Chapter 4

At nine o'clock Monday morning, Ali was stretching luxuriantly in her bed when the doorbell rang. Bill had had to get up early to go to New York so it was the first time they had been separated. She had wanted to go with him, but he had insisted she stay and prepare for her finals. Slipping on the unisex terry bathrobe, she went to open the door.

Standing behind the room service cart was Ginger in the hotel's room-service uniform, complete with white shirt and bow tie. Ali grinned broadly and held the door open. Only when Ginger pushed the cart in did Ali realize the girl was wearing no pants. Her beautiful bare legs disappeared under her waiter's jacket.

Ali started to laugh. "Ginger, you look great! Come over here." The terry-cloth robe was very short and Ali and Ginger stood side by side comparing legs.

Ginger was the first to speak. "You know, Ali, your legs are really very good ... for a middle-aged woman."

Ali grinned and punched her in the arm. "And yours aren't bad either ... for a little kid."

They both laughed. Ginger proceeded very professionally to open up the service cart. "Where's Mr. Clifford? His breakfast is here, too," she said.

Ali just grinned. "That's not his; it's yours. He's left for New York. You haven't eaten, have you? And where's Charley, by the way?"

Ginger gave her a big smile. "He couldn't get out of bed this morning. He just couldn't move. When my alarm went off, he just groaned."

Ali raised an eyebrow. "When your alarm went off? Why Ginger Jamison, that implies he slept in your apartment last night. I'm shocked!"

Ginger tried to look pensive but her grin kept getting in the way. "Actually, Ali, your statement isn't quite accurate. He spent the night at my apartment. However, he spent it in me. In fact," she said with a broad grin, "He spent very often in me. He didn't really sleep, though. That was the problem.

"Ali, may I sit down and spread my legs? I am absolutely ruined. I'm at the point right now where my body doesn't feel normal unless my thighs are spread wide. May I?"

Ali just grinned and nodded. "Gee," she said, "aren't you the girl who feels women are just cunts to be used by men as a depository for their sexual fluids? You sort of resemble that girl."

"That's me," Ginger said brightly.

She and Ali were attacking a huge breakfast and Ginger acted like she hadn't eaten in a week. She was smiling at Ali when suddenly her smile turned into a frown. "But I have a bone to pick with you, Allison Clifford. About that depository business? You didn't tell me that sometimes the guy runs out of those fluids!"

"So tell me what happened. Before you start, though, let me just say you could have a brilliant career in films if you want one. But with respect to careers, I have another idea I want to talk to you about later. You handled that material here on Friday like a pro. It was all I could do to keep from applauding your performance. Your delivery and timing were perfect. But then what happened?"

"First, Ali, while compliments are being passed out, you could have given Niccolo Machiavelli a run for his money. I may have spoken the lines, but you sure as hell wrote the script. It played brilliantly.

"Anyway, we jumped into Charley's car and roared over to my apartment. Strangely believe it, there was a message on my machine from my friend — your friend — Jen. The poor thing was in tears because she and Jeff couldn't make it. There was an emergency involving her new house." Ginger grinned. "I almost had to step back to keep from drowning in the tears coming from the machine. Who is Jen, by the way?"

Ali smiled. "She and Jeff are lovely people to whom I owe my sanity. On the other hand, they think I'm responsible for helping them get their house. You and Charley will have to meet them sometime. I know you'll like them. Jeff was Special Forces in Vietnam. Anyway, then what happened?"

"Well," she continued, "I smiled and said to Charley that I hoped he was hungry. He made more drinks, we ate shrimp cocktail and steaks ... and I did a beautiful job, if I do say so myself. Then we took our coffee and cognac into the living room and were really feeling expansive. I guess we had something on the cable channel and were sitting on the sofa. One thing led to another and he kissed me.

"Ali, it was all over right there. There were bells. I just melted. I couldn't wait, so I unbuttoned the front of my shirt. Since I wasn't wearing a bra, my breasts were bare. He held me and caressed me, and a few minutes later we were in bed. We made love, and slept a little. We made love and took a shower together ... and made love in the shower. We didn't eat much, we didn't drink much, and we sure in hell didn't sleep much. But God, did we make love. My snapshot memory of the weekend is arms, legs and bodies in every imaginable position. The common denominator was mostly my thighs were spread as wide as they could go. I guess that's about it."

Ali was beaming. "You don't regret it, do you? You don't think you compromised your intellectual integrity?"

"That's one of the things that's so strange. In the first place, you can take intellectual integrity and stuff it. But in the second place, we had some great post-coital conversations. Incidentally, Ali, I took a tip from you. After making it, when I was absolutely drained and limp, I was on my back in bed next to him with my head on his shoulder. Then I snuggled as close as I could get and put his hand on my breast. He cupped it, I held his hand, and we were instantly asleep. God, it feels so great to feel a man's big hand on your tit when you wake up! The funny thing is, the talk was intellectual ... or at least intelligent. Does that sound strange?

Ali shook her head and said, "No, not at all. To change the subject let me ask you: What are your plans for after school? Do you have a job?"

Ginger smiled and said, "I did. Unfortunately, my offer is from the same firm where Charley is going. He got terribly unglued, but I told him our relationship compared to a law firm was no contest. I told him I would be his secretary so he could take me on his desk, but we agreed that the law firm probably wouldn't like that idea much better. So anyway, now I'm looking for a job again."

Ali beamed and Ginger looked puzzled. Ali said, "I'm offering you a job. But there's a minor contingency: we both have to pass our bar exams. Are you confident?"

Ginger paused for a moment and said, "Virginia Jamison is in a panic ... but she's always in a panic. Ginger Jamison, on the other hand, is confident as hell. She'd climb Mount Everest naked if she had to. Hell yes, I'll pass. I'll ace it!"

"Great!" Ali continued. "How would you like to be a partner in the firm of Clifford & Jamison? Bill thought the idea was great when I talked to him about it last night. Here's the deal: The money is mine, but most of the time will be yours. As you know, Bill hired me — married me — to travel with him, and I'm looking forward to it. Meanwhile, you'll be working your buns off ... what's left of them after Charley's through with you, of course.

"I have my eye on an office suite downtown — it's on the 38th floor, northwest corner, with a view of the mountains to the north and out to the ocean in the west. I can't wait to be there at night with just the lights of the city, with the office dark, and being laid on my desk in full view of the ocean and the mountains. Does it scare you?"

"Scare me?" Ginger exclaimed, "Ali, you're a witch! You just sold me. Where do I sign?"

Ali held out her hand and said, "Shake, partner!" They shook hands and then Ginger took the older girl in her arms and hugged her. Ali was surprised to feel the girl's shoulders shaking. She held her by the shoulders and stepped back. Ginger was sobbing. Tears were rolling down her cheeks.

"Ginger, what's wrong? Why are you crying? I thought things were looking pretty good?"

Ginger held her head up, but the tears continued to stream. "Allison McGrath Clifford, you have turned my life upside down in just five days. I thought I was happy in my little gray shell. Now you have smashed my shell, forced me into love ... into the most wonderful relationship a girl could imagine. Then you give me a law partnership — a partnership, for God's sake — before I even graduate! You are a piece of work. And I love you. And I'm so damned happy, the happiness is streaming out of my eyes." She tried to grin, but instead just kissed Ali on the cheek.

Ali didn't know what to do as the younger girl sat down on the sofa and leaned back. In seconds, she was sound asleep. Ali lifted her legs up on the sofa and stretched her out. Then she went to the bedroom and came back with a pillow and a blanket. Placing the pillow under Ginger's head, she covered her with the blanket. Then she went to the table by the window that was used for eating, drinking, and as a desk the rest of the time.

Because of the VIP nature of the suite, it had provision for private telephone lines that bypassed the hotel switchboard. These were now in use for a private fax machine and a private telephone in addition to the regular hotel line. She spent time looking over the securities research she had received over the weekend and made plans to invest more of the money she was managing. Then she studied for her final exams.

At eleven-thirty, there was a stirring on the sofa. Ginger's eyes opened and she looked at Ali. "Hi," she said sleepily. Suddenly, she jerked upright. "Ali, did I do what I vaguely remember doing? Did I really collapse in tears?"

Ali just smiled and nodded.

"Oh, shit!" Ginger jumped up and remembered what she was wearing — or not wearing. "Ali, you've done everything else for me already. Could you stand one more favor? Could I use your bathroom?" Ali started to say, sure, when she remembered something.

"Ginger, I can do better than that. You can have a bath of your own. There's a second bedroom we pay for but never use. It has its very own bath that's cleaned religiously every day. Come on!" She glanced at Ginger and asked, "Where are your clothes?"

The girl grinned and removed them from under the service cart. Then she quickly stripped off the uniform tunic and stood there in only a pair of bikini pants. Ali had seen her figure the previous week, but now there was a glow. "You've been well loved, young lady," Ali said. "You glow!"

Ginger smiled and ran into the second bedroom while Ali moved the cart out to the hall and then went back to her law books. Awhile later Ginger emerged with a towel wrapped around her hair wearing her Levi's and a shirt. "What are you doing?" she asked.

"I'm getting ready to give your mother some business. Would you mind calling her from here?"

Suddenly, Ginger was excited. "Could you handle some true confessions? They say confession is good for the soul. I see your phone has a speaker unit on it. Could we use it?"

Ali said, "Of course! What's your mother's number?" Ginger told her and Ali dialed Seattle. The phone was answered with the name of the firm. Ali said, "Mrs. Jamison, please." A moment later a girl answered saying it was Mrs. Jamison's office. Ali asked for her and identified herself. She had learned that Ginger's mother's name was Barbara.

A moment later a very musical voice came on the phone. "This is Barbara Jamison. How may I help you?"

"Good morning, Barbara. This is Allison Clifford. Your daughter, Virginia, is here with me, and would like me to turn on the speaker on my phone. Do you mind?"

"What a surprise!" came the reply. "Of course, I don't mind." Ali hit the button and Barbara said, "Hi, Ging!"

Ali began. "Before we get to the personal part, I would like to introduce myself. My name is Allison McGrath Clifford. You may have heard of my husband, Bill Clifford?"

"Mrs. Clifford," Barbara Jamison replied, "Is that William Harrison Clifford of points east? Somewhere in the top ten on Forbes list?"

"I'm afraid so. Do you mind if I call you Barbara? And please call me Ali," she said.

"My God!" Barbara exclaimed, "Are you Ali McGrath, the actress?"

"I was, Barbara. Right again. But why the surprise?" she asked.

"Ali, the only thing that saved my marriage was the invention of the VCR. If you were on the screen I could be standing naked rubbing my groin, and Bob would just peer between my legs. We have every movie you ever made on tape. Bob Jamison is going to absolutely freak out when I tell him I talked with Ali McGrath."

She paused for a moment and continued, "Ali, could you send me an autographed picture or something? Bob flat-out just won't believe it if I don't have some solid proof."

"I think I can do better than that. First, Ginger tells me you're a broker and she says you're doing very well. I love your daughter, and I envy you and Bob. But this is all business. I am a money manager. Right now I'm running $200 million and it's going up to $2 billion. I have a broker here, but it occurred to me that Seattle could be a very nice place to trade from. No one thinks of people running money from Seattle. Do you have room for another client?"

There was silence for a moment. Then the musical voice, now sounding somewhat shaken, said, "I'm not sure I heard the size of the account. It almost sounded like two hundred million dollars."

"Well, that's only now. It'll get bigger. Are you interested?"

"Ali, I don't know how long it will take, but I'll crawl on my hands and knees from Seattle to Los Angeles for a small fraction of that amount. You are serious, aren't you?"

"Barbara, I don't joke about money like that. I take your answer to be yes. Let me give you some information about it." She gave her the numbers, the Chemical connection and the rest.

Barbara then said, "Thank you very much, Ali. By the way, for my daughter's information I'm now a vice-president of the firm. Now what's the next step?"

"Barbara, how would it be if I have Chemical Bank wire you open authority for an initial $100 million, subject to discussion of investment objectives and specific securities. Would that be sufficient to break you loose and get you down to see me here in LA? I am serious. I would like to meet you very soon."

"There's a two-thirty flight that gets into LAX about six-fifteen today. Would that be soon enough? Or would you like to do it some other time?"

"Barbara, I'd love it. Ginger and I will meet you at the United terminal. I'll make a reservation for you here at the Beverly Wilshire, if that's all right?"

"It's great. Now may I speak to my backward daughter for a moment?"

Ginger picked up the phone and said, "Mom, now that you're a vice president, do you rate a private line?"

"I sure do, why?" she asked.

"Because I'll call you, or better yet, you would call me at this number. It's a private line into the suite bypassing the hotel switchboard." Barbara agreed to place the call, and Ginger hung up. Moments later, the phone rang and Ginger picked it up again. "Mom?"

"It's me," Barbara said. "What's on your weak excuse for a mind?"

"Mom, the speaker's still on. I want Ali to hear this because she engineered it. I want to apologize to you. I remember always thinking how physically abused you were ... how Dad was always using you as a sexual plaything. You'd be in the kitchen and, when Dad thought I wasn't looking, he would grab your buns. You always sort of melted and kissed him. I always thought you were being abused. I never said anything, but each night I could hear you being tortured. I always thought you were so brave and self-sacrificing.

"Mom, I know better, now. It really does feel great, doesn't it? Last weekend I was naked and peeling a carrot at the sink. My lover came up and grabbed my buns. I almost fell when my knees wanted to turn to water. The next thing I know, he is lifting me by the hips and is entering me from behind. And Mom, guess what? I'm about to cum, and I'm still peeling the damned carrot!"

Barbara gave a soft, musical laugh and said, "I'll give you a tip: Try to keep the cum out of the salad. The taste clashes with several popular salad dressings. Dad and I know from experience. How did it feel, honey?" she asked softly.

"Mom, it was heaven! Right now, I don't know what to do. We made love so much over the weekend, my cunt hurts when he enters me. On the other hand, I'm in agony if he doesn't. So he does. Was it like that for you?"

"Welcome to the club, darling. I'll see you this evening. Will I meet this paragon of manhood, too?"

"Bet on it, Mom!"

At five o'clock, Ali and Ginger were in the gray limousine going west on the Santa Monica Freeway towards the San Diego Freeway and the airport. Ali leaned forward, opened the small bar and made two martinis for Ginger and herself. She gave the girl hers and said, "Ginger, a toast: To us and to our partnership, Clifford & Jamison." They clinked glasses and sipped.

"Why is it this traffic doesn't bother me, Ali? Normally, I detest rush hour in Los Angeles, but this doesn't bother me at all. I really can't understand it," Ginger commented with a very broad grin. She leaned her head back on the seat. "Ali, I really wouldn't have to train very hard to get used to this. In fact, I think I'm going to give my dad hell. I think my real talent is to be a second-generation millionaire. Why didn't he cooperate?"

Ali picked up on the joke and said, "You're quicker than I was, Gin. It took me a long time — thirty or forty seconds — to get used to it. Of course, being a woman you have an advantage. If your dad didn't make it, you marry it. That's what I did. Charley is a millionaire, isn't he?" Ali's eyes were dancing.

Ginger stuck out her tongue. "When I told Charley about tonight and about our partnership, he was ecstatic. He said I could now support him in the style to which he would like to become accustomed. When I said we were just starting out, he said I could easily make it on my back with my legs spread. He said he'd give me a great recommendation. And besides, he says I'm a nympho and he needs all the help he can get. Wait until I get him alone!"

Ali pretended to look puzzled. "Ginger, I don't understand. If you're mad at Charley, why did you lick your lips when you talked about getting him alone?"

She grinned at Ginger and then said, "Do me a favor? Better yet, I'll make you a bet. I'll bet you ten dollars I can identify your mother with no help from you. A bet?" Ginger grinned and nodded. Ali said, "Sucker bet! First, I have a pretty good idea who I'm looking for. A woman who looks about my age, but with a figure like yours. There won't be that many of those. Furthermore, you forgot something: She knows me. But thanks for the money, partner. I'll deduct it from your first pay check."

Ali picked up the car phone, called United Airlines, and learned that the flight from Seattle was on time. Looking out the window, she decided they would hit it just right. When she picked up the intercom and told Fred they were right on the dot, they could see his smile in the rear-view mirror. The car pulled up to the curb at the Arrivals entrance of the United terminal, the two girls got out and walked inside. After passing through the tunnel they checked the Arrivals screen and found the Seattle flight was shown as being on the ground taxiing to the gate. They went to the security barrier and waited.

Ginger said, "I'm not going to make it any easier than it is already. I'm just going to stand well back and watch." Ali just grinned.

A few minutes later, Ali saw a beautiful woman walking up the concourse with a long-legged stride. She was wearing a well-tailored business suit and carried a shoulder bag. Ali went up to her and said, "Barbara Jamison?"

The woman stopped suddenly and her eyes widened, "My God, it is you! Ali McGrath!" The two women, for reasons neither understood, hugged each other like long-lost college roommates.

Just then Virginia came up. She was holding a folded ten-dollar bill which she gave to Ali with a wry smile. "You win. And you didn't even cheat. I thought I had won. Mom was looking for me, not for you." Then she gave her mother a big smile and hugged and kissed her. "Mom, it's so great to see you! Let's go. Where's your baggage check?"

Barbara Jamison winked at Ali, held up her handbag and said, "This is my baggage. An extra bikini doesn't take up a lot of room these days. Shall we go?"

They went out to the car and Fred Clark saluted as Barbara got in. Ali winked and he grinned back in return. Fred was another in a very long list of people who loved Ali. Nothing Ali wanted was ever any trouble for him. The women got in the car and it pulled away. Then Ali peeked into the ice bucket and smiled. As she had expected, it had been refilled. She decided she didn't want to know how or where Fred obtained the things he did. They were just always there.

Ali grinned at Barbara and said, "I don't know if you're used to riding in a limousine, but I'm not. I always feel like a little kid. I want to press all the buttons and bounce up and down on the seat!"

Barbara was sitting next to Ali in the back seat while Ginger was riding backward in a rear-facing seat in the stretch limousine. Barbara grinned back at Ali and said, "Ali, I feel at home already. Can I bounce?" And she did, with a broad grin, while Ginger pretended to look chagrined.

Ginger, pretending to look embarrassed, said, "Mother! Really! I can't take you anywhere."

They all laughed and Ali asked if she could make Barbara a drink. She said it was what she enjoyed most about the car. You could drive and drink. Ali started to make martinis for the three of them.

Ginger's head was nodding up and down and Barbara said, "I can't believe it! My daughter? Having an alcoholic beverage! Darling, I thought you only drank spring water ... and then only from selected springs."

Ginger smiled and said, "Mom, you're right. Virginia Jamison only drinks spring water, but Ginger Jamison is a real swinger. She likes Beefeater martinis. Virginia Jamison disappeared, Mom. She hasn't been seen anywhere since last Wednesday. That's when I met Ali. Mom, I love you and Dad. But why didn't you drown me or something? I was a real bitch."

Barbara Jamison looked quite serious as she replied, "I tried, dear, several times. Your father always pulled you out by your hair at the last minute. He's the one who's soft-headed, not me." Then she smiled and Ali realized that Ginger's smile was a near-duplicate of her mother's. "Ginger, you look lovely! You've never looked so good. In fact, as we used to say in the Air Force Officers' Wives Club, you've got that well-fucked look."