Michael was standing in front of the DMD Offices, it was fall and Gainesville was cooling down.
Having just finished the biggest sales pitch of his life the adrenaline was still pumping through his system. Fishing out a cigarette he lit it and took a long pull, finally starting to get his nerves under control. Walking around the side of the building he thought about the project he and Steve had been working to get for the last six months.
The Equinox Center would be a multi-use commercial/residential building overlooking the intercoastal waterway just outside downtown Jacksonville.
At 350,000 sqft it was a major project that had some of the biggest architecture firms in the country submitting proposals to do the design/build. The process had been long, with untold hours and a good amount of expense involved, but it was now down to just two firms, DMD and PFVS out of Atlanta.
Michael thought the meeting had gone very well. He hoped that his passion for the unique site and integration of so many dissimilar uses into a cohesive, overriding spatial plan had not come off as desperate or ass kissing.
Steve came out of the office, walking the clients to their cars.
"Thank you again for the opportunity, we are looking forward to working with you," he said to the head of the development group.
As the car pulled away Steve ran to the side of the building, sure that is where he would find Michael.
"We got it," he said with a goofy lopsided grin on his face.
Michael pulled his best friend into a warm embrace.
"This is huge, it will really put us on the map in the Southeast," Michael said pulling away from his friend and taking another long pull off his cigarette.
They sat quietly for a few moments both contemplating the amount of work to come over the next three years, pleased that their passion and vision was being noticed and that their future prospects seemed bright.
When they had started out six years ago both of them had dreams of being rock star architects, jet setting around the planet pushing the cutting edge of design, building in remote and exotic locations.
As is so often the case, reality was a bit different from the dream, but both men were proud of what they had done with TRX after buying it from Terrance's widow.
They had paid Eloise double what the company was worth; they felt they owed it to Terrance after all he had done for them.
Pushing himself away from the fender of Michael's Porsche Speedster Steve said "gotta run, I want to tell Marsha in person."
Smiling to himself Michael wished his friend a good evening and watched him sprint to his truck and take off for home.
Home, Michael mused, not so much a place as a feeling; a feeling elicited by those you spend your life with.
DMD was his home and this left Michael feeling that a huge part of his life was missing.
Flicking the cigarette away Michael strolled off towards the park hoping that the cool fall air on this sunny afternoon would help to blow away the feelings of lack in his personal life.
Walking down the tree-lined path he paused and turned for no good reason and that is when he saw her for the first time.
She was wearing a white silk dress, 'kind of an odd choice for fall,' he thought.
It moved against her body like a cloud, accentuating her hips, then shifting, pulling tight over her breast showing her breeze hardened nipple and then her belly, flat and firm.
'I must be dreaming,' he thought as he turned to follow her.
She is in a hurry, moving fast probably to get out of the cold; her long graceful strides show a power and precision that is alluring and frightening at the same time.
She sprints across the street and disappears into an office building, the last image of her, windblown hair, calf flexed in extension, arm outstretched to push the door before her, is burned into Michael's mind like an after image from a strobe light.
Finding a bench with a view of the door he waits, 'whomever she is I have to know her name,' he thinks, while pulling his leather jacket around him to stave off the increasing cold.
An hour and four cigarettes later Michael stands, 'she's coming,' he thinks.
Focusing on the door he waits, the anticipation and tension building.
And then she is there, pushing out through the door she looks pleased, there is a smile on her face as she fishes through her purse, pulling out her phone she looks up and down the street as she dials a number.
Glancing across the street she sees him, more appropriately she is affected by his presence. As their eyes meet, the phone falls from her hand shattering at her feet, an ominous portent reflecting the fundamental change her life has just taken.
She is lost in his eyes, the instant she met his gaze his face lit up like the sun, it felt as if she had been shocked, standing motionless she watches as he crosses the street, his features coming into better focus but her gaze never leaving his eyes.
Walking across the street it was pure luck that Michael was not hit by a car.
Not looking anywhere but in her eyes he was drawn closer too her.
The street seemed endless as the distance shrank and his tension increased, closer and closer to those dulcet depths until he was standing before her.
They stood for only a moment before shifting their gaze but it was a moment they would re-live a million times; it always replayed every time their eyes met during their brief but passionate time together.
Reaching out his hand he says "I'm Michael, Michael Dane."
