That exercise in government relations attended to, I gave him a wave, and we were off to have some fun.
We had a terrific seafood dinner at a waterfront restaurant, and then a wonderful time dancing at a club. Ian was pretty funny. He got hammered, and his amorous attentions to Ava had her in turn amused, delighted, and embarrassed. Hey, what are vacations for?
The second constable watched from afar, seemingly happy to spend his entire night ‘on duty’ watching the crazy tourists in a nightclub.
At the end, we caught a taxi home, and as we walked down the gangway, I turned and gave a last wave to the constable. He smiled and tipped his billed hat to me, then turned and walked to his car, whistling. Sometimes police escorts can be a lot of fun!
After I climbed in the sack, I reflected a bit before I nodded off. I now understood in my bones that what Fritz and Cassidy were teaching me about unarmed combat being a serious business. If she’d hesitated, I shiver to think what might have happened.
This was yet another lesson in being prepared for anything, including being ready for the ‘he said/she said’ moments. Equipped for those moments, I could and would be. I didn’t like it, but my feelings about it didn’t matter. It was necessary. It would be done.
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The rest of our vacation was uneventful compared to our scare. We got our helicopter tour in the next morning and then tried mightily to finish our vacation ‘bucket list’ before we had to board the plane home.
Cassidy and I had a long talk, and she decided that our relationship had to go back to just being friends. She knew that if she’d said yes to more, I would have stepped up and made her my girlfriend.
Talking about it on the flight home, Brook and I couldn’t think of a single thing we’d missed on our vacation list. I would go on a trip with her anytime. She was up for anything, and the more physical, the better. I thanked Brook for talking me into learning to SCUBA dive. Without that, I would never have seen and experienced so much of what we did. I also thanked her for bringing along Cassidy. Brook really didn’t have to, and she didn’t have to let her share our bed. I never did find out if they did anything naughty together, but I could tell they were even closer friends after the trip. I knew I felt closer to both of them.
The most important thing this week did was make me aware that I needed to take time for myself.
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Chapter 30 – Our Town Sunday April 3
It felt good to get home. I’d loved my vacation, but there is something about sleeping in your own bed. Being gone all week had made Zoe, Halle, and Pam eager to see me, but I’d promised Caryn I would sit down with her and talk about a budget. She wanted Brook and me to come to her new office because she wanted to show me what had been done so far.
They had gotten the office decorated. I was impressed that there were pictures of the farms and a variety of my movie and modeling images. Caryn and Megan joined Brook and me in the conference room. Megan had folders with our names on them.
“When we were in London, I showed David how much money he’s been spending. Now I need to get you up to speed on your spending habits,” Caryn said to Brook.
I hadn’t enjoyed Caryn shining a light on my expenditures. When Brook realized how much she spent on clothes, I had to bite my lip to keep from smiling. I was lucky because I got most of mine free. Then Caryn got to the section that showed Brook what she spent on our adventures. I was amused that she had the same reaction as I had: no big deal.
Megan went over Brook’s financials. The majority of her wealth was in L Brands stock, and that generated most of her income. She about had a cow when she learned about dividends and capital gains and how much she was paying in taxes. Megan offered to show her how she might reduce her tax bill.
My assets were split between farms, the strip mall, Mom’s real estate company, my college account and my house fund, Mass Investments, Jack Mass’s construction company, and other smaller ones. Caryn showed me that most of my income had come from my signing the
With these revelations, I now understood why Caryn had said I needed to make some more sunglasses money. I did know one way I could make some quick cash.
“Call Mr. Hill and see if he needs me to do some newspaper-insert ads. I could do some Sunday-afternoon shoots.”
