It was the late afternoon Sunday when Cody finally wheeled the motorhome into his driveway. The four of us sat in silence for a few moments, quietly celebrating the completion of our trip to Sturgis. We'd already dropped off Liz along with her new trike off at her home in Crawfordsville.
"Let's get everything unloaded." Kelly suggested. "Before we come up with excuses to put it off."
While Cody and I unloaded the four motorcycles, Kelly and Heather cleaned out the motorhome.
"I'm glad we didn't run into Cory when we dropped Liz off." Cody commented. "I'd probably have busted him in the mouth...even though he is my younger brother."
"Get over it Cody." I advised him. "Put in in the past and quit dwelling on it."
"That's the same thing Kelly said." He asserted, rolling his Road King into the garage.
With everything cleaned out, I gave the couple and hug and drove Heather home. It felt strange driving a car after being astride motorcycles all week or behind the wheel of a motorhome. Kelly and I had agreed to take Monday off to recuperate and catch up on household chores. Tuesday, we'd be back at work at the project site.
Arriving at the construction trailer early Tuesday morning, I found none of the contractors had showed up for work. Kelly was busy, shuffling papers, sipping coffee and making phone calls. After fixing myself a cup of coffee, I sat down across from her desk, propped my feet up and lit a cigarette. Kelly gave me a disappointed look as she disconnected from her cell phone call.
"You gonna do anything today besides drink coffee and smoke cigarettes?" Kelly inquired, subduing a smile.
"Why should I?" I replied. "Looks like you're doing it all."
"Well, we've got a problem." She stated. "A serious one."
"Cody's father backed out on loaning us the money to renovate the building." She disclosed. "Cory pumped him full of lies about Cody and me. He even slammed Liz for going to Sturgis with us. Said she was running around on him and turning into a dyke."
"If you don't mind my asking, how much was your father-in-law going to loan you?" I asked.
"A hundred and twenty thousand." Kelly answered. "With what Cody and I could lay our hands on that would have give us two-hundred and thirty."
"That wouldn't have covered the renovation." I declared. "I ran the figures yesterday, just to get a rough cost on getting the biker bar up and running. You're looking at almost three-hundred and eighty grand."
"That much?" She exclaimed. "Oh God, now what're we gonna do? Cody'll have a fit when I tell him it's gonna cost that much!"
"Well, let's not worry about the money right now." I suggested. "We need to keep going forward with this project. It's too late to back out now."
Reaching into my attaché, I pulled out a manila folder. Tossing it on her desk, I waited patiently while she read through the documents. It was a detailed plan to complete the biker bar, which we'd decided to call "OUTLAWS". I watched, not saying a word, while Kelly read every word.
"When? When did you put this all together?" Kelly mumbled. "This is fantastic!"
"While I was driving back from Sturgis." I replied. "That's why I didn't have the radio on. I didn't want to be distracted."
"Is it really going to cost three-hundred and eighty thousand dollars?" She inquired. "Can't we cut the cost down somehow?"
Reaching back into my attaché, I handed her another folder, waiting for her reaction. Her eyes scanned over the figures, growing quite large when she saw the final tally. She pursed her lips, then leaned back in her chair.
"What can we eliminate from your plan?" She asked. "We've got to reduce costs."
"We can't eliminate anything." I answered. "I told you and Cody up front that two-hundred grand probably wouldn't cover everything. You two should have listened to me!"
Rising to my feet, I walked over to the coffeemaker to refill my cup. Standing at the window, I looked out at the three-story building. Cody and Kelly's dream...and mine too...had turned into a nightmare."
"You've already spent a sizeable portion of your hundred and ten-thousand on clean-up and demolition." I stated. "I'm guessing damn near half, figuring in the cost for landfill fees."
"I know." Kelly mumbled, looking very dismayed. "Maybe we shouldn't have even started this project."
"That's a helluva thing to say!" I scolded her. "I never figured you for the type who'd just give up when things got tough!"
"What am I supposed to do?" She angrily questioned, rising to her feet.
"First, call the demolition contractors and get them over here to finish up." I ordered. "Then, call the two electrical contractors. Their phone numbers are listed on the plan sheet. Tell them we need quotes...and we need them as soon as possible."
"After that, call all three plumbing contractors." I continued. "Their phone numbers are also listed on the plan sheet. Tell them the same thing about getting quotes."
"How do you expect me to pay for all this?" Kelly inquired, picking up her cell phone.
"Let me worry about that." I responded, grabbing up my purse and attaché. "I'm going out and look for some investment capital."
"I'll be back tomorrow morning, bright and early." I asserted, exiting the construction trailer. "I wanna see a lot of activity going on when I arrive."
Driving back to my apartment, I quickly changed clothes, putting on one of my best tailored business suits. Complimenting my attire with a satin silver blouse, high-heels and appropriate jewelry, I checked my hair and make-up in the mirror before leaving.
Arriving at the Regency Building, I took a deep breath before exiting the car. I wasn't sure if my father would even see me but I had to give it a shot.
Entering the building, I spotted Evelyn, Regency Investment Group's receptionist. She flashed me a big grin, coming around from behind her workstation to give me a hug.
"I knew the day would come when you'd come back!" She exclaimed, holding me tight against her.
"Well...I'm not here to come back to work." I muttered. "I just need to see my father about a business matter."
"Things ain't been the same since you left Darlin'." She stated, releasing me from her arms. "Things just ain't been the same."
Stepping off the elevator onto the fourth floor, I walked briskly towards my father's office. Claire Williams, my father's secretary, was refilling the paper tray in the copy machine.
"Ms. McConnell! It's good to see you!" She asserted. "Do you want to see your father?"
"Yes. Is he busy?" I asked, stopping at his closed office door.
"He's...not in a very good mood." Claire replied, choking out the words.
Entering my father's office, I expected to see him putting golf balls across the carpet to a putting apparatus. Instead, I found the sturdy figure of a man, sitting in the middle of the floor amidst stacks of papers.
"How the HELL does anyone expect me to make sense out of all these reports?" He shouted, glancing up at me. "I can't tell if we're making money or not."
I just stood there, more surprised than anything, watching him toss papers from one pile to another. His salt and pepper, grey-black hair was slightly mussed from running his fingers through it.
I realized he hadn't been reviewing financial reports for such a long time that he'd forgotten how to decipher them. It was very amusing but I wasn't about to laugh.
"You just gonna stand there or are you gonna give me a hand?" My father shouted. "I damn sure don't need someone standing over me like a watchdog!"
Kneeling down, facing my father, I started sorting through the papers, placing them out of his reach. I could feel his eyes on me but I wasn't about to look him in the face.
"Your mother used to wear that perfume." He commented in a calm voice. "I can't remember what it's called."
"It's called Intimate." I responded, continuing to sort through all the papers. "I wear it because Mom liked it."
With the reports sorted and stacked, I placed them on my father's desk.
"How did all these reports end up on the floor anyway?" I asked, starting to breeze through the latest ones.
"Hell, I don't know!" Dad replied, sitting at his desk. "Maybe the damn wind blew them off my desk!"
Since the windows were sealed I knew he'd tossed them out of frustration. My father had a quick temper and doing something physical was his way of working it off.
I read through the reports for almost a half hour without saying a word. Dad paced the floor behind me, stopping occasionally to stop and stare out the windows. He frequently turned and stared at me, hoping I'd have something good to say.
"How's your golf game?" I inquired, trying to get his mood calmed down.
"How's my golf game?" He bellowed. "How the HELL do you think it is? I don't get to play except on the weekends. All the damn courses are crowed, even both of my country clubs. My average is up eight strokes AND I broke the shaft on my best number two wood.
"Well, so much for calming him down." I thought.
"Haven't you figured out those numbers yet?" He roared. "Christ, what's taking you so long?"
"Profits are up but only by a percent." I proclaimed. "They should be up at least three points."
"At least the expenses are well under budget." I added. "Course, you're not paying out five grand a week out for a Vice-President's salary."
"Stocks and money market numbers aren't exactly where I'd like to see them." I continued. "You can blame the uncertainty in the stock market for a portion of that."
"So, I can still brag that we're making a profit...right?" Dad surmised, sitting back in his leather chair.
"Yeah, I just wouldn't brag too loud though." I responded.
"Now...you wanna tell me why you stopped by?" He inquired, looking over his glasses at me. "I'm sure it wasn't because you missed seeing me."
"I'm looking for some investment capital." I replied. "Three-hundred thousand dollars to be exact."
"What kind of an investment is it?" Dad asked. "Real estate, warehousing, small manufacturing?"
