Dumb Dumber 2
Part 1 -- The Plan
These events took place years after the dental office play from the first chapter. Jennie, April and I had all moved on in life with marriages, children and relocation. However, with Facebook and Instagram, we had all softly connected and kept an eye on each other. April did the least on-line, and I wasn't really sure what was going on in her life. Jennie, on the other hand, was fairly active and posted pictures of her two daughters and dog. She had been divorced a couple of years.
In any event, about fifteen years after the first events (which took place when April and Jennie were in their very early 20s and I was in my early 30s) I had to take a series of depositions in Vancouver, Washington. One advantage of being a partner is controlling your schedule at times, as well as coordinating business travel for personal pleasure. In this case we had six days of depositions. All of the other counsel were local. I suggested, and they agreed, that we go Wednesday to Friday, then resume the following Tuesday to Thursday. That way I had a weekend on the client, save for food and drink, and avoided a second trip. It meant a bigger suitcase but that's what checking a bag and expensing is for.
It was my first visit to the northwest in years. With no family in the area, and nothing interesting me other than a visit to Powell's Bookstore, I knew Jennie had relocated to the Portland suburbs and thought it might be fun to get together and see what happened.
The beauty of Facebook is its messaging features. I pinged Jennie and suggested dinner Friday night after work at a steakhouse near the Hilton in downtown Vancouver. She responded within twenty minutes, so I asked her for a phone number for a quick call. That too came back quickly.
We hadn't spoken in ten years, and I had a few nerves as I dialed. She answered on the second ring. We chatted generally about life for about fifteen minutes, going over our respective divorces and parenting situations. Jennie let slip that her ex had the kids that weekend.
"Hmmmm, now you're giving me ideas...... Would you be interested in more than dinner Friday, maybe make it a weekend getaway?"
She was quick to come back, "that's an idea, what are you thinking?"
"Couple options come to mind. We could get an AirBnB out in Ilwaco or Astoria or the coast near Long Beach. That might be tough because it's a summer weekend and they are probably booked. We could go the other direction and find a place in the Columbia River Gorge. We could just stay in Vancouver, the Hilton is a nice hotel, and go up to Mt. St. Helens or the coast on Saturday for a drive and a hike. Or we could hang out in the room and enjoy the pleasures of the flesh all weekend with some local food and drink."
She laughed, 'You clearly have something on your twisted mind. I've been wanting some fresh seafood so staying in Vancouver with Saturday at the ocean sounds good to me. I love walking on the beach. And I know that Hilton, we had a dental convention there. It's nice and I think it has an indoor pool too. That work?"
"Perfectly," I said. She had always posted photos of Cannon Beach and Seaside so I knew she liked that. "I assume that we can text with these numbers for final details. I'll figure out Saturday and pack assuming we might have some beach time."
"Cool," Jennie said, and we then talked for another couple minutes.
Two weeks later I arrived at PDX and grabbed a rental car. After driving across the Columbia River to Vancouver I checked into the Hilton, leaving the car in the hotel garage. It was late Tuesday morning, so I walked two blocks over to my local counsel's office to organize for the depositions. This being before electronic files, I had my paralegals organize my proposed deposition exhibits in triplicate by witness and then ship three boxes to arrive the previous day. I brought additional material with me in my big black boxy lawyer briefcase, and had spent a good part of the flight revising my intended question tracks on my laptop. It took a couple of hours to open and organize the exhibits in a conference room, print my updated outlines, and chat with local counsel. By four everything was set and I was ready to come back the next morning for the deps.
My phone binged as I was leaving. It was Jennie, "You arrive?"
I had my hands full so I went back to the room before responding. "Got in earlier, just finished preparing for tomorrow. Are we still on?"
"Absolutely. May be a slight change on Saturday night, can we be back to Vancouver by 7?"
This was odd, so I simply said, "Sure, lunch and beach, its easy to get back from Ilwaco by 7."
"Check out this Mexican place, lets eat there Saturday night. Heard it has great margaritas." She included a link.
"Works for me. Everything else set?"
"Aside from your room number......." she wrote.
"916 on the HHonors floor, I should be back there no later than 6. Reservation is at 7. I will leave a key downstairs at the desk."
"Perfect," Jennie replied, "see you there and then."
Part 2 -- Friday night
The depositions went well and I was back to the room just after 5 on Friday. I took a quick shower and put on some slacks and a collared, long-sleeve shirt. It took about 3 minutes to straighten up my work papers and make the place presentable, which gave me time to sit down with my book.
Promptly at 6:02 I heard the door lock click. Jennie stepped into the room with a bag over her shoulder and a big smile on her face. She looked remarkably like she did fifteen years before. Shorter brown hair, bright brown eyes, cute roundish face, and quite thin. Jennie had her dental office scrubs on though.
"You look great, it's so good to see you," I said, putting down my book and going over to greet her.
"Thank you, you look good too." We hugged first, then did a quick peck on the lips. My arms encircled her for a moment and we kissed again, quickly, nervously.
"Let me help you with that," I said as I took the bag off her shoulder. "Packing light?"
"I'm low maintenance, NOT!" she retorted, laughing. Just then there was a knock at the door and a porter pulling a larger suitcase was outside.
"Indeed, that is quite a bag, my apologies, I know never to question how much a woman packs."
Jennie laughed again, "Indeed you should not question that, apology accepted and I will expect something special later. But for now I need to get ready." She grabbed some clothes and several makeup kits, then went into the bathroom, leaving the door open a few inches. I heard the shower running and contemplated joining her, but decided to save that for later. She took a quick shower and got to work getting ready. She stuck her head out and asked for some water at one point, so I brought in a bottle from the minibar.
Jennie was wrapped in a towel. She was as thin as she was 15 years earlier, great shapely legs well proportioned to her torso, having two children hadn't affected her hips, though her breasts seemed a little larger. We chatted about work for a couple of minutes, then I excused myself to let her finish up.