Chapter 4

It took almost three months from when this loan business became operational for Matt to feel comfortable and think that it was functioning as it was intended. They had made a number of loans to people both in and outside of the medical professions.

One loan was to a fellow who wanted to start a restaurant that was strictly a drive through operation with no inside service. He said he wanted capitalize on the high profit items of coffee, soda, French fries that would be order to go with the main featured item of foot long hotdogs or polish. Another loan was made to a lady who worked at an “In and Out” fast food restaurant as a manager and wanted to copy that type of fast food restaurant concept in a far eastern suburb. She said it would be more financial rewarding for her being the owner rather than just an employee of such a business.

Matt had to admit that there were some growing pains but it seemed that most if not all of the bugs had now been worked out. It was time he thought to start establishing offices in other States.

By leaving the LA area to establish these offices in other States, Matt was going to miss the frequent dalliances he was having with Lori. They were getting together and he really meant it when he said they were getting together usually once a week. Laughing to himself he thought at the same time they were also getting together in a variety of enjoyable positions. This relationship they had was one that Lori seemed to silently agree with as being a “friends with benefits” type of relationship. Both of them just enjoyed having sex. Matt couldn’t help but think that Lori had a somewhat insatiable appetite when it came to engaging in these intimate activities.

Matt did tell Lori that he was leaving LA to open offices in other States. She told him calmly that she was going to miss him but there was no great expression of loss she made about his leaving. To him her acting that way inferred that Lori knew of other men that would scratch the itch she once remarked that she often had at the juncture of her thighs.

He had at various times discussed with Jenna about the need for opening other offices. His thought was that the present office located in LA was sufficient to handle the needs of the State of California. They had advertised in other locals as San Francisco and San Diego which resulted in loans being made to some startup businesses located in those localities. Seattle was the area where Matt now wanted to open an office.

Matt asked Jenna to have a seat in his office before he said, “Jenna, you are worth your weight in gold because of what you have done in getting this program off the ground. This office is running as it should and it’s now time to expand this loan operation into other States. Because of that I plan on opening an office in Seattle. The choice is yours if you wish to stay here or if you want to help me in opening an office in Seattle.”

There was no hesitancy on Jenna’s part as she quickly responded, “When are we leaving?”

“As soon as you can find, hire and train your replacement.”

“That won’t take me long, maybe two weeks in total. How about you finding a manager for here?”

“It might take me a little longer to do that. I am going to offer the position to Ed Kaiser who is a good man and someone I worked with at the S an L. I think he would jump at the chance to work at a location closer to home along with a bump up in pay.”

Matt phoned Ed and after explaining the job and the twelve percent raise that came with it Ed quickly accepted the offer. He told Matt he would give a one week notice and could be here maybe sooner depending how his notice is received. Ed did remark that the daily commute to work was a killer because of the traffic and he wouldn’t miss doing that.

Jenna went to the foundation’s office and perused the employment applications they had received. She selected two applications that impressed her and setup these two people for interviews. After conducting the interviews she asked Matt to interview Brenda Sullivan which he did. He agreed with Jenna that Brenda would be a good replacement.

Ed Kaiser was at Matt’s office one week after his giving his notice. He told Matt that the management at his bank didn’t appear to be overly sad to see him go. Ed was a little amazed at what Matt explained he would be doing in approving these small business loans. It took a week of what could be called Ed’s training or orientation for Ed to say he felt comfortable in handling his new position and for Matt to agree that Ed was ready to take over managing the office. Matt said that he and Jenna would be heading up to Seattle this Monday and if Ed had any questions Matt could be reached by phone.

What was not a problem but more of a small concern was that Jenna didn’t own an automobile. Emily had given Jenna one of her Range Rovers to use and Jenna wouldn’t feel right in taking the vehicle to Seattle. Matt discussed this with Jenna and said because of how often they would be doing things together she didn’t need to have her own car. She should feel free to use his SUV when he wasn’t using it and he gave her a set of keys to his SUV.

The drive up to Seattle which they started doing Monday morning was pleasant. Jenna as Matt had come to know was good company on this trip. They took their time and stopped and saw some of the sites along the way. Hearst’s Castle was a reminder to them of what you could do if you had a large amount of money and time on your hands. In their doing the seventeen mile scenic drive around the Pebble Beach area resulted in them making a few stops to take some photos and for Matt to better see the golf courses that were there.

They arrived in the late afternoon in Seattle three days after they started on this trip. They met with Donna Wright who was the realtor Matt had found on the web and spoke with about what he needed. Donna told him she had the two furnished short term condo rentals he had asked for. She had previously sent him pictures of a turnkey business office that was located in an up and coming suburb of Seattle. An insurance agent who was retiring owned this strip mall where this business office was located. He was agreeable to leaving the equipment and furnishings that were there in exchange for a three year lease with a three year option to renew. Based on the photos Donna had sent him and what she said about the area Matt agreed to the lease.

The remainder of the day was spent unpacking and settling in along with going to the store and purchasing some food and liquid provisions.

In entering this new office they were pleased by what they saw. Jenna could see that items she needed to purchase for furnishing the office was markedly reduced. There were some things that required her attention which she quickly attended too.

Matt asked Jenna to place the ad in the paper which basically said they were open for business. On the drive up to Seattle he explained to her that he wanted to have this location setup and running with a manager and assistant in place as soon as possible. He didn’t plan on staying here longer than two months. Because of the experience they had in opening up the LA operation he thought that was doable.

What he did was to modify the employment ad for the manager of this office which he asked her to place in the newspaper one week later. The requirement of loan experience was toned down quite a bit in that it really didn’t apply to the types of loans that were being made. He wanted to hire a person who had experience in dealing with and having frequent interactions with people. To him a manager who could accurately assess what type of person was applying for the loan was more important that the business the loan was going to be used for. A plus would be if the applicant also had an accounting background or education. Matt was playing around with an idea he had in his mind in regard to the business itself which was why he wanted to find an applicant that knowledge.