The Bridge -- Chapter Nine -- A Shot Across the Bow
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. This work is copy written by the author.
This work has been a slow burn, but it's heating up. It will, at times, contain instances of motherhood, intrigue, interracial sex, lesbianism, romance and affection. There are also instances of Dominance and submission, double penetration and a fair amount of heroism and family love, fun and marital friction.
Given the contents of this chapter, it's in the Interracial Love category, but has spent time in the Lesbian Sex and Romance categories and will probably move around if it progresses. In a chapter or two, I will be posting in the Non-Consent category, then watch out. I'll get there if enough people like and comment. There is more than sex by reference in this chapter. In time, there will be more orgasms, and some pretty rough sex. There's also an adventure ahead if you are willing to take it.
Your Comments mean the world to me and help motivate me to continue on. Please let me know what you think. I can tell there are at least a few folks out there who like what I am writing. I appreciate your support. Am I doing okay, and if not, where am I not?
A Shot Across the Bow
Friday was finally here, and we had a full plate. The principals from the Milton Mills Agency were coming for lunch and Bertha wanted to make it special, so it would be shitake mushroom steaks and sauteed onion on her homemade rolls, mashed potatoes, with an Israeli salad. I helped her in the kitchen as the kids were in school and I had already done my prep for the meeting. Holly was upstairs in the office dotting her i's and crossing her t's.
Today, or more precisely, tonight was Holly's date night with Peace Dunbar, and she did her best to avoid me. She was skittish all morning, and I was hoping she would back out at the last minute and tell him to go fuck himself. That just was not going to happen. I could tell by her demeanor. All morning, she was humming and dancing around the house as if she was expecting a special treat to come her way. It put me in a foul mood, but I put on my best face and went on with my day.
Dex and Sandy pulled up our driveway between eleven thirty and twelve and we went out to greet them, with the kids in tow. Their daughter, Sable, was with them and she embraced the kids. Especially the girls. Her parents wanted her to just get some good clean (as clean as it gets these days) country air, so they brought her along. Sable, or Sabella, as her father called her, had her mother's auburn hair and her father's big brown eyes. And beautiful as the day is long. She is a fine young lady, and we were pleased to meet her. She works with her parents, so she would be a part of our meeting as well.
We gave them the grand tour, starting with the outside grounds and the Farm. As the girls continued to play with Sable, we took her parents for a tour of the inside of our house. I carried my Georgie with me the whole time. They were very impressed. I told them that the Barrys get the credit as we made very few modifications to the house since we moved in. We lingered at the office and after a few moments, my supercell rang in. It was Bertha. Lunch was ready, so we headed downstairs to the dining room.
When we got downstairs, the kids were set up in the kitchen and Bertha had them under control. Sable was sitting at the table, waiting for us. We all sat down. I sat next to Holly, not as a show of unity, but because I just didn't want to look her in the face. She did not appear to have a problem with that. "Table rules." I said. "No work talk during lunch. We have plenty of time afterwards to get the business done." I got no objections, and Bertha served one of her gems. Everybody loved the meal, and Sandy asked Bertha for her mushroom recipe. "You should get her Mushroom Mashed Potato recipe, too. It's incredible."
Bertha heard that as she was removing dishes from the table. "Thank you, ma'am. I have the recipes stored in my supercell. I'll get your number from Hannah and send them to you."
Cassandra licked her lips and thanked Bertha for her kindness. "I expect our business today will take between an hour and two hours. Let's get started." We guided the three of them back to the office. Each of the couple had a briefcase, and Dex took over the meeting right away. "I know everyone works digitally these days, but I still like a hard copy for meetings such as this."
They both pulled a wad of documents out of their briefcases, and Sandy started the presentation. "We are going to address three items at this meeting; the schedule, the people and sponsors we are hoping to take part, and goals and next steps we will be taking. Sable?"
"Yes. Mom and dad tell me we have until May to get this together. In my experience, that should be plenty of time to put together a first-class tournament. Here is a copy of the itinerary, as we propose it."
She handed each of us an itinerary and we looked it over as Cassandra prepared to review it with us. It was a multi-page document that gave the timeline of what had to be done until the day of the event. They gave us both approximate dates and date ranges on which to complete each task. We discussed it and made a few changes and suggestions. As Sandy conducted the review, Sable marked up her copy of the timeline. I was feeling under control so far.
The next item was a list of potential sponsors and tournament participants they were proposing. I skipped the sponsor list and went right to the participants. As I read down the fairly long list, there were names I didn't recognize, but many I did. Mostly performers, such as Andrea Delight, the singer, and lots of active athletes, Like my favorite Eagle, Boo Boo Baker. I took my time reading down the list until my eyes stopped on a name I didn't want to see. Peace Dunbar. Yeah, the same Peace Dunbar that's going to take my wife out tonight and fuck her. Quickly, he was becoming enemy number one. Now I had to convince Holly of this. She already had a thing for him. What's going to happen tonight? Well, I'll just have to deal with that tomorrow. But as soon as my eyes left Dunbar's name, I steered them directly at Holly, until she lifted her head and looked at me. I did my best to remain expressionless and as soon as her eyes caught mine; she looked back down at the list. No doubt about it. She saw the name.
"Sandy, I'd like some time to hold on to this list and review it in my own way before you act on contacting any of these people."
"Oh my. We've actually contacted some of them. The ones we contacted end with an asterisk to denote that they have been contacted."
I looked down and Peace Dunbar's name did not have an asterisk. I looked through all the pages of documents as if no name in particular had caught my attention and let her know it was fine, but from here on in I want to finish my review before anyone else was contacted. She was all good with that. "The ones that have been asterisked are fine. If you want to continue pursuing them, feel free."
With that, I expected I nipped Dunbar in the bud. Yeah, right.
"Excellent," Dex said as he took over the meeting. We spent an hour talking goals and resources available to us. The logo they were using at their initial presentation was unacceptable to both Holly and me. It was just too plain. It had no feeling, no life; so we brought it up. Being the pros they are, they were ready for it. Sandy turned her laptop to us with several potential logos, one after the other. Most of them were nothing special, but there was one that caught both my eye and Holly's. Across the top it said Jane Amherst Invitational and below that was the drawing of a woman who looked suspiciously like Jane, holding a baby in her arms. As soon as we said that it was the one we liked, Sandy was pulling a piece of paper out of her briefcase. It was the logo. It was the one they liked, too.
"Sandy, can you guys have shirts made up for us? You know, as part of advertising for the tournament."
"That's my department," Sable said, "What would you like? Color, size and quantity."
"Excellent. Let's do a hundred tee shirts and fifty sweatshirts. Holly?"
"Yeah. I think that should be a good start. So, does that mean this is going to be our official logo? It's very different from the Bridge House logo. Shouldn't we integrate that in somehow before we make the logo official?"
Cassandra waved her hand as if to brush it off. "Nothing has to be official until we say it's official. We can start out with an unofficial logo preliminarily and change it anywhere along the way. The key is to not buy a lot of stuff you have to get rid of until you know where it's going. Gabeesh?"
"Excellent," I said. "Put that order in ASAP. I know where most of those are going, anyway. Can you take care of colors and sizes?"
"Done." said Sable. "Children's sizes as well?"
"Make twenty in children's sizes."
"Got it."
We spent another forty-five minutes working on our next steps. And that Cassandra, she just wouldn't let go of one thing. George Barry's Rolodex. "So, Hannah, have you made any progress going through George Sr.'s contacts? I'm sure it's a prime source of people who would be a draw. You know those jocks are the key to our success."
"I'm sorry, Cass, but I really haven't. I'll attend to it in the next week or so. Is that okay?"
"Sure. It's just that momentum is on our side and while it is, we ought to grab it and run. That's when stuff really gets done. Holly, I hope you will work harder at motivating her."
Holly blushed and still looked away from me. "I'll do my best, but Hannah is very strong willed. And I never forget that she's the boss. She may be little, and she may be soft spoken, but..." And she looked right at me. "She's always the boss." I looked back at her and for the first time today, we both smiled at each other. But it didn't last. Before the meeting broke, Sandy had one more thing to say.
"One other order of business that I found very interesting that can really work out for us. A retired football player and his group came to me a short time ago and told us they were hoping to bring a large group of big-name players to a golf tournament. I immediately thought of you. This group can potentially be the icing on the cake and give you the numbers you want from this event. And it can propel you into the future and make this a really big annual event. I know you have this aversion to athletes, but I would recommend we pursue this possibility. At least we should explore it."
"Does this group have a name and who is this football player?"
"I don't think the group has a formal name, but the gentleman's name is Peace Dunbar. He spent his last two seasons as a pro with the Eagles, his last season being the year we won the National Conference Championship but lost in the Super Bowl. He's been a bit of a local item, and he does the tour of athletes around town, which keeps his name out there. And he knows how to drop a name, so his Rolodex is filled with goodies. And he's charming as hell. I'm surprised you don't know him. He says he was a good friend of George Barry's."
Well, I was fuming through this whole revelation. Not at Cassandra and Dexter, but at Holly and especially at Peace. I'd thought he was coming for us before. But now it's a lock. Now I am certain. Time for action. Time to call Aurelia Spanner. If anyone could give me the book on Dunbar, it would be her. The minute these folks leave, I'm going outside and taking a walk and calling Rhee.
I looked over at Holly, and the daggers could have cut her eyes out. Sandy caught my expression and tried to divert the conversation, but I caught her before she could open her mouth.
"Oh, we know Mr. Dunbar, don't we Holly?"
Holly's words stuck in her throat. I could tell her throat was dry when she took a quick drink before answering. "Yes. We know him." Knowing that in a matter of hours he'd be on top of her, plunging that big thing of his into her.
"Leave Peace Dunbar up to us. If we need him on our side, I expect we can make that happen, but first there are things we have to work out in that regard."
Sandy knew enough to leave it alone, and she agreed and brought the meeting to an end.
"Well, Hannah and Holly, I think we had a real constructive meeting today and we are ready to move forward. Just keep us apprised of how you are coming with that list. I don't want to set up a follow-up meeting just yet. We'll keep you informed and, of course, you can feel free to call us anytime. Hopefully, we can return the invitation and maybe host a dinner for you ladies. Sable, when can the ladies expect their shirts?"
