“Is there anything special you wanted us to consider?” Professor Donaldson asked.
“Could we do something with the rooftop?” I asked and then turned to my mom. “Something like Rita has at her oceanfront property?”
“We stayed at a home down the coast that had an outdoor kitchen, entertainment area, and hot tub with ocean views,” Mom explained.
“In my opinion, that was one of the best features of that home,” Brook agreed.
This was a much more fun conversation than preventing natural disasters. I asked Doug to order in some food for everyone since he already knew what was around. Caryn was going to kill me when she saw what I spent this weekend feeding people. And I expected that I wasn’t done because I still had to meet with all my business people later this afternoon.
Doug came back with a variety of dishes from pizza to subs to Chinese. He hadn’t been at all put out by the diversity of orders because LA has a company called Deliver It. They would stop by each place, pick up the food, and drop it at your front door. Now, that was something we didn’t have back home.
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The dean and professors declared they’d gathered enough firsthand knowledge to go back to Ohio State. They could now start bringing all our ideas together into a coherent plan to remodel and add to my LA home. What surprised me was the number of bedrooms they thought we needed. When Mom started ticking off who all would need one, I finally realized that I might not have purchased a big-enough home. It was suggested that second stories be added to the planned garage and pool house. The area over the garages would be for two security apartments and a work area that would house all the monitors. The pool house already had a bedroom, but the plan was to add two more upstairs. That would give me a total of eleven bedrooms.
When it came time to leave, I needed Dad and Fritz to help me get down the stairs. Mom volunteered a bunch of helpful advice. The result was the two men grabbed me by the belt on each side to help stabilize me as I hopped down the stairs. Each step felt like someone was sticking a knife in my ribs and hip.
Once again, I thanked Doug for allowing us access. I’d watched him interact with everyone today, and Trip was right, he was nothing like his brother. I would even go so far as to say that Doug would fit in well with the people back home, if he ever made it there. After our visit, I felt a lot better about him renting the house.
◊◊◊
Dawson Management had secured offices in the building housing its sister company, IDC – Public Relations, on Hollywood Boulevard. It was nestled between trendy little shops and restaurants, and was close to the Hollywood City Library. Since it was Sunday, Frank Ingram met us at the door to let us in.
He gave a quick tour of the office space and then took us to a large conference room, where everyone was waiting for us. Frank remained my publicist and was one of the managing partners of IDC. We’d made a deal to buy into each other’s companies, along with Mass Investments. Part of the agreement had Frank named as president of Dawson Management. We’d wanted someone more experienced to oversee the operations. Kent Crain would be the senior talent manager, but he needed more experience before he could run the whole management business.
He had worked with Craig Wild before Craig had died in the terrorist attack in Orlando. Kent had then worked for me in Illinois for a short time as my PA. He had suggested that he and Frank pool their experience, connections, and resources, along with a healthy infusion of (my) capital. That would provide for expansion of Frank’s activities and add a talent-management arm. I don’t think Kent appreciated the Midwestern lifestyle.
Caryn Buckley, the COO of my parent company, had hired Kendal Miller, who’d been my first PA. Since Kendal had her law degree, she was placed in charge of contracts, and was also one of our managers. Kendal’s previous job was at a law firm where they’d created an Entertainment Division. One of its employees was Angelina ‘Angel’ Hargrove, who had a background in music artist management. She was currently managing Birthrite, where my friend Jett was the lead singer. Jett and Birthrite had played at Zak’s party and announced their first record deal.
Kent had said he needed more managers because business was growing. I’d suggested two people I knew, and he’d hired them. The first was Aubrey Dunham, a former model who, after she retired, had worked for Ford Models in their European Division. Aubrey and I had been, shall we say, close. Dad had warned me that, now that she worked for me, she was out of bounds.
The second new hire was Clare Thomas. She’d been my first agent at Ford Models and had left to get her MBA. She was fresh out of school, and we hired her before her aunt, who was in charge of talent development at Ford Models, could hire her back.
