THIS MORNING STARTED the same as the last few. Tara and I ran and had breakfast together at the same place. The server just brought us our hot tea when she saw us. I liked places where they remembered their customers.
“We’re leaving first thing in the morning,” Tara told me. “We’re going to drive up to Seattle and visit my aunt. Then we should be home by next Wednesday.”
“That sounds like a nice vacation for you and your dad.”
“He tries hard. I get to stay with him for the summer. I live in Phoenix with Mom the rest of the year.”
We finished up and made plans to meet for our afternoon workout.
THE STUDIO WORK WAS every bit as much fun as I expected. The caterer brought us fajitas for lunch. I took the time to get Sandy alone and talk to her.
“How’s Devin doing?” I asked.
“Not great. Lana tried to win him back. I think he’s failing miserably, by the way he was talking on the phone. I need to go to him and reinsert his spine.”
“I get a strange image of how you’d do that,” I chuckled.
She laughed.
“He might not enjoy that.”
“Not to change this interesting subject ... but I wanted to talk to you about a friend of mine,” I said.
“I don’t go on blind dates,” she quipped.
“No, nothing like that. You remember Adrienne?” I started, and she nodded. “She’s opening up her own modeling agency sometime in August. Her plans are to retire from modeling and work from the other side of the business.”
“Are you suggesting that we might talk to her about our talent needs?” she asked, cutting to the chase.
I took a deep breath. I was under contract with Ford and I had never done anything to take business from them before. I knew Ford wouldn’t hesitate to do what was in their best interest, but I was a little uncomfortable.
“Only if it doesn’t interfere with what you already have going on with Ford.”
Sandy looked around to make sure we weren’t being overheard.
“Devin was ready to dump Ford after England. He didn’t because of you. When I get home, I was planning on having a long talk with him. Ford has a stellar reputation; I just think we’ve been unlucky. I know we’d be open to seeing what others have to offer.”
“Adrienne has some great contacts. I could see me working with her and Hannah Minacci playing volleyball. I might actually work for free if you can arrange that,” I offered.
“I bet you would,” she teased me. “Do you think Adrienne would do some modeling for us?”
“I would think so. Can I have her business manager call you?” I asked.
“Sure.”
WHEN I GOT BACK, I called Tyler and gave her Sandy’s info. I told her about my fantasy shoot with Adrienne and Hannah. She assured me she would make it happen. I think she was teasing me.
I met Tara and her dad in the workout room.
“You guys ready to rock?” I asked them.
“Are you looking at me?” Evan asked.
“Sure, I bet you can still keep up with us kids.”
“Okay, but have 911 on speed dial.”
When we were done, I was impressed. Evan made the full thirty minutes. Tara and I were sitting, watching him lay on the ground, trying to catch his breath.
“Do you think he’s alright?” Tara asked.
“Sure, he’s just old.”
He gave me the finger.
“Daddy!” Tara chastised him.
At least he wasn’t puking. He finally recovered and vowed to get in shape and I was sure Tara would hold him to it. We said our goodbyes.
TONIGHT, EVERYONE PLANNED to do their own thing. Chuck was going to dinner with an ex-girlfriend. Kendal and Clare decided to try another club. Sandy, Missy and Harper booked a boat ride around the bay. That left Tami and me alone. She wanted to go to Chinatown for dinner. We ended up going to a place called New Woey Loey Goey. It was only a thirty-minute walk, but we decided to ride the cable car there. It was your classic hole-in-the-wall and mainly had Chinese people eating there. That looked like a good sign to me. We spent a pleasant evening together just talking. It felt like old times.
Friday May 23
CLARE CAUGHT UP WITH me in the morning and told me Warren had been let go from Ford. Apparently it was considered bad form to disfigure another model.
By noon, I was done with the studio work, and we were on our way to the airport. Devin called me and said he was happy with the work. He’d been getting daily updates and had been able to see the pictures. Range’s marketing department people were happy to get the new photos for their website.
On the personal front, he had officially broken up with Lana. I guess Sandy wasn’t going to have to reinsert his spine. He didn’t sound that upset about it, so I was hoping he was doing okay. Devin was a great guy, and any girl would be lucky to date him.
Chapter 3 – As Long as the Groom Can Make Love
Saturday May 24
TODAY WAS THE DAY THE guys that planned to go to football camp but needed to earn some money were working at the Sullivan car dealership. When I arrived, I found Mrs. Sullivan had everything well in hand. As we arrived, she had us put on polo shirts that identified us as employees. We then met an HR person who had us fill out our tax information. Mr. Sullivan assigned us our jobs. Several of the guys were sent to the parts manager to help with taking inventory. Another group was sent to the car detailing area. This was Memorial Day weekend, and they had a big sale going on. A couple of guys were sent out to grill hot dogs. Ty and I were sent to Mrs. Sullivan as floaters.
Turns out, our job should have been called ‘gofer.’ If they ran out of hot dogs, we were your guys. If they needed toilet paper ... yep, that was us. They had advertised that Lincoln and Washington football players would be here today. I was surprised when my name was called over the PA speakers, asking me to come to the showroom.
I found the floor manager, Andy.
“Sir, how can I help?” I asked.
He pointed to a couple.
“Go take them for a test drive but first get a driver’s license and make a copy of it. When you’re done with the test drive, if they like the car, bring them to one of the cubicles. If not, find out what they want. Keys go back on the board and match the slot the cars are parked in.”
Holy crap! That was the extent of my training. He handed me a card that gave me info about the car. I had just one question.
“Sir, do I have to have a driver’s license for this?”
“That would be a yes. In fact, you have to be 18. You look old enough,” Andy told me as I slowly shook my head ‘no.’
He thought for a minute.
“I need some help on the floor. Go get Mrs. Sullivan and have her teach you how to be a greeter.”
Mrs. Sullivan saw it was busy and that Andy needed to help with the test drives. She had me go get Ty. She made a point of meeting people who walked into the dealership and making them feel at home. They had a number system that lit up showing which salesperson was up. She would glance at it and personally introduce the customer to that salesperson. If no one was ready, she would make sure they got a hot dog or three and something to drink.
She had to authorize a deal, so she left us to be the greeters. By now, Ty and I had met all the salespeople and had learned what number they were. We were comfortable chatting customers up and handing them off. After about an hour, I was afraid she’d forgotten about us. Andy came over after he’d finished with the couple he wanted me to give a test drive to.
“She didn’t leave you. She came back, watched you working for ten minutes, and told me to let you do her job. She’s busy wrapping up today’s inventory with the parts manager. They had some discrepancies, and they’re recounting some stock,” he told me. “Look, you have another customer.”