Chapter 80

I opened my eyes when I felt the bed move. I saw a naked Susan sliding under the covers next to me. I turned my head to Lena on the other side. "What time is it?"

"It's about eleven-thirty," Lena answered. "We went to the house for more clothes. I brought some for you for your meeting tomorrow."

"Thanks for thinking of me." I pulled Lena to me and kissed her. I then rolled over and kissed Susan. I snuggled up to her and dozed back off.

I woke to the alarm at five-thirty. I slid out of the bed and took care of my morning bodily functions. I went back into the bedroom to check on the girls. They were both still asleep.

I climbed back in bed and snuggled up to Lena. She stretched and put her arms around me. "I love the way you wake me up."

"I would love to do more but I have to shower and shave. I'm meeting Sam for breakfast at six. I'll be leaving for the hospital by seven."

"I am meeting Lisa at the office at seven-thirty. We plan on being at George's by eight-fifteen."

While we were talking, Susan woke and rolled over to us. I kissed her good morning. She stretched and kicked the covers off. Mr. Happy was begging me to let him play.

"What's on your agenda for the day?" I asked.

"Since it doesn't look like I'm going to get any loving this morning, I guess I'll get dressed and stop by and see Tamara before going to the office."

"Go ahead. Make me feel guilty. I was all prepared to ravish both of you last night but you two were nowhere to be found," I said teasingly.

I kissed each of them again and went to take a shower. I half expected visitors but they were punishing me. I finished and stepped out of the shower. I nearly fell over. There standing in front of me were two goddesses. Susan was in a matching black bra, garter belt, and stockings. Lena had on a white set. Mr. Happy showed them he approved.

"This is why we weren't here last night. We spent a lot of your money at Victoria's Secret," Lena said. "After Susan told me what you said yesterday, your women discussed the situation. We all agreed that pantyhose are out and this is the type of undergarments that we will wear for you from now on."

"Come here," I said and opened my arms. "I am a very lucky man. I think I can ensure a clothing allowance for this."

I had trouble getting Mr. Happy to go back to sleep. I did get dressed and walked into the restaurant right at six. Sam was waiting for me.

We had a nice breakfast. We talked about sports. He was an avid baseball fan. Of all the sports, baseball was my favorite as well. Lena and Susan joined us about six-twenty. Both were dressed in business suits. I noticed that both had strategic slits but were conservative.

"Do you approve?" Lena asked.

"Absolutely! You two look beautiful, sexy and professional."

They ordered breakfast and I waited until they were through before leaving. It was a caravan to the hospital. Lena was still driving my Jag.

Tamara was awake when we entered the room. She was looking like someone who had been in the hospital for a week. She commented that she really wanted to get her hair washed. Lena said she would try to get someone to take care of her.

"Did you like your fashion show this morning?" Tamara asked.

"Is there anything that you girls don't collaborate on?"

"We just want to please you. I just hope my scar won't turn you off."

"Oh, sweetheart, don't you worry about that. I think you are gorgeous. The fact that you are alive and able to be with me is the only thing that matters."

We visited for a while longer. Lena was the first to have to leave. Susan left with her. Audrey came in just before I had to leave. I gave her a hug and a good morning kiss. She slipped me some tongue. Apparently she missed me.

"I'll be here with Mom all day. Grammy and PawPaw will be here later."

"Good. I'll be tied up most of the day. Call me on the cell phone if you need anything," I told Audrey.

"Good bye, sweetheart. I'll check on you later." I kissed Tamara and left.

My cell phone rang as I got to the Escalade. It was Michael. "Hey there. Where are you?"

"I just arrived at the airport."

"I didn't think there were any flights in this early."

"I came in on a charter. One of my friends was flying to New York and he dropped me off. Do I need to get a rental car?"

"No. I am fifteen minutes from the airport. I'll meet you at the curb near the baggage claim... Wait for me at the Northwest sign. It's the last one."

I headed for the airport and Michael was waiting for me when I got there. He had a briefcase and nothing else. We had a nice talk on the way to George's. He filled me in Mike's latest adventures. They were almost finished with the movie. He said they would probably have to do some re-shoots once the editing got under way.

I told him about Tamara's condition. He said he wanted to swing by and see her sometime that day. He said Michelle was worried and had wanted to come but since he was turning around that afternoon she was waiting until the following week.

We arrived at George's office at eight-fifteen. George was there and led us to the conference room. There was a nice spread of pastries and beverages. Lisa and Lena came in a few minutes later. Lisa walked over to say good morning.

"I have the information for the afternoon meeting loaded into your laptop. Do you want Adam now?"

I had almost forgotten I named my laptop Adam. "Please. I'll browse through it when I get a chance. Thanks for all the preparation."

She turned and walked back to the other end of the room. Lena was setting up the projectors for James' presentation.

Phil arrived next. He walked up and shook our hands. "One question John. Are these meetings on Mondays and Tuesdays a coincidence?"

"Whatever do you mean?" I asked.

"Those are my travel days in between tournaments and the only days I am available," Phil said.

"You figured me out. Yes, I have been setting them up so you can attend if you want. Now you can answer a question for me."

"Shoot."

"Why doesn't Blaine attend more?"

"Blaine has a different attitude for his investments. He really doesn't want to get involved. He asked me if he could tag along with me and he has. This is the biggest investment we have ever attempted. I for one am extremely pleased with what you have put together."

"I appreciate your faith. We have three parts to this deal. We'll see what James has come up with shortly. The resort issue should be on track after the meeting this afternoon. We still have the development to get moving."

Michael and Phil started talking about Phil's last tournament so I went to say good morning to Lena. I walked up and she was working at getting the audio/visual equipment set up. She looked so much like her mother.

"Do you need any help?" I asked.

"I think I have it. I could probably do this quicker in my jeans. I am afraid to bend down. I might split this skirt."

"Welcome to the business world. You look marvelous."

"I am having to get used to the garter belt. It is different but I feel sexy in it."

"You are sexy. I'll be back." I walked out to find George.

George was in his office. He looked up when I came in.

"Do you have a minute before the rest of the team gets here?"

"Sure. What's up?"

"I found a property in southern Colorado, near Westcliffe. It belongs to Tamara's parents. It's about forty acres. I am going to buy it from them but the kicker is her father has an option on an adjacent ranch. The owner is anxious to sell. It's supposed to be about two hundred acres."

"I know the area. It's very beautiful. What do you want me to do?"

"I would like you to arrange for a helicopter for us to view the acreage from the air. I think we could fly into Colorado Springs."

"That's a good idea. I might be able to get us in closer at one of the smaller airfields. If we take a small plane we could fly over the property before we land. Who is going?"

"You, me and probably Harry Sanger. He's Tamara's father."

"What about your bodyguard? Dan will have a fit if you traipse off without one of them again."

"Small planes are usually only for three passengers and the pilot. We won't have room."

"If I pilot the plane then we can take one. I can get us King Air 90 that has room for seven and the pilot."

"I didn't know you had your license."

"You never asked," he said grinning. "I flew in the service. I've kept my license current."

"That's great. Could you get a plane and a helicopter lined up for tomorrow?"

"The plane, yes. I don't know about the chopper. I'll make a call."

"Good," I said and left his office.

Bob and Tom were already in the conference room when I returned from George's office. Bob came over to greet me.

"I went by Jim's office yesterday. From the preliminary look at the books, it should be a good investment. I never knew there was that much money in the car-dealership business."

"What kind of figure are you seeing as a buy-out of Jim's partner?"

"Somewhere around four million. The annual income is over a quarter of a million dollars. I didn't get a chance to get into all details but I think it's a pretty good deal.

"Contact Jim and get a meeting set up with his partner. I want to hear his price."

James and Scott arrived right at nine. After the greetings, Scott set up his computer for the presentation. He was ready in a few minutes.

Scott put the layout on the screen. The original course had a couple of minor changes that had been recommended at our last meeting. The new course layout was great. It allowed the resort to have holes on three sides. If the resort design allowed for balconies, then people could view a part of the course from their rooms.

The first and tenth tees for both courses were easily accessible from the clubhouse. The driving range was between the two courses.

James explained that the slope for the resort course would be easier. He explained that the memberships would allow play on either course.

"I have nicknamed the championship course, Eagle. Does anyone have an idea for the resort course?"

There were some names thrown out by the group.

"Those are some good choices but why don't we table this until we have a resort partner? They might want to have some input on the name," I commented.

"I guess that why John is the president. He seems to have already thought out these kind of things," Michael said.

"Scott, what do you need in order to get moving?" I asked.

He said he still had the clubhouse presentation to go through. He started in on that and he had incorporated all the changes discussed at the last meeting.

"The biggest change is a common locker room in between the member's locker rooms. It can be closed off from either the men's or the women's locker rooms. It also has the ability to divide it in half for standard use by the resort guests. It has two complete shower rooms for that use. The member's locker rooms will be just for them."

"Then we discussed the locker arrangements. There would be special provision for charter members and for hotel guests."

It was agreed upon and I told Scott to send the plans back to me as soon as he had those changes made.

We held an official vote on proceeding with the golf course construction. It was unanimous. I asked for a motion to adjourn the meeting.

Lisa had set up a lunch at Steak and Ale for eleven-thirty. I asked Michael and Phil to ride with me. I noticed Bobby in the parking lot when we walked out. He followed us when I left the parking lot.

Once in the Escalade I asked, "Well, is this going the way you wanted?"

Phil spoke up first, "I never thought I would be this involved. I like it. You sure pulled our butts out of the wringer by killing the McKenzie deal."

"I ditto that," Michael added.

"Don't say 'kill'. We are not out of it yet. Ralph is still in the hospital from being attacked by McKenzie's cronies. I want you both to keep your guard up for a while."

"I have a full time bodyguard in LA," Michael said.

"I guess I'll have to borrow some of Tiger's," Phil said jokingly.

"I think it's pretty serious," I added. "I thought it was over but the attack on Ralph shows they aren't accepting this lying down. I think we ought to let Dan arrange for security during construction."

They agreed. We talked about what was going on in our lives as we arrived at the restaurant. Lisa, Lena, and George's secretary were nice eye candy to have at lunch, though they all sat at one end of the table. James and Scott were sitting across the table from me. Phil and Michael were on each side of me. Bob, Tom, and George took the remaining seats on the other end of the table.

After ordering James asked, "I am assuming you are pleased with the new layout?"

"Except for the changes we suggested, I think we are on the right track. When will you begin the construction?"

"I made a phone call on the way here. The initial site work will start tomorrow. I had assumed you wouldn't have any problems with the course layouts and had the contractor ready to go."

"Good thinking. You should be able to get the clubhouse area cleared as well."

"Not exactly. The larger locker room layouts will cause the footprint to grow."

"That's true. I'm glad we have good people in the company."

The rest of lunch went smoothly with everyone making idle conversation. Scott headed to the airport after lunch. James joined the rest of us as we headed back for the second meeting.

Sean and his group arrived right at two. After the introductions, Sean started the presentation. They had the proposed layout of the resort with 3-D graphics. I was impressed. James and Phil both had some questions concerning accessibility to the clubhouse. Sean explained that a shuttle would be available for those that didn't want to walk.

I put the layout up of the new courses. The drive up to the resort would have access to the clubhouse but there would also be a dedicated entrance for the clubhouse.

"We don't want our members competing with possibly heavy traffic into the resort," I said tongue-in-cheek. This brought laughter from most that caught the joke.

Sean spoke up, "If it could be arranged, I think having golf carts at the resort for the guests would make things easier."

"Are you willing to share in the cost of additional carts?" James asked.

"We could definitely discuss it."

"Normally the Pro Shop controls the carts. We plan on having the GPS units on each cart with two-way communication available. The players will be able to order food from their cart to be ready after they finish the ninth or eighteenth holes. We'll have to look into a shared cart situation later," James replied.

The president of the hotel chain, Paul Sullivan, made it clear that they were ready to sign the papers to get this started. He felt he could begin building within sixty days.

"There are a few details that we need to iron out concerning discounts for homeowners' guests, the rates for resort guests, and the number of tee times to be set aside for the guests."

Sean responded, "Gentlemen, the golf course is your baby. We had initial discussions and everything you indicated at that time is acceptable to us. We expect that our company and Eagle Investments will have a very long a prosperous partnership."

Paul spoke up. "Sean showed us the preliminary layout and we agreed with the requirements you set forth. We build it and Eagle gets twenty percent of the profits."

Bob spoke up, "We are assuming that the twenty percent is before you take out construction costs."

"Yes. The construction costs will be amortized in the capital expenditures and paid out of our eighty percent."

"Why are you so anxious to close this deal?"

"Our projections for resort revenue in this area show that it will be up fifty percent by this time next year. We already have several clients that like our chain and want to hold their events in the Phoenix/Scottsdale area."

"That's great news. We can agree in principle; however I want Tom to review the contract before we sign." I shook hands with Paul.

I asked Lena to break out the champagne. We toasted to a long partnership. The meeting broke up and we bid Sean, Paul and the rest their group goodbye.

When they left, I asked the Eagle shareholders what they thought. Each agreed that we were on the right track.

"George, what is the status on the land deal construction?" I asked

"We are waiting the plans from the engineering firm. They have been working on the plans since we closed on the land. They are supposed to have concept design completed by the end of next week."

We discussed the layout and lot sizes. Most of this had already been covered with McKenzie but we needed our own surveys. George was on top of it. The engineering firm would be managing the project.

We broke up this meeting and left George's office. Michael rode with me to the hospital to see Tamara.

Tamara appeared surprised when Michael walked in with me. I kissed her and moved out of the way for Michael. He hugged her and they chatted for a bit. I sat back and watched. Audrey came into the room. Michael said hi and resumed his conversation with Tamara. Audrey came over and sat on my lap.

She put her arms around my neck and hugged me. "I missed you last night."

"Where were you?"

"I stayed in my room after having dinner with my grandparents. I thought it would be best if they saw me go into my room and come out of it this morning."

"That was probably best. Just for your information, you got the same thing last night that the others did."

She smiled. "What's on the agenda for tonight?"

"I don't know yet. I have to take Michael to the airport and then I need to follow up on some arrangements with George for tomorrow. Where is Harry?"

"He and Grammy went to Mom's house to see if they needed to do anything before Mom leaves the hospital."

"I need to talk to him this afternoon. Does he have a cell phone?"

"No, but Grammy does. I'll call them if you want."

"Please, but wait until I call George."

I dialed George and asked him if he arranged the plane and the helicopter. He said he had.

"There is an airport just southeast of Westcliffe. The chopper will meet us there at eleven."

"How long will it take us to fly there?"

"It's three hundred and seventy miles driving distance. It's a little shorter by air. I have a King Air C90B lined up. We need to preflight by seven-thirty."

"Do you want me to pick you up or do you want me to meet you at the airport?" I asked.

"I'll meet you there."

"Okay. Harry, Roy, and I will meet you there."

Audrey was looking at me with curious eyes. "Are you flying somewhere tomorrow?"

"I'm going to look at Harry's land in Colorado. I am thinking about buying the ranch adjacent to him." I wasn't sure if Harry wanted it known I was buying his property.

I looked up to see Michael looking over at me and glancing at his watch. I stood up and walked over to Tamara. I bent down to kiss her again. She put her arms around my neck and whispered in my ear, "I miss you."

"I miss you too. I'm sorry I have been busy."

"No... I miss you making love to me."

"I miss that too. I'll make it up to you when you are well. And once you are home, I'll spend as much time snuggling and holding you as you can stand." I kissed her again but this time I put all the pent-up passion I had into it. She moaned and ran her hands on my back. Mr. Happy was glad I was kissing her like that.

After we pulled apart, she looked down and said, "You do miss me!"