Chapter 87

Erin Silverman was nothing like Adam had anticipated. Given Sean's description of her, Adam expected a young woman dressed in skin-tight clothes who behaved like a sullen sexual predator. The girl who stepped from the car was dressed nicely – in line with what the others were wearing – and she wore a bright smile.

She approached the group with her brother and Rachelle and was polite and friendly to everyone. She shook Adam's hand and told him she'd heard a lot about him but she didn't hug him or even flirt with him. She spent no more time saying hello to him than she did with anyone else.

To Adam, Erin looked and acted like a typical 18-year-old girl. Rachelle fell in beside Adam when they started up on the porch.

"What do you think?" she asked.

"About?" Adam wondered.

"Erin, you twit," Rachelle said as she hip-checked him slightly.

"She seems nice," Adam admitted. "A lot nicer than Sean led me to believe. When is her district swim meet?"

The change in subject caught Rachelle flat-footed.

"Friday and Saturday," Rachelle answered. "Why?"

"We should go," Adam said. "If she is going to be one of our friends, we should show her the same support as we do everyone else."

"You know, they wear one-piece swimsuits not bikinis," Rachelle joked. "It's not beach volleyball."

The highlight of the tour, or course, was the bathroom. Sean had left off the part about topless sunbathing on the back deck in deference to Mike and the Duvals. Adam was thankful because Britney probably would have wanted to try it right then.

As they trooped down the steps, Adam cringed when he found Britney beside him on the steps. She touched his arm and he stopped.

"I'm sorry about last time," the girl said, her head hanging down. "I know I embarrassed myself and my sister but I'm sure I also embarrassed you and Karlie. I hope you'll forgive me and maybe we can become friends, too."

Adam put his hand gently on the girl's shoulder.

"I wasn't embarrassed," he said. "I was surprised. But we worried more about your safety than we worried about any embarrassment you might have caused. The only reason any of us said anything is because we were worried that you might find yourself in a bad situation if we didn't. I don't ever want to see anything bad happen to you or anyone, particularly if I can help to stop it.

"I know it caused you more embarrassment to be confronted by your sister than it caused me. But I think we can move past this and become friends so long as we understand there are boundaries. Is that cool with you?"

Britney looked up and smiled, then nodded before she hustled down the stairs. Trinity was waiting for Adam at the bottom. She hugged him.

"You handled that really well," she said. "I told her she needed to apologize to you guys before we could forget about it. I told her admitting when you're wrong is the first step to being accepted as an adult. Thank you for helping that advice take root by saying what you did."

"I meant it," Adam said with a shrug.

"I know and I also doubt you understand how much it probably helped her," Trinity said. "In a few years, when she is older and more mature, I hope you and I can look back about the situation and laugh. I don't think that would have been the case if you hadn't said something about it or if you hadn't handled her apology with such grace."

Trinity kept her arm around Adam as they exited the house and headed next door for an outside look at the Rayburn place. Shelly fell in on his other side and put her arm around him, too.

They arrived just in time to hear Sean tell everyone about the plans for the Rayburn house.

"Adam spent some time this week laying the groundwork to buy this house," he said. "We're not sure what we're going to do with it yet but I'm sure it will house some of the people here. At least I hope we can work it out. I had a great time last night and I am happy to consider everyone here my friend. We will have more information in the next few days and we will pass it along when we have it. I know a lot of you have to make arrangements for the summer and we want to make it as easy as possible. Now let's head to the apartments."

Trinity's family bid farewell. They were heading back to San Diego. Mike offered to give Leslie a ride home so she could pick up her car. Trinity decided she would like to ride in a Mini Cooper so she went with them to help Leslie find the apartments.

Walt had rented a compact car so he could only fit two passengers. Karlie and Erin decided to ride along with him. The rest split up between Rebecca's SUV and the Subarctic vehicle.

The groups arrived at Falmouth Apartments within minutes of each other and immediately set out to feed themselves.

"We've still got a ton of stuff in the freezer," Walt reminded everyone. "Let's defrost some stuff and we'll fire up the grill."

"Screw defrosting stuff," Sean said. "That will take hours. Set some stuff out for tomorrow and we can run down and get some burgers and stuff for tonight."

"Barbeque chicken," Shelly said. "Let's have barbeque chicken, corn and a salad. Does that work?"

It seemed to work for everyone so Shelly and Sarah headed to the store while everyone else headed to the common area behind the apartments.

Since Walt was King of the Grill, it was left to him to get everything ready. Sean and Adam found a reason to help him.

"Everyone seems to be getting along well," Sean remarked.

"You sound surprised," Adam said.

"I guess I am a little," Sean admitted. "With a group this size, I figured there would be cliques, you know. I figured Erin would hang out mostly with Rachelle and maybe Mary. I figured Karlie and Trinity would talk mostly to Shelly. I figured Leslie and Rebecca would gravitate toward Sarah and Allie. But it's not that way."

"Did you see how everyone split up last night?" Walt asked. "That was Allie and Sarah. They spread everyone out who knew each other and made those of us who didn't know everyone sit around them. I thought that was a really great idea. Then they split us up again at the show and again on the ride home. Everyone got to spend time talking and visiting with everyone else. I really think that helped avoid any clique that might have cropped up."

"I did notice the arrangements but I didn't know why or how," Sean admitted. "Those girls really think of everyone. We're lucky to be friends with them."

Adam pondered the irony of Sean's statement for a moment but didn't speak. Sarah and Allie considered it their good fortune to be friends with Sean and Walt. Sean spoke up to break Adam out of his thoughts.

"Before things get going and this goes unsaid, you did a great job this week," Sean told Adam. "We are in much better shape now than what we were last Saturday, that's for sure."

Adam raised his eyebrows.

"Allie is locked in with Daystar," Sean said, ticking off points on his fingers.

"Which I had nothing to do with," Adam pointed out. Sean simply rolled his eyes and continued.

"We have a firm price on the house next door which will give us something to use as collateral if we need it and a lot of options even if we don't," Sean said. "You have not only secured the web accounts for two of the biggest names in the industry but you've secured a friendship and a really solid working relationship with them too – not only for you but for Subarctic and for everyone in this group. Now our group has 13 people in it. We have doubled the number of close friends we have in just a few weeks."

"And they're all super-hot females," Walt chimed in. "That can't go unsaid either and I, for one, appreciate it."

Sean laughed but held up another finger.

"Think about last night," he said. "We now have Daystar and Goldwall calling us – well, you – for talent. When you facilitated getting Rita and Cassie to take jobs with them our stock was raised another notch."

Adam held up his hands.

"Again, I would like to point out that I facilitated nothing," he said. "You were there. Rita heard what Daystar wanted and it fit what she wants to do. Cassie heard what Judy wanted and it fits what she wants to do. I didn't say a word, I don't think."

"Why were Leslie and Rebecca hanging out with us?" Walt asked, turning away from the grill. "I'll tell you why: because you were spending time with us. You presented what we want to do in a way that convinced them. It fits in with what they want to do and they called you originally because of the way you do things. You facilitated last night whether you see it or not, the same way you got Allie into Daystar and Sarah into a contract with Dazzle.

"Look, Adam, you know I would never say anything bad about either of those girls. I adore them both. But neither of them had the resources to achieve what they have in the last month or so without your input and your guidance. The same way that this group would be sitting around dreaming about what we could be doing instead of actually doing something. We're off our asses and on our feet because the decisions you've made and the contacts you've made. You have made it possible for us to act. You have given Sarah and Allie more choice in their futures. Just like you've offered us a lot of choices that we didn't even know existed.

"I've heard that you seem unsure about what you bring to Subarctic. If I would have known, I would have spoken up earlier. It's simple, really. You set the path for us. You assess the risks and rewards and we follow along. Sure, there will be disagreements sometimes. Not just between you and me but between Sean and me and me and Mary and everyone else. Those disagreements have popped up already. And we invariably arbitrate them by looking at how you would probably do things and what plans we think you have."

"But I don't have plans!" Adam said in frustration. "Outside of making sure I can still live in L.A., I had no plans whatsoever when I went into this."

"You had no plans going in," Sean agreed. "But it only took a day before you made plans and a day after that you were putting those plans into action. Some of what you've done is purely accidental. I don't discount that. Mike Cunningham got into his business purely by accident, too, and that's turned out pretty well. But once you saw how things could be, you set out to make sure. When we saw how big your ideas could be, we jumped on it. We've gotten lucky on some things but luck is a huge part of success.

"The other huge part is hard work. You have made it your mission to convert as many people as you've come into contact with in this industry. And you've succeeded, Adam! Even people like Ellen Perry cannot dismiss the success you've had – and the success the people and companies who deal with you have."

"Although I'm sure she'd like to," Walt said with a grimace. "The facts speak for themselves. Mary wrote her program to prove it could be done. She decided to prove it could be done because it would help you and Allie and Sarah succeed. This thing snowballed when you introduced us to a group of performers who are great people. Those people gravitate to you because you are a great person. Now just accept our gratitude before I get the urge to kiss you on the lips."

"If those are my only choices, I'll take the gratitude," Adam said. "And you're welcome. I am truly glad that my good fortune could rub off on those I'm closest to."

"So, what's up with Karlie?" Sean asked.

Adam looked over his shoulder to make sure nothing had happened.

"I mean, what is her role in things?" Sean clarified.

Adam sighed.

"We wanted to make sure she had another way to support herself," Adam confessed. "I guess we do need someone to take care of things and she does a good job."

"She does a great job," Walt corrected.

"Yeah, she does," Adam nodded. "Her job is to handle the bookings, to keep our schedule and to make travel arrangements. She is the contact person for anyone who wants to book us, at least for now."

"But you said she did a scene in Vegas," Walt said.

"Because she wanted to, not because she had to," Adam stated. "Look, I know what it's like to be forced to do something you're uncomfortable with – and it's a hell of a lot better for a guy than it is for a girl. We wanted to make certain that she had a choice in the matter. If she wants to do videos, that's great. But she doesn't have to do them to make sure she can eat and pay rent."

"I figured it was something like that," Sean said. "And, well, I'm pretty proud of you for doing that. I didn't expect anything different but it still makes me glad to know you. Karlie is a good person and I like her. How about Trinity? I think she is hilarious."

"I don't know," Adam said.

"So she doesn't work for you?" Walt wondered.

"No," Adam answered.

"And she doesn't sleep with you?" Sean asked with raised eyebrows.

"No," Adam answered again. "She is just a cool person to hang out with."

"She is," Walt agreed. "So you don't have plans to bring her into Subarctic in some capacity?"

Adam raised his shoulders.

"She has skills we need," Adam said. "She is switching her major to public relations and marketing at the semester. Right now she is studying comparative literature but she realizes the job market for that is slim."

"A good PR person is worth her weight in gold," Sean said. "Particularly when we start branching out into other avenues."

"Mary is stoked about the possibility of hosting web sites," Walt put in. "We'll need someone like Trinity to help make sure our message gets out and it's the message we want to be sending. Mary was ready to head upstairs and start working on a script to do the billing."

"Did Mike talk to you about that?" Sean asked Adam. Adam nodded and sighed again.

"Peoples Bank charges Mike just 3 percent to handle his credit card transactions," Adam said. "The company Rebecca and Leslie uses charges them 28 percent."

"That is ridiculous!" Walt announced.

"Mike said he does almost $2 million a year in credit and debit cards," Adam said. "I think we'll be doing far less so the rate might be higher for us."