Chapter 8
Ann heard Bob walk back onto the porch and stomp his feet to get some of the snow off of his boots. He opened the door and walked back into the room carrying a box.
"I hate to tell you this lady but there's about ten inches of snow out there and it's coming down as hard as ever. It looks like we might get eighteen inches or more."
Bob sat the box down on the counter in the kitchen area, "I almost forgot this. I meant to take it out of the car before I came up here. I hope it didn't start to freeze."
He saw the questioning look on her face, "It's a case of French wine. A Saudi Prince gave it to me to thank me for saving his life. I sold him the car that survived a terrorist attack. The wine is supposed to cost three hundred dollars a bottle."
Bob took off his coat and shook the snow off of it and hung it up. The top of the case of wine was open and he pulled a bottle out and started to read the label. He turned and brought the bottle to Ann and handed it to her. She took the bottle and looked at the label. The label made little sense to her, as she couldn't even be classed a social drinker. When she did have a drink, it was usually white wine and then usually with dinner.
She handed the bottle to Bob and he said, "Let's see what a three hundred dollar bottle of French wine tastes like. I don't think that this wine is supposed to be served ice cold but let's try it."
He didn't wait for her to reply. He walked into the kitchen and got two wine glasses from the cabinet above the sink and look around for the wine bottle opener. After several minutes she heard him say "finally."
He sat a water glass down in front of Ann and poured the wine until the glass was about half full, "Try that Mrs. Simmons and tell me if it's worth three hundred dollars a bottle."
Ann picked up the glass, "I'm not much of a drinker. I probably wouldn't know a good wine if I saw it. By the way, my name is Ann and I thought that the Saudis' wouldn't allow alcohol into their country."
Bob chuckled, "I guess that's why the Prince gave it to me. To get it out of his country."
Ann took a sip of the wine and then another small sip, "This is very good."
Bob poured himself a glass and sat down. He tasted the wine and gave her a look that showed that he thought that it was a very good wine also. They sat for a few minutes looking at the fire and sipping the wine. Bob finished his glass first and poured himself another and topped off Ann's glass. They were silent for a long time as they watched the fire and drank the wine.
"You told me that you talked to your employee. I take it that you're in business also," Bob said.
"Yes I own a small florist shop. Flowers By Ann that's me."
"We send flowers a lot," Bob replied, "I'll have to tell my people to use your shop from now on."
Ann looked down at her hands, "It won't matter. I'm going to sell the shop to a couple. They've offered me a fair price for it and I have to sell it to pay for Brenda's college."
"That's a shame," he said, "I take it that you've been in business for a while?"
"Yes a long time. It's time to move on now. I bought the shop to have a way to support my daughter and myself after my husband died. He didn't leave any insurance and we hadn't been able to save any money. I have a business degree so I think that I might try the corporate world for a while. What about you? It must be fun traveling all over the world talking to Saudi princes and such."
"Well, I'm up here at the cabin to go over my books because I'm thinking of selling my business to a major player in the defense industry and becoming just an employee."
"Is there a reason that you want to sell?' Ann asked.
Bob paused for a minute before answering, "I don't really want to sell. It's just that I don't feel that old fire anymore. I can't really see the percentage in working my fool head off for just myself."
"What about your children? Wouldn't you like to leave them a legacy?"
"I afraid that there was never any time to start a family. My wife had a successful business of her own and my business took me all over the world, so... Anyway, I guess it's good that we never had children. I wasn't much of a husband so God only knows how I would be as a father."
Ann was sorry that she had asked about his company. She saw that he was torn up inside because he was about to sell the company that he had built. She knew that to make a company remain successful and to grow you had to keep the fire inside of you burning white-hot. Also she knew that the demons that were eating away at him from his marriage were a factor in his decision to sell his company. She reached for her glass of wine and saw that she had almost finished it. The wine was beginning to warm her insides.
Bob reached over and filled their glasses again, "Do you have any idea what you're going to do after you sell your shop?"
"I thought that I would take a couple of weeks off and then try to float my resume to some head-hunters and try to find out what's out there. I took business in college and at one time I had visions of going for my MBA. I think that I would be good at marketing. I was a wiz at that in college and I did Ok with my own shop. It's going to be strange starting out in the corporate world at the ripe old age of thirty-nine."
Bob broke out into a grin, "I wish that I had today's newspaper here. We have an ad in today's paper for a vice-president of marketing. Why don't you apply to our human relations department and see what happens?"
Ann laughed, "Vice President? I think that it would be better to start somewhat lower on the corporate ladder don't you think?'
Bob got serious, "You should have seen the jerk that I fired a couple of weeks ago. Most ten year olds have more savvy about marketing than he did and he's got an MBA. Marketing in our company is different than what most people think of when you think of marketing. Our clients have already decided to get security. The come to us with a grocery list of items that they feel they need and we provide the products to solve their needs. Engineering does most of that. The Vice-President of Marketing just makes sure that the client is satisfied and jumps in and solves any problems that arise such as missed delivery dates. I really envisioned the position as being a support for me. I probably should change the title to something that reflects what I envision the job to be."
"I'll think about it," Ann said, "What about after you leave? I wouldn't want to take the job only to find out that the company that wants to buy you out wants to gut the company. I could be out the door before I even get on the job."
"Don't worry. They want me to stay on and run the US portion of the business," he said as a worried look came on his face, "That worries me a little. Most of my foreign clients need to be finessed quite a bit. Most corporations can't and won't take the time to do that."
"You sound like the company that is going to take over wouldn't be your choice to be your successor."
"I don't really know if they have the will to keep the operation in high gear. I'm afraid that they only see dollar signs and if the dollars aren't what they think they should be in one quarter that will be the end of the my company."
Ann looked at him and tried to see into his eyes and find his soul, "Have you really decided to sell your company?"
"Why do you ask? Yes, I'm about 95% sure that I'm going to sell."
Bob got up and walked to the counter where the case of wine was. He took out another bottle and opened it and brought it back into the room. He filled both glasses and sat down on the couch next to her.
Ann looked at him, "Have you been listening to yourself. You feel that the fire in your belly is gone, but I really don't believe that. Other than that, the only thing that you've given me is reasons why you shouldn't sell the company that you've worked so hard to build. I hope that you haven't committed yourself to selling the company yet. I think that you need some more time to think about it."
Bob sat there for a while looking at the fire. Ann was beginning to feel the wine a lot. It had been a long time since she had this much to drink.
Bob turned to her with a grin, "Well I hope you're happy. Now I'm only 60% sure that I'm going to sell the company. Truthfully I've got to thank you. I really need someone to bounce my thoughts off of and I'm glad that you're not afraid to tell me what you think. Now, what about you? Are you sure your going to sell your business?"
"Yes," she said, "I have to. There's no other way that I can pay for Brenda's college. If she hadn't won a scholarship I wouldn't even have been able to send her this far in college. Besides it's time to move on to other things. The business is getting harder to keep profitable and I want to try new things. Both of the new owners will work in the business and that should help."
"Promise me that you'll send in your resume for that VP position," Bob said, "It would be great having someone in the company that will tell me I'm a jerk when I am a jerk. Now I've got to turn out the lights and light the kerosene lanterns or there won't be enough power to last the night if we need it."
Bob got up and pulled two lanterns out of a closet and made sure that they were filled and lit them. He turned off the lights and came back to the couch and sat down. The kerosene lanterns gave the room a soft glow and the shadows played off the walls, giving a surreal look to the cabin.
Bob looked at her for a minute before talking, "The men in this state must be idiots. How can they let a beautiful woman like you remain single?"
Ann turned her head and looked around the room to hide the tears that came to her eyes. The wine was starting to make her giddy and she knew that she should not drink anymore. She drank the rest of the wine in her glass. She started to stand up and fell right back, landing on Bob's lap. She quickly tried to stand again and fell back on his lap again.
She put her hands over her face, "I've had too much to drink."
Bob helped her up and put his arm around her, "I'll help you up to the loft so you can go to bed. I'll be in the other loft if you need anything during the night. Just call out and I'll help you."
He helped her up the steps and directed her to the bed. He let her go for a minute to turn down the covers, then turned her and sat her on the bed. She put her head on the pillow and buried her face in the pillow. Bob heard her sob softly into the pillow. He covered her and waited for her to calm down. She continued to sob into the pillow.
Bob sat on the bed and put his hand on her shoulder and began to gently rub her shoulder, "What's wrong? Is it something that I said?"
"You said that men are fools to let me stay single," she said between sobs, "I'm single because I can't let a man get close enough to really know me. I'm afraid to let anyone know what happened to me."
Bob continued to rub her shoulder and her back. He didn't attempt to get her to say any more. After several minutes she stopped sobbing and she became quiet and he saw that she had fallen asleep. He sat on the bed for a while watching her sleep. When he started to get up her hand came out from under the covers and grabbed his hand. He saw that she was still asleep and that she had reached out for him in her sleep. He got on the bed behind her and put his arm around her and hugged her. He wondered what horrors she had been hiding from the world and how long she had been hiding them.
Ann moved back to him and snuggled close in front of him and pulled
his hand to her breast tightly. He kissed her neck and held her as he
fell asleep on top of the covers.