Chapter 68

The tennis purchases I solved with a run into the Santa Rosa Sports Authority. I bought three sets of tennis shirts and shorts and six pair of tennis socks. I had to go to south Santa Rosa and Casual Male XL to find tennis shoes in my size. They were even classic Reebok tennis shoes that I figured would go with anything. I bought a pair of Adidas TaylorMade golf shoes too.

While I was there I figured I'd better add a little to the dress up end of my wardrobe, which was meager. I bought two sets of sport coats and matching slacks and four good shirts and a couple of ties. I added two pair of dress shoes as well. Once again I was in danger of filling the Wrangler after setting out to make a few 'minor' purchases.

Kelli called me just as I was thinking about lunch.

"How's your day?" I asked.

"Busy. Daddy's trying to talk some local Scottsdale entrepreneurs into financing half of our resort expansion there. Actually, that's not true – they've already bought into that idea. Now he's just trying to see if they're willing to sweeten the pot for us," she laughed. "Daddy can be very persuasive."

"He sounds like an interesting man. I look forward to meeting him," and I meant it when I said it, though I sounded a lot more confident about that than I was.

"Oh, he's looking forward to meeting you too!" she laughed. I said nothing, trying to gulp silently. "So, what are you doing?"

"Shopping for tennis and golf gear."

"Ah, so I need to pack my golf clubs and tennis racquet?"

"Indeed you do, and your swimsuit and some nice dresses for nice dinners in nice restaurants."

:Nice dresses or fancy dresses?" she asked. Crap, I thought nice meant fancy.

"Both," I answered, hoping to dodge the bullet.

"Just where is it you're taking me?" she asked.

"Ahh, no spoiling the surprise," I said, enjoying the shoe being on the other foot as I laughed over her curiosity.

I cruised a few malls after we finished our call, mostly thinking lunch, but nothing in the food courts appealed to me. I did stop in at Abercrombie & Fitch for a minute and saw Meg.

"Cooper! How are you?" she said, managing to sound A&F-ish.

"Good," I answered, bending down to let her give me a quick peck on the cheek. "Had to come to town to shop for some tennis gear. I'm taking Kelli away for a long weekend tomorrow afternoon."

"Ooh, exciting! Where are you taking her?" I saw someone approaching out of the corner of my eye. Male, thin, wavy blond hair and cleft chin. Frown firmly in place.

"Promise not to spoil the surprise?" I raised an eyebrow in pseudo-dramatic fashion.

"Of course! Is it someplace romantic?" she was practically hopping with excitement.

"I've got us booked into a bed and breakfast on the Oregon coast for three days and three nights," I told her. The approaching frown stopped and the frown was replaced by a puzzled expression. "Golf, tennis, horseback rides, some biking and long walks on the beach. Maybe even some fishing. Perhaps some romance."

Meg 'squee'd' at the thought of it. Mr. Frown got even more baffled, but charged ahead, confident of his place in the order of things.

"Meg, does this gentleman need some help?" he asked her, but kept his eyes on me, now accompanied by a smile that had appeared mysteriously the moment he spoke.

"Oh, I don't think so," she replied calmly, a little twinkle in her eye. "Cooper, this is my boss Mr. Calkins. Mr. Calkins, this is my friend Cooper James, President of FiberDyne industries."

"CEO," I corrected, pointedly not shaking the hand offered to me. "I'm Chief Executive Officer and majority shareholder of FiberDyne Industries."

"Chaz Calkins," he offered his own hand. I kept mine where it was. "What can we do for you here at Abercrombie & Fitch Mr. Cooper," Mr. Frown-to-smile asked.

"Oh nothing, I just stopped to say hi to Meg while I was in the neighborhood. I'm afraid you don't have much here that I can wear, sorry. Your shirts aren't long enough in the torso, your pants don't have a long enough inseam and your shoes are nowhere near my size," he actually gulped at that. "I used to think that you guys specialized in clothing for the skinny boy-toy set, but Meg's corrected me on that assumption," which of course was a blatant lie, but I saw the twitch of a suppressed smile on the corners of her mouth.

"Anyway," I turned to Meg. "Kelli and I will be out of town until Sunday night, so pass that along to Mitch if you would? I should probably just email him, but since I was nearby I thought it would be nice to do it the old fashioned way."

"Of course, Cooper," she too moved to exclude her boss from the conversation as she walked me back to the store entrance. "I expect you and Kelli will have a great time there. Tell her I'll expect all the details when you guys get back."

"Well, not all the details I hope," I laughed.

"Maybe not," she laughed with me.

I wished I had eyes in the back of my head as I walked away to see what happened between Meg and her boss, but I decided discretion was in order and just walked away.

I finally stopped for lunch at the In-N-Out Burger where Guerneville Road careens into Steele Lane at the Redwood Highway near the Coddington Mall. I wound up eating my take-out lunch in the parking lot while I waited for a severe fender bender to get cleared off the underpass.