Buck fully briefing Tony the city manager about the special project and asked that it be reported in such a way to the council that there would be no suspicion about a building remodeling was raised prematurely. Tony said he could accomplish that easily.
"I can also produce countless reports on deferred projects and there is a clear trail of deferred appropriations now buried as investments for you to follow."
"Good man."
Buck returned to the dealership and called a meeting with Stan and Gloria and his wife-to-be was almost blown away by her elevation.
"When does this take effect?" she asked, bosom moving rapidly.
"I'll call Jessie now to draft the contracts and fill in numbers."
"Stan are you happy about this?"
"I regard it as a brilliant turn of events. You are a very bright and competent young lady."
When Stan left the office, Gloria was all over Buck.
"My darling. This opportunity exceeds anything I'd dreamed of."
Buck kissed her and grinned, patting her butt. "With me you get opportunities," he said, expansively.
On Monday evening Gloria had most of the wedding party to Buck's house for supper.
Brett would be best man, Jessie chief bridesmaids and there were two other bridesmaids chosen by Gloria and their partners, all but one guy being long known to Buck so it certainly was not a gathering of strangers.
Next day Buck arranged with Army Harrington for Hannah to be released to him from 12:30 on Monday week when he and Gloria would have returned to the city from their honeymoon of their mutual choice, a three-city tour taking in Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec. They'd both been to Toronto/Niagara Falls.
Earlier when he'd gone to his office that he'd only seen briefly on his first visit to the City Hall, Scarlett was already there to greet him and had been arranging fresh flowers.
"Do we kiss?"
She blushed and said she didn't think so and hastily said she was settled in at her workstation.
"It's a little busy out there. Come in and work over there at the sofas if you require quiet and or privacy where or not I'm in here, er unless I have people here.
"Thanks. What now?"
Buck glanced at her breast and could have sworn they moved forward and up slightly.
"Call on my aides in including my driver. This will be our first meeting and I need to ensure I know who they are and what they specialize in, how they think they are knitted as a time and that they know you call the shots as team leader in my absence."
"Oh god."
"We had discussed that on the day you decided to work for me remember?"
"Oh yeah. Buck I'm a little..."
"Don't be Scarlett. You have been given a mission, please discharge it to the best of your ability and if you require counseling some to me. However I know you can do it.''
The meeting went very well. Andrea the talkative communications manager said, "But who is Scarlett, none of us know her and have any idea of her leadership qualities?"
Buck had said dryly, "Well Scarlett is my chief aid and not you or anyone else Andrea so please cooperate and accept what's cast in stone. If you have any problems I want you to come to me but make very, very sure they are matters of considerable substance otherwise don't waste my time. Do you understand?"
"Yes Mayor Buxton."
"Right thanks Andrea. I can see we will get on well. All of you call me Buck except on formal occasions or in situations where common sense tells you to address me formerly. Okay Scarlett, tell us about your academic qualifications, your work experiences and the awards you have won."
That went very well.
When the others had department Scarlett said, "Thanks for me immersion into the team. I believe the team accepted what you said. I am so grateful."
"It's what you were entitled to receive from me Scarlett. We do work on the same team. Could you print out the CVs of my team but not Gavin my driver? I'll go out and chat to him now while we look over the limo."
"I've seen the limo. Despite all the office equipment and Internet connection stuff the back seat is very roomy. There's plenty of room for..." She tailed off and said, "Um to sleep if you are tired."
"Yes and I expect you and I will travel together to regional local government meetings in the limo. Could you please become familiar with operating everything."
"Yes certainly. God this is a huge step up from my previous job and actually all jobs before that."
"Great and I have every confidence in you."
On Wednesday at noon Buck called Gloria to say he was about to leave.
"You'll camp night on the Volt Stream you said."
"Yeah," he lied. "I've never fished it before. Apparently it doesn't yield great catches but occasional some good browns have been taken for it. It is easy going and I'll be in no danger being alone. I'll have my phone so feel free to see if I'm in range. I'm also packing a CB radio for emergencies."
"Good boy. I'm about to meet Jessie in the city to discuss my draft contract over lunch."
"Great and I remember we have a wedding practice with the celebrant at the country club at 4:00 on Thursday."
Buck drove 30 miles east of the city and booked into the Waterford Inn for his reserved suite, signing his name as Charles Buxton and that matched the name and signature on his Gold Card. Throughout the stay none of the staff or management appeared to recognize him and that was scarcely surprising because the mainstay of the business was not tourism but couples and perhaps threesomes and foursomes on dirty weekends.
Buck relaxed for a while, having a beer in the suite and then changed and left a note, "Gone angling in front of this Inn. XXX."
He reeled in a total of four fish and tossed them back, being not interest in fish only a little above minimum size to keep.
The dulcet call seemed to float along the riverbank: "Hi Buck."
He had crossed to the other side, saw her and waved.
"Hi Rosemary," he called, not adding darling in case she used that endearment to judge him as being shallow.
It was only a stream so they were not all that far apart.
"Darling they asked was I Mrs Buxton and I said yes. Was that okay."
Darling? Wow. Rosemary appeared ripe for a whoring time."
"Yes of course. This place will be a pillar of discretion because their livelihood depends on it."
"The suite is lovely, I found you note thanks. Are you freezing?"
"No I have my thermals on and these waders have extra insulation. I've had enough of this. We'll have to go elsewhere tomorrow."
"I didn't bring a rod. I had not idea we would be fishing and when I packed I had to be seen to be going to a media seminar."
"Yes and that's understood. They have hire gear here."