Chapter 15

Jake, Melissa, and Trish walked into the quiet house holding hands. The women went to the bedroom while Jake checked on Leslie. Leslie was sleeping soundly, so Jake hustled to the master suite in happy anticipation. Melissa was in the bathroom changing into her nightgown; Trish was already in bed, under the covers. Trish, like Jake, slept naked. Muffy almost always wore a long gown, she said it helped her stay warm and she liked the feel of the satiny material against her skin. Jake thought that both women's outfits were excellent. He stripped naked in record time and climbed under the covers with Trish. They were propped up on pillows talking when Melissa made her entrance. Trish and Jake both gasped as she walked into the room. The white silk gown she had on hugged her curves like a second skin. She had brushed her hair; it hung down the front of her and framed her face like an ebony halo.

Jake swept back the covers and Melissa regally slipped into the bed on his right side. Jake like the way the women felt as they bookended against him. He slid down in the bed until he was flat on his back, Melissa rolled onto her left side, threw her top leg over him, and propped her head on her hand. Trish became her mirror image on his left side. The two women held hands across his chest.

"I guess I ought to get out of the way and let you two get better acquainted," Jake said.

"That's sweet of you, Baby, but we are going to take care of you first," Melissa replied.

"Hey," said Trish, "I'm the new girl, let's see if I can take care of you both."

That sounded like a plan to Jake and Muffy so they let Trish take the lead. Trish rolled onto her back and put a pillow under her butt. Then she had Jake mount her. As soon as Jake was fully inside her tight sheath, Trish had Melissa squat over her face and hold on to the headboard. Trish pulled Melissa down onto her mouth. Melissa's long gown settled around Trish's face just as Trish's tongue stabbed into her split. Melissa squealed in delight as Trish laved her already wet quim. Trish had an incredibly long and agile tongue and knew how to use it to maximum advantage. She was the best muff muncher Melissa had ever been with. It took Trish fewer than five minutes to bring her to her first orgasm.

Trish had to agree with Jake's assessment that Melissa's taste was addictive. She could not get enough of her new friend's juices. Trish cupped Melissa's butt cheeks in her palms and raised her up enough to give her questing tongue more room to roam. Trish was going to see if that perfect ass tasted as good as it looked.

An hour later, the three lay in a warm cozy pile, happily spent. The women had reassumed their places next to Jake as they talked over his chest. Trish had been in a number of threesomes in her life but never a committed three person relationship. She wondered why she had not figured out that it was what she was meant to do. It was unconventional, maybe, but perfect for the three of them. She expressed this idea to Jake and Melissa and her lovers quickly endorsed it. Jake nodded off as his women started making plans and guidelines for how their relationship would work.

Jake woke up Saturday morning at six. He was lying on his side holding Melissa in his arms. Trish was spot welded to his back, her arm thrown across both him and Muffy. Jake carefully extricated himself and slid out of bed. Melissa grumbled in her sleep when she lost his body heat but Trish remedied that by scooching up behind her. They looked awfully sweet cuddled up in the middle of the bed. Jake grabbed some pants and a tee-shirt, slipped on his Docksiders and quietly left the bedroom. He dressed in the hall then used one of the guest baths before going out on the porch. Jake sat in his favorite rocker and watched the sun come up. It was a good morning for reflection and thinking, so that is what he did.

Jake had been in this life for twenty-seven months already. The time had flown by. Was he making progress? Yeah, he figured, he was. The circle of his influence in this time line was widening. He knew that he had changed the fate and future of a number of people. As they came into contact with others, the ripple would spread. He was also doing well at positioning himself to have a greater impact as he got older. And the people that would help him in his quest were pretty much already assembled. Trish and Melissa were the keys, he felt. They were both action oriented, always pushing forward. Jake's biggest problem was in dealing with the details, Trish and Melissa were excellent at making sure the little things were done. He was free to concentrate on making conceptual plans, knowing that the two women would make them happen.

Of course, Jake also had a number of other bright and talented people on his team. They were scattered around right now, most of them completing their educations, and they would be available when the time came. Debbie was in her second year at the University of Central Florida; she was visiting the ranch that evening to meet Trish and discuss the HERZ idea. Sister Angie and Melissa's cousin, Tigger, were freshmen at the University of Florida; Angie a business major, Tigger in prelaw. They were dorm mates at UF and Jake missed them both. Jake's father, Charles, the proud papa-to-be, was still the driving force behind Turner Furniture and Appliance. TFA now had sixteen stores operating in three states, with eight more under construction. The superstores were making money as if they were printing it. Helen, Jake's mother, was in the very late stages of her pregnancy; in fact, she was four days past her projected delivery date. She was as big as a house and not able to get around much; regardless of that, one could pick her out in a crowd of faces by the big grin she had pasted on her's.

Jake's cousin, Claudia Murphy, was a junior at Rollins College working on a degree in Management. Claudia would be at the ranch that evening also, to discuss HERZ with them. Nina Mallory and his cousin Sean Murphy lived in a nice house Nina had bought in Palmdale. They were getting married in October, then Sean was going to start at Stetson in January; he was going to major in English Literature. Nina fully supported his dream to become a writer. Nina was going into the investment business with Martina Sterling. Little Nina Murphy was fourteen now and a freshman at Kennedy High. Cousin Jenny Murphy was a first year nursing student at Daytona Beach Junior College, still patiently waiting for her boyfriend Larry Flynn. Larry was holding his own at the Naval Academy. Cousin Michael was a freshman at Boston College, the only family member to elect a school up north.

Beth Owens was a premedical student at Duke. She called Jake every week; she was homesick but coping.

Erika was working for her namesake air service company. She was a busy girl because Melissa was in the process of buying Daytona Air Charter lock, stock, and barrel. The purchase of the local charter company was big. They had a pair of Lear 24B executive jets, along with three twin engine turbo props (one a Gulfstream 100); they had long leases on two hangers and a nice office suite. The seller was the recent widow of a friend of Melissa's father. The asking price was a tad over three million, TnT's biggest investment yet. Shrewd Melissa was loaning TnT the money at slightly below market rate. She was making money as she made money.

Erika Air was going from a small start-up to a major player in the Daytona area in less than a year. Jake loved the Erika Air logo; it was a stylized rendering of Erika from the waist up. She was dressed as a Valkyrie in a metal breast plate with a horned helmet perched on her golden locks. That logo alone would draw as much business as any other advertising they did. Sven Johansson strikes again.

Erika and Dave were screening the current Daytona Charter pilots and staff to see whom they would keep. Joe Bunnell stayed out of the business side of things; he was content to fly and chase women. He could not wait to get his hands on one of the Lear Jets. He also could not wait to get his hands on Louisa. Joe Bunnell was going to be a problem for Jake very soon.

Dawn Diamond, the driving force behind Maui Jake's Surf Shops was growing their business at an astonishing rate. There were twelve Maui Jake's now, plus a catalogue store that Jake suggested. Dawn's line of Diamond Pointe Swimwear was still the best selling item in the stores. Dawn and that lucky dog, Terry Steyaert, were married now. Terry was making a name for himself as COO of Turner Furniture and Appliance.

Rebecca Doane was well into her sixth book. She and Jake were still occasional lovers. Her sister Katie was still teaching Philosophy at Stetson. Jake had taken every course she taught. She was his arbiter of ethical questions and his moral compass. Katie and LaMonte Dupree were still together and raising Katie's daughter Rachael; they had also developed a new specialized hobby of taste-testing their way together through the fine dining establishments of New Orleans.

Sven Johansson's advertising business was booming. He had the Southeast covered now. Thornton/TnT and Turner Furniture were two of his biggest clients. Helga was as beautiful as ever. She still sought Jake out about once a month to work out her kinks at the bungalow. Erik Johansson, Erika's twin brother, was a freshman at Florida State. He was a second string tackle on the Seminole football team's offensive line. He was getting plenty of playing time and would probably be the starting left tackle before the season was over. Erik was also the team's backup place kicker, all six foot-six inches, two hundred-sixty pounds of him.

Scott Hughes was at the University of Central Florida majoring in electrical engineering and computer science. Scott was engaged to Mitzi Walker, the person who kept TnT running like a Swiss quartz watch. Mitzi was more beautiful than ever and loved nerdy Scott to death. TnT had grown to the point where they leased an entire floor of the seven story Thornton building in downtown Palmdale. Maria Thornton, Tigger's mother and Melissa's aunt, had an office suite in the same building. Maria was corporate attorney for Thornton, TnT, and Turner Furniture. She also owned twenty percent of Thornton that she had inherited when her husband Randall was murdered. She was still dating Barry Miller.

Gail Martin was still Charles Turner's private secretary. Gail was a senior at Stetson, Jake saw her around campus and privately every couple of weeks at the bungalow. Jake had about given up on getting Gail to date otherwise. She said she was happy with him tuning her up twice a month and did not want anymore of a relationship than that with anyone. Jake convinced Gail to dress sexily at work to brighten Charles' days. She kinda enjoyed teasing her boss; it was harmless and Charles appreciated her efforts. Gail's father Bob was now the primary plumbing contractor for Thornton Development. Bob Martin ran his crews as if he were still a sergeant in the 82d Airborne. He checked every man on every job every day; for most of those crew members, the attention had gone from frightening to reassuring - they knew their work was being seen and recognized.

The Robinsons still worked at Turner Furniture. Rafe was doing a yeoman's job of keeping the three warehouses and fleet of delivery vehicles productive. Janet was the Chief Financial Officer of TFA now, a tough job given the volume of sales the store generated. She was a godsend for Charles. The Robinsons' son, Ray, was a sophomore at Auburn University. Jake had gotten Ray into weight training when he was at Kennedy and Ray had bulked up. He was a six foot tall, two hundred twenty pound running back with speed. Ray made the all Southeast Conference team as a freshman and was a lock for All-American this year. More importantly for Auburn, Ray had run for two hundred yards against Alabama last year. The Tigers beat the Crimson tide 24-21 on a sixty yard touchdown run by Ray in the final minute of the game. Ray was also an academic All-American; he was a prelaw student with political aspirations of his own.

Carl and Dianne McClelland were happy as clams. Dianne was proving to be an excellent principal at Kennedy High. Carl had finally perfected his baldness cure. It was at the FDA now for approval. It was a topical solution carried in a shampoo. Dawn Diamond was negotiating with Johnson and Johnson for a shampoo medium. In a year or so doctors across America would be prescribing Nomo-Quballirol for their follically challenged patients. Dianne's twin daughters, Hope and Faith, were closing in on sixteen. They were talented, beautiful, and extremely intelligent. They were also high spirited and full of the devil. Jake loved having them around. They were coming out today with young Nina Murphy to take care of their horses and go riding.

Jake was broken out of his reverie by the arrival of Ramon Diaz. Ramon was doing a marvelous job of managing the ranch. Between the selling and breeding of horses, the sale of cattle, and their fifty acre orange grove, TnT ranch was a very profitable enterprise. Ramon arrived with two cups of coffee, he handed one to Jake and sat down in the other rocker.

"It's another beautiful day, my young friend," Ramon said. "What were you thinking so hard about?"

"I was thinking about all the great people in my life and about how lucky I am," Jake said truthfully.

"You are very blessed, amigo, no doubt about that. It is good to remember that you did not get where you are now by yourself. You must also remember us little people when you are El Presidente."

Jake got a laugh out of that, but he took the message to heart.

"If I become president I am coming back here often so you can keep me from getting too big for my britches," Jake replied.

"I think the Madonna Melissa will keep that from happening," Ramon said.

Jake nodded his agreement to that pithy observation, and chuckled inwardly at the reverent tone Ramon always used when talking about Melissa. Ramon shifted the conversation around to ranch business. Ramon once again tried to get Jake to allow him to clear a stand of cypress trees that covered over a hundred acres. With the extra acreage, they could easily increase the cattle herd by fifty head or more. Jake still steadfastly refused. Nor did he back down from his desire to plant another fifty acres in cypress, pine, and live oak. Jake insisted that at least twenty percent of the ranch be forested or undisturbed wetland. Jake knew that environmentally sound stewardship of the ranch would pay off handsomely in a few years. Besides, Jake liked having woods on the property to walk and hunt in.

Jake wandered back into the house at seven when Senora Lopez arrived. He sat in the kitchen gabbing with her as she made breakfast. Leslie joined them in the kitchen a few minutes later. Jake asked her what kind of birthday party she wanted. Leslie was turning eleven in three weeks. Leslie said she wanted a slumber party for three or four girls from school. Jake faked a moan at the idea of four preteen girls destroying the house. He was actually glad that Leslie was making friends. Jake had worried that Leslie's mixed racial heritage would cause her trouble. Leslie, however, had not been the target of any overt racism. Leslie was openly unapologetic about her race even though her features would have let her pass as white.

Jake and Leslie were working over a pile of pancakes when Trish and Melissa made it to the kitchen. Leslie was daily competition for Jake in the eating department. Leslie might be four-ten if she stretched and probably weighed eighty pounds soaking wet. Yet she packed away the chow like a trooper. Melissa was dressed for work in a nice charcoal gray skirt and blazer; Trish was wearing jeans and one of Jake's tee-shirts. Jake was glad to know she was already comfortable enough in her new relationship to start raiding his clothes. Jake was filling Trish and Melissa in on what he had planned for the day when the phone rang. Jake's plans went out the window when Charles told him Helen was in labor and they were leaving for the hospital.

Jake gave the news to Melissa and Trish then called everyone Charles had asked him to phone. He called Mary Murphy, Helen's first cousin and best friend, first, then phoned his sisters, Maria Thornton, and Helga Johansson. Angie was not in her dorm room, she was already on the road coming home. Debbie was at home; she and Jody Marks shared a two bedroom apartment just off campus from UCF. Debbie said it would take her a couple of hours to get ready and drive over. Mary was heading to the hospital at nine, Helga was going at noon, and Maria would be there at three. They had obviously planned everything out because Helen's parturition posse reacted to his call like a well oiled machine. Jake went to the master suite to take a shower and change. Melissa said she would drop by later that evening to see Helen. She said for Jake to call her if he needed her.

Jake had his head under the shower when Trisha opened the glass door and stepped into the spacious shower.

"I missed part of breakfast," she said as she sank to her knees.

After her impromptu adenoidal breakfast addendum, Trish dressed in a nicer outfit and accompanied Jake to the hospital. They pulled into Palmdale General's visitors parking at nine-thirty. Jake saw Charles' Cadillac in the lot along with his cousin Mary's Vista Cruiser. Both cars were new and guzzled gasoline at a prodigious rate. Even Jake's souped up Chevelle got better gas mileage. Jake led the way to the maternity ward where they found Charles and Mary waiting. In 1973, husbands did not stay in the delivery room with their wives. Charles had the age old tradition down pat; he was even holding two boxes of cigars he had gotten from the gift shop. The wrappers on one box said 'It's a boy', the other 'It's a girl'. He and Helen did not know the baby's gender so he was covering all the bases.

Jake introduced Trish to Charles and Mary. Charles greeted her in his usual elegantly formal manner. As he took her hand, it felt as if her body temperature was ten degrees warmer than his. Charles chuckled to himself; his son could go to the moon and come back with a beautiful woman. Mary shook Trish's hand also, her diminutive frame dwarfed by the younger woman. Charles brought them up to speed on what had been happening. A nurse had popped her head out of the delivery room ten minutes ago and said that Helen was fully-dilated and completely effaced; it would not be long now.

They all sat chatting for another fifteen minutes when the doctor came out. Charles stood up as the doctor approached. The doctor held out his hand and Charles clasped it.

"Congratulations, Mr. Turner; your wife is fine and you have a new son: six pounds, twelve ounces," the doctor said, he dropped Charles' hand and started to turn around. "Oh, yeah, and a new daughter too: seven pounds, one ounce."

The doctor started laughing hysterically; he thought his sense of humor and timing was a stitch. The doctor was one of Charles' golfing buddies from the country club.

"Way to go, Charlie old man. That's how the successful executive does it, two for the price of one," the doctor said.

Charles was dumbfounded, as were Mary and Jake.

"How could that be? We weren't expecting twins," Charles said.

"Yes, well, Charlie, it happens. Sometimes the second baby is positioned so that we can't detect the separate heartbeat, especially if we don't have a reason to expect twins. Anyway, your wife will be in Room 317 in about ten minutes and can have visitors. Your babies are on their way to the neonatal care unit. You should be able to see them through the viewing window by now. Well done, old man!"

Charles winced at the old man reference, but led the way around a couple of corners to the viewing window. They arrived just as one nurse was putting a baby boy in a blue basinet while another nurse put a girl in a pink one.

"What are their names, Dad?" Jake asked.

"We decided on Joseph for a boy and Julie if it was a girl. I guess that can still work. Helen wanted the middle name to be Buckley; I don't know if having twins will affect that."

The little bundles of joy were cute as only babies could be. Jake and Trish stood at the window admiring them while Charles and Mary made their way to see Helen. Ten minutes later Jake and Trish headed for Room 317 also. Helen was pale and drawn but in good spirits. Charles was sitting by the bed holding her hand. Mary was puttering around making Helen comfortable. They had just settled on the names for the twins: Joseph Buckley Turner and Julia Buckley Turner. Jake kissed Helen on the cheek and introduced Trish. Helen gave Trish a surreptitious once over. She was not the typical female that Jake associated with, Helen thought, but it was obvious that she had something special. Jake and Trish stayed for an hour, leaving just as Helga arrived. They took one last look at the babies and headed home.

Trish flew back to New York Monday morning, more determined than ever to move to Florida. She had already made arrangements for most of her clients, now she needed to get her other affairs in order. She had not broken the news to her parents or her sister yet, that was tops on her to-do list. Her parents were both at the pinnacles of their careers, firmly established in the New York business world -- although they did vacation in Palm Beach. They said they would visit her and scout out Palmdale that winter. Trish's sister Paige was a different story. Paige was two years younger than Trish and married to a plastic surgeon. She was all about high society and appearance. She went ballistic when Trish told her she was moving to Florida to live with a very young man she had known for less than two weeks.

Back in Palmdale, Jake was busy. School was taking up a majority of his time; he was taking seven classes this semester. Actually, he had six academic classes and a typing course. On Tuesday, his shortest day, Jake hustled home. He had a delivery being made to the ranch; it was some big-ticket items he was excited about. He was finally spending some money. He had ordered a couple of cars through their dealerships. The cars had arrived a week ago and immediately went into the shop for some upgrades. Jake had ordered Melissa a loaded red Datsun 240Z, he had a custom body shop pinstripe it and add new wheels and fat white letter tires. The little car was sporty, fast, and relatively miserly in fuel consumption, just the ticket for the upcoming embargo. He bought a white Honda Accord for himself. Somebody had to have a sedan in the family. It was the first Japanese car he had ever owned in either lifeline.

When Melissa got home Jake led her behind the stables to where he had hidden the little cars. Melissa loved hers; Jake had ordered every option in the book for it, leather seats, AM/FM stereo radio with four speakers, and a performance package. He had the dealership tweak the engine and replace the stock carburetor with a pair of Weber performance models. It was a rocket-powered roller skate with a mellow rumble roaring sound.

Melissa immediately took the car on a test drive with Jake as a passenger. Jake normally avoided riding with Muffy if he could. She drove even faster than Erika. In ten minutes, they were on I-4 doing a hundred and ten. In fifteen minutes, they were on the side of the road while Melissa talked her way out of a speeding ticket by shamelessly flirting with the state trooper.

When they were back on the road and Jake's heart had finally returned to a normal beat, Melissa flashed him a smile.

"I love this car, Baby. It drives way better than my 'Vette. I'm just glad I didn't have to take the roadside breathalyzer to get out of that ticket."

When Jake asked what a roadside breathalyzer was, she made hand and mouth motions as if she were giving head. She made a face at him when he said slowing down would accomplish the same thing without any sticky residue.

Melanie Stevens, the flight attendant that Jake had wanted to hire as the head of customer service, blew into town on Wednesday. She met with Jake and Melissa at the ranch for dinner. After dinner, Jake outlined his plan. Melanie was doubtful that she could do the job. After all, she did not have any formal education or experience in business. Jake said he did not need a business person; he needed a people person. He needed someone who liked dealing with people and who could come up with ideas on how to make their customers into lifelong repeat buyers. Melanie said that she would enjoy a job like that but still had reservations. Jake told her that he was willing to take a chance if she was.

Melanie took the job. The salary was twice what she was making now and the job sounded like a challenge. She said she would give her two weeks notice tomorrow. Jake gave Melanie the number to TnT's offices. He told her to call Mitzi Walker to arrange for a mover. TnT would foot the bill. Melanie drove back to the Marriott in her rental car. She had an early morning flight back to Atlanta; she could fly gratis as an extra stewardess. She was excited about her new job, and her new bosses were dreamboats.

On the sixth of October, Syria and Egypt attacked Israel. The Syrians launched an offensive through the Golan Heights while the Egyptian Army attacked through the Sinai Desert. There were some scary moments for Israel until their reserves were fully mobilized. Because the United States supported the Israelis, the oil producing countries in the Middle East put an embargo on selling oil to the USA. The effects of the embargo was almost immediate: long lines at gas stations, rationing, and soaring prices. The oil crisis put a crimp in the economy for those not prepared. The Turner and Thornton businesses were prepared, thanks to Jake. They had van pools for their employees, and gasoline certificates for their customers. If you wanted to buy an appliance, a van would come get you; if you bought an import car from TnT, it came filled with gasoline and a certificate for two more fill-ups.

Jake had an Arabic lesson scheduled for that evening but his tutor, Camille Ibraham, did not show up. Jake called Camille at his apartment to find out what was up. Camille said he did not show up in case Jake was mad about his country attacking Israel. Jake said that unless Camille planned the attack he still wanted his lessons. Jake knew Camille well enough from their conversations to know that he was not a big supporter of the present Egyptian government's desire to conquer Israel. Jake was keenly interested in Camille's opinions on the current conflict because Camille was a devout Muslim but not a fanatic. People of Camille's ilk were going to be his target audience in the future.

Helen was released from the hospital on Friday. Delivering the twins had been rough on her body so the doctor kept her a couple of days extra. Jake asked Senora Martinez if she would help Helen with the babies for a couple of weeks. The senora quickly agreed; babies were probably the things she loved most in the world. Her oldest daughter was only seventeen, and a few years from marriage. So, caring for Helen's twins would be good grandmother practice. Helen was equally happy to have the help, at least until she established a system. Helen had renovated the guest room into a nursery; the twins would share it until they were old enough to need their own separate rooms.

Jake had his first weekend drill as a squad leader on the seventh and eighth. His platoon sergeant introduced him to his three new privates and showed him their equipment. Jake had inherited a beat up M151A1 Jeep, an M60 machine gun in need of maintenance, an 8ft x 8ft connex container (a large metal cargo container used by the U.S. Army for shipping supplies) full of assorted equipment, and the most abused M113A1 Armored Personnel Carrier he had ever seen. Jake put his guys to work pulling everything out of the connex and laying it out on the armory floor while he went looking for the battalion's motor sergeant. The motor sergeant gave him the log book and keys to his vehicles. When Jake asked about scheduled maintenance, the greasy, fat staff sergeant just shrugged. Other members of the unit had cannibalized the jeep and APC for parts.

Jake helped his men inventory and stow the squad's equipment. He matched what they had against the squad's Table of Organization and Equipment (TO&E) and found most of the good stuff missing. Other units had made up shortages by raiding his squad's connex. After they finished with the container, Jake went for requisition forms and, for two days, the four of them ordered the parts, supplies, and equipment they needed. Sunday afternoon Jake presented his platoon sergeant with their requisitions. Sergeant First Class Jones told Jake that he did not have much of a chance of getting any of the items he requested. The Nation Guard was low man on the totem pole when it came to the Army supply system. Jake was not buying that argument and hand carried the forms to the company supply sergeant.

Jake knew that a good supply sergeant understood exactly how to work the system, provided he was properly motivated. Jake just needed to know what motivated Staff Sergeant Sullivan. It took a case of Jack Daniels to get Jake's forms expedited up the chain with a priority designation. Sullivan's job at the armory was full time so, as a visual bonus, Jake had Erika deliver the hooch Monday morning wearing a mini-skirt and a low cut blouse. With the application of booze and babe, Jake had made a friend for life.

On the twentieth of October oil prices hit thirty-three dollars a barrel, so Martina sold their contracts over the course of a few days. Jake was amazed at the amount of money they made. His understanding of commodities trading was spotty at best so he had no idea that buying contracts on margin required so little up-front money. Martina had increased their fund by a factor of ten rather than tripling it as Jake had first thought would happen. Jesus, Melissa had made a cool sixty million dollars, an amount of money beyond Jake's comprehension. That night Jake finally asked Melissa exactly how much money she had. He was floored when she told him her net worth varied from week to week but was between two and three hundred million dollars at present. "That is just too much money for one person to have," thought Jake, "but it sure could do a lot of good if spent the right way." Jake already had some ideas about the right way to do that.

Melanie Stevens arrived in Palmdale on the twenty-first, bag and baggage. She stayed with Jake and Melissa until she could find an apartment. It took her a week to find a place and get moved in. She leased a third floor condo in the same beachside high-rise that the Steyaerts lived in. Dawn and Melanie would eventually become best friends.

Jake invited the managers of their dealerships to lunch and introduced them to Melanie. He also spent an hour selling them on the need to provide exceptional customer service. Jake told them that, if it was ever an issue of customer satisfaction, Melanie had the last word, period. It was a new and alien concept to the managers but they considered how he was the boss, and a very good boss, and they would try it.

Trish moved down during the first week of November, it was a joyous event. Jake and Melissa had missed her considerably and she them. Melissa had turned a bedroom next to their suite into an office for Trish and had it decorated and furnished as a surprise for her. She even had a door cut into to the wall between the office and the master suite. Mitzi had also prepared a private office for Trish at TnT, although they did not know exactly what her position with the company would be.

Trish moved into the master suite with them -- although she also had a bedroom on the other side of her office for show. She and Melissa took over most of the huge walk-in closet, leaving only about ten percent of it for Jake. He ended up with part of his clothes, mostly the dress-up and formal stuff, in the closet of his office, a small price to pay to have contented women in his life. Trish immediately became Melissa's main co-conspirator in making wedding plans. Jake kept his nose out of that hornets' nest. His simple plan was to be at the appointed place, at the specified time, wearing the designated uniform, and looking happy.

Before Jake knew it, Thanksgiving crept up on them. Melissa was doing a big Turkey Day dinner at the ranch for the Turners and Thorntons. Everyone was going to be in town for the event -- even her brother Chip and bad boy cousin Tyler. Jake thought that he sure had a lot to be thankful for.

Joe J

Chapter 16