Chapter 3

Ben did have a number of thoughts about what had happened with Mia’s surprise visit. Was he disappointed that she saw him with Loren? Of course, he was, as well, but he couldn’t say if he was overly disappointed. Yes, Mia was a classy person and a good lover but in the back of his mind, he knew he wasn’t thinking of making a long-term commitment with her. She may have thought that would happen but he wasn’t thinking that way. Now it was obvious she and he would be going their separate ways. He did acknowledge it was enjoyable in having this relationship with Mia but also knew that he now needed to move on.

With those thoughts on his mind, he went to the club to get something to eat and drink.

Before he went into the clubhouse he decided to stop by the pro shop. The golf tournament this weekend was a mixed four-person best two-ball tournament. Ben asked to be signed up to play and jokingly said to the assistant pro, “Pair me up with the best-looking female golfer.”

After a good meal and a few glasses of beer in the lounge, he kibitzed with a few fellows he knew before walking back home. The events of the day were still on his mind.

Being back home, Ben did a virtual call to the office. Todd told him there was nothing new happening at the office. The two new salespeople had been briefed and were assigned to work for a day with a salesperson here before they would be on their way back home. He said both of them were extremely positive and should do well.

With no set plans for the rest of the day, Ben paid some bills, did some food shopping, and reviewed his investments. He couldn’t help but have some continuing thoughts on Mia’s surprise visit.

On Sunday morning, Ben was looking forward to the golf tournament which would be starting in one hour. The posting on the club’s website showed he was to ride with Barbra Doorman who had a golf course handicap of twenty. He didn’t know who she was and wondered what she looked like. It probably was too much to hope for if his remark at the pro shop had a positive result.

It turned out that Barbra was a good golfer and contributed to their team’s third-place finish. She also had a nice personality which made for an interesting round of golf. She however, was about five years older than Ben, was married with two kids, and was about thirty pounds overweight. He took a philosophical approach to this and thought that playing golf with an extremely good-looking woman was a pie-in-the-sky wish.

After the golf awards were announced and a few drinks, Ben was back at home eating some leftover pizza he had re-heated. His cell phone chimed and he wonder who would be calling him on a Sunday night. The caller ID indicated it was Myles, the billionaire owner of the shoe company. Ben did know that Myles while a business genius was also a workaholic.

“Hi Myles, how is it going?”

“Fine with me, how about you?”

“Pretty good as well. I am glad that you called since I haven’t talked to you in a long time, but can I ask why are you calling? I know my part of the business is going well so it must be something else.”

“It’s nothing really, but I wanted to tell you I am kicking around the idea of merging the shoe business with a clothing manufacturing company which will expand our product line. What do you think about me doing that?”

“That sounds like another good idea. I do know that anything you touch turns to gold. How is Amy doing?”

“Thanks for asking and she is doing fine. She is getting ready to go with some of her lady friends to Greece and do some electric bike touring of the islands for a week.”

“What are you going to be doing when she is in Greece besides making money?”

“Hadn’t thought about it.”

“Why don’t you grab your golf bag and come down here and play a few rounds and maybe do some fishing? You could use a little vacation yourself. You can stay with me as I have room.”

Myles thought that was a good idea and said that as soon as his plane came back from Greece he would be on it coming down to Florida.

It never hurts to be friends with the boss thought Ben when the call ended. He also made a note to call Dan Walsh about going fishing. If Dan wasn’t available, Ben would charter a boat to do the fishing.

Myles came down Tuesday morning. They played a round of golf that afternoon. Even though Myles was a billionaire, he didn’t act like one as he was a sincerely nice everyday guy. They did go fishing with Dan one day but all the other days they played eighteen holes of golf. Myles played to a handicap of twelve and probably could lower it if he played more often.

If the people at the club recognized Myles, no one indicated that they did. He was treated just like a regular guy and except for him being a billionaire, that’s what he was. There was very little work discussed except for Ben telling Myles about the problem he had with two of his salesmen slowing down establishing additional retail locations and the reasons for it. He told Myles what Todd did to bring this to his attention and the action Ben took about hiring additional salespeople to solve the problem.

It wasn’t long after this conversation that Myles was on the phone with someone but Ben couldn’t hear what was being said.

The next morning, while Ben was cooking breakfast Myles, was at the table looking intently at his laptop. He could see the expressions on Myles’s face and maybe a slight shaking of his head in his doing this.

In placing a plate of bacon and eggs, hash browns, and toast in front of Myles, Ben heard him say, “I have the same problems as you.”

Ben asked what that was and Myles explained this report he had just looked at indicated that his manager for the State of Florida and his salespeople have established sales locations primarily on the east coast and the Orlando area. Further that not many new locations have been added in the past three months and the west coast has not been touched along with the upper part of the State. He said he was going to talk with that manager about the problem because he needs to get his act together.

“Instead of telling him to add more salespeople might it enthuse him more if you were to add another sales manager instead here? Florida is a big State.”

“What do you mean?”

“I am here nine months of the year. If you were to give your imprimatur for me to operate on the west coast, I could handle that territory and hire the salespeople necessary. Since just about everything we do is tied in with the computers, it would make no difference if the orders are sent to the warehouse and my office up north from here just like the orders are sent there from any State. I don’t think there would be a need for expansion of my staff up north, only some salespeople here. Doing this could be a wake-up call for your present sales manager here but doing that is up to you.”