“Oh, okay.” I glanced over at Jake Senior.
He nodded. “Jake just graduated from Columbia Law this year. He wants to get into tax law, so I’m seeing about bringing him on board.”
I nodded as well; Columbia Law was a good school. “Your new partner?”
“Not yet, he’s not!” said his father drily. “Let’s just say he’s an associate with prospects. I’m not sure we need a tax lawyer as much as another good accountant.”
“Well, this might be a chance to prove it, huh, Dad?” Jake Junior wasn’t about to be cowed by his father. Jake snorted in response, and John laughed.
“Well, Carl, you’ve all moved up here? How bad is your leg, anyway? I see you’re using a cane,” said John.
I simply shrugged. “I probably will the rest of my life, unless I get the knee replaced. Maybe even then. It’s all ligament and cartilage damage. It is what it is.” I held my hands up in a what-can-you-do-about-it-anyway gesture.
“How do you like it up here, Marilyn? You’re not a Maryland girl, right?” he asked.
“It’s just so unreal! I don’t know what’s happening any more. I mean, it wasn’t two months ago I found out my husband isn’t just a soldier, he’s got a whole secret life, like in a comic book! He has lawyers and accountants and brokers and who knows what else! I don’t know what to think!” Charlie fussed a little and she lifted him up from his stroller and started digging out a bottle. “It’s like I just found out my Clark Kent is somebody else.” She looked over at me apologetically.
I reached over and squeezed her hand. “That’s why I wanted you to meet everybody. No more secrets. I had a reason for that, but the time for that is over. You’re going to need to know about this stuff, too.”
“No secrets?”
I gave another shrug. “Well, almost no secrets. I’m certainly not going to tell you about my mistress. Mistresses, actually.”
That got a laugh out of John and Missy, a snort from Jake, and a blank stare from Jake Junior. Marilyn looked down at our son and said, “Daddy thinks he’s so funny!” and then she gave me a raspberry.
That got us talking about the money, and John told Marilyn how we originally met and how I got my initial stake of twenty grand. Missy gave a surprised look at that. “Twenty? You only put fifteen into the brokerage back then. What happened to the other five?”
“Living expenses. It wasn’t like I was getting any money from my parents,” I answered.
“No allowance?”
“Not after that. Hamilton was given it, instead.”
Marilyn interjected, “Your brother was given your allowance?”
“A fact he repeatedly told me.”
“Unbelievable!” Then she looked over at Missy. “So you’re telling me that Carl turned that fifteen thousand into thirty-five million”
Missy nodded. “Closer to forty as of the close of business Friday. Your husband rarely missteps on this stuff, and he’s very good with leverage and options and calls. Commodities, too. He knows his commodities.”
Jake chimed in, “It’s almost spooky, but I haven’t seen Carl make many mistakes. Sometimes his timing is a bit off, but not terribly, and not in an overly bad way. I don’t know where he comes up with some of the stock picks, but the accounting and all is fairly straightforward.”
“Wow!”
I took my wife’s hand again. “And now I get to do something I really enjoy, which is buy you a few things and take care of you. You need to pick out a car and then we’ll look at some property and build a house.”
Over lunch we made a broad agreement to what would happen in the near future. Marilyn already had an American Express card. Marilyn was absolutely forbidden to get any more credit cards. (They had been so destructive before!) We would open a new checking account locally, at Maryland National Bank. Missy would put a chunk of money into the checking account so that we could buy property and build on it. Marilyn would have access to the checking account, but not to the brokerage accounts, which would remain in my name, though she would remain my survivor on the accounts. Jake Junior also suggested that I incorporate, in the event I wanted to directly invest in any companies rather than go through the brokerage. I didn’t quite follow that reasoning, but I was vain enough to like the name of the company, The Buckman Group. Jake, Jake Junior, and John started talking that over among themselves.
After lunch, we split up, though I made arrangements to meet with them later in the week by myself to sign some paperwork. Marilyn was also getting along well with Missy, and Missy made her promise to call and get together for lunch with her kids. Then we drove down York Road towards Ridgely Road. Tusk Cycles & Repairs was in a small industrial park on the west side of York between Ridgely and Timonium, on the site of a converted gas station. It wasn’t very big, but there were a number of cars parked and a number of bikes as well. We pulled over to one side and parked, and then fished Charlie out of the back. I led the way inside.
It wasn’t a very big operation, but it was well lighted and clean, and seemed to be split down the middle. One side consisted of the old service station repair bays and was now the motorcycle repair area. The other half was a small office and a somewhat larger showroom, with several gleaming restored motorcycles on display. My advice to Tusker had been to start with repairs and used bikes, rebuilding them and getting a reputation for quality workmanship. I didn’t know shit about bikes, but I knew a fair bit about sales and quality. At some point he’d be able to move to a larger setting and then think about getting a dealership.
It seemed to be working. Tessa grinned madly and waved to us from behind the counter, where she was writing up a repair slip, and we just waited at the side and looked things over. As soon as Tessa finished with the one customer, another came forward and started asking her questions, so I wandered around the room and on into the service bay. As I did, a mechanic of some sort looked over and said, “Sorry, sir, you can’t come in here.”
Tusker turned around at that and his face lit up, too. “It’s all right, Joey. I’ll take it.” He wiped his hands on a rag and came over. “Damn, you made it up here after all! It’s good to see you!”
“Damn straight! Good to see you, too.” I shook my friend’s hand enthusiastically.
“Marilyn with you?”
“And Charlie. They’re in the showroom.” I turned and went back through the archway and found Marilyn hugging Tessa. Charlie was starting to squirm around some. The two women saw us and a few more hugs were exchanged.
“Where’s Bucky?” I asked.
Tessa answered, “He spends the day with my mom. Now that she’s a granny all is forgiven. Now she’s pushing for number two. I’d offer to let her keep him full time but she’d probably take us up on it! You’re back!”
“We got back Friday. Long drive!” said Marilyn.
I nodded. “Between my knee and stopping for pit stops and feeding Charlie, it must have taken us twelve hours.”
“Where are you staying?” she asked.
“The Holiday Inn up by Padonia Road,” I answered.
“You want to stay with us?” asked Tusker. “It’ll be a little tight, but we’ll survive.”
I glanced at Marilyn, but I already knew the answer. Unless they had a new place, we’d be packed in like sardines. “We appreciate that, but we’re going apartment hunting tomorrow. If we find something, we’ll just move right in. Our stuff is in storage right now.”
I think they were as happy as we were about that. Tusker just nodded. “So, how do you like it? This is the first you’ve been here!” My friend was very proud of his place.
I smiled and nodded. “Very nice. Very professional. That’s the image you’re trying to present. By the time you get to a larger place, you’ll be all set.”