Chapter 8: Day 18

After rising and enjoying a long, hot bath the next morning, I dressed and went to see if Peter was up. He answered the door right away and had a surprised look on his face.

He said, "Kara, I'm surprised to see you. When you didn't come back by 9 o'clock, I thought that you would probably spend the night."

"Have you forgotten the date."

"What do you mean?... Oh, yeah. I did forget. So tell me, how did you make out? Is he going to sign with us? Did you make any inroads at all? There's no shame with having failed on this one. He's one tough customer. Wouldn't even speak to me about changing from Wilson & Wilson. Come on, tell me."

"How can I tell you anything if you won't give me a chance. On second thought, I'll tell you everything over breakfast. I'm starving and you're buying. Are you ready?"

"Be right out. I just have to comb my hair and grab my jacket."

In a few minutes he was ready, and he held the car door open for me. As he walked around to the driver's side, I reached over and unlocked it for him. In ten minutes we were in an IHOP restaurant, and had ordered breakfast. I had selected a booth far from any other patrons. As we waited I gave him a step by step description of my encounter with Chuck MacFarland. As I reached the part about our making dinner together, the waitress brought us our food, and I stopped talking. After she had finished bringing us our order and left, I continued. I told him about reviewing the old contracts, and about how Wilson & Wilson had short-changed one of their prized authors. I told him that when MacFarland learned, he grew red with rage and signed with us on the spot. Then I told him about MacFarland's planned ruse to exact some just revenge and Peter smiled with pleasure. I told him that we mustn't say anything to anybody about Chuck signing with us for a full week. If we did, then we'd lose him as an author on future books.

Peter said, "I'll let you handle that. I won't say a word to anybody, and if anybody asks, I'll refer him or her to you. What about Mr. Jacobs though?"

"I'll tell Mr. Jacobs when I see him in person. Not before. I don't want to risk anybody overhearing this. And I want him to understand the importance of keeping quiet about it until the end of next week. That's going to be hard. I know that he's going to want to gloat about it with Bill Wilson. If Mr. Jacobs asks you before I see him, just tell him that we have made some progress and it looks promising. Warn him not to say anything to Wilson that would jeopardize our efforts here."

We finished breakfast and returned to the motel to book our plane tickets, and then we returned to New York.

Peter dropped me off on his way to Manhattan. Actually, it was quite a ways out of his way on the trip from LaGuardia Airport, which is in Flushing Meadows, but I think that he was hoping that I would invite him in. I told him that I still wasn't feeling well, and we could get together another time. Carol was cleaning as I entered the apartment, and she ran to greet me as I came in. We embraced and kissed. She wanted to drag me to bed right then, but I told her that I wasn't feeling well and she would have to wait until tomorrow. She settled for me telling her about my trip. She made a face when I told her that I had been with Peter, until I clarified that being with him did not mean that I had been WITH him. She smiled as the meaning sunk in. After I finished relating my tale she took my suitcase to my bedroom and unpacked it, putting my soiled clothes in the hamper. She helped me undress so that I could lie down for a quick nap, and she returned to her cleaning duties. The apartment had begun to sparkle from her efforts. I would have to do something special to reward her for her efforts. Maybe she would like to be suspended from the winch arrangement while I ate her out? I would surreptitiously try to find out if that would appeal to her.