Chapter 6
They took an airport limo from the airport to Jim's house. He had called his son and told him that he would be bringing a business acquaintance to the house. He knew how young people were and ordered his son to have a maid service to come and clean the house before they left. He told his son to pay for the cleaning with Jim's credit card.
As they walked into the house, he was relieved to see that the house was perfect. Everything was clean and in it's place.
"You have a very nice house," she said, "It looks like your son is keeping it clean for you. Not like a lot of young people would do."
He laughed and told her about the maid service. He showed her the bedroom that she would be using. She decided to clean up and he made sure that she had everything that she needed. He told her that she would have a bathroom to herself, as he would use the other one.
"There's a small Italian restaurant that a friend of mine owns close to here. What do you think abut having dinner there and we can hit the sheets early tonight and get an early start tomorrow?" he said as she came back into the living room after cleaning up.
She agreed and they started out for the restaurant. The restaurant was not busy. He figured that many people were getting ready for the Thanksgiving dinner with their families.
Jim greeted his old friend Anthony, at the restaurant and introduced Ann. He saw the question on his friend's face and added that she was here to help with some design problems on an installation that they were working on. They were seated and Jim asked if Ann would like a drink before dinner. She ordered a white wine and he ordered a Jack Daniels and water.
"I feel terrible that Parameter is making you work on Thanksgiving. You won't be able to have a Thanksgiving dinner."
"Well Ms. Bristol, that's just how much you know. Anthony will have a Thanksgiving dinner in my refrigerator when we're finished tomorrow night. I'll leave him a key for the house so he can get in. All we'll have to do is heat it up and enjoy it."
She laughed, "Anthony must think a lot of you to go that much out of his way for you."
"I don't think that it's too much to do since I'm part owner of this fine restaurant."
When he saw that she didn't fully understand, he continued, "Anthony is a great chef and wanted to start his own place but didn't have all of the money that he needed. I agreed to loan him the money that he needed and became the owner of 25% of an Italian restaurant. Anthony is a good businessman. He takes a good salary and I get 25% of the profits at the end of the year. It's been a good investment."
They ordered dinner and talked about their lives. When dinner came she told him that the food was excellent. Anthony checked on the often and brought over a bottle of wine.
"I want you to try this wine that I've started to serve. This is one of the best Italian wines I've ever tasted."
He poured a glass for each of them and waited while they tasted it. He grinned when they expressed their approval and left the bottle with them.
After they had finished eating, the dishes were cleared and they continued to talk. The restaurant soon emptied and he told her that they had better leave before they got thrown out.
"I think we should leave," she said, "That wine is going to my head. I don't usually have that much wine."
They walked into the house and Ann turned to him, "That was the most enjoyable dinner I've had in a long time. Thank you very much. I think that's the first time I ever ate with the owner of a restaurant."
"Well, you're welcome. I enjoyed the sparkling conversation myself."
"I think that I'd better turn in. The flight and the dinner has tired me out," she told him, "If you expect me to work tomorrow, I better get some sleep."
He told her goodnight and she went to her room. He closed up the house and went to his bedroom and crawled into bed.
Ann lay on her bed thinking about the flight and their dinner. She had enjoyed herself more than she had in a long time. Jim Furol was a nice person. He seemed very easy to talk to and he had not tried to push himself on her as so many of the businessmen did that she came in contact with. She closed her eyes and sleep overtook her.
In the morning they went to Park machinery early and started work on the changes that Parameter wanted. After they had discussed the changes and how he proposed to incorporate them into the building they found out that it would not be as hard to do as they had thought it would be. They called a halt to their work at 5 o'clock and started for home. They had forgotten about lunch and both of them were hungry.
They went to the kitchen to see about dinner. Anthony had put everything that he could in the refrigerator and had a large cooler on the floor, full of food.
"When are all of the other people coming?" she asked, "There's enough here for an army."
When he started to fix the dinner, she pushed him into the living room telling him that she didn't trust a man in the kitchen. He went in and turned on the football games. After about an hour she started setting the dining room table and soon it was filled with food. She asked if he had any candles. When she told him dinner was ready, he went in and saw a feast fit for a king.
They sat down and started to eat. Everything was perfect, it all seemed like it was fresh cooked.
"I don't know how you did this. It tastes like you just cooked it. I'm glad you were here; I was just going to microwave everything. Whenever I do that, it tastes like micro waved food.
They ate until they were stuffed. They talked long after dinner was finished, bantering back and forth like they had known each other since birth.
They finally stopped to clear the table and put the excess food away. Ann told him that there was no way that they would be able to use all that was left over and she packed the food in freezer bags and put most of it in the freezer from Jim's son. They almost had a full dishwasher load when they were finished cleaning up.
They went into the living room while the dishwasher was working. Ann started looking at his collection of music. He walked over and told her to pick out what she liked. She picked several albums and he loaded the stereo and sat next to her on the sofa. He pulled his shoes off and put his feet on the coffee table and Ann followed suit. They listened to the music for a long time in silence just enjoying the music and each other's company.
Ann turned to him, "Thank you for the wonderful Thanksgiving dinner. You have no idea how much that meant to me. I miss not spending Thanksgiving with my daughter. This would have been my first thanksgiving alone and I dreaded the thoughts of spending Thanksgiving alone."
He put his arm around her and she slid over next to him. They listened to the music until all 5 albums had played. When the music stopped he asked her if she wanted to listen to any more.
"No, I really enjoyed the music and the company. I think I'll go to bed now. Thank you again for the wonderful dinner."
She told him goodnight and went into her bedroom. After she got into
bed she laid there thinking. She was glad he had not tried to kiss her.
She liked him and she enjoyed the dinner and listening to the music
with his arm around her, but this had already gone further than she
would ever have expected. She didn't really know what she was feeling
right now. This was the first man, since her divorce that she really
felt comfortable around. She knew that the problem was hers. She needed
some time to sort her feelings out. The hurt that she felt deep in her
heart had been there a long time.