Chapter 23

Thursday, November 8 - Sunday, November 11, 2001

Dave and Michelle finally got a chance to have a fairly peaceful meeting over lunch after the meeting with Larissa. They managed to iron out the rest of their issues. Dave had two fantasy projects to work on -- both of which were ones he had recommended from the slush pile. With the removal of Swordsman of Atlantis from the March list there was the hole it left. Both Dave and Michelle were of the opinion that Castle Wyrthingham was more than capable of filling the hole -- it was the one Dave had recommended with the warning he'd fight for it if he had to. It had already been put on the June list, but it could be moved up to fill the hole. The other slush pile survivor, Maiden of Hvalfjordjur, needed more work, but there was time to finish it so it could take Castle's June slot.

The staff meeting after lunch was held in the insurance company's conference room, which was fairly large. This was presided over by Dick, and consisted of most of the editors from the fiction side of Dunlap and Fyre -- people Dave had worked with, sometimes for years, but hadn't seen since before September 11. There were a few absentees, including one editor who was working from an apartment he'd rented in Bermuda -- some people were really putting this "working at home" methodology to use. The meeting was mostly intended as a bitch-and-gripe session about how the working-at-home system was going, and what could be done better. In general, the comments were pretty useful, and some good ideas came out of them, but most of the negative comments came from the feeling that people missed working with their co-workers so they could exchange ideas; a few people admitted to problems in getting motivated or staying on task. An internet forum set up on the company's server was suggested as a way to improve the communication, and Dave looked forward to trying it out. Another suggestion made was to have some sort of a social event, maybe around Christmas, when they could get together with spouses and significant others and be a little informal.

The big staff meeting was followed by a smaller one for the SF section. "I have good news and bad news for you," Michelle started out addressing the group. "The good news is that Dave has cleared up much of the backlog in the slush pile. He really did a bang-up job, and we all need to thank him for it."

"What's the bad news?" one of the other editors asked.

"Well, the bad news for the rest of you is Dave has done more than his fair share, so I'm splitting up what remains, and everyone is going to work on it, even Dave and me. If we all chip away at it we should be current before the end of the month. After that we're going to split it up evenly as it comes in."

This was good news as far as Dave was concerned. With that said, the largest part of his concerns about his visit to the office were taken care of -- and made the trip worthwhile. Michelle made a plea for everyone to show more independent decision making, since she needed to have less of a load of minor issues in order to deal with major ones. The meeting eventually deteriorated into another bitch-and-gripe session, and then just a plain old bull session, but when it was finally over with Dave felt better about working out of the office.

All in all, Dave felt pretty good as he walked out of the Ford building late in the afternoon. He was out from under the slush pile for a while, and he had three new projects that should keep him busy for a while -- Castle and Maiden, along with helping mold Larissa's new book, which might prove interesting. The day had put him in such a good mood he decided he didn't want to risk losing it by getting into some of the details concerning Julie, which were certain to be a downer.

So, with a lack of anything better to do, and with some thought in mind of beating the rush hour, he rode the subway back to Shae's studio, got in the Malibu, and drove back to her apartment. He gave some thought to fixing dinner, and had a couple good ideas before he remembered they'd planned to go out for dinner that evening -- nothing terribly special, just a little neighborhood Italian place she said she ate at occasionally and liked.

He felt at a loss with nothing to do. It really was too late to do any of the things he had on his list for tomorrow. While he had two of his three current projects on his laptop, he knew he'd just be getting started when he had to quit. Probably the best thing to do was just lay back in the big easy chair, try to sort out a few of the things that had happened, and take a nap.

His rant to Rob about needing to find a better way to connect with unpublished authors still set well with him. The only thing he'd really thought about in that direction was possibly putting some of those books up online as e-books, probably with some weeding to remove the real trash but with no serious editing -- then just see what people read, with hit counters or something. That was just a first cut on the idea, and it wouldn't develop enough funds to be self-supporting, so it obviously needed some work. But, he had a month to think about it before he had to take the idea to Rob again, so he had a little time.

He was still thinking about it when he fell asleep, only to be awakened by Shae coming in. "I take this to mean your day must have been either pretty bad or pretty good," she said.

"Pretty good," he replied sleepily. "We got the major issues solved pretty well. I can give you the play by play if you like."

"Not really, unless you want to hear the play by play from the studio today. Let's just say it was a stinker of a long day, everybody was snappy, and if they decided to cancel the damn show right now I'm not so sure I'd mind too much."

"That's a shame," he said. "I thought you really liked it."

"Oh, I like it all right, but sometimes some of the politically correct assholes and self-centered do-gooders we have running around make it a little less than totally enjoyable," she grumbled. "But enough of that. I'm going to go get out of these clothes, take a shower, and then get into something a little nicer."

"From what you made this place sound like I don't know that there's a great need to dress up," he commented.

"Oh, there really isn't, but I don't often get the chance to dress up," she snickered. "I especially don't get the chance very often to dress up for my boyfriend."

"I thought you were quite the socialite about town," he teased.

"I wish," she snorted. "At least when I worked for WSN I got out once in a while, and I got to dress up nice for the camera. I don't get that now, and I'm just about sick of that little green shorts outfit Shaella Sunrise wears. But I just had a bad day and don't want to take it out on you."

"Would a massage help?"

"It would, but then I'd either want to make love to you or take a nap, and preferably both in that order. So maybe I'd better just settle for the shower for now. You wouldn't believe how hot and sweaty and stinky you can get under the set lighting."

As she walked away heading for the bathroom, Dave realized Shae was a bit on the grumpy side today -- but it was when she was talking about the studio -- maybe things weren't going as well there as she let on. There was something else there, and it took Dave a moment to realize what it was: she was much more upbeat when she was talking about him. Hell, she'd called him her boyfriend, and that had never happened before, not even when they were sort of dating back in high school. And to top it off, this was about the most direct she'd ever been about saying she wanted to have sex with him. Oh, she'd hinted at it before, but this one had been more than a hint.

And maybe there was nothing wrong with that. After all, he liked Shae -- liked her a lot. They were clearly on the way to greater things, and he was the one holding back -- admittedly with good reason, and she knew it and appeared to respect it although seemed to chafe under it. He wished he had a little more time, that things weren't quite as awkward, considering Julie. Or maybe it was New York talking, or something.

In the short term, it didn't really matter. Shae was going to some trouble to fix herself up for their dinner out, so he thought he might as well reciprocate, if for no more reason than to show respect. A shower himself and a change of clothes wouldn't hurt and probably wouldn't slow them up a second. With that he got up and headed for Shae's bedroom, where his suitcase was located, and laid out some clothes and stripped partway.

In a few minutes, Shae came in from the bathroom nude, no surprise to him. It seemed she had gotten pretty comfortable with being nude around him for their not having sex, but it was apparently how Shae operated, and he didn't mind the view one bit. "I might as well get a shower before we leave," he said and headed for the bathroom.

Fifteen minutes later, they were headed down the elevator. He had on slacks and a sport jacket and tie; she had on a tan skirt and jacket with a colorful blouse underneath. The skirt might have been a little short for the season but not out of place on her long legs -- she could have as easily been a real estate saleswoman during the day instead of Shaella Sunrise. She drove her car -- she knew where she was going and was more comfortable in the modified Taurus, anyway.

He and Shae had not been out together much over the past couple months -- excepting their road trip, this was their first time to a restaurant -- but Dave had already learned when Shae walked into a room, she drew a lot of attention. She was, after all, a very good looking woman to begin with, and her size made her stick out even to those who'd missed her appearance. This was a small, rather family-oriented Italian restaurant, and there was no doubt when they walked in she turned heads.

They were shown to seats at a table -- she also didn't like to do booths, for the obvious reason. They ordered glasses of the house wine and glanced over the menu. "Come here often?" Dave asked conversationally.

"No," Shae replied. "Not since Raylene left last spring. We used to go places together occasionally. She was almost as tall as I am, and we'd really draw attention when we went anywhere."

"I can imagine," Dave grinned, the thought of two girls as big as Shae dressed even halfway provocatively walking into a place like this. "You're telling me you don't get out much now?"

"No, not really," she sighed. "It's hard for a woman to go places alone; you know that. When you're as big as I am, it's even harder since you draw so much attention, and you know what kind of attention I get. So, it's just easier to not go out."

"Don't you get out with friends, people from work, or something like that?"

"No," Shae sighed again. "Not much. It's really been nice the past few weeks, being able to tell stories to the boys and then talk with you in the evenings. It gives me something to look forward to. Other than that, well, I go down to visit Eve and John some weekends, and she comes up here somewhat regularly for consultations. We go out sometimes, and it helps. Other than that, it can get a little lonely."