"Eight," she said. "Can I stick around for another hour?"
"Sure. What would you like to do?"
She wagged her eyebrows at me.
"All right," I said. "Sounds fun." I collapsed backwards against the sofa and closed me eyes. "Let me know when it's over."
She laughed. "Knock it off. How about a game of strip poker?"
"I could teach you to play go."
"Forget it. I don't want to think." She knew where I kept my cards and she dealt a hand of gin. We played for forty-five minutes before she said, "Thank you for dinner, Pamela. I always love your cooking."
We hugged at the doorway, and then she was gone.
I leaned against the door for a minute.
* * *
Later, I was digging through my old MBA textbooks when the phone rang. It was Moira.
"Hello, Moira."
"Busy?"
"Studying for my phone interview."
"I won't keep you," she said. "I just wanted to ask if I could take you to lunch tomorrow."
"I go from noon until one."
"Excellent," she said. "I'll pick you up."
"Do you have a minute, Moira?"
"Sure."
"Bonnie came to dinner."
"How did it go?"
"She was mad at first. She asked if anyone had won a toaster oven yet."
"And you said 'no'."
"I said, 'not yet'."
Moira was quiet for a while. "How upset was she?"
"She told me if I were curious, she was right here. Then she looked at me and said, 'oh hell, you're in love'. After that, she was fine. She said, yes, small crush, but no, not saving herself for me."
"Are you?"
"Saving myself for her?"
"In love, silly."
"I'm not sure I'm ready to answer that."
She laughed. "I'll take that as far better than 'no'."
"Thank you for not pushing."
There was an awkward pause before she said, "Well. Before this gets any weirder, I'm going to let you go. I'll be there at noon."
"I am looking forward to it."
* * *
Moira arrived at the bank a few minutes early. My last appointment also ended early, so I didn't have to leave her waiting. She was holding a bouquet of flowers. I walked straight to her and gave her a hug.
"No kiss?" she asked quietly.
"Not at the bank."
"These are for you," she said. "I thought the bunch from last week were due for a refresh."
"Moira, they're lovely."
"So, you can show me your office and we can swap them out."
"Um."
She cocked an eyebrow. "Am I going to see flowers from someone else in there?"
I looked away. She laughed. "Are you forgetting whose idea all this was? Lead the way, Pamela."
So I led the way to my office. I had a real office, not a cube, and I was proud of it. The now tired bunch that Moira had given me last Wednesday were on the book case, and Gwendolyn's were on my desk. She looked between them. "Mine got bumped?"
"Yesterday." I looked away.
"Honey," she said. "It's okay. The newest ones belong where you can see them. And guess whose are newest now."
I laughed. "Thank you."
She took the vase with the her old flowers in it and began discarding the most tired of the flowers, keeping the two roses, which were doing very well, and some of the greens. She made a new arrangement after cutting the tails of the fresh flowers. Then she made room on my desk for her arrangement along with Gwendolyn's.
"There," she said. "Shall we?"
"In a minute," I said. I walked to the door and closed it, then turned to her and closed my eyes.
She laughed, then walked up to me and gave me an earth shaking kiss. When she released me, I told her, "The no kissing policy isn't just between women. I never let guys kiss me out there, either. It's a bank."
"Right. Ready to go?"
* * *
Lunch was lovely. We kissed briefly in the car when she dropped me off.
"Again this week?" she asked.
"Thursday or Friday would be good," I told her.
"I'll call you."
And then she was gone.
* * *
I talked to Gwendolyn that night. We didn't have much to say to each other at first. She told me about her day, and I understood some of it. But then she thanked me for my help. "I really needed someone."
We talked for a few minutes more before hanging up.
I called Andi Wednesday evening.
"Andi, it's Pamela Henderson."
"Hello, Pamela. How was your flight home?"
"Late, but smooth. Thank you so much for hosting us."
"You're welcome." She paused. "Ready to be grilled?"
We talked for an hour. She started by getting an overall feel for my knowledge. Then she told me about the types of jobs that might be available. After that, she drilled down deeply.
I felt wrung out when she was done, and I also felt like I had failed miserably. She had asked a lot of questions for which my answers felt inadequate.
There was a pause.
"I'm sorry for wasting your time," I told her quietly.
"Don't jump to conclusions," she said. "I was exploring the range of your knowledge, which involves finding out what you don't know as much as what you do know. Half my best employees couldn't have answers some of those questions. Let me think for a minute, I'm reading through my notes." I sat quietly holding the phone until she said. "All right. Do you want to pursue this?"
"You'd recommend me?"
"Yes."
I started to grin. "Really?"
"Really. Do you want to pursue this?"
"Absolutely."
"All right. I need to send you an email. What is your email address at home?" I gave it to her. "All right. I am sending you links to several books. They are all available at Amazon. Order them either as electronic copies or overnight delivery. Read them. Call me when you've read them and understood as much as you can, and expect a second exam like the one we just did. We'll go from there. I'll expect to hear from you next week sometime."
"Thank you so much, Andi."
"If you don't get my email in the next hour, call back. It will take me a few minutes to assemble."
I got her email, sent a reply, and then ordered the books. Two were available electronically, so I ordered them to read on my computer. The other two I ordered with standard shipping; it would take me a few days to read the first two. Then I started reading.
Moira called a little later.
"Busy?"
I told her about my conversation with Andi.
"That's fabulous!" she said. "I won't keep you. Lunch Friday?"
"I'd love to."
"See you at noon."
North Shore
Friday I went grocery shopping for Saturday. I picked up picnic supplies. When I got home, I called Gwendolyn but got her voice mail. "It's Pamela. I need your address so I can pick you up in the morning. Call me."
Then I started studying. I'd gotten through one of the books and was halfway through the second one. They were full of dense material, and I would need additional readings before I called Andi. I sent her an email telling her that.
Gwendolyn called an hour later. "I thought I'd pick you up."
"Do you mind if I drive?"
"No, but-"
"I want to see your house."
She sighed. "You won't like it."
"Please."
She gave me her address. "I'll be there early, like seven or so. Is that okay?"
"I get up early. Seven is great. What should I wear?"
"Dress in layers. We'll be in the car a lot, but then we'll be outside. I'm bringing a picnic."
We chatted for a few minutes for we signed off.
I got a response from Andi. "Read each once, then use your judgment, but I want a call from you no later than Wednesday of next week. Not Thursday. W
ednesday."
I replied I understood.
* * *
Saturday was a beautiful day. It was early May and lovely. The north shore area would be chilly, but we would have a nice time. I loaded the car, triple checked everything, then got in the car and drove to Gwendolyn's house.
Her place was stunning. The house was huge, and the yard was exceedingly huge. I rang the bell, and after a brief pause, she opened the door.
"Good morning," I said cheerfully.
We exchanged hugs and kisses, then I asked for a tour.
Her house was stunningly huge. And, as she had warned me to expect, sterile. The kitchen was amazing. I saw it and said, "Oh, the cooking I could do in this kitchen!"
"I never use it," she said quietly.
I oohed and aahed over other parts of the house, but in the end, she seemed embarrassed. We finished the tour and she said, "Pamela, it's a house. Spend enough money, you can buy a big house. That doesn't make it a home. Your house might be small, but it's a home. You've made a home."
"I can help you," I told her.
She smiled. "I would like that." She kissed me once more, then she locked up behind us.
We talked about nothing important until I had gotten us out of the cities. Once we were on our way to Duluth, I told her, "Was there anything in particular you wanted to talk about?"
"No, not really," she said.
"Well then," I told her. "I want to understand your job better. How about this? You'll teach me everything you can between here and Duluth. After that, we'll make switch to something more resembling a date conversation."
"Seriously?" she asked.
"Yes. Imagine I were to ask you how your day had been, and you want to tell me. How much can you teach me in two hours that I might understand the significance of what you tell me?"
"You're sure?"
"Yes."
"It's going to be dry."
"I don't care. Can you start with an overview first?"
"Yes." She paused, and her tone changed, and I found myself enrolled in mini medical school.
She started with the basics. I knew a lot of it, but not all by far. Then she quizzed my understanding. She finished that and I glanced over at her.
"You're a good teacher."
She beamed at that.
"This is fun. Keep going."
"It gets dryer."
"That's okay."
She explained the cardio vascular system, and the limits on where she operated. In short, everything below the neck excluding the immediate area of the heart. Then she quizzed me.
"Good," she said.
"Keep this up until we come over the rise into Duluth."
"Give me a ten minute warning then," she said. She paused for a minute, then she gave me the basics of what surgery was like. That part was simple. Then it started to get harder, as she explained what vascular surgery was like, and that's when the fancy Latin terms started to creep in. She started to lose me.
"This part sounds important," I told her.
"It is. Lost?"
"A little. Start over?"
She went over the structure of an artery. I always thought they were like little rubber tubes, kind of like how they are drawn in books, but they aren't. Then she quizzed me until I got it right. After that, she talked about a few instruments she uses, things I already understood, then she looked over and started quizzing me on the arteries again.
I struggled, but she helped me a little, and I had largely retained it. She changed the quizzes. Instead of asking me to remember the terms, she used the terms and asked me what they were. That made a huge difference.
"It makes more sense this way," she said. "If I use a term, and you know what it means, that's good enough. You don't have to dredge them up yourself."
After that, she went through the procedures she is most likely to do and why. This involved more anatomy, and I had a hard time remembering where the various vessels were.
"I'm sorry," I told her. "Are you getting impatient?"
"No, Pamela. I'm surprised you care."
"Of course I care. I want to understand as best I can without going to medical school myself."
She smiled and went through it again, this time in smaller pieces. I started to get it. "I won't ask you to remember all the smaller vessels," she said. "If I ever use their names with you, I'll remind you where they are."
By the time we crested the ridge over Duluth, I had absorbed as much as I was going to. Gwendolyn was smiling, but my head hurt.
"Oohhh," she said as we climbed over the ridge. All of Duluth lay below us, and we had our first look of Lake Superior in the distance. "Wow."
"I know," I said. "One of the best views in the state." I started playing tour guide. "We'll go to Canal Park for a little while," I said. "Maybe the lift bridge will go up while we're there."
"A draw bridge?"
"Sort of." I explained the difference.
We worked our way through Duluth, then pulled off the freeway, and I found a place to park. "Grab your jacket," I told her, getting out.
We joined together and I grabbed her arm.
She loved the park. When we got out to the end of the lighthouse pier, she pressed me against the railing. "Will you let me kiss you in public?"
"Yes."
So she did. I was breathless when we were done. No one paid any attention to us.
"This is beautiful, Pamela," she said, looking out over the lake. It was a beautiful, sunny day. We had gotten very lucky. It was chilly, and down near the water was windy, but it was lovely. We were freshly out of winter, and born and bred in Minnesota, so a little cold wind didn't bother either of us."
We didn't stay at Canal Park very long. I wanted to get her to Gooseberry Falls, and depending on the timing, Split Rock Lighthouse. Then we would see.
We walked back to the car, hand in hand. At the car, she kissed me again. She tasted wonderful, and the kiss was full of promises.
My heart beat faster.
"Are you hungry?"
"A little."
"There is a cooler on the back seat," I said. "I made sandwiches, and there is fruit and soda."
Before getting into the car, we raided the cooler, setting it up front, then we both got in and I got us on the road. She gave me a half a sandwich and ate the other half herself. Then she had great fun popping grapes and strawberry slices into my mouth. I made a game of trying to kiss her fingers. She started to linger so that I could kiss them.
"It's beautiful, Pamela," Gwendolyn said again.
When we drove past the Glensheen mansion, I told her the story of Congdon murder back in the 1970s, as best I knew it.
We got a few more views of Lake Superior, then we were on the road to Two Harbors. I told her about the deer encounters you can get during the evening hours. We finally arrived at Gooseberry Falls State park and climbed out the car.
As soon as we got to the falls themselves, she was stunned. She looked at the falls, then looked at me, then at the falls. I stepped up to her and slipped under her arm.
"This is why we drove all the way up here?"
"Highlight of the trip, although the lighthouse is cool, too."
"It's amazing."
We spent an hour walking around. I got a lot of kisses, every one of them amazing. At one point we sat down on the rocks, just looking at the water falling over the upper falls. She had her back against a scraggly pine tree, and I was leaning against her with her arms around me.
"Honey," she said. "I've never done anything like this. No one else would have taken me up here, and it never would have occurred to me."
"I used to come up with my family," I told her. "It's very peaceful. I can't afford to stay in the resorts anymore, so I make do with day trips like today."
We sat like that for a while. I got my ear nuzzled a lot. It tickled, but I liked it. I looked over my shoulder at her. "It's so different being with you than with a guy."
"How so?"
"You're
gentler. Softer. Less, I don't know. Driven by testosterone."
She laughed at that. "Estrogen isn't necessarily better. Men's emotions are more likely to be logical."
"Guys are so clueless."
"And you are finding I am not?"
I looked back at her again. "You knew how to treat me."
We stayed until we started to get cold. I took her to the nature center on the way to the car. She bought some postcards and stamps, wrote them in front of me, and mailed them. Then I found a little stuffed animal of a moose and bought it then gave it to her.
She offered a puzzled expression.
"The first new item for your hours," I told her. "It goes in your living room near the fireplace. Whenever you see it, you'll think of me and this trip."
"Maybe I want it in my bedroom," she said, grinning.
"No, because if you're there with someone else, you should think of her, not me. And if you're there with me, you don't need a moose to remind you."
"I never would have thought of this," she said, hugging the moose.
"This is why your designer couldn't give you a proper design. She couldn't discover your story and fill your house with things that have meaning to you. This moose will have meaning, and whenever anyone asks you about it, you have a story to tell."
She took my arm and led me back to my car. I held her door for her, and she smiled. "That's my trick."
She kept the moose on her lap as we drove out of the parking lot. I drove us to the overlook where virtually every picture of Split Rock Lighthouse is ever taken. There was one other car there.
"I've never seen a real lighthouse," she said.
"There was one at Canal Park at the end of the pier."
"I suppose, but it's not the same, is it?"
We held hands while we looked at the lighthouse. "Can we actually drive up to it?"
"Yes. There is a tour."
We drove into the park. I had a state parks sticker on my car, so the only fee was for the tour itself. We held hands the entire time, and watching Gwendolyn's expression was fun. She had completely turned off her surgeon side and was there to enjoy the day. I loved watching it.
Once we finished the tour, I told her it was time for the picnic. We collected the things from the car, and we set up in the grass right outside the lighthouse, sitting where we could look out over Lake Superior.
We ate slowly without talking much.
Bidding War Page 17
