Chapter 7: Day 17

Friday started off like all my days lately. Everybody at the office greeted me as I entered. They all thought that the change in me was remarkable. I always enjoyed a cup of tea with my assistant before work started now, and in two weeks I had managed to re-establish good working relationships with all the people around me, although it would take time to make them friends. At least they didn't openly appear to fear or despise me any more. I had continued to expand Kara's wardrobe, and wore a skirt or dress every day. Several of the single men in the office had begun to stop by my desk during the day on one pretext or another. So far, I had refused all offers of dinner. I told them that I was very busy right now and asked them to please ask me again in the future, but not for the next month. I wanted some time to think things over. So far the only man that I had slept with was Peter.

I was a woman in every way except in my mind. I still harbored some idea that dating and/or having sex with men was wrong. If it hadn't been for Carol getting me started with sex after chaining me to her bed, I would probably still be celibate. Her expert attention to Kara's clit had opened the floodgates, so to speak.

At 10 AM, I was summoned to Mr. Jacobs's office. As Executive Vice-President, Mr. Jacobs handled most of the day to day business of the company and I was escorted into his office as soon as I entered the outer office suite. Mr. Jacobs was there, along with Mr. Goldfarb, the company attorney, and Mr. Blumond, the Vice-President of Sales. All three men stood and smiled as I entered. I returned their smiles and sat down where Mr. Jacobs indicated, as all three men also sat down.

Mr. Jacobs offered me something to drink, and asked his secretary to bring me a cup of tea when I stated my preference. As soon as she had left to get it, he said, "Miss Swenson, Buck Marshall told me last week that you were primarily responsible for convincing him to reject Wilson & Wilson and sign with us. Normally, publishing companies don't try to raid another company's stable of regular writers because things would quickly turn to chaos if we started a war like that. But Wilson & Wilson made an overt move to sign Marshall away from us. We can't let that attempt go unpunished or they'll start doing it again thinking that they can get away with it without risk."

He stopped as his secretary brought in my tea and I added milk and honey. He continued after she had gone.

"We've learned that Charles MacFarland has written a new novel. He's still working on it and hasn't signed the contracts with Wilson & Wilson yet. We want MacFarland to sign with us. He's one of Wilson & Wilson's top authors. We sent Peter Hotaling to see him but MacFarland chased him off saying that he's happy with Wilson & Wilson. When I say chased off, I mean it. He fired a gun at Hotaling.

"Peter's OK, isn't he?" I asked.

"Oh yes. MacFarland just fired over his head. But he threatened to lower the gun barrel if Peter came back. That's where you come in. We want you to go up there and see MacFarland."

"You want me to get shot?"

"No, of course not. We feel that you can go where a man cannot. MacFarland considers himself a ladies man. He will probably allow you to visit him. We feel that it's worth a try. Are you game?"

"I hope you don't mean that like in that old joke."

"What old joke?"

I said, "You know. A hunter of certain ethnic origin is out hunting. He comes across a 'lady of the evening' and asks her if she's game. When she says "yes", he shoots her."

The three men laughed politely.

Mr. Jacobs said, "That's funny, but no relation to this case. We'd like you to leave right away. We've booked a ticket at LaGuardia, and we have a car waiting to take you home to pack a bag, then take you to the airport. If you bring back the bacon on this one, we'll see that you get a place at the table. Good luck."

I stood and he patted me on the back as he steered me towards the door. Just like old times when I was Peter Hotaling. I hurried to my office and grabbed my purse and coat. When I got outside, the car and driver were waiting in front of the building. I was taken to my home where I had ten minutes to pack a bag. Carol was disappointed that I would be away for the weekend, but I told her that I would take some time off when I returned. An hour later I was flying west on my way to Minnesota.

Peter met me at the airport and drove us to the motel where he had booked rooms. After I settled in, we sat at the table in my room and planned our strategy. We decided that if MacFarland saw Peter, then the game would be over before it began. Peter gave me a map, plus some additional directions from personal observations, and I set off for MacFarland's house. I could only drive as far as his locked front gate, so I parked and walked up to the house. I knocked on the door and it was opened by an angry looking man with a gun in his hand. I was startled and stepped back. When he saw that the threat was only a small blonde woman, the glaring expression on his face eased and slowly changed to a sheepish smile. He put the gun down started to apologize.

"I'm sorry Miss. I thought that you were someone else."

"Someone that you intended to shoot?"

"No, just someone that I wanted to scare. Let me apologize again. You are... "

"An admirer, Mr. MacFarland."

"Why thank you, Miss. But I don't entertain fans at home."

"Where do you entertain them then?"

"I don't entertain them at all."

"That not what I heard from my friend Sylvia." Peter had given me the name of a former girlfriend of MacFarland and I had put on my most knock-em-dead dress.

"Sylvia... ?"

"Yes. Sylvia Gracck. She said that you'd remember her.

"Of course I remember her. We dated for two years. Would you like to come in Miss... ?"

"Swenson. I thought that you'd never ask, Mr. MacFarland."

"Please, call me Chuck."

"Thank you, and you must call me Kara."

"Kara. That's a lovely name."

"Thank you, Chuck."

He led the way to the living room and invited me to sit down. So far so good, I thought.

"Would you like something to drink, Kara?"

"Yes, Chuck. What do you have?"

"I have Scotch, Gin, Vodka, and some Chablis wine."

"I'd love a glass of wine, Chuck."

"Be right back, Kara. Make yourself at home."

As he left to get the drinks, I started to look around the living room. I spied his "I Love Me" wall and went to look at his diplomas, awards, and memorabilia. He came back and joined me. Then he started to point out different items and tell me about them. I let him talk about himself for several hours. As it started to get late, he invited me to stay for dinner. I agreed to stay if I would be allowed to help, so he led the way to the kitchen and we prepared a chicken for dinner. I made the salad and some StoveTop Stuffing as he prepared some Green Giant vegetables. When the food was done, we sat down to eat, and talk some more. Several times he tried to find out something about me, but I always steered the conversation right back to him. We cleaned the table and washed the dishes together, then sat down to have coffee.