by doing the billing and going to the bank with deposits and stuff like that, but with a staff of fifteen and scores of customers, I just don't have time."

"If I had Tasha or Penny full time, we'd be in much better shape," I said. "But we don't, and even though we'll have them in the Summer, that's still months away, and only lasts for June, July, and part of August. I think we need to fill that open spot now, rather than this Summer."

"What are we going to do about Tom and Debbie after December, when the Waukesha contract will most likely end?" Julia asked.

"I don't have a good answer," Dave said. "All we can do is move forward and see where we end up later in the year. That said, even if the contract ends, we're still close to breaking even on expenses with Tom and Debbie on staff."

"Until we hire the new programmer," I said.

"Exactly," he said. "Well, I guess we start looking. But we keep the salary closer to Heather's than Tom's."

"For sure," I said. "We needed Tom's experience, so we had to pay more. We can take someone who is fresh out of school at this point."

"Do we require a degree? What if we found someone like Steve or Penny?" Julia asked. "Zeke and Barbara seem to be working out really well."

I chuckled, "Tom doesn't have a degree, if you remember from when we hired him."

"True, but he had tons of experience," Julia said. "What do you think?"

"I think I'd have to talk to the person," I said. "I'm not opposed to the idea."

"OK. I'll get the ad in the paper. I still have time to get it in for Sunday if I call right now."

February 14, 1987, Chicago, Illinois

"Happy Valentine's Day!" I said to my wives when we woke up on Saturday morning.

"Happy Valentine's Day, Tiger!"

"Happy Valentine's Day, Snuggle Bear!"

"Other than our dinner out and the carriage ride tonight, did you two want to do anything special?" I asked. "The guys all agreed that today is a day for our wives and girlfriends, so other than karate, I'm free all day."

"Jess, what do you think about a slow, sexy joint blowjob for our husband?" Kara asked.

"I can't think of a better way to start the day!" Jessica replied.

My two wives slid down and began kissing and licking my quickly hardening shaft. I sighed deeply and relaxed, allowing them to pleasure me. Their lips and tongues felt wonderful, and one of them was running her fingernails lightly over my balls. I was tempted to look down and watch, but I was content to simply lie back and enjoy. I could always tell when Jessica was using her tongue on my glans — she had this special way of swirling it that nearly made me cum immediately.

In the end, it was Jessica's mouth that finished me off, and then she and Kara exchanged a long, deep kiss, sharing my cum. I was a bit surprised when they both gave me just a peck on the lips, rather than the usual French kiss.

"We wanted all of it for ourselves!" Kara giggled when I arched my eyebrow.

"Shall we have some breakfast now that we've had dessert?" Jessica asked.

"Sure!" Kara and I said.

We all got out of bed and got into the shower together. When we finished, the three of us went downstairs for breakfast. I started a large batch of waffles, as well as bacon and eggs, given I knew that most of our other housemates would be down for breakfast before too long. I was just finishing my breakfast when Stephanie, Jorge, Bethany and Nick came into the kitchen.

"I didn't see you last night, Bethany," Jessica said. "Let me see your left hand!"

Bethany held out her hand to show Jessica the very nice diamond that she and Nick had picked out. Given its size, I knew he'd spent quite a bit more than I had, because I had stuck to my just under a carat limit to avoid the 'carat tax'.

"Very nice!" Jessica said. "Did you guys firm up your wedding plans?"

"My mom is going nuts," Bethany laughed. "June 20th at 2:00pm. She has the reception hall booked and we're just going to do the wedding there, the same as you three did. But I'm wearing a traditional white gown and Nick will be in his dress whites."

"I heard from Kathy that she's your matron of honor," I said.

Bethany giggled, "She positively hates that term, but it is technically correct! In fact, all four of my attendants are married — Jennifer, Melanie, and Kara."

"Now, if I could only get Pete and Steve to join the reserves so that they could wear dress whites as well!" Nick grinned.

"I don't think so, Lieutenant!" I chuckled. "Your best man will be wearing whites, along with Karl."

"Who's the best man?" Kara asked.

"A logistics officer at RTC with whom I went through my basic officer's course — Lieutenant Howard Pointe."

"What about white tuxedos?" Jessica asked.

"We'd look too much like the officers," I said. "Nick decided on black for Pete and me. It'll make a nice contrast. Bethany's attendants are wearing lavender. But enough wedding talk! What can I get you all for breakfast?"

The four of them let me know what they wanted, and I whipped up their meals and served them, while Jessica and Kara washed the dishes that the three of us had used. Once they had eaten, Stephanie and I did the dishes and cleaned up the kitchen. After I put the last plate in the cupboard, I went to my study and called Stephie for our weekly talk. She was in Florida, so I had to consult the list of phone numbers that she'd given me.

"How are you feeling?" I asked.

"OK. They started me on a prescription painkiller, but the only restriction I have is that I can't drive if I take it. I don't need it every day; sometimes the Advil still works. I'm still doin' everythin' I want to do. I watched the Twin-125s at the track on Thursday. I think Bill's got a great chance tomorrow. Are you going to watch?"

"Of course! Jessica will find something else to do, but Kara might watch with me. What did your doctor say before you left for Daytona?"

"Same as before, Yankee. Nothin' has changed."

"Bethany got engaged last weekend, as I said was going to happen."

"Good for her! When's the weddin'?"

"June 20th, in Milford. You and Jason are invited, if you can make it."

"Thanks. She deserves to be happy. How's Elyse and that new baby she's workin' on?"

"Just fine. And Jesse is doing fine, too. He'll have his first birthday in about a week. Is there anything I can do for you?"

"No," she said. "Just remember how much I love you."

"And you remember how much I love you, too, Peaches."

"Root for Bill to win tomorrow! And if'n he can't, then for Kulwicki or Davey Allison."

"I promise, Peaches. As long as those two others drive, I'll root for them if Bill can't win!"

"I'll talk to you next weekend," she said. "Remember, we're at home."

"I have the list you sent me," I said. "Talk to you then."

We said our goodbyes and hung up. I turned on my Mac and wrote in my journal. I'd found that writing out my feelings let me shed tears then, rather than when I talked to Stephie, and that made me feel better, and I was sure made her feel better as well. I spent about twenty minutes writing and then went up to my room to get ready for karate.

"Babe, have you thought about joining us for karate class once you move here? It might be a good way to get exercise and work off some of the stress."

"I suppose that would be a good thing. The problem is I can't keep a regular schedule."

"I go six days a week and Kara, Sofia, and Stephanie go three days a week. As long as you could manage twice a week, and get some practice in with us at home, you could do it."

"I'll think about it. Did you ever find a stable where we could rent horses?"

"I did. The best place seems to be out in Plainfield, which is a little over an hour from here. But they have lots of trails, and there's also lots of open farmland out there that you can ride along. I figured we'd do that once you move here at the end of May and get settled."

"How is Stephie doing?"

"They put her on a prescription painkiller. I didn't ask what it was because I'm not sure it matters all that much. She said that she can't drive when she takes it."

"It'll be an opiate then, most likely. You know what comes next, right?" she asked.

"Morphine," I said. "Once the pills no longer work."

"Most likely. And that's pretty much the end game; it'll be IV, and the dosage will have to be continually increased, because the pain gets exponentially worse."

"I'm guessing you're seeing this in your oncology rotation?"

She nodded, "Cancer treatment is barbaric. It's almost like witch doctors or shamans. Chemotherapy is basically trying to kill the cancer without killing the patient. It's brutal, but I'm sure Stephie told you about that when she had her treatment last year. There's a lot of experimentation, but no real cures for most cancers."

"So what do you do?"

"In the majority of cases, it ends up like Stephie — just try to keep the patient as comfortable as possible. It's called palliative care. Do you know if Stephie's going to go into a hospital?"

"She flat out refused that. She'll have nursing care at home for as long as they can manage, then she'll go to a hospice near Atlanta that deals with terminal cancer patients."

Jessica nodded, "I think that's a very good choice. I'm guessing Jason will be with her full time."

"It's actually a horrible choice. It's just all the other ones are worse," I sighed. "Sorry, but I need to go to karate. We'll be back around 11:15am."

We exchanged a kiss, and I headed downstairs to meet Kara, Sofia, and my sister, so we could walk to the dojo. We had our usual practice, and as had been the case since Stephie had visited, I took a few minutes at the end of class to talk to Sensei Jim about her situation. The girls waited for me, and when I was finished, we walked home.

We had a quiet afternoon at home before heading into the city for our Valentine's Day dinner at the 95th, and then a long carriage ride along Michigan Avenue and through Grant Park. We'd agreed not to exchange gifts, though the girls bought me a card, and I bought them flowers. More importantly, once we arrived home, we made love until the early hours of the morning.