Kat Ch. 03

Then Mel's wife, who was seated next to Jilly said, "Kat, I don't know if you remember me, but I'm Solange, Mel's wife."

I smiled, "Yes, I remember you. How are you?"

She smiled very warmly, "I am well. How long have you been together?"

We giggled, "Officially? About three hours."

She smiled wider, "So we're the first to know? How exciting."

"Not exactly, we were surprised this afternoon by Jilly's Mom." We both blushed.

Solange burst out laughing, "That had to be embarrassing."

We blushed harder, "Oh, yeah."

For whatever reason that broke the ice and we were just one of the couples. I looked at Mom and she smiled, though Daddy looked like somebody had hit him over the head. After we ordered Mel asked the server to close the door to the private dining room.

He stood and began speaking. "We hired Alex right out of high school. He seemed like a bright, hardworking kid who might have a future with our company and he did."

I looked at Daddy and he was blushing like mad. It cracked me up and I nudged Jilly and nodded at Daddy. She giggled, too.

Mel continued, "We promoted him to foreman and then to general foremen. But he kept exceeding our expectations. So we promoted him to project manager and then finally to operations manager. But, he kept exceeding expectations and not coincidentally making us money. So, because of that and because Solange really wants to travel, I am retiring as president and becoming Chairman Emeritus and Steve has accepted the job of president and I am happy and proud to announce that Alex has accepted the job of executive vice president, effective immediately."

Mom screamed and grabbed Dad and everybody else started clapping. Jilly and I got up and hugged Daddy. Mom, Daddy, Jilly and I were all crying.

Mel tapped his wine glass, getting everyone's attention. "Now, there's a bit of, well I don't know if it's bad news, but it's a little difficult. Nobody knows the job that Alex has been working on like Alex so he needs to finish it up."

Mom sighed, she didn't look pissed; she looked disappointed.

Mel smiled, "But maybe there's a silver lining." Mom looked at Mel suspiciously. "We have abused Alex's good nature for long enough. We're hoping that Annie will go with him and stay for the duration."

Mom screamed again, jumped up and grabbed Mel and gave him a great big kiss on the mouth. Mel started laughing and Solange kiddingly smacked Mom.

Mel said, "Hey, that worked out so well, we need to find somebody else to promote."

Solange growled, "I don't think so buster!" Everybody laughed.

Then Solange looked at us, "Well, I'll bet you'll have a good time being by yourself in that big house."

We both blushed again, holding hands and watching the celebration. I looked at Jilly and said, "This is a great way to start the rest of our lives. I love you."