Chapter 6

They took an airport limo from the airport to Jim's house. He had called his son and told him that he would be bringing a business acquaintance to the house. He knew how young people were and ordered his son to have a maid service to come and clean the house before they left. He told his son to pay for the cleaning with Jim's credit card.

As they walked into the house, he was relieved to see that the house was perfect. Everything was clean and in it's place.

"You have a very nice house," she said, "It looks like your son is keeping it clean for you. Not like a lot of young people would do."

He laughed and told her about the maid service. He showed her the bedroom that she would be using. She decided to clean up and he made sure that she had everything that she needed. He told her that she would have a bathroom to herself, as he would use the other one.

"There's a small Italian restaurant that a friend of mine owns close to here. What do you think abut having dinner there and we can hit the sheets early tonight and get an early start tomorrow?" he said as she came back into the living room after cleaning up.

She agreed and they started out for the restaurant. The restaurant was not busy. He figured that many people were getting ready for the Thanksgiving dinner with their families.

Jim greeted his old friend Anthony, at the restaurant and introduced Ann. He saw the question on his friend's face and added that she was here to help with some design problems on an installation that they were working on. They were seated and Jim asked if Ann would like a drink before dinner. She ordered a white wine and he ordered a Jack Daniels and water.

"I feel terrible that Parameter is making you work on Thanksgiving. You won't be able to have a Thanksgiving dinner."

"Well Ms. Bristol, that's just how much you know. Anthony will have a Thanksgiving dinner in my refrigerator when we're finished tomorrow night. I'll leave him a key for the house so he can get in. All we'll have to do is heat it up and enjoy it."

She laughed, "Anthony must think a lot of you to go that much out of his way for you."

"I don't think that it's too much to do since I'm part owner of this fine restaurant."

When he saw that she didn't fully understand, he continued, "Anthony is a great chef and wanted to start his own place but didn't have all of the money that he needed. I agreed to loan him the money that he needed and became the owner of 25% of an Italian restaurant. Anthony is a good businessman. He takes a good salary and I get 25% of the profits at the end of the year. It's been a good investment."

They ordered dinner and talked about their lives. When dinner came she told him that the food was excellent. Anthony checked on the often and brought over a bottle of wine.

"I want you to try this wine that I've started to serve. This is one of the best Italian wines I've ever tasted."

He poured a glass for each of them and waited while they tasted it. He grinned when they expressed their approval and left the bottle with them.

After they had finished eating, the dishes were cleared and they continued to talk. The restaurant soon emptied and he told her that they had better leave before they got thrown out.

"I think we should leave," she said, "That wine is going to my head. I don't usually have that much wine."

They walked into the house and Ann turned to him, "That was the most enjoyable dinner I've had in a long time. Thank you very much. I think that's the first time I ever ate with the owner of a restaurant."

"Well, you're welcome. I enjoyed the sparkling conversation myself."

"I think that I'd better turn in. The flight and the dinner has tired me out," she told him, "If you expect me to work tomorrow, I better get some sleep."

He told her goodnight and she went to her room. He closed up the house and went to his bedroom and crawled into bed.