“No, it's better than ever,” she beamed at him, and talked animatedly about Cal's company all the way back to the hotel in the cab. And then they sat in their room and talked till long after midnight.
She left Steve at the hotel the next day. She was going to meet clients with Cal, and Steve had rented a car to go to his assorted appointments. She had suggested he use a car and driver, which wasn't his style. He had gotten a couple of maps from the place where he'd rented the car, and said he was sure he could find the hospitals where he was going. Meredith kissed him when she left, and promised to meet him at the hotel at the end of the day. She wished him luck and rushed off to Dow Tech to meet Callan.
It was another extraordinary day with him. They visited three of his most important customers, and had a tour of one of the hospitals where his diagnostic equipment was in greatest use. It was a fascinating afternoon for her, and Cal was pleased with her reaction. And when she left him at the end of the day, he reminded her to be at his house at seven thirty. “I can't wait to meet Steve, I feel like we're already old friends,” he said warmly. She had talked about him so much during the due diligence tour that he honestly did feel as though he knew him.
And when Meredith met Steve back at the hotel, he looked relaxed and sounded surprisingly enthusiastic. He had been impressed with all three hospitals he'd seen, and had been given a referral to a fourth one that handled only the most extreme trauma cases. They had a helipad, and apparently ran a trauma unit very similar to the one where he worked, and he could hardly wait to visit it on Monday. He already had an appointment with the director. The hospitals where he'd been had been interesting, and very interested in him, but they had no openings that were suitable for him, although they'd been very impressed with his credentials, and they promised to keep him in mind if anything came up. But he was too senior and too experienced for them to offer him less than the top job and none of theirs was open. He said he could have been happy in any one of them, but he had his hopes pinned on the one in the East Bay that he was visiting on Monday.
“So what are you thinking?” She smiled at him, they had both had a good day, and she could see that he was very positive about it.
“I'm thinking that I love San Francisco,” he beamed at her. “The city is a little jewel, and the people are so nice here. It's not like New York, they don't all look like they think you're about to mug them. Even in the trauma units, people seem pretty relaxed here. The one in Oakland was a little dicey, but they'd just gotten six guys in with gunshot wounds two minutes before I got there. To be honest with you, I love it, Merrie. I can see why it appeals to you.” She suddenly felt as though a whole new life was opening up for them, and there was something very exciting about it. The one problem was that they had no job for him, yet, but there was still the hospital in the East Bay that he was going to see on Monday, and they had sounded hopeful, but they didn't want to commit to anything on the phone. He had faxed them his C.V., but they still had to meet him.
“Where would you want to live?” he asked her casually, as though the decision had already been made, or at least as though they were closer to it. “In the city or out here? I actually like it out here, and I wouldn't mind commuting.”
“It would be easier for me out here, but that's up to you. You have to go back and forth to work at crazier hours than I do, and a lot more often.”
“We'll see. I kind of like the idea of a house in the suburbs, and,” he paused dramatically, searching her eyes cautiously for a reaction, “I think this would be a great place to bring up kids, a lot better than New York. And you wouldn't be under the gun the way you are there, you wouldn't have to do any more due diligence tours, or hopefully work till midnight. This might be the right time, and the right place, to do it.” He almost held his breath as he waited for her to answer, and she paused for a long minute, seeming to weigh what he'd been saying.
“Maybe,” was all she finally came up with. But she didn't want to get into that discussion with him. Not yet anyway. There were still a lot of other factors to think of.
“That's it?” he said, looking mildly disappointed, “just ‘maybe’? I think if we're ever going to do it, Merrie, it would be great here. What better life than to be a kid in California?”
“To be a kid with other parents,” she smiled at him, and then seemed to relax a little bit. It always made her feel tense when they talked about having children. But she had to admit, it might not be so bad here.
They were both in good spirits when they set out for Cal's house at seven fifteen, and they arrived promptly at seven thirty. He was waiting for them in the garden, next to the pool, with margaritas and caviar. The kids had just gotten out of the pool, and he looked relaxed and as handsome as usual in a perfectly pressed blue shirt, and beige gabardine slacks, with his bare feet in Gucci loafers. Steve was wearing an old striped shirt and the threadbare tweed jacket that she hated, and she wished she had had the forethought to pack his bag for him before she left for California. Next time, she vowed to herself as the two men shook hands, and greeted each other. Cal was telling him how much he had looked forward to meeting him, after everything he'd heard about him from Meredith during their time together.
“Your wife is a one-man band on your behalf, Steve. I hope you know that. She never stopped talking about you.” It was the right thing to say, and Steve seemed pleased, as he looked Cal over.
The conversation was relaxed and moved with ease as they discussed a variety of subjects, and eventually Cal asked him about the hospitals he'd seen, and they wound up talking about Cal's high-tech diagnostic equipment. Steve gave him a critical assessment of it, praised two of Cal's machines inordinately, and gave him some interesting insights and pointers from a physician's standpoint. And Cal looked pleased by what he was hearing from him.
They moved inside to the dining room after an hour, and Cal served a Mouton-Rothschild Bordeaux that impressed Steve no end. And at eleven o'clock they were still talking over brandy. It was nearly midnight when they left, and Meredith had the impression that the evening had gone well. Both men seemed to have liked each other.
“What did you think of him?” she asked in the car on the way back to the hotel as Steve drove. She was interested in Steve's assessment of him.
“He's a hell of a bright guy. And you're right, he's good looking of course, but you forget about it after a while. He's got so many innovative ideas, and there's so much he wants to do, you kind of get caught up in his head and forget the fancy clothes and the movie star looks. I can see why you like him.” And then he smiled sheepishly at his wife. “I'm sorry about the jacket, Merrie. I'll bring a better one next time.”
“Who cares?” She smiled at the man she loved. She was so proud of him and loved him so much, and she was glad he had liked Cal. And she was a little stunned by what he said next. “I think you ought to take the job. I don't think you'll ever forgive yourself if you don't. You'd always wonder what might have happened if you'd come out here. Baby, you've got to do it.”
“You're amazing. What about you?”
“I'll find something. There's plenty of work. They just have to make room for me.” And he felt sure they would, in time. “Right now, this job for you is the main thing. I want you to be happy.” There were tears in her eyes as he said it. He was so good to her, and so kind, and so generous of spirit.