Chapter 15

It was a little surreal seeing my best friend in the industry, hugging my sister, while calling her my wife.

“Well, Stan. You and Sheila can go ... you know everything you need to, to get going. When the rest show up at eight, I’ll tell them as much as they need to know and make sure they have both your numbers.” Stan left and Sheila gave Caroline a big hug as she left. There is so much to get done.

Caroline said, “We’ve already accomplished some things, Richard. We’ve actually completed some items.”

“Yeah, but don’t remove them from the list, change them from regular text to strike-thru text. That way we have something to look back at. We have some primary things to do ... including looking for a place in Stockton ... a place to live and a place for an office. I’m going to do a little bit of online home shopping ... I mean shopping for a home, online.”

“I know what you meant, you big dork,” Caroline said.

“But a loveable dork?”

“A wonderful, powerful, lust-filled, sister-loving, hunk of a dork.”

“OK, as long as you love me. Without sounding too much like a boss, there are a couple of things you could work on, cancel Stanford, Apply to UOP, and start designing the logo for O’Hara and O’Hara Real Estate LLC, kiddo.”

“Number 12, apply for LLC status.”

“Nobody uses the expression kiddo, anymore, dork.” I heard the sweetest giggle ever.

“I found a shopping center right across from UOP, called the Brookside Shopping Center, and they’re both only a mile off of Interstate-5. There’s a residential development between Interstate-5 and UOP called Madison Park. I’m going to see if there is anything we would want to look at when we drive there later today.”

“OK, dork. I have officially cut ties with Stanford, requesting all of my materials, I will pick them up later today on our trip to Stockton and UOP.”

“All right, sister-of-dork, I’ve found virtually identical houses on five different streets, so which of these street names would you like to live on, Telegraph, Princeton, Euclid, Christina, or Alpine?”

“Well, dork, Telegraph sounds cool, I like the name Christina, if we have a girl first.”

“What the hell, if we have a girl first. Caroline—How soon do you want kids?”

“Calm down Rich, it’s been in the back of my mind ever since I gave that speech earlier about being a ‘student, wife, and mother.’”

“You just scared the crap out of me, Caroline. I’m going to need to change my pants now.”

“Ha-ha-ha Rich. Anyway, I don’t like the idea of living on a street named Euclid. Alpine sounds nice, along with Princeton, Telegraph and Christina.”

“Uh-oh. Not Telegraph. That’s one of those streets that, you take a right turn and the name changes to Delaware. So, it’s down to Alpine, Princeton and Christina. You know ... the more times I say it ... you’re right, that would be a wonderful name for our own daughter, Christina Caroline Chelsea O’Hara. Now there’s a name, Caroline, my Sweet Caroline.”

“So far, tomorrow, we’re going to Stanford, to get your records, including a transcript, then off to Stockton to check out these three homes, look at the Brookside Center for office space, and you can take what you get from Stanford and take it right to the Registrar at UOP.”

“OK, Done with UOP, dork. I’ve officially applied and told them a copy of my transcripts will be forthcoming.”

“I love it when you use words like forthcoming. You make it sound so dirty, Caroline. You need to rest before the meeting, dork-sister.”

“No, dork-and-a-half-brother. Remember I’m younger than you and I have more stamina than you, old man-dork.” That wonderful marvelous giggle sounded again.

“When we get back from our road-trip, I’ll show you some stamina, my beautiful, breath-taking dork-slut of a sister.” Now I laughed, which caused her to laugh. We are making an absolutely perfect decision to move away.

The meeting with all of the Realtors went quite well. My contractor Michael showed up early and sat in on the meeting. Caroline and Sheila were there as well.

I brought everybody up to speed about the old office, the new and improved office, and the fact that Caroline and I were moving to Stockton, not giving any more info out than we felt necessary, especially about the two of us.

Stan came up to me and wanted to see the new offices ASAP. I told him to hang around and we’ll do that in a little bit. Seeing Caroline in a business outfit was quite a turn-on and I couldn’t help but give her a kiss, in front of Stan and Sheila. Caroline was a little bit taken aback, but Stan and Sheila turned to each other and said, “Young Love. Ain’t it grand.” We all smiled at one another.

Caroline, Stan, Sheila and myself all went up to the new location, where Jackson Williamson was waiting for us all. I told him that we were ready to consummate the deal. He had the paperwork ready for my signature, and said that the carpets were scheduled to be replaced in a few days. Maybe I should hire this guy? He’s really got it together, I’ll talk to him later.

I walked Sheila and Stan through the place and told them what Caroline and I had talked to Jackson about fixing before we moved in. Stan thought about trying to have most of the place up and running within a week of all the carpet being replaced. Caroline showed a design of the new corporate logo. Everybody really loved it. Caroline also showed Stan her idea for the space, which would give all of our Realtors a desk to work at, along with Stan having his own semi-enclosed office to do his ‘Broker thing’ in, as Caroline put it.

Michael showed up, and Stan and I told him our rough concept for the place. Michael, using his laptop, gave us a rough quote for all of the work within two minutes. Stan and I agreed and we both signed off on it. I had Caroline look at it, of course, and all was good. Phones, electrical and Internet needed to be scheduled. I told Stan to get the computers we needed from the Apple store nearby, telling him about Jamie, also telling him to drop my name and we’d be sure to get a discount. Stan was a diehard Windows guy. I told him that the force was stronger on the good side ... he chuckled and said, “You’re paying the bills, Rich ... Yoda.”