" Allen Ludecker, CEO,stood at the head of the boardroom table and addressed the assembledbrain trust of Tauber Industrial Manufacturing.The boardroo... itself was a typical late 20th century construct with apressed wood table. The cherry veneer was missing in sections, and thecloth backed plastic and steel chairs had seen better days. The wallswere fabric and the view out the windows was of the parking lot. Therewere many easel boards around the room with multicolor wire diagramsand graphs. “But you said she could come,” she argued. “Wasn’t that so you could…”“Not really,” I responded. “I said she could come so that you and Mary would get to see her. Not so that I could talk to her.”“But I thought you had a plan?” she said.“I do,” I replied, “but I’m not sure if I’m ready yet, or if she will even go for it. She may tell me to go fuck myself.”“Please, Caleb,” she said, “you really hurt her at the house. She loves you and needs to know you forgive her.”“That’s just it,” I said.. However with a week together I wasn’t going to let her have it all her own way.“No problem,” I replied. “Just tell us if we get too loud for you,” I paused, “or if we aren’t loud enough!”There was a little gasp of surprise from both the girls in the back. I glanced sideways at Sarah in the front and saw a little mischievous smile.There were no more provocative comments from Zara and obviously Rhona didn’t know us well enough to join in the innuendo exchange.A couple of hours later we pulled up. ” Valerie breezed back into the kitchen. “They got tickets for the baseball game tonight, he’s staying over at my sister’s. Sorry.” “No problem.” I took the last drink of my Coke. “It was nice to talk with you. Thanks for the Coke.” I stood to leave. “No, wait.” Valerie placed a light touch on my forearm, stopping me in my tracks. “Hold up. Stay a little while. I’d like to talk to you some more.” She seemed a little more awkward than normal but was smiling at me. I had nowhere to go and wasn’t.