Too Young, Too Soon, No Chance

"Good to hear. Okay! Give me a few minutes."

Dennis took almost thirty minutes, freely annotating the proposal with a red felt marker, occasionally nodding and occasionally shaking his head in disgust.

"Well, at least they ventured in the direction of the real world but---not even close! Any place in that agreement wherein they retain control of their business, key support activities, final budgeting approval or strategic planning---it's a no-go. It's not negotiable and there is no wiggle room. I made that mistake on the first one of these cluster fucks I ever did---Mr. Nice Guy---and we're still paying the price. Not going to happen again. Take it back to them and give them that message in clear terms.

"I've scheduled three days for this circus---and then we're done. No agreement, no acquisition coupled with a suit for breach. I'll be in for the rest of the day; you want to talk, hit the number two button on the phone or call me at this number if you're out of the building. Call me when you have something better to show me. Really nice seeing you again, Allison...you look great! Really great."

Dennis left the conference room and returned to his office, realizing he had nothing on his calendar. Allison called him an hour later.

"Dennis, I believe your message has gotten through loud and clear. My clients are desirous of getting this unpleasantness behind them and moving forward. How soon can we meet?"

"Where are you?"

"We have a local firm with whom we are associated but I'm essentially working out of the Hyatt, downtown. I can meet you..."

"I'll meet you downtown---for lunch. If you go out the North entrance of the Hyatt, turn left and walk to the end of the block; at the corner, there's a restaurant. I'll have my admin make reservations....say...11:30?"

"I can handle that."

"Great...see you then...no entourage...just the two of us."

Dennis walked out to his admin. "Cathy, I need a really ostentatious and obnoxious limo for a ride downtown. I don't want a pimp mobile or a stretch, I'm thinking a Rolls or a Bentley, and a guy or girl in a uniform. And I want him to park out front or circle the block during lunch. Some virgins sprinkling rose petals might be nice---just kidding. And I need a reservation for two for lunch---window seat, facing North---at..."

Kathy had outdone herself. It was a Rolls with some six foot Nordic blonde at the wheel in a livery uniform that left little to the imagination. He instructed her to circle until he saw Allison leave the Hyatt and walk the quarter block. Once she was seated, he had the blonde drop him in front of the restaurant. He entered the establishment and was instantly escorted to the table. She had changed her outfit. She looked...amazing. It was all he could do to keep in character.

"Nice wheels. Does she always stand at attention outside the car while you're having lunch?"

"Olga is very...Prussian...an excellent chauffeur...very...disciplined. She's studying to be a massage therapist."

"I have no doubt."

"You look lovely. It's remarkable what Halston can do with a girl who..."

"Has perfect tits?"

"Would be quite lovely in anything....jeans...a maid's uniform. What have you got for me?"

He flipped through the document almost superficially. "Do you get paid by the hour?"

"You mean like a massage therapist?"

"That's not exactly what I meant."

"Yes, in a fashion."

"How much?"

"Is that a proposition?"

"Just curious."

"Two thousand dollars an hour. I'm a partner so I make a living off the profits of the firm but that figure covers me and my support people. Travel, lodging, meals---expense---are extra."

"Son of a bitch!"

"And you're not exactly working for minimum wage."

"I earn every dime of it."

"After this morning's performance---I have no doubt. My clients were, to say the least...shaken. They were very anxious to reconsider their position and their demands."

"What do you need to walk away from this feeling as if you earned your money?"

"Some vestige of my client's dignity."

"We're more than willing to trade money, perks and titles for control. We will not relinquish control. We did not become the fastest growing concern in American business history by giving up control of our business. I thought I made that clear the first time I met with them."

"There's the old story about the mule and the two by four. Sometimes you just have to get their attention. You certainly did that."

"What happened?"

"Pardon me?"

"What happened to us---you and me...hearts going pitter-patter...sitting on the sofa together holding hands...talking about our future...together...the children we were going to have...even started naming 'em...what our first house would look like..."

"I don't now. We never really had a fight...never broke up...just drifted apart. The Stanford thing...too good to walk away from even for..."

"A boy? A boy you said 'I love you' to? A boy who said I love you---first?"

"Don't do this, Dennis. We can't go back to being eighteen and nineteen again...we were so young...just kids."

"Let me see what you've got." He worked through the document without his red felt pen for almost fifteen minutes.

"If you walk back down to the Hyatt with this agreement in your hand---intact---will you be a hero?"

"Sure. It's a good agreement---it's a reasonable 'win-win.' Face it, Dennis, these folks have never really played in the big leagues before---never played your brand of hardball. They've gotten an education. My people have been teaching them about other acquisitions of this type---big fish gobbling the little fish---and they're finally seeing the light."

"Where do you live? California?"

"No, no. I live in Chicago. On the Lake."

"That's what...237 air miles from here? Five hours by car?"

"Something like that. Dennis, I gave you my history in abbreviated form and following your performance this morning my staff did their homework and put together a resume on you...care to fill in the blanks?"

Dennis did so over the next ten or fifteen minutes.

"So the word on the street is, you're the next CEO of this elephant?"

"Can I trust you, Allison? I don't mean anything involving your clients but something of a personal nature."

"You used to trust me...a long time ago."

"That I did. Yes. I'm heir apparent. And I'm the wrong guy for the job. This can't leave this table. Bob will retire as CEO in two years. We'll bring someone in from outside to take his place. I'll stay on for two more years after that---as COO---and assuming nothing get messed up, then I'll resign but retain my board seat."

"Why? Some sort of internal corporate power struggle?"

"Nope. Ten minutes before I walked into that conference room this morning I told Bob and he accepted it with some regrets. I'm not a CEO---don't want to be one. He's retiring at fifty because he wants to have a life. I'm retiring at forty-two for the same reason. At least he has a wife—two, actually, one really sweet---and children. I don't even have a regular girl friend----which is not to say I'm celibate, just not...involved. When do you have to go back to Chicago?"

"I scheduled three days, per your request. I'm a friggin' partner, for heavens sake! I don't exactly punch a time card."

"Stay."

"Why?"

"I could say why not or I could refuse to sign off on this proposal and trap you here for three days but that would border on blackmail. Let me make this easy---or maybe hard, depending on your perspective. Here! Watch this!" he said, as he flipped to the last page and signed on the appropriate line.

"Here. You can walk out of here right now---although the Tuna you ordered is out of this world...sushi grade and all that. You're job is done. You've got your win-win and your clients' dignity."

"You didn't answer my simple question...why? Why should I stay?"

"Are you dating anyone, seriously?"

"No, not that it's any...no."

"Me either. Allison, we're not those naïve and gullible special ed kids we were twenty years ago. But twenty years ago we thought---we were certain---that we were soul mates. That we were...destined to spend the rest of our lives together. So, we were wrong. Or maybe we weren't so wrong? Don't you remember? We talked about it---the dangers of meeting your destiny too soon...too young...too young to fall in love...commit."

"Dennis, we're not those kids anymore...we've changed...grown up. I know you're different."

"This morning? Oh, please! Don't tell me you've never walked into a negotiation and cut a few balls off just to set the tone. And you would have tried it with me if I hadn't come in with both barrels cocked and locked. I honestly did not know who you were before I saw you---you're married name completely threw me off. But I checked you out just the way you checked me out. I think my favorite quote was something to the effect, 'heartless, ball busting ice bitch who never gives an inch and probably eats kittens and puppies for breakfast.'

"You weren't Allison Stevens, the sweet little blonde with the big crystal clear blue eyes, the crooked little smile and the clinically perfect tits---you were the opposition...the enemy. And the only wife I've known for the last ten plus years---this corporation---was on the line. It was just business---and I'm damn good at it...too good at it...and that's why I have to walk away from it.

"And in case you haven't noticed my eyes are all blurry right now...and I'm seconds away from blubbering like a baby...because...because...I don't want to walk away from it alone...I want to walk with someone I love...the first girl I ever loved...the only one I've ever loved...the one who stole my heart and never gave it back...you...Allison...you...no one else...just you...please stay...I love you...never stopped."

He had no more words in him. It hadn't been rehearsed. It had just come from his heart in its own jumbled way. He'd bared his soul...laid everything he had inside him at her feet.

"I missed you, Dennis....missed you so much. I rationalized that I did what I had to do...for me...for my future. I pushed you away...not because I didn't love you. And then when I realized what I'd done it was too late. I was on the other side of the country. It's easy now to look back and think, I should have handled that better. Something along the lines of, 'hey, Dennis, I still love you but I need to do this for me---for my future. Hang in there kid and I'll get back to you in a few years. Wait for me.' I thought I was doing the right thing...letting you down easy...letting you get on with your life. I never stopped caring...never stopped loving you in my heart even if I fought it in my head."

"Damn! You are as long winded as I am. Must be that lawyer thing! Here's where the rubber meets the road, learned counsel. I think, in a round about way, you just said you didn't stop loving me---you can explain your marriage later---did I hear correctly?"

"I loved you twenty years ago. I never stopped. Let me be perfectly clear...I love you. The marriage was a dreadful mistake...fortunately one which didn't drag on."

"This would almost be funny if it wasn't so sad. I've been through every rationalization---every excuse in the book. I consciously pushed you out of my mind but you were still there in my heart. Let's end this foolishness right now. I love you. You love me. Over the last couple of years I've thought about you constantly. We were soul mates, dammit! We can be again...must be again...it's the only that's makes any sense for either of us. Stay...three days...if we can't figure it out in three days...then I don't have an answer."

"I'll stay. You drive a hard bargain."

"That's why I make the big bucks."

"Yeah. Same here. But something tell me this one is a slam dunk...a win-win."

"And it only took twenty years."

"We have a whole life to live yet...together."

"That's my girl!"

"Yeah...in a real sense I guess I never stopped being your girl...just didn't know it. You don't still have that Ford Galaxy anymore, do you?"

"Long ago relegated to the junk yard."

"You do have a car, don't you---with a back seat? One without Olga in the front seat?"

"I suppose I could borrow one...then again I have Olga and the car for the rest of the day, there is a curtain and I'm sure Olga is very discreet. Great prop---don't you think?"

"Oh, what the hell. I've always wanted a tour of your fair city. Just to be clear: Olga stays in the front seat."

"I've always been a one woman man...and you were always that woman."

"You've still got that silver tongue! Can't believe some girl didn't take you out of circulation."

"One did, baby...one did...a long time ago."

Edited by Techsan