Mr. Foreman walked around the shop examining the work that had been done. The contractor was about to put the wall board up and this would be the last chance to inspect things before they would be hidden from view. He inspected everything looking for anything that might be out of place.
Dan watched his former boss inspect the structure like he had seen him do hundreds of times. He asked, "What do you think of it?"
"He does good work," Mr. Foreman answered turning around to look at Dan. Of course, this part of the job was the easy part. Nodding his head, he said, "The more important thing is that he's right on schedule."
"Are you impressed?" Dan asked.
"Yes," Mr. Foreman answered. All of the tricky structural modifications had been completed. A few minor pre-existing problems had been corrected. The man even left the site clean at night. The next few steps would go very quickly and the shell would suddenly be transformed into a real store.
"I thought you would be," Dan said.
"You were right," Mr. Foreman said. Seated in his car, he had watched James Vic manage the subcontractors and had been impressed. He didn't need to hear what the man said to know what he was saying. He looked over at Dan and asked, "When is the kitchen equipment arriving?"
"It's been shipped and should be delivered two days from now," Dan answered. He walked into the kitchen and looked at the plumbing. He said, "The schedule has them installing it in five days."
"The shell is the easy part. The kitchen equipment and counters require the most work. That's going to be what makes or breaks the job," Mr. Foreman said although he didn't think there would be much of problem based on what he had seen. A lot depended on who James Vic got to do the installation.
A voice from the door said, "Outside of the fact that there are occasionally problems with items that have been delivered, I don't expect it to break this job."
Dan and Mr. Foreman turned to find James Vic standing at the door. There was a very irritated expression on his face. Taken by surprise, Dan said, "Hello James."
"What are you doing here at eight o'clock at night?" James asked. Having had more than one customer get upset because temporary bracing looked like shoddy workmanship, James didn't like it when customers walked through his worksite without him there to explain what they were seeing. He didn't mind if their visit took all day, but he wanted to be there.
"We were checking out your work," Dan said stepping through the framing to enter the main room.
"You were, were you?" James asked stepping into the store. His eyes flicked over the tools making sure that they were all there.
It was obvious that James was more than a little irritated at him. Dan nodded his head and said, "Yes, we were."
"Who is your friend?" James asked. The last thing he needed was a friend of the customer walking off with his tools. Even worse was having a weekend Mr. Fixit come in to inspect a job. More often than not, they didn't know code and half of their facts were wrong. He'd have to spend twice as long to clarify the misunderstandings that usually resulted from that.
"I'm Peter Foreman."
James stared at Peter thinking that he was not a weekend Mr. Fixit. Peter had probably forgotten more than he had ever learned. He wondered why Peter Foreman would be so interested in a small job like this. This job wouldn't earn enough to make his truck payment. He looked at Dan and then at Peter. He had to make sure and asked, "Peter Foreman of Foreman General Contracting?"
"That's right."
"That's a big outfit," James said shaking his head. He'd be lucky to ever get a subcontract out of Peter Foreman.
"True," Peter said with a grin. It was the biggest in the area and that was the problem. It had gotten too big for him to manage alone. Now that James knew he was involved there wasn't much chance of keeping a low profile. He asked, "Who is installing the kitchen equipment?"
"The Singer Brothers," James answered. They were the best in the area for restaurant installations. More important for this particular job, they were also a Master Chef authorized installer.
"They do good work. I would have used them," Peter said.
"I was lucky to get them. They are in great demand," James said. In the summer, the bigger contractors would have the Singer Brothers committed to much larger jobs than he could bring in.
Nodding his head in agreement, Peter said, "They are very professional in how they do their work."
Curious, James asked, "Why are you interested in this job?"
"Dan is a friend of mine. You can imagine my surprise when he went with you rather than me," Peter answered with a smile.
"I must have really come under your bid for him to do that," James answered looking over at Dan. He wasn't sure that he'd like a friend who treated friends that way.
Dan shook his head and said, "You were a hundred dollars more and his terms were a hundred times better. I know it is a bad business decision, but there were mitigating factors."
"So why did you go with me?" James asked.
"He was doing a friend a favor," Peter answered wanting to shut down that line of questioning. Looking around, he said, "It looks to me like everything here is under control. I'll see you in a few days, Dan."
"Sure, Mr. Foreman," Dan said.
"Nice to meet you, James Vic," Peter said as he headed towards the door.
"Likewise," James said watching the man leave. This experience was a lot like having Donald Trump oversee a real estate deal for a barn. When he was gone, James turned to Dan and asked, "How do you know Peter Foreman?"
"I worked for him until last September," Dan answered.
It made sense. James had watched Dan move around everyone without getting in their way. He said, "I was pretty sure that you knew your way around a construction site."
Smiling Dan went over to the door and said, "Well, I better get out of here. I've got three lovely ladies waiting for me. I'll let you lock up."
"Right," James said shaking his head. He muttered, "I can't believe that he told me, 'Assume that I'm stupid. What is the next step?' There's nothing stupid about him. I wish I knew what game he was playing."
Four women were sitting around the kitchen table; each with a pint of ice cream in one hand and a spoon in the other. Diana, the youngest woman there, said, "My brother is driving me crazy."
"What's he doing?" Alison asked.
"He's trying to turn me into a nun," Diana said stabbing her ice cream with her spoon.
"I didn't know you were Catholic," Sally commented. She ate a bite of her ice cream.
"I'm not," Diana said waving her spoon in the air.
Frowning at Diana's denial, Sally asked, "So why would Dan want you to be a nun?"
"I don't mean a real nun. I mean that he's upset that I've become sexually active," Diana said rolling her eyes.
Sally laughed at the misunderstanding and said, "Oh, sorry. Sometimes I have blond moments."
"There, there." Ann giggled and patted her lover on the arm. Turning to Diana, she said, "He's your brother. He's just concerned about you."
"I don't know why. I mean he's banging all three of you and he doesn't think there's anything wrong with it. Why does he get so upset because I have a friend with benefits?" Diana asked.
Alison raised an eyebrow at how Diana had worded her complaint. She said, "He's banging all three of us, huh?"
"You know what I mean," Diana said waving her spoon dismissively around in the air.
"Yes, we know what you mean," Ann said looking at Diana with a smile. She said, "He's making love to the three of us and you wonder why he's upset about you banging your boyfriend."
"Right," Diana said with a frown. Hearing it phrased that way, it didn't sound very nice. She faltered and said, "I guess it doesn't sound so nice when you put it that way."
Laughing at the expression on Diana's face, Sally said, "To answer your question, he's concerned about you. He's not concerned about us."
"He should be concerned about you. You're supposed to be important to him," Diana said. She punctuated her comment with another bite of ice cream.
"She doesn't mean it like that. He knows that he's going to treat us right. He's not sure the boys you are seeing will treat you right," Ann said. She ate another spoonful of her Chocolate Chip Mint ice cream.
Alison nodded her head in agreement and said, "That's right."
"So how is he treating you right? I mean, he's got a relationship with all three of you. Doesn't each of you wish you had him all to yourself?" Diana asked. She pointed her spoon at each of other three women one at a time to emphasize her point. Some of the chocolate ice cream dripped on the table.
Ann and Sally exchanged a look before Ann answered, "Our case is a little different."
Shaking her head from side to side, Diana said, "Okay. I see that. Why should you two have to share him with Alison? For that matter, why should Alison want to share him with you?"
"Dan and I have been friends with benefits for a long time now. We never said that we were exclusive," Alison said rather defensively. She ate a spoonful of ice cream to keep from saying more.
Diana looked at Alison as if she was telling fishing stories about the whopper that got away. She said, "Don't pretend that you don't want him all to yourself."
"How did this discussion get to be about me? Aren't we discussing your problem?" Alison asked defensively.
Stabbing her ice cream with her spoon, Ann looked over at Alison and said, "She has a point. You do want him all to yourself."
"And you two don't want to share him with me," Alison said hotly.
Diana shook her head at the sudden bickering and said, "Do you see what I mean? My brother is doing this to the three of you and he's all bent out of shape that I've got one friend."
Getting irritated at Diana for upsetting a very precarious situation, Sally said, "Diana, you know better than that. We have done this to us. It has been our decision. The happiness we get out of our relationships with him far exceed the drawbacks. There are a lot of good things about this arrangement."
"That's right. One of the best things is that I get to spend time here. I wouldn't get to do that if it wasn't for Dan," Alison said gesturing around the room. She took a bite of her strawberry ice cream.
Ann and Sally shared a look before turning to stare at Alison. Sally said, "Freud would have a field day with you."
"What?" Alison asked looking at the two women. Diana shared the same puzzled expression as graced Alison's face.
"You keep saying the most interesting things," Ann said.
"Like what?" Alison asked.
Changing the subject, Sally said, "Didn't you say that you are returning to college in two days?"
"Yes," Alison answered. She took a half of a spoonful of strawberry ice cream and licked the spoon. She didn't want to go, but she had a future to worry about.
Ann grinned over at Sally who was studiously eating some of her ice cream to keep from laughing. Turning to Alison, she said, "You're going to miss Dan."
"Yes, I am," Alison said. George was a nice friend with benefits, but it was wearing thin. He was a good friend and a somewhat good lover, but she didn't have the kinds of feelings for him that she had for Dan. Dan didn't overwhelm with romance, but he always let her know that she was important to him. It was little things; lots of little things that built up to something extremely big.
With a spoonful of her Rocky Road ice cream posed at her mouth, Sally asked, "Are you going to miss anything else?"
"Sure, I'll miss you two and I'll miss hanging around here at home," Alison said trying to excavate a rather large chunk of strawberry from her pint of ice cream. She got it free and ate it.
Shaking her head, Ann said, "You just keep saying and doing the most interesting things."
"Like what?" Alison asked looking up at Ann.
'Like greeting Dan with a kiss in our living room and welcoming him home; spending more time here than Dan; talking about our apartment like it is your home; and saying that you're going to miss us when you go back to school, ' Sally thought. She smiled at Alison and then said, "It is nothing important, really."
"What are they talking about, Diana?" Alison asked.
"I don't know," Diana answered. She dug around in the pint to get the last little bite of chocolate ice cream out.
Ann looked down at her pint of ice cream and said, "I can't believe I ate the whole thing."
Alison looked around the table. There were little splatters of ice cream all over it. Getting up from the table, she walked over to the sink and grabbed the sponge. Returning to the table, she said, "Just a couple of swipes with the sponge and it will be good as new."
Sally watched Alison clean the table while shaking her head. Turning to Ann, she said, "This is very interesting."
Diana looked down at her demolished pint of chocolate ice cream and asked, "What am I going to do about Dan?"
Alison looked up and said, "Get him to move in with us."
"This is definitely interesting," Sally said grinning at Ann.
It was a chilly January morning with low hanging clouds that threatened rain when Dan stopped by Ellen's house to say goodbye to Tom. His friend was returning to school from his Christmas break and had spent one last night at her house. Dan was sorry to see him leave and felt bad that he hadn't been able to spend more time with him.
Dan announced his presence at the door using the knocker rather than doorbell. Ellen opened the door looking a mess. Her hair was wild and her robe wasn't completely closed. She looked at him and said, "Come in and have some coffee."
Apologizing, Dan said, "I didn't mean to wake you."
"You didn't wake me. We've been up for hours," Ellen said as she closed the door behind him.
"Oh," Dan said wondering why she looked like she had just woken up. He said, "I thought you had just gotten out of bed."
"We did," Ellen answered with a smile.
"Oh, I think I had better shut up now," Dan said earning a laugh from Ellen. Good friends didn't care if you saw them at their worst. They knew that they would be forgiven.
"You know where the kitchen is. We'll be out in a minute," Ellen said.
Dan went into the kitchen and poured a cup of coffee. His first sip let him know that it had been sitting there for a while. He added a little water to it in the hope of diluting some of the bitter taste. Even that wasn't enough to make it palatable. He poured out the pot and went about making a fresh pot.
The coffee had finished brewing well before Ellen and Tom managed to make it out of the bedroom. They were both dressed and Tom was carrying a bag with some clothes in it. Tom looked like he hadn't gotten much sleep. Gesturing to the counter, Dan said, "The coffee is fresh."
"Thanks," Ellen said going over to the coffee pot. She took two cups from the coffee cup tree that was next to the pot. She poured two coffees, adding cream to hers.
Tom sat down next to Dan and said, "Good morning."
"Good morning to you," Dan said cheerfully.
"I wish that I wasn't going to school so far from here. I really miss our conversations. It would be nice to come here and see you both more often," Tom said dreading a full day's drive down to Austin. He accepted a cup of coffee from Ellen. He looked over at her and said, "Thanks."
Taking a seat beside him, Ellen said, "You're welcome."
"I miss our conversations, too," Dan said. He took a sip of his coffee and watched the couple across the table from him.
"I'm sorry that I'm going to miss your grand opening," Tom said tearing his eyes away from Ellen to look over at Dan. He felt that so many important things were happening in Dan's life and he wasn't there to help. He said, "I should be here to help you."
"Don't worry about it. I'm working to create my definition of happiness. I'm doing this for me," Dan said.
"Still..."
Dan interrupted and said, "You're working to create your definition of happiness. You've got to stay at school to do it. Can you imagine me going there to help you on your exams?"
Tom laughed at the question. He said, "I should be there when you open the doors of your pizzeria."
Looking very serious, Dan said, "Don't worry about it. I think I'll figure out how to open the door. It might take me a few minutes, but I'll get it open."
Laughing at the image of Dan standing in front of a door trying to figure out how to open it, Tom said, "It is more than just getting the door open. Don't you know that you're supposed to celebrate your successes?"
"Yes, I know that," Dan said with a laugh. He grinned and said, "Believe me, I'll be celebrating big time when I open the doors of my pizzeria."
"I'd love to be here for that," Tom said.
Ellen said, "Maybe you'll come back for spring break."
"I will," Tom said. He took a long drink of his coffee and looked over at the clock. Shaking his head, he said, "My parents are going to be mad at me. I was supposed to be there ten minutes ago."
Listening to him talk about his parents like that made Ellen uncomfortable. Little comments like that made her feel like she was robbing the cradle. There was a twelve year difference in their ages. Not letting her feelings show, she said, "You better head out."
"I guess. I've got a long drive ahead of me," Tom said with a sigh.
Dan and Ellen walked outside with him. After Ellen gave Tom a scorching goodbye kiss, they stood together and watched him leave. After Tom had turned down the street, she said, "Come on in and help an old lady feel better."
"You've got company?" Dan asked.
She laughed at his confusion and said, "That smooth tongue will get you in trouble one of these days."
Returning to the house, Dan and Ellen took seats at the table. Seeing that Ellen looked a bit more upset than the last time Tom had left, Dan asked, "How are you doing?"
"I could be better," Ellen answered.
"What's the matter?" Dan asked. His voice was filled with concern for her.
Ellen had returned to see Tom after Christmas for purely selfish reasons. The long and short of it was that she missed having a regular bed partner. Despite a strong desire to establish a social life outside of work, she wasn't doing a very good job of it and she didn't understand why. Ellen said, "My search for a man is not going well."
"I'm sorry to hear that," Dan said with a frown.
She shook her head and said, "That came out wrong. Until now, I never took the time to develop a network of friends. I have a very large network of business acquaintances, but no friends. I didn't realize just how much my work cut me out of having a social life. Now that I want one, I don't know how to develop it."
Nodding his head, Dan said, "Maybe you are going about it wrong. Tom once suggested that if we find the physical, social, and emotional environments in which we feel most comfortable that we'll find people who have similar definitions of happiness."
"I hadn't thought about it like that," Ellen said. She thought back to her personal definition of happiness and the kinds of environments that she had identified. She said, "That gives me an idea."
"Good."
Deciding to act upon her idea, Ellen asked, "Would you mind looking after my house while I'm gone?"
"No problem," Dan said. He had looked after it during her frequent trips away over the fall. He said, "I've enjoyed having access to your exercise equipment."
Alison wasn't able to hide her tears when it came time to leave for college. She hung on Dan and sobbed at being parted. Sniffling, she said, "I don't want to go, but I have to."
"I'm going to miss you," Dan said giving her a hug.
"I've really enjoyed these three weeks," Alison said. The time had passed too quickly and she hadn't been prepared for the winter break to come to an end.
"You'll be home before you know it," Dan said.
"I hope we aren't too late to say goodbye," Ann said in a cheery voice from behind Alison.
Alison spun around and burst into tears. Hugging Ann, she said, "I was hoping that you'd come to say goodbye."
Sally smiled and said, "We wouldn't have missed this for the world."
Alison hugged Sally and said, "I don't want to go."
"You know you have to go. You want to be a teacher," Ann said.
After several rounds of goodbye hugs, Alison finally got into her car and drove off to college. Dan, Ann, and Sally watched her go. He said, "She's really unhappy about leaving."
Ann put an arm around Sally and said, "She doesn't even know why."
"That's true," Sally said.
"Why is she so sad?" Dan asked looking down the street where the car had gone. Her tears had surprised him.
"She loves us," Ann said.
"Oh," Dan said looking at Ann and Sally. He wondered how Ann could say that with a straight face.
Sally shrugged her shoulders and said, "She's never going to make love to us."
"I know," Ann said. She smiled over at Sally and said, "I don't care. You're the only woman I need in bed with me."
"Same here," Sally said hugging Ann. She thought about it for a second and then said, "It is kind of strange to love a woman without making love to her."
"I don't get it," Dan muttered to himself. He was still trying to figure out the assertion that Alison loved Sally and Ann.
"You can say that again," Ann said, "You know that we'll need to move into a larger place. You can't fit four people in that one bedroom apartment."
"You're right. She'll want her own bedroom," Sally said. She sighed and said, "I don't think it will be a problem having her live with us."
"She's moving in with you?" Dan asked. He realized he had missed something while deep in thought.
"Once she realizes that she loves all three of us she won't want to live anywhere else. She's practically lived at our place the past three weeks," Ann answered.
Sally nodded her head and said, "That'll make it a whole lot easier for Dan. He won't have to shuttle back and forth between our house and hers."
"When did all of this happen?" Dan asked.
Lazlo Zalezac