Destinbury

"Okay, then this brochure I've put together just for you might be helpful." But in truth, Molly had assembled half a dozen different brochures, so there was a very good chance she had one to fit his needs.

Casey took his time looking over the few anonymous photos and the self promoting comments on the front, and then finding the list of options on the inside, he smiled and read each item and slowly nodded to himself before he said, "I would provide my own wait staff, but...yes, I think with that one exception and no photographer, I'd like everything on the list. With the cameras provided by you, we'll have a very nice collection of candid shots. But you mentioned the tour, so let's get into that."

"Of course," Owen said and as he slipped off of the barstool, Nila told him, "I'll leave you at this point and see to my guests. Casey, it was nice to meet you, and I hope Owen and Molly can provide you with what you desire."

"Meeting you was an honor Nila," and then his eyes fell on Alana and Kathy as they stepped into his distant view. Smiling at Nila he said, "It's easy to see that Owen likes to surround himself with beauty and luxury, and I'm sure I'll see evidence of that as we move about on our little tour."

"Thank you Casey," and she smiled again before she turned and joined her friends.

Casey didn't have a lot of questions as Molly and Owen kept up a light but informative litany of details and helpful little comments about past parties.

"It's none of my business at all Casey," Molly said as she walked close to him, "But would your wife be at the party? I ask purely as a woman and with no real need for that information."

He smiled, and slipping her arm through his as they walked, he said, "Yes, she wouldn't miss this party."

"Wonderful," Molly said pretending to care one way or another.

They hadn't fully completed the tour before Casey said, "I've seen enough. Owen, figure what my party would cost me."

"I'm prepared to do that now verbally, but of course that would be in writing when we sign the agreement. The deposit would be one half of the total cost. That way I'm protected from losing money from added staff expenses as well as added supplies. I gather you wish to go with the premium liquor selections."

"Yes, the best in your opinion."

"The bartender I always use for my parties has that list compiled."

"I'd want two bartenders so my guests won't be inconvenienced at all."

"We can see to that. Just to be sure, give me a minute to go to my office and deduct the wait staff and the photographer."

When Owen returned he handed the printed detailed agreement with the total cost at the bottom, and when Casey saw that number and looked at Owen, who didn't look away, he smiled. "I'll say this, you do provide a top quality venue, but certainly not at a bargain price."

"That's true. But if I lowered the price I'd have to lower the quality, and that's not how I do business."

"Understood. About the security fee, tell me about that."

"Our man would do his best to be completely unobtrusive."

"But his or her duties?"

"You noticed the red velvet ropes across the staircase and the master suite door?" Smiling, Casey nodded, so Owen added, "To check those areas periodically, and to be close by in the off chance that a guest suddenly decides he or she loudly or physically objects to something or somebody."

"A subtle peacekeeper."

"I think of that as a velvet hammer."

Again Casey smiled and then asked, "Is the first of October open?"

Knowing full well that it was, Owen still opened his phone, and pretending to consult his calendar, he said, "I wanted to be certain, but yes, that weekend is open."

"Okay, I'll get back to you as soon as I can," and then he asked Owen, "In the roundest of numbers, what is this estate worth?"

"It was appraised at over nine hundred thousand furnished much as you see it, not long ago."

"That doesn't surprise me at all. How the hell did you get into this party business?"

"To be honest Casey, that wasn't my plan at all. When I bought this place, it was because I fell in love with it. Far too much real estate for me, and even now with Nila in my life it's still too much, but like I said, we love it here. But one thing led to another, and I hosted my first party. That went so well that word of mouth brought me more. I quickly developed my preferred people to help me, like Art, the bartender I mentioned, and of course the more we've done, the better we're able to do for our clients."

"I'm sure that's true." Turning to Molly, he cranked up his smile and said, "Dear lady, thank you very much for your part in this venture, or rather adventure. You're a delight to any mans eyes, but you're much more than just a pretty face."

"Thank you very much Casey, and feel free to call me if you think of anything that you would like to adjust, or add, or just discuss."

"I'll be sure to do that."

When Owen returned, Molly said, "You didn't seem eager to book his party.'

"Did it show that much?"

"I could see it in your eyes, but I doubt he noticed. Care to share why you feel that way?"

"I'm not sure I even know. Well I don't like him all that much for whatever reason. It's easy to see that he has power in his world, and some people just have to abuse the power they have. He strikes me as one of those people."

"So would you ever consider selling Destinbury? Say Casey for example told you he'd give you...say eight, would you sell?"

'Nope. But kick that up to say eight fifty and my answer would change in a heartbeat."

"You do realize don't you, that isn't out of the realm of possibility, with Casey or somebody else."

"I know, but since it's not on the market, that isn't likely to happen. Casey was just trying to feel me out. To decide how much of that twelve grand would have to go to the expense, and what I could call a profit."

"I wonder if his mind ever stops figuring the angles. That's how he struck me anyway."

Chapter Two Hundred Eight

Late Friday evening, and with Owen's arm around Nila's waist, he told her, "Let's get comfortable and talk."

Smiling and slipping her arm around him as they moved to the den couch, she asked, "Okay, about what?"

"A couple of things. First and most importantly, let's talk about getting married soon. Let's pick a date."

"I love your first thing, and guess what. While you and Molly were talking to Casey, Alana and Kathy and I talked about that very thing."

"Bring me up to date. What did you three come up with?"

"Well just ideas, because this is something you and I have to decide. Unfortunately, what we came up with doesn't work as well now because of the possible Casey booking. I was looking at the weekend before his party."

"Oh. Okay, so...well, and here's a sad detail. I can't get away for more than a few days for a honeymoon, so we would have to delay that if we want more time for that."

"So you could go with the week before your next big party?"

"In a word, yes. Molly is doing most of the work, so why not? Then after Casey's party, assuming there is one, we could run away for a short escape after the party and save the official honeymoon for a later time."

"And we could have our little ceremony here is what I'm thinking."

"I like that. I also think it's time for you to consider moving in here."

"I've thought about that, but I want to be traditional and wait until after we're married."

"Sad news for me, but I understand. I'll leave the fine details to you and your friends then."

"Speaking of friends, my best friend Liz, who you still haven't met or even talked to, would be coming in from Rhode Island."

"You've mentioned her a lot. How long has she been out there?"

"Less than a year. Because of her husband Ed's new job, they got married out there."

"Who would stand up with you then, her?"

"Yes. I stood up with her when she got married. We've even talked about what to wear, but I'm not talking a fancy wedding dress or any of those usual traditions. In fact I have a favor to ask you."

"I'm sure the answer is yes, but what's on your mind?"

"In talking to Liz and the others, including Kate by the way, we have an idea or two that we want to surprise you with."

"As long as we end up married, I don't really care, so go for it. Wait though, will Dan and Perry be in on those secrets?"

"I should have said secret from you men, because I have no doubt that either Dan or Perry would tell you, so because of that, only the five of us women will know...well maybe more than five, I'm not sure right now."

"What about a party or reception?"

"A small casual party after the ceremony. So small that I don't think of it as a reception. Maybe twenty including your family."

"That's quite a few, but not your family?"

"Probably not. They refuse to fly, and they would never drive here from Oregon, so maybe at some point later we could go out to see them."

"I'm not sure I'd drive here from Oregon either. Now back to the reception. Do you have any special plans?"

"None right now. Just celebrate the occasion. I plan to invite Char of course, and if you'd like, Wendy and...what about June?"

"I'd like to invite her for sure." Then his phone rang, and making a face he hesitated, and then said, "Owen."

"Owen, it's Casey. Is this too late in the evening for you?"

"Not at all, how can I help you?"

"One of my people will be dropping something off to you within half an hour, but if it's too late, I'll make it tomorrow evening."

"Tonight is fine Casey."

"Great, then I'll call you tomorrow evening, but hopefully a little earlier than this."

"I'll be waiting for you call." Then putting his phone away, he told Nila about the call, and then closing his eyes, he added, "Shit, I'll bet he has some damn wild idea about his party that I'm not going to like or approve of."

"So there will go your very profitable party."

"That's true, but honey, I just don't care. The money would be great, but I really don't want to deal with him."

"I know, and I don't blame you. An up side to this is, we'll have one less thing to think about before our wedding."

"Right, and that will leave just Van's Halloween party, and then I'm pulling the plug on all of that. No more parties for profit for a long time."

"No more working with Molly."

"Sad but true."

"You two really didn't make love did you."

"You know about everything Molly and I have shared, including coming within seconds of going to the bedroom."

Smiling, she kissed his cheek and then told him, "If I wasn't so happy about that I'd feel sorry for you two."

"Not just me?"

"No, for both of you. She's very nice."

"I agree."

"She has bigger boobs than me too."

"I know that too. Great treat for the eyes, and speaking of that, I'll miss her eyes more than her tits. But all of that said, I love to stare at your eyes and hooters too you know."

"Stare all you want honey. Touching is good too."

"Touching is the best."

Twenty minutes later Casey's agent handed an envelope to Owen, and with a nod and smile he was gone. Sitting next to Nila again, he opened the large manila folder, but it was several seconds before Nila heard, "Holy shit. This guy is nuts." Then looking at Nila he told her, "Rather than book his party, Casey is offering seven ninety for the house. He wants to buy this damn place and then hold his own party. That's a pretty radical way for him to have the party on his terms."

"My God, will you sell?"

"Not for that I sure as hell won't. I picked this place up for seven and a quarter, but it's worth at least eight, and that's one of the main reasons I bought it."

"Will you counter offer?"

"What are your thoughts Nila? Want to get rid of this place before you've even had much time to live here?"

"I love this place almost as much as you do, but it is huge and very expensive to keep up with. Okay, so...so assuming you counter offer and he accepts, we could live at my much smaller place while we have something built.

"That could work, but I have to...well Casey would have to wait until we have Van's party and give us time to move out."

"If you and Casey come to an agreement, we could get with an architect and get things started."

Owen was getting into the plan now saying, "Great idea. Okay, so all we have to do is sell this place."

"You have to sell."

"Oh no sweet Nila, from now on it's we baby, you and me about everything."

"Except the reception."

"That is all yours."

Smiling, Nila got up and told him, "I'm going to go call Molly."

"Hey honey, this will impact our plans to get married."

"That's true so...how about the weekend after Van's party. We'll still have three weeks to move."

"Unless you say otherwise, it's the weekend after Van's party, so make some calls."

Chapter Two Hundred Nine

Just as Owen said he would, he rejected Casey's buy offer, and countered with eighty seventy five, so the ball went back to Casey's court. Monday evening, Owen received a new offer of eight, and he simply wrote 'nope' across that offer and sent it back without further comment. He still had the nine plus appraisal, and the market had been pretty stable. Because of that, he decided to hold out for eight fifty, and with that still being well below appraised value, and the fact that Casey was trying to buy a home that wasn't even on the market, he felt sure he could get that much. The profit would fall far short of paying for their next house, but it would help a lot.

"Know what you want in your next house?" Owen asked Nila Tuesday evening.

"I know exactly what I'd like."

Showing a little surprise, he smiled and asked her, "Been thinking about this a long time?"

"I really haven't. but it's simple though. We both love this place, so we can just copy this home, minus a couple of bedrooms and bathrooms, a smaller master suite and so forth. The architect wouldn't need as much time and his fees would be less. End result being, we could start building much sooner."

He smiled and kissed her, and then told her, "Lady, it's all in your hands now. Assuming Casey comes through, you pick the architect and run with this project."

"You can't be serious."

"Oh yes I can. Bring the architect you choose here and turn him or her loose. We'll both love what we end up with, and in the meantime I'll see what I can find for property."

"Something this size I hope."

"I hope so too, but we'll have to see what's out there. I don't want to live too far out in the sticks. It's all up to Casey now, but either way we'll end up living in a beautiful home."

Come Thursday however, Casey hadn't called, so they assumed he had changed his mind, and they were surprised that they were a little disappointed. It was almost eight o'clock and Nila was getting ready to go home when Casey called to announce that his final offer was on the way, and that was enough to make her drop onto the sofa, eager to see what his final offer would be.

Half an hour later, and as Owen opened the envelope, Nila leaned into his side and saw the number just as Owen got to it. Eight thirty. "Pretty close to your number honey," Nila said as she studied him.

"But so...oh hell, Casey knows I'm caught up in the selling idea now. He's getting a very decent deal at that price, I'm making a very nice profit, and he feels like he won the game. As long as he'll wait until thirty days after Van's party...say the end of November, he'll have his deal."

"Just be sure you're ready to walk away from this grand place with the iron gates and the long curving concrete driveway, along with so much more."

"I'm guess I'm ready honey, so let's do this," and he pulled out his phone. With his right arm behind Nila, he told Casey he had a deal, but then added the caveats about his last party and reminded him, "You're getting a very nice deal on the house Casey."

"I think I'm doing okay, and I'll even go along with the delay, if you'll share your list of suppliers and people you worked with on your parties."

"Be happy to leave all of that with you. All but Molly."

"But she's one that I was most eager to work with."

"The best I can do there is I'll see that she's advised of that. I'll get something to you in writing in the next few days Casey."

"I'll be looking for it Owen, and as soon as I get that I'll get a deposit to you. Say ten percent."

"That will be fine. Now you'll be able to allow smoking all you want."

"Hell no, now we'll be partying in my place, so the no smoking rule won't change," and Owen smiled at Nila and squeezed her hand in his.

"Well now our lives will change in yet another way."

"I do love this house, but I'm really excited about out totally fresh start together in a new house."

"But our new house, as nice as I'm sure it will be, the only parties we'll have are ours."

"I'll like that so much better."

A minute later, with Nila on her phone and Owen on his, they called friends and family and shared all of their news about the upcoming wedding and selling the house. When Owen told June, she said, "Oh great. What will my new neighbor be like?"

"Older, much richer and pushy and overbearing."

"Well the rich part might be fun, but...oh hell, I can handle overbearing, but I'm really going to miss you. Congratulations on your upcoming wedding though, and I wouldn't miss it." Owen's last and longest call was to his parents, but when he ended his call Nila was just ending her call to Liz.

Chapter Two Hundred Ten

The next Wednesday, well before Owen would be home, Nila went from work straight to Destinbury to join their new architect Ian Coogan, to go through the house. "Good to see you again," he told her as he stepped inside. "Heather...you met her at the office the other day, is slightly familiar with this house, so she shared a few bits of information. She's my wife by the way."

"Oh, I didn't realize that. I just assumed that you had two secretaries."

As he laughed his eyes deep blue eyes danced and she enjoyed a quick swim in them, as he added, "Stacy is my secretary."

"I'm glad you set me straight before I embarrassed myself. Would you like something to drink while we look around?"

"I'd love something," and she led the way to the bar. "This is a beautiful place Nila."

"Thank you, and I quite agree. That's why Owen and I want a smaller version of Destinbury. We love it here, but it's just too pretentious and too much for the two of us to deal with." Selecting a merlot from the bar, she poured two glasses, and with Ian sticking close to her, they began the tour. They topped off their glasses as they passed the bar fifteen minutes later, and then moved on to the master suite where, standing at the French doors, and looking out he asked her, "Will you want the patio area to be like this as well?"

"Yes, the same except...I'm not sure about the pool. We just never seem to use that."

"Perhaps you would with the smaller home, and once you two are settled into your lives."

"That's a good point to keep in mind."

"I'd suggest a nice large spa too. Perhaps large enough for six."

She smiled at him then and said, "Yes, that might be very nice to have."

He broke their gaze then by turning and saying, "Like you mentioned, this suite is quite large. I'm sure we can reduce this without compromising your comfort at all."

"Let's go upstairs to the guest rooms," and she felt the gentle warmth of his hand on her back through her silk blouse, and made sure she didn't walk too fast and get away from cautious touch. Nila was quite aware of the fact that she was lightly flirting, but not aware that she was encouraging Ian's touch as much as she was.

Ian left half an hour later, and she smiled as she was still thinking about how he had very carefully touched her arm or back and returned her flirtations. "Just innocent fun," she told herself as Owen pulled into the garage.