I saw her. How could I not? She stood almost a head taller than every other woman in the large meeting room at the Salt Lake City Hyatt Regency, and inches taller than most of the men.
I also couldn't miss the looks that she kept trying to surreptitiously shoot at me during the breaks in her conversation with one of the other attendees. I sensed that she was waiting for an opportunity to speak with me, but so were dozens of other attendees who had sat through my presentation.
I was currently sandwiched between the mayor of Bountiful and the mayor of Orem as each tried to outdo the other with their descriptions of the tax incentives available within their respective cities to encourage development.
My morning presentation focused on the pitfalls associated with cities and counties imposing exorbitant impact fees on developers and how statistics showed these fees could be detrimental to an area's growth. These two mayors were trying to explain how the tax incentives their cities could offer a developer would outweigh any impact fees imposed by the counties they were in.
Handing each of the mayors one of my business cards, I said, "Excuse me gentlemen, but the break is about to end and I need to use the restroom before it does. Feel free to e-mail me your proposals. I'll discuss them with my partners and we'll get back to you."
I quickly walked away from the two mayors and left the meeting room in search of the restrooms. One of the challenges with being a presenter at these continuing education seminars for realtors is that so many of the attendees want to bend your ear, so finding peace while taking a bio break wasn't assured. Fortunately, this time I was able to take care of my business and escape the restroom without being accosted.
Technically, since my presentation was complete, there was no reason that I had to return to the meeting room where the seminar would be continuing for several more hours. While most of the remaining presentations held no interest for me, I didn't want to waste the opportunity to network with people familiar with the real estate market in the Salt Lake City area and the surrounding mountain resorts.
My company's plans for the development of a high-end all-year resort along the eastern slopes of Mt. Timpanogos, between Wildwood and Sundance hadn't been announced yet, but that project was the reason that I had made myself available to speak at this seminar. I served as the project manager for all of our developments while my partners back in Los Angeles focused on finding investors to keep the necessary funding streams flowing.
When I reentered the meeting room, I headed for the refreshment table to grab a bottle of water. I saw several people watching me, which wasn't surprising. While it isn't as obvious in the larger cities in Utah or in tourist locations such as Park City, it was still common for a person to be judged by whether or not they followed the "Word of Wisdom" as it related to their diet, which included what they chose to drink. If I selected coffee, that would have indicated to everyone watching that I was not Mormon.
Not being a member of the LDS church wouldn't necessarily preclude any development plans we might have, but it could influence the attitudes of some of the more devout Mormons and limit their cooperation when I might need it. With over seventy percent of Utah's population being Mormon, it was better to keep them guessing.
I took a seat near the back of the room and had just started checking e-mails on my phone when the next presenter stepped to the podium. It was the tall blonde beauty that had been watching me earlier. There was something familiar about her, and while she introduced herself and began her presentation, I tried to recall where I might have seen her before. I didn't recognize her name, Addison Lopez, but I was certain that I had seen her somewhere else recently.
She stated to the audience that she was a realtor with one of the local Century 21 brokers and had achieved several accolades for her residential and commercial real estate success. She attributed her success to the websites that she would create to showcase the properties. Her presentation would share some of her tips on what constituted a well-designed web page for properties of all types.
The people sitting in front of me obstructed my view of her below the waist, but what I could see of her top half convinced me that she was a stunning woman. Silky blonde hair down to the middle of her back, lively brown eyes, a perfectly proportioned straight nose, and a mouth that held a perpetual smile. She had a flawless complexion and the poise of a dancer.
It was the blush of her cheeks that allowed my memory to click on where I had seen her before. Her makeup hid it well, but there remained the faintest line of slightly sunburned cheeks under where her ski goggles would have been. The same ski goggles that had been perched on her forehead last Saturday when I had seen her at the Brighton Resort.
She had been chaperoning a small group of teenagers on a snowshoe hike and was trying to corral them in front of the lodge for the trip back into town. She was having no trouble with any of the boys, who admired her with doe eyes, but the girls in the group kept running into the gift shop to buy souvenirs. I sat at a window seat in the pub across the street trying not to laugh at her obvious frustration.
She looked exhausted by the time the van which was their ride finally arrived. As she ushered the last wayward girl into the van, she looked directly at me sitting behind the window across the street, and smiled, almost as if in recognition.
With the riddle of where I had previously seen her solved, I returned to checking e-mails and paid little attention to her presentation. I didn't realize that she had finished until people started shuffling out of their seats for the lunch break. I slid my phone into my pocket and picked up my computer bag in preparation to leave.
"Morgan Pierce..."
I glanced up at the sound of my name and recognized Addison Lopez standing in the aisle beside my seat. Meeting her eyes for the first time, I felt only what I could describe as "inspired". Her eyes held a myriad of signals within their sparkling brown depth. Curiosity, fear, and excitement were on the surface, but determination, strength, and confidence lingered there as well.
I wasn't surprised by her knowing my name since I had introduced myself to all the attendees at the beginning of my presentation. I extended my hand and said, "Yes, and you are Addison Lopez if I'm not mistaken."
Nodding her head, she asked, "Excuse me, but would you mind retrieving my computer bag from underneath the seat next to yours? I left it there during my presentation."
"Here you go," I said to her after retrieving the bag. "Is there anything else you need?"
She gave me a playful smile and said, "Maybe you can confirm the rumor that Pierce County, Washington is named after you in recognition of all the accolades and awards bestowed upon you before you left for college. Three-year all-state in football, basketball, and baseball; leading the Glacier Grizzlies to the state football championship in your junior and senior years..."
"I seem to be at a disadvantage, Ms. Lopez..."
Again, she hit me with a smile that outshined all others I had ever seen, "Oh, Mr. Pierce, I seriously doubt that you are ever in a disadvantageous position. Would you like to have lunch with me so I can explain my knowledge of your heroics in high school and your meteoric success in every endeavor since then?"
I was fascinated by her quiet manner, soft speech, and the contradiction represented by the "fire" I saw in her eyes. I laughed and said, "I am feeling extremely disadvantaged by that charm of yours."
She laughed in return and said, "Any such advantage would be short-lived. My 'charm' is pretty limited."
"Beautiful, charming, and self-effacing," I said as I stood and shouldered my computer bag. "Please call me Morgan. Where would you recommend for lunch?"
Now that I was standing, I saw that my six-foot-one-inch height brought me almost eye-to-eye with her. I glanced down and saw that she had three-inch heels on her feet. I calculated that she was probably five-foot-eight or maybe a little taller in her bare feet. I didn't want to embarrass her, or myself, so I let my observation slide.
