Chapter 11

The next morning after their lovemaking, Cindy dragged Dan out of bed. Along with the Stewarts, they went to church early and then returned home to another breakfast Cindy prepared. With her heart in her mouth, she made croissants which turned out to be as light and flaky as Jan's best. She served them with omelettes which were also masterpieces.

Jan just shook her head sadly and said, "Pete, it's all over. I used to think I was a passable cook, but there's no way I could do this."

Cindy went over to Jan and hugged her saying, "Oh, you poor thing! Isn't it lucky you have such a talented house slave? Just think! I'm the only person that stands between poor Pete and starvation. You can boil water though, can't you? With the boil-in-a-bag dinners they make nowadays, you can probably survive," she replied with her eyes dancing.

Jan took the opportunity to spank Cindy but hurt her hand in the process. She glared at Cindy while she shook her hand; her eyes were dancing, though, as she said, "Damn it, slave, make your ass soft when I want to spank it. You hurt my hand."

"I'm so sorry, mistress. But why didn't you tell me you wanted to spank me?" It was all she could do to keep from laughing as she added, "I'm just a poor dumb slave, though, not a mind-reader."

"Damn it, Pete," Jan said with a grin, "why aren't there any decent slaves available any more? I guess the British blockade of the Slave Coast must really be affecting the supply."

They played in the sun all afternoon. Dan's tan was getting darker while Jan and Cindy looked like sprites with their golden tans, golden hair and blue eyes. When Dan gave Cindy the money from the previous evening, she grinned and said, "Thank you, darling. I appreciate your handling the financial arrangements. How about if we celebrate by dining at Chèz Nous again? I think I can get time off."

Jan was lying with her head on Pete's stomach. She had seen Cindy using Dan as a pillow and decided it looked like a great idea. Without even opening her eyes she said, "Beat it! And get out of my sun."

Dan and Cindy again took a shower together. While she was fixing her hair, Dan put the few things he had brought with him back in his bag.

When they arrived at the restaurant where they had eaten ten days earlier, they were greeted by the hostess who then went back to the kitchen. Moments later the chef appeared to personally show them to the best table in the restaurant. In spite of it being Sunday night, the place was crowded.

As they were being seated, he introduced the hostess as his wife, Marie, and himself as Marcel Legrand. He retreated to the kitchen and Marie smiled and asked, "May I bring you something to drink? Marcel was in such a rush — you can see we're very busy — he forgot to mention that you are our guests this evening."

Cindy looked puzzled and asked, "But why? You already gave us that lovely cognac when we were here last time. Why should Dan and I be your guests tonight?"

She replied, "You see how busy we are. This is all due to your help." She smiled and said, "There is an ulterior ... is that the right word... ? motive. He would like to sit with you later to see if you have any other ideas."

They ordered dinner and the change was instantly noticeable. The quality of the food was substantially better than it had been the week before. Dan ordered a bottle of white wine for them from the very short wine list. While they were waiting for their appetizers Marie brought out a small basket with two croissants and stood by the table while Cindy tried one. It was not very good — in fact it was rather soggy. She excused herself from the table. Instead of going to the ladies' room as Dan expected, she went back to the kitchen.

When she didn't immediately reappear, Dan just shrugged and took some papers out of his bag and started to review them. After an absence of fifteen minutes, she reappeared and sat down again. She didn't tell him what she had done and he didn't ask. A few minutes later, Marcel appeared with another small bread basket. He signaled to Marie who came over to the table to join them. In the basket were four croissants. He offered one to Dan and one to Marie. Dan broke his and the steam came out. It was as light and flaky as the ones Cindy had baked that morning.

Dan didn't say anything. He watched Marie break one and take a bite. Her eyes widened and she took her husband in her arms and hugged him, exclaiming, "Marcel! C'est fantastique! Never have you made such a thing. My darling, it's superb!"

Marcel just grinned and then kissed Cindy on the cheek, causing her to blush. "Marie, it's not me. It's this young woman who made them. Have you ever had better? Anywhere?" Marie admitted she never had.

When the Legrands left the table, Cindy said, "Dan, these kids need help ... financial help. The kitchen is a horror show! No wonder it's such a problem cooking well. And the wine list needs help, too. Marcel and Marie have every dime they have scrimped and saved in this place. He has access to some very fine wines, but no money to buy them. How can we help them get some money?"

Dan had been enjoying the meal immensely. In fact, the weekend had been the most wonderful three days he had ever spent. Not only was Cindy the most beautiful girl in the world but she was also one of the smartest. The biggest changes were in her attitudes and view of the world. Where formerly they didn't agree on the time of day, now they disagreed on almost nothing.

He took the opportunity to tease her. Still looking at his plate he said casually, "Why don't you just lend it to them?"

"Daniel Burke, you're crazy! And you're mean! You know damned well I have about $80 to my name. The seventy-five from last night plus about five bucks left over from last week. I could lend them about enough to buy five pounds of flour!"

"You can do a bit better than that," he replied casually. He reached into his pocket and brought out a bank document he had intended to show her. It was a confidential internal credit memo listing bank officers and their lending limits. They were listed alphabetically by rank. Under senior vice presidents, Cynthia K. Martin was listed at $50 million, the highest personal lending limit of any officer listed; the listing for "current assignment" said "leave of absence." He passed it over to her without comment.

While Dan was rummaging through his papers, Cindy was trying to puzzle out how she could get the Legrands $25,000 which was her estimate of what it would cost to fix up the kitchen and improve the wine cellar. When Dan passed her the paper she was preoccupied with her thoughts and didn't pay much attention until her own name caught her eye. She read it and then reread it. When she looked up at him, her eyes were wide with amazement. "What is this? Some kind of joke?" she exclaimed. "I'm fired. My current occupation is slave. What gives?"

"Did you ever resign?" Dan asked quietly.

"Resign? I was fired! As in, 'You're no longer employed here at the bank.' God, I'll remember Jen's words forever! Then I got violently ill." She looked at Dan with love in her eyes. "Honey, you missed it. It was not one of your mistress's better performances. In fact, I was disgusting!"

Dan appeared to be bored by the whole thing. "What's the problem? Are you sure of the wording? The exact wording?"

She smiled wryly, "I'm absolutely sure. Those words are engraved in my mind as if they were carved in stone."

He shrugged and said, "I guess that explains it then. You're no longer employed at the bank. You have been working at Deerfield rather than downtown Chicago. But you are still a senior vice president and senior lending officer, though." He looked at her and shook his head, adding, "But you don't look like most of the senior vice presidents. And I don't know if they would approve of your preferred attire these days."

"Preferred attire? Burke, have you lost it completely? My attire is my skin. What do you mean?"

"Usually Chicago Trust Company senior vice presidents are so conservatively dressed it's disgusting. Honey, you're usually naked."

Suddenly Cindy grinned. "That's okay. Yesterday I hope you noticed the chairman of the board? Madam Chairman with the bare mound revealing her beautiful cunt? Let's see ... You also saw Jan — all of Jan. She votes her parents' shares and her own. That's about 56 percent. Then Jen votes her shares and the Chapman's. That brings the total to about 85 percent. Then their sister and brother-in-law, Connie and Chip Cartwright, own another ten. That gets us to about 96 percent. Since Connie was a stripper for years she won't complain, either, so I guess I'm okay."

She looked at him with a hurt look on her face although her eyes were dancing, and added, "Don't you like the way I dress? I thought you liked to have immediate access to all my bodily openings?"

Dan's face was impassive as he just nodded vigorously. "Cindy, do you want to do it? Lend them the money?"

She smiled and said, "Hell, the bank can only say no. Let's try!"

It was after nine o'clock and the restaurant had nearly emptied when Marcel came out from the kitchen. Marie brought over coffee and cognac for the four of them. Marcel looked at Cindy with respect in his eyes. He said, "Madame, if you were to open a restaurant nearby, I would close up immediately. You're the finest chef I have ever encountered. How long have you and monsieur been married?"

Cindy smiled and said, "We're not. I'm Dan's mistress. Besides, I know almost nothing about cooking. Actually, I'm a banker."

Both of the Legrands' jaws dropped at her announcement. "A ... banker? You mean, you work in a bank?"

Dan smiled and said, "The fact is Cindy is a senior lending officer at Chicago Trust Company. In that capacity she has a proposition to make to you."

Cindy proceeded to outline what she had in mind. Marie, who kept the books, left the dining room and came back with the financial records. While they were waiting, Marcel told them the reason for the croissants was they were thinking of opening for breakfast. When he heard it, Dan asked, "Have you and Marie had dinner yet?" Marcel said they had not. Dan smiled at Cindy and said, "Hon, Marcel cooked for us. Would you mind making a couple of omelettes for them?"

Cindy nodded her head, grinned, and disappeared into the kitchen. Marie returned with the financial records and Dan started to review them and list their cash requirements. It turned out that the store next door was vacant and the landlord had made a very attractive offer to the Legrands to take it over and join the two units together. It would more than double their seating capacity since the kitchen, particularly with the new equipment, could handle both rooms. Dan made very careful notes as they talked.

Cindy reappeared with onion soup gratinée and a bottle of white wine for the Legrands. It was like the soup Jan had made her first day she was at the house and was superb. When the crust was broken, they both savored the aroma. A few minutes later she reappeared with omelettes, soufléed potatoes and two salads, and sat down again at the table.

After taking a bite of the omelette, tears came to Marcel's eyes. "Cindy, this is the finest omelette in the world! You must be an outstanding banker because you could make a fortune as a chef! No one is in your class. No one!"

Cindy just shook her head and said, "Thank you, Marcel, but it isn't true. Janice Stewart is far better than I am. She taught me all I know about cooking which is only a tiny fraction of what she knows."

Then she reviewed the restaurant's financial numbers with Dan. When they finished, she kissed him softly on the cheek and said, "Honey, if I had a division I would take you into it as a senior lending officer. No one can analyze financials the way you do." Finally Cindy said, "Marcel and Marie, on behalf of Chicago Trust Company I am prepared to lend you $125,000." She indicated the terms and conditions and then looked at the two, waiting.

The two young people were dumbstruck. Finally Marie said, "A bank would lend us money? So much money! But you can't, Cindy. We ... We're not even citizens. No one lends money to immigrants. No one."

Cindy took Dan's hand and squeezed it. "Marie, there's an analyst at Chicago Trust who spent a couple of years trying to educate me. With some help from others, what he was trying to teach me finally sank in. You have wonderful food. Your business has picked up in just the last week. When you add breakfast service and enlarge the restaurant, you'll do even better. We would like to help you, if you'll accept our help."

Suddenly, Marie jumped into Marcel's arms and kissed him passionately. "Mon chèr, it's true! The streets in the United States are paved with gold! My darling, could you imagine this ever happening in France? Could we go to a bank and borrow five francs?" She sat on his lap and he cupped his hand under her full breast. Suddenly, both Legrands blushed as they realized what he was doing.

Cindy got up from her chair and sat across Dan's lap. He took her breast in his hand and she moaned with pleasure. "Doesn't it feel wonderful to have your lover squeeze your tit?" she asked Marie softly.

"Tit? I don't know the word, tit," the girl said with a puzzled look on her face. Cindy grinned and cupped her breasts saying, "Tits, Marie. Or boobs, or breasts." Since she was not wearing a bra, her nipples showed prominently under her dress.

The French girl blushed, but then grinned. Finally she just shook her head and said, "We must close up now. Marcel and I are going to just float home. Thank you so much. But what do we do now? Do you think we might get the money? How long does it take? Two or three months?"

Cindy smiled warmly and said, "I think it will be faster than that." They kissed and left the restaurant. While they were waiting for his train, she asked, "Did I do the right thing, Dan? I hope that memo you showed me wasn't someone's idea of a sick joke. Marie and Marcel would be absolutely crushed!"

Instead of answering directly, Dan replied, "How did you analyze the loan?"

"Two young people working extremely hard trying to make a life for themselves in a new country. Honey, in the kitchen I saw a pile of English books. They want to succeed so badly. They deserve the chance. The numbers are okay, I guess, but it's a loan to them, not against their assets. What would you have done?"