Chapter 5

Angelina turned her head, looking at me over her shoulder. Her face showed fear mixed with hope.

I realized she was ready to walk away if I rejected her. This tall powerful woman, the most beautiful woman to ever express any interest in me, was willing to walk away instead of trying to beat me into submission. Although she out weighted me, and was over a foot taller than I am, she was willing to respect my feelings. This was so new, in spite of my therapy; I was having a hard time accepting what my eyes were telling me.

Afraid I would lose her, I cried out. "Mistress Angelina, please don't go. Stay and talk to me for a while."

"Not Mistress Angelina, just Angelina, my friends call me Angel. I am not your Mistress, nor do I want to be. I will accept your voluntary submission to my wishes, but I do not want a Master-Sub relationship. With me, you will always be your own man. If you chose to submit your will to mine; it must be a gift freely given. I will not force you to submit, nor will I hold you against your will."

I sat there looking at this Angel, not sure what to do.

She continued. "I want to date you so we can find out if we're compatible. Lori told me you have only been on three dates in your life. Is that true?"

As I hung my head, I quietly replied. "Yes, that's true. All of my dates were in high school. I haven't found anyone who will date me since I left the hospital."

"Well then, tonight will be your fourth date. Will you have dinner with me tonight?"

She wanted to date me! She was giving me a choice to go on a date with her; a woman who was so attractive to me I wanted to fall on my knees at her feet. Looking skyward I whispered a prayer. Please Lord let her be serious. Please don't let her be making fun of me. Out loud I said. "Yes! I would love to have dinner with you tonight."

Then I realized the office was business casual so I did not have a suit. Where could I take her, and how was I going to pay for dinner? I did have my house money set aside, thinking about it I decided taking Angel out to dinner was more important than buying a house.

Before I could speak, Angel said. "Good, I'll pick you up in an hour. I know this nice little Italian Trattoria."

Seeing the worried look on my face, she continued. "George, I invited you on a date. Don't worry about a thing; I'm paying all the costs. All you need to do is have a good time. You're not one of those chauvinists who think the man has to pay or it's not a date?"

"No, I was just trying to figure out how much I could afford. I'm new at this and I thought you expected me to pay for everything."

This caused her to emit a melodious laugh. "George, I don't know how to tell you this, but I suspect I make more in a day than you do in six months. My bonus alone last year was north of six million dollars."

My mouth fell open in shock. Angel reached out her right hand and gently cupped me under the chin. With a gentle nudge she pushed my mouth closed.

"Angel, I thought I was doing well when Jackie, I mean Ms Whitfield raised my salary to twenty eight thousand five hundred. Your bonus was almost sixteen thousand five hundred dollars a day. Why would someone like you even want to be seen with someone like me?"

"George, if this works out I want to make you mine forever. Lori told me what you wanted in a marriage. If we decide to marry, I would be happy to grant you what you seek. I make more than enough money to keep both of us and our children comfortable."

"Where do we go from here?"

"First thing, you're going to introduce me to Melissa Sager, Jacqueline Whitfield, and Dan Morgan."

When I asked her why, she explained she wanted me to have people who cared about me that could give me advice. Her theory was if the three of them trusted her, they would not try to stop us from dating.

I took Angel around and introduced her to each of them. Until they found out who she was, Melissa and Jackie were very doubtful about her. For some reason, Dan recognized her right away and urged me to date Angel. Both Jackie and Dan knew about her from the articles written about her in Business Week, Forbes, and Fortune. It seems she is one of the best financial officers in the world. Her capital management system is the talk of the business world.

Angel convinced me to wear my sports jacket and a tie to the restaurant. At precisely Seven o'clock I was standing in front of the Tilden Arms waiting for Angel. Two or three of the homeless people were eyeing me in my jacket. When they recognized my face they settled back against the wall. They knew I did not have much more than they did, so it would not do them any good to ask me for money.

Angel pulled up in a one year old blue Lexus IS coup. I know what kind of car she was driving because I asked her. Otherwise, I can't tell a Lexus from a Hyundai and I definitely could not afford a Lexus. I looked Angel's car up on the internet, it costs $67,000 new. I could not even finance a car like that, Angel paid cash.

The restaurant, Valle d'Aosta, was nice. It has small tables for two and four along the walls. The family that owns it emigrated to the U.S. from the Aosta Valley in the 1930's to escape Mussolini. The father started the Valle d'Aosta in 1939 near the end of the depression. When the son returned from World War II in 1946 he took over the business from his father. Angel was an old family friend and introduced me to Marco the son, and two of his children, Maria and Antonio. The first thing Antonio did was tell me to call him Toni.

On the wall was a picture of Bob Dole and Marco, signed "To the best Sergeant I ever had. LT Bob Dole". When I asked Marco about it, he explained both he and Bob Dole served in the 10^th Mountain Division during World War II. The Division fought its way up the Italian peninsula during 1944 and 1945.

A young Lieutenant Dole was Marco's Platoon Leader until a grenade went off next to him. It seems Dole was protecting a wounded soldier from enemy fire. The grenade shredded Dole's right side. To this day he has very limited use of his right arm and his right leg. The next time Marco saw him was when Bob and Elizabeth Dole walked into the restaurant one night for dinner. The Doles had no idea that Bob Dole's old Platoon Sergeant owned it. When Marco recognized his old Lieutenant, he informed him that his money was no good in Valle d'Aosta. Every time the Doles eat there Marco insists on picking up the tab.

The meal was excellent, but I do not remember much about the food that night. Angel and I have returned to Valle d'Aosta many times since and the food is always outstanding. That night I kept looking into Angel's grey-green eyes. Like a bird being charmed by a snake, I was mesmerized. We talked from 7:45 when we arrived until Sophia, Marco's wife, informed us it was 12:30 and they closed the restaurant a half hour ago.

During that time I poured out my life story, not the sanitized version I normally used. Instead I gave her the full unvarnished truth.

After I ran down, Angel told me the story of her life. She is the daughter of an Italian immigrant, Diogo "James" Garibaldi. He worked as a machinist to support the family, while her mother Mary McCarthy Garibaldi stayed at home to raise their five children.

Angel is absolutely brilliant; she graduated summa cum laude from the University of Chicago business school. After that she went to Harvard for an MBA. She graduated top in her class at Harvard. Her hard charging personality allowed her to climb the corporate ladder and explode through the glass ceiling. The one thing she missed in her life was a life partner; someone who could share the joy of her triumphs and comfort her in her defeats. Every man she dated wanted to compete with her, not stand beside her.

After they threw us out of Valle d'Aosta, Angel took me back to the Tilden Arms. I would not even let her turn off the engine, much less walk me to the door. As I left the Lexus she handed me her business card with a phone number written on the back.

"That's my cell phone number. Call me before Monday."

I practically floated to the door of the Tilden Arms. Angel remained double parked with the motor running until she saw me safely enter the lobby.

Beep, Beep, Beep. The sound drilled into my head. Reaching out I turned off the alarm while trying to remember why I set it. The clock read 9:00 a.m. so I had slept for almost eight hours. Finally, I remembered why I set the alarm.

In a panic, I searched the top of the bedside stand and the dresser. There it was, there really was a card with Angel's name and phone number on it. The card read Angelina B. Garibaldi, Chief Financial Officer. The logo of her company was in the upper left hand corner. Flipping the card over, I saw I wasn't imagining it. My Angel really did write her cell phone number on the back.

First things first, I climbed out of bed, took a shower, and shaved. Before brushing my teeth, I made some scrambled eggs and ham for breakfast. After I ate, I went back and brushed my teeth. Now I was ready to face the world on this glorious Saturday.

I spent the next half hour planning something for us to do today. I wanted something she would enjoy and I could afford to pay for. I might not earn as much money as Angel, but I wanted to prove I wasn't a freeloader.

Finally, I came up with what I considered the perfect plan. Admission to the zoo was ten dollars apiece and the café near the lion exhibit had meals ranging from eight to twelve dollars each. I checked my wallet and found I had fifty dollars. I also had sixty-two cents in my change pocket. That should do it. Then I remembered, parking was eight dollars a car. It would be tight, but I should be able to do it.

Picking up the phone, I dialed Angel's number. When she answered I could hear voices in the background. She sounded like she was very happy to hear from me today. I asked her if she wanted to go with me to the zoo for lunch today. The pause on the other end of the line had my heart in my throat.

After an eternity she told me she would be busy all day today. Did I want to do it Sunday? Of course I wanted to do it Sunday. She asked if I had a car, when I said yes she gave me directions to her house. It was ten miles north of downtown in a very nice suburb. The zoo opens at nine on Sunday, so I agreed to pick her up at 9:30.

I will not bore you with the details of our time at the zoo. Let me just say we had a marvelous time. She loved the meerkats and I showed her my favorite, the bonobos. The thing I like best about them is they end all disagreements by having sex with each other. They are the only primate which does not fight in the traditional sense. A bonobo mother never hits her children, oh how I wish Mother was a bonobo instead of human.

Tuesday morning Angel called me at work and invited me out for dinner, her treat, at a really nice restaurant. That was when I finally confessed that the sports jacket she saw me in Friday night was the closest I had to a suit. Angel promptly suggested another less dressy place for dinner tonight. She asked me what time I finished work today, then told me to meet her in the lobby after work.