Chapter 9

Bob woke up first, on Saturday morning, because he was starting to get cold. The woodstove was starting to die down a bit and needed to be tended. Ann still had a tight grip on his hand. With a little difficulty he pulled his hand away from her and got out of the bed. He watched her sleep for a couple of minutes. He searched in the closet and found a heavy bathrobe and put it on the bed so that she would find it when she woke up.

He quietly walked down to the great room. He put wood in the woodstove, left the doors open a crack and opened the draft to get the fire going so that the cabin would warm up before she woke up. He sat in front of the woodstove for several minutes watching the fire grow. When he could feel the heat radiating from the sides of the stove he closed the doors tight and adjusted the draft.

He looked out the front window and saw that the snow had just about stopped. An occasional flake would pass by the window and the sky was still cloudy. It looked like there was about fourteen to eighteen inches of snow on the ground in front of the cabin. It was quiet outside and there weren't even any animal prints in the snow yet.

He turned and walked to the kitchen area and started to make the coffee. He was on his second cup when he heard Ann start down the stairs slowly. She walked into the kitchen and sat down at the counter.

Bob looked at her for a minute, "I hope you don't have a hangover."

She shook her head, "Just a little headache. If you have a couple of aspirin I think that I'll live. That coffee smells good if there's any left."

Bob got some water and two aspirin and gave them to her. She downed the aspirin and drank all of the water. He poured her a cup of coffee. When he shoved the creamer and sugar bowl to her she shook her head and picked up the cup and took a sip of coffee.

She set the cup down, "I think that I remember waking up during the night and you were holding me. We didn't... I mean nothing..."

Bob laughed, "No you were a perfect gentleman. If you had tried anything I would have slapped you down."

She gave him a weak smile at his attempt at humor, "How's the snow?"

"It looks like we have about fourteen or so inches on the ground," he said, "It looks like it's about stopped."

Ann continued to sip her coffee. She was beginning to remember a little about last night when he tucked her into bed. She wasn't sure if she said anything that she should be sorry for or not.

"I drank a little too much last night. I didn't say anything out of the way did I?"

Bob smiled, "No, you were fine. You didn't say anything wrong and nothing happened."

Ann looked into her coffee cup, "I'm sorry. I'm just tense about the changes coming up in my life. I've owned my business for a little over fifteen years now and now that I'm selling it... well it seems like I'm losing a child."

"If you feel that way Ann, why don't you keep the business?"

"I have to sell it. Medical school will take everything that I get from the business and a lot more. It's time to move on anyway. With my daughter in college the apartment seems so lonely. I think that it's time that I used my education. I have a degree in business; I was planning to get my MBA after Brenda started elementary school. I just hope that some corporation will look at my abilities and not my age."

"Don't keep selling yourself short," Bob said sharply, "The fact that you supported yourself for fifteen years in a small business is a great achievement. Most small businesses are out of business after the first year and almost all are gone by the fifth year. My first couple of years were really rough."

Ann went to the window and looked out at the snow. A small animal had made tracks in the snow in front of the cabin. Other than that, the snow was not disturbed and the scene looked like something out of a picture postcard. As she was about to turn away from the window the sun came out and the snow began to sparkle like millions of diamonds. A feeling of peace came over her and she suddenly had the feeling that she would make it after selling the florist shop. What she had told Bob was true; it was time to move on.

Bob walked up beside Ann and handed her another cup of coffee, "I'm serious Ann; I want you to send me your resume' for that VP position. I think that you're someone that I can work with. I know that you don't know anything about the security business but I think that you'll be able to pick it up pretty fast. I do the technical stuff anyway; mainly you'll just be finessing the clients. Believe me, some of the clients need a lot of finessing."

"I don't think..."

"Don't get me wrong, Ann. By finessing, I mean that you have to understand that some of the clients need to be constantly told how great they are and how much you'd appreciate their business even though you know they're total asses and don't really need all that much security. A lot of my military clients think that they're Superman and they can win a war single-handed. If some new technology comes out, they have to have it. Most of these local leaders don't care what it costs; just make sure they are the first to have it."

Ann though for a minute, "You mentioned the technical end of the business. Is selling armored cars that technical?"

Bob let out a loud laugh, "Armored cars are only a small part of my business. If you need a bodyguard, I can have one of my people protect you and they're the best in the business. If you have a bodyguard already, I can train him to handle almost anything. I have ex-Secret Service instructors on my payroll. If you want a building or facility protected from terrorists, I'm the man to see. If you want a trained driver that can get you out of a dangerous situation, I can train your driver or you can hire one of mine. If you need an investigation, I have ex-FBI agents and forensic accountants on the payroll. If you need a small army I have that too. If you have a Special Forces group and want to make them one of the best available, I'll bring them to the US and train them or you can even use my Special Forces team until I get yours up and running. I can sell you almost any type of security hardware; secure phones, high-tech alarm systems, the likes of which most people don't know even exist, I have secure offices, I install computer security, and I can guarantee a secure Internet, almost anything related to security that you could imagine. I will also take anything that you own, transport it anywhere in the world and guarantee that it will get there. As technology gets better my business grows."