The Chauffeur (#53) New Orleans

By PABLO DIABLO

Copyright 2019

CHAPTER 1

In the next few days, Jennifer once again found an office tower for virtually no money. This one was on the market for just barely over $19 million for a 45-story building. The office tower was located downtown New Orleans.

Since I had added the restriction of having to look at the buildings that she was buying, I put both Tina and Jennifer in the plane. Our first stop would be in Phoenix to drop Tina off, her Mother was waiting for the jet.

Our second stop would be in New Orleans. Dakota, Jennifer, and I went from jet to limo. However, I was very hungry and asked the limo driver if she could take us to a nice local restaurant and by nice, I meant good food. She turned the limo and headed towards one of the limo driver’s favorite restaurants. It featured Cajun food which Dakota and Jennifer both enjoy.

For me, Cajun food was not top on my list of favorite types of cuisine. New Orleans is well known for cooking crawfish and po’boys. The limo driver pulled into the parking lot and dropped us off at the front door of the restaurant. We all got out and went inside.

The hostess greeted us and took the three of us to a table. I stopped and went back outside and asked the driver to join us for lunch. She politely declined. That sent me back in an over to the table that the ladies were sitting at.

I notice that Dakota doesn’t look all that good, but she takes a large gulp of the glass of water that the waiter had brought her.

Jennifer ordered a plate full of crawfish. Dakota chose a seafood po’boy and I chose a steak. I know that spicy seafood is well known in New Orleans, but I decided that I wanted some cooked cow. With the steak, I had two options plus a salad and choice of dressing.

I asked for the steak to be medium rare and the two sides to be a baked potato and a serving of green beans. For the salad, I asked if any onions could be left off and extra cucumbers added. I chose their homemade ranch dressing.

All three of us agreed that we missed Tina. Dakota told us that she felt as if her sister wasn’t around, but she said she would like for Tina to come back home, which I agreed.

At first, the salads arrived. Both ladies chose a salad and a creamy Italian dressing. As the three of us ate, Jennifer pulled up the building on Google that we were heading to see before we purchased it. On the surface, the building looked good, but when lunch was over, we would find out for sure.

Just as we were finishing our salads, the server brought our entrée. My steak looked perfect. I cut into it I found that it was perfectly cooked. Dakota’s po’boy delighted her, and Jennifer’s plate of crawfish made her quietly squeal.

We all enjoyed our lunch. Jennifer said that she was very happy to have Diane back to work.

“Jennifer, there are some cities that I would like for you to check into. Pittsburgh comes to mind, as does Cleveland and Portland.”

One, two, or all three of them have tall office buildings that we could purchase.

We were having a delightful time as we ate our lunch. Dakota was trying her best not to dribble her po’boy down the front of her. She giggled the whole time. Jennifer was eating the crawfish quickly. She was sucking out the ends and just enjoying the whole New Orleans dining experience.

I, on the other hand, was truly enjoying my steak. It was cooked perfectly. The baked potato was covered in butter just the way I like it.

It took us more than an hour to eat our lunch. The waiter came to our table and asked if we would like some bananas foster. At first, I wasn’t going to have the dessert, but when we were told that they make it tableside that sold the deal.

Our server went into the kitchen and rolled a cart out that contained all the ingredients to make three servings of bananas foster.

While the server was making the dessert, we were asked if we were in town for the music festival. I asked the lineup.

“Well, for you old people there’s Bob Seager and Roger Watters. However, for the younger people there is Bad Wolves and Andy Black,” the server told us.

“No, I’m sorry, we are here for business, but the music festival sounds wonderful,” I say. The thought of their music festival made me think about Mike Booker. I pulled out my phone and dialed him up.

“Hey Mike, its David Greene,” I say to him.

“Yes sir, how can I help you?” He asks me.

“Tell me, do we have any bands that are signed to our label in the New Orleans music festival. It’s a two-day event,” I say to him.

“Um, no we don’t,” Mike says to me. I think about whether it is worth keeping the record label.

I have been thinking about selling the record label for a while now but just haven’t pulled the trigger yet. I have a private project that I’m not ready to unveil but I will be soon.

“Hey, after we visit this office building, I want to see one of our restaurants,” I tell the gals.

As usual for Dakota, she pulled up the locations of all our restaurants on her cell phone and pointed out two of the closest ones from the office building. I kissed her for being her usual helpful self. We drove for about a half hour before the limo driver pulled up in front of the building. The three of us got out and looked around.

The building needed lots of attention. The three of us went inside the main entrance. We found neither a receptionist nor security, something that needed to be changed first.

The ladies went into the female bathroom and took a good look around. I went into the men’s bathroom. I made notes.

When we met back in the lobby, I found a board that told me what companies were on what floors. They showed on the board that the office management was located on the 5th floor, which will change if we make the purchase.

The three of us stepped onto the elevator, which had no bell announcing when it had arrived at the proper floor. I poked the 5th-floor button and rode up to the management office. When we stepped off we were greeted by a lady of retirement age. She asked who I was. I explained that I was there looking over the building before I purchase it. She was delightful and a wealth of information. Her name was Martha and she again was basically running the whole building with little to no help, something that I have been seeing more than once.

I asked Martha what options there are for eating breakfast or lunch. She started by telling me that there is one restaurant in the building, but it isn’t good at all. She said it was overpriced and the food was mediocre at best. She also pulled out a copy of their restaurant food service license. The State of Louisiana graded the restaurant a C, which is just the minimum to remain open.

Jennifer asks Martha where she recommended eating. Martha told us that there were two different places nearby. The first one, and the closest was a sandwich shop that built its reputation on Reubens, Rachael’s, and other assorted meat-based sandwiches and they also had a different hot soup daily. The second one was a family diner that cooked delightful food, according to Martha.

Dakota was looking up restaurants nearby and found an Indian cuisine restaurant. It was only two blocks from the building. There were other restaurants close by such as the All-American Burger place, two different fried chicken franchises, and a quick serve seafood chain.

I had Jennifer copy down the names and locations in the building of all the tenants. Surprisingly, I found another Carlton Fields occupying the top two floors. The three of us stepped onto the elevator and rode it to the top. When the doors opened, I saw a familiar face. It was the manager from the other location. He smiled seeing me and came right over to me asking if I was purchasing this building because they are very happy with all the improvements that I had done at the other building.

I told him that we are considering it and ask for his opinion. He took about 30-45 minutes telling me how good this building is structural. He did have one big objection, there is not enough parking. I look out the windows and see not one but two parking garages. He tells me that they keep raising their prices and it is becoming more and more difficult to keep their staff and clients happy with the lack of a place to put your vehicle.

I whispered into Jennifer’s ear that she needs to find out if either or both parking garages are for sale, or available for us to purchase. She told me she would get right on it.

I thanked the manager for his time and handed him one of my business cards. He seemed excited that we were seriously considering purchasing this building.

One of the things that really had me interested was the low price and the two parking garages across the street. I also thought about finding a better restaurant to put into the building that would open at 6am and close at 7 pm. It would also have delivery inside the building for free. I could also see some business catering going on as the tenants would be using their offices to host business meetings.

Overall the building was in good shape. There was about 75% occupancy which is always a good thing. The manager from Carlton Fields did tell me that many of the smaller tenants would be happy to see me take over as many of the small tenants have had their rent increased because they didn’t have a contract.

The three of us got back onto the elevator and rode it down to the bottom floor. We stood in the base of this building and all agreed that we should buy this building and the two adjoining parking garages. Jennifer told me that she would get right on it when we get back home.

As we all got into the limo, Dakota gave the driver a new address, one of our restaurants. The driver got us going quickly and headed towards the address.

“Well David, what did you think about the building?” Jennifer asked.

“It looked fine to me. I’m sure you saw the items that need immediate attention. However, what sold me on the building was the manager from Carlton Fields. He was positive and seemed very excited that we were seriously looking at this building. They always sign long term leases and I’m sure that they have a 7-10-year lease with this building,” I tell Jennifer.

“So, then you’re telling me to do the deal?” She asks.

“Yes, but I really would like the two parking garages, let’s see if we can get them,” I tell Jennifer.

She makes notes in her book and assures me that she will handle things and press them for both parking garages.

CHAPTER 2

It took a while to drive from the office tower we were looking to buy one of our restaurants. When we pulled up, the building looked very shabby.

The three of us got out and went inside. The hours listed on the window said that they close daily at 5 pm. Their opening time was 11 am.

Before we got out of the limo, I pulled up this unit on my phone to look at the financials and boy did they suck. This unit was the worst in all the New Orleans district. I saw that there were new documents attached to this unit’s file. I pulled them up to see that the district manager just got a 15% raise a month ago, but there was no attachment to his review.

This felt like Dallas all over again. I pulled up the district office for the New Orleans market and decided to go there after looking around at this unit. Dakota already had the address of the entire New Orleans market. She gave the address to the limo driver who took us there shortly after we viewed the single restaurant.

I began pulling up our HR records to see who our Plan B people are. In the New Orleans market, we have 10 districts. All of them are run by men, old men to be exact. The youngest district manager was 51, no college, and no history of being a district manager for very long. Once again, I puzzled me why HR was just processing paperwork and not managing the people.

According to our online records, we only had 5 people that qualified as Plan B people and what I liked was that all five of them were women. New Orleans seemed to be another Dallas and I wasn’t going to allow it.

When we arrived at the market office, I got out along with Jennifer and Dakota. The three of us went inside where we were met by a lady who didn’t speak any English. I shook my head and wondered what jackass made this decision. I asked to speak to the person in charge. What I got was “No Habla Englais”.

Since our nice lady at the door didn’t speak any English, I just walked past her until someone finally asked what I was doing.

“Hey, can I help you?” some guy asked.

“Sure, I would like to see the senior manager for this market please,” I say to the guy.

“Well, he’s busy right now, maybe you can leave your name and number and he will get with you in a couple of days,” they guys say to me.

“Well, here’s my card. Please get the most senior district manager right now for me,” I say now being really annoyed.

The guy stood and looked at my business card. I stood silently waiting on him, but he didn’t seem to be interested in doing what I asked. So I decided to announce myself to the room.

“Hello everyone. My name is David Greene. I am the CEO of Jaxson Inc. I would like all the district managers in the conference room right now please,” I said to everyone. At first, no one moved, but then a couple of them pulled up my face on the company website and they got up and went to the conference room. It took nearly 15 minutes to get 10 old white guys into the conference room.

I handed Dakota my phone and asked her to find these five people and have them ready for me to bring into the conference room. She said she would take care of it.

I went to the room and introduced myself again. I got stunned silence. I started with the guy who just got a 15% raise less than a month ago. One of the other managers said that he wasn’t there today because he didn’t feel good thus called out.

One of the district managers said to me that I needed to schedule an appointment to hold a market meeting. I just laughed and asked who he was. He proudly told me his name and said that he didn’t report to me. I replied that he was correct because fired people don’t report to anyone and that includes me.

“Please put your district keys on the table and gather your things. Thank you for working for us,” The guy looked completely stunned. “Hey, I’m not joking. Put our keys on the conference table, gather your stuff, and leave,” I said a second time.

He slowly took his work keys out of his pocket and tossed them on the conference room table. He got up, cursed me for firing him. He even told me that I’m going to regret letting him go. I told him thank you for your service, but you’ve been let go.

Two more district managers, who appeared to be in their 80’s told me that I should be more respectful. I thanked them for their work and fired them as well.

Two more guys got up and just tossed their work keys on to the table as they walked out.

I waved at Dakota who sent the 5 Plan B ladies into the room.

“Gentlemen, these are the new district managers who just replace the five that I just let go. If any of you other guys want to join your friends just toss your keys on the table and feel free to leave,” I say to the remaining five.

I see the looks of the five ladies. I invite them to sit down and introduce themselves to me. As the ladies give me their names, I look at their work record with us and assign each one of them to an open district. One of the remaining 5 male managers starts protesting that the only reason the ladies were being promoted is that they are women. I assured them that I could care less that they are women, I looked at their numbers and they run tight restaurants and have the guts to take on a district.

He sat down but was annoyed with me and my attitude.

“Now folks here’s the deal. You 10 are this market’s new district managers. I will be watching each of you and personally doing a review of your work every 30-45 days. This market is in the bottom 10% of the company and I’m not OK with that. Ladies, I expect you to meet your management teams in all your restaurants. Gentlemen, I expect you to show dramatic improvement in the next 30 days or update your resume. I’m not kidding about this, if you think I am, feel free to call the Dallas market and you’ll see the damage that I did. I was like a tornado and cleared house. I did it there and will do it here,” I tell them.

The guy who made an issue that I only promoted the ladies because they were female got a look of daggers from me. I assured him that he was walking on thin ice. He finally shut up and quit being the ass of the room.

I fielded questions for the next hour before I thanked all of them for their service to the company but assured them that I was not joking. I got up and left the room with Dakota and Jennifer only steps behind me.

When we got to the limo, I asked Dakota to find me another set of 5 Plan B people for this market. She said she would take care of it.

Just as I finished that conversation with Dakota, my phone buzzed. It was one of the ladies from Plan B.

“Hello, Mr. Greene. I need to call you and let you know that the 5 guys who were district managers, they just walked out saying that you won’t be able to run this market without them. What would you like us to do?” One of the new promotes tells me.

“Here’s the deal, I knew that they have been just sitting on their asses and not getting anything done. Please put me on speaker phone because I have a deal for you 5,” It takes a couple of minutes before the ladies have me on speakerphone.

“OK, so I have all 5 of you listening in?” I ask.

I get five ‘yes sir’.

“Here’s my offer to you ladies. If your willing to pick up the restaurants that the 5 guys just quit over, I have an offer for you ladies. Each of those guys had a total of 8 restaurants in their districts. Each of you ladies also has 8 restaurants in your districts. If you ladies are willing to try and handle all 16 restaurants, I will increase your salary by 75% plus buy each of you a new Ford Flex. What do you ladies think about that?” I ask knowing that these ladies are strong managers and great at managing restaurants and management teams.

I hear mumbling on the other side of the phone. “Now, if any of you ladies believe that you can not handle all 16 restaurants then let me know and I will find someone to hire and handle that district. However, there will be no 75% salary bump nor a new vehicle, so the decision is completely yours, but I hope you take my offer,” I say to the ladies.

“Um, Mr. Greene, these Ford Flex vehicles you are offering will be company cars, right?” one of the ladies ask.

“Absolutely NOT. Each vehicle that I buy will belong to the lady I buy it for. These will not be company vehicles,” I say to all of them. I hear more whispering amongst the new district managers.

Finally, one of the ladies becomes the group’s spokesperson. “Mr. Greene, we all thank you for your generous offer and all of us are willing to take you up on the offer. If down the road one of us or more needs some help, can we ask you for an assistant to keep each of us on point?” she asks me.

“Of course, I’m not trying to set you up for failure. I want each of you to succeed. If the market needs two or three assistants to keep the paperwork flowing, then let me know. I want this office to be properly staffed,” I tell the ladies on an open mic.

“Mr. Greene, we all want to thank you for believing in us plus the generous offer of a huge increase in pay plus a Ford Flex. I don’t think that we have seen generosity like this in our market ever. We will make you proud,” the lady says to me.

“Alright ladies, I’m heading to the jet so we can get back to LA. I will be checking on each of you and sending you what I think might help you be successful. Thank you for you ladies working hard for this company,” I say before I hang up.

The limo is heading towards the airport for us to get back on our jet. When the limo arrives at our jet, we all get out. I sign for the limo service and give the driver a 20% tip. The limo driver gets back in the limo and drives off. I climb the stairs and take a seat on the couch. Dakota takes her spot next to me stretching her cute little body out. Jennifer sits on the other side of me putting her head on my shoulder.

I hear the engines start up and after a few minutes, the jet is heading towards the runway. Once we have taxied to the beginning of the runway the pilot accelerates the jet and up in the air we go, heading back to LA.

“Ladies, what did you think about the former district managers?” I ask.

Dakota speaks first, “Daddy, they were stupid. Now they are just unemployed. By the way, do we need to contact Kitty about you buying 5 more Ford Flex? I realize that they won’t be in LA, but hopefully, she can handle the sales since they will be in New Orleans,” Dakota explains.

One of the nice things about flying towards the west is that you don’t lose time. When you fly east you lose time.

CHAPTER 3

The flight back to LA was uneventful, however, when we landed it was still raining in LA. I don’t know where all the rain came from, but it was starting to become annoying.

Once we landed, I saw Fred sitting in one of our limos. As usual, he was just reading. I think that there might be a better position for Fred, but then again, he may not want a different position because he is spending lots of time with Mom.

When the jet doorway opens, Fred gets out of the limo and opens a large umbrella. He walks over to the bottom of the steps and waits for each of us. Jennifer goes down the steps first and Fred gets her underneath the umbrella and gets her into the limo.

Dakota was next. However, she caused me to worry as she slipped on a step of the jet but she didn’t tumble down to the bottom, thank goodness. Again, Fred got her under the umbrella and moved her to the limo door which she got in quickly.

While Fred was working on Dakota, I emerged and just went down the steps in the rain. I got to the bottom and took the two or three steps and jumped into the car. I heard Fred just laugh at my antics. It took Fred a couple of minutes to put the umbrella in the car on the passenger side of the front. He climbed into the driver’s side and off we went to the Chateau.

While we were driving, I dialed up our new friend Kitty Creamers.

“Kitty, my dear. How are you?” I ask not really caring about her answer.

“Wet David, where are you?” She asks me.

“I’m just returning from New Orleans. We just got off the plane and are now in a limo with Fred driving us back to the Chateau. Darling, I do have a question for you. Are you able to sell a Ford from any dealer in the US?” I ask.

“Well, yes and no. Yes, because there is no licensing for me to hold to be allowed to sell in another state. However, no because it takes that dealer’s permission for me to make a sale or sales. Why do you ask?” Kitty wonders.

“Because I want you to sell my new district managers each a Ford Flex. There will be 5 Ford’s sold. If I give you the dealership name and number, do you think you can have this discussion with the dealership management or owner? I would like for you to handle the sale for me,” I tell Kitty. She doesn’t think I heard her, but she quietly squeals in happiness with what I am proposing.

“Kitty, Dakota is sending your phone the name of the dealership and the phone number. This dealership will be in New Orleans,” I tell her.

“David, thank you. I’ll give them a call just as soon as we hang up,” she says to me. Oddly, I have come to trust Kitty to give the dealership a fair sale, and me a decent purchase price so I don’t have to sit and haggle for an endless amount of time.

It occurs to me that I need to get the colors that the ladies want their Ford Flex to be. I dial up the Plan B ladies.

“Hey there, its David Greene. It occurred to me that I didn’t get what colors each of you ladies wanted,” I tell them.

The lady that answered the phone tells me that one lady wants a red one, one wants a blue one, one wants a black one, one wants a white one, and the last lady wants a silver one. I hear squeals in the room. I am very excited that I can provide them with this and make them realize that I appreciate their hard work for the company. Of course, now I have the idea that maybe I need to do the same thing to the Dallas group, but I will have to check their financials before making that decision.

Because of the weather, Fred is driving slow and carefully. I didn’t see him at first, but there was a Secret Service guy sitting in the passenger seat up front with Fred. This will take some getting used to having an agent with me when I move around. I am probably in the doghouse with them going to New Orleans without any of them.

I dial up Diane. I want to know how one of my darlings feels now that she is out of the hospital.

“Hello, my Darling, how are you feeling?” I ask.

“Daddy! I’m feeling fine. Maybe you could put my husband to work because he’s driving me completely nuts. I know that he loves me, but he’s got to give me some breathing room or I’m going to knock him upside the head with a fry pan since he loves to eat so much,” She says giggling the whole time. I see Dakota and Jennifer both giggling as well.

“Well, we are all happy that you’re feeling well. Tomorrow I will expect you back in the office with Jennifer, OK?” I ask her.

“Yes Daddy, I’ll be there. How did the visit to the potential purchase go? Are we buying it?”

“Well, maybe. We like the building, but we want the two parking garages attached to the building and we have to see if they will sell them as well, so you and Jennifer have work to do tomorrow,” I tell her. I am very happy that she inquired about our trip and seems to be a great assistant to Jennifer.

We end the call shortly and continue driving back towards the Chateau. I look at the time and I see that it is late in the afternoon, which explains why we are running into so much traffic. Yes, it is raining, but there just seems to be a whole lot of cars on the road as well.

When we arrive at the house, Fred pokes one button and the outer gate opens. Once he drives past it, the outer gate closes automatically. When we get to the inner gate, he pokes another button and it opens the inner gate allowing him to put the car into the courtyard. He takes the car right up to the front door. The three of us get out the back and the agent gets out the front. Once we are all out of the car, Fred drives it around and puts it in the garage.

The three of us get a warm greeting from those at the house. Bobby and Sammy welcome us home. They tell us that they have a maple glazed ham in the oven along with with roasted red potatoes, glazed sweet carrots, a large salad with two homemade dressing (one ranch the other creamy Italian) and several mini key lime pies for dessert. It all sounded wonderful to me.

I saw Jill and BJ working at the dining room table. I snuck up behind her and put my hands over her eyes only to get a gruff response from her. Clearly not the best choice in timing to cover her eyes. She apologized and kissed me. I asked if there was anything we could help with now, she declined to tell us that she was basically at a stopping point for the night, which made me happy.

I asked Jennifer to dial up Sharon, Danni, Paula, Donna, and Allison to tell them all that dinner will be ready in about an hour. I see Dakota get a bottle of water, but I’m not sure that she looks OK, however, she tells me that she is just fine and takes a big gulp from her water bottle.

I don’t know where they came from, but John was sitting in front of a platter of deviled eggs. He was popping them in his mouth like they were Skittles and he was smiling the whole time.

I noticed my laptop at the end of the dining room table. I don’t remember leaving it there, but maybe Jill or BJ moved it. I went down to the other end and looked for the power cord to plug it into the computer. Once I had it plugged in, I opened it up It didn’t appear that anything was tampered with, so I just logged onto the company email portal. Once again, I was buried with the number of emails that I had waiting. Somehow in 24 hours, I now had another 350 emails to address. I just shook my head completely amazed that I had that many waiting for me.

Before I got my mind completely into the emails, I got up and got a paper plate full of devil eggs and a Coke to drink. I sat back down and was popping the eggs into my mouth as my laptop was waiting on me to begin.

As usual, I eliminated the duplicate emails which dropped the total number to just under 300. I began as usual scanning for unique emails. The first one I saw was from the manager of one of the vineyards. He wanted to know what I thought about this year’s crop of Sierra wine. I told him that I thought it was wonderful.

I saw another email from one of the Dallas district managers that reported to Ms. Burger, she asked if she could just fire one of her restaurant managers. She explains that one manager is stealing from the company and needs to be let go. I replied that she needs to document all the instances of theft and then contact the HR people to be present when you let this manager go. I just smiled seeing that we are getting positive results in Dallas already. Of course, my mind drifted to rewarding the district managers in Dallas if we get more positive results in the next couple of months.

I check the financials on the restaurant in Las Vegas. It was still in the top 15% of the company, which caused me to send the restaurant general manager and the corresponding district manager a big thank you for their hard work.

One of the items that seemed to stick in my brain was the purchasing of Ford Flex vehicles. My first thought was that the districts that resided in the top 10% of the company for a minimum of 6 months would make that district manager eligible for a new vehicle. However, I wanted to reward the General Managers as well, so I thought about the top 10% of the General Managers but I felt that they needed to be at the top for 9 months.

As I was developing this program, I thought about hiring Kitty Creamers full time as the company’s vehicle purchasing agent. She would get with the dealership, select the car or truck then contact me and let me know what their best price would be. She speaks car sales and could get Jaxson, Inc. many vehicles under Ford’s fleet program.

My email to Mike Booker came back with less than positive results. I am now convinced that it is time to sell the recording studio. I will ask Mike if he knows anyone who might like to purchase the record label, and that would include him.

There was an email from one of the managers from the trucking group. He again thanked me for giving them the authority to make tire orders. He joked about the other manager having to walk his ass to work because his wife wrecked their old pickup. That made me believe that I should extend the vehicle purchase program to the trucking managers as well.

I dialed up Kitty Creamers once again asking her to put in an order for two more Ford Flex, one black, one silver. I gave her the addresses and names of the two trucking managers.

There was another email from Roger. He said that we need to invest about $250,000 on security right now. I looked over his proposal, thought about it for a few minutes then sent him an OK.

I was surprised to see a couple of emails from three boys that attended the NYE party. They wanted to thank me for holding the party and spending all that money on food and booze that no one seemed to be polite enough to take a moment and thank me. I asked the three boys to meet me for lunch two days from now at our favorite Italian restaurant at noon. I think that I will hire these three young men. We can always use people in the call center, or maybe they might be good candidates for being limo drivers…. the regular limos not the ones for the clients.

Time must have gotten away from me as I saw Donna, Paula, Sharon, and Danni arrive at the house. All the ladies looked beautiful as usual. Allison came in from the back into the house. I decided that I would chat with her later.

I asked all 6 Secret Service agents to join the family for dinner. They tried to politely decline, but me being me wouldn’t allow that to happen. Bobby and Sammy were smiling as they overheard my conversation with the agents.

I was still over 100 emails when I turned off the laptop. I put it out in the living room and came back to the dining room table. I sat at the head of the table as usual. Jill sat on my left and Dakota sat on my right. Everyone else just took a place somewhere at the table.

I summoned Allison over to me and quietly asked where she has been hiding. She asked if we could have this conversation after dinner. I willingly agreed thinking that she has something she wants to talk to me about and moments before dinner was not the proper time. Just a couple of moments after this quick talk with Allison, Belinda appeared from out back as well. I asked if anyone had seen Fred’s nephews or the porn twins, no one had.

Mom came to the table holding Fred’s hand. Fred, always being the gentleman pulled a chair out for Mom then sat next to her.

Amy took a seat at the table as did John and Diane. I looked at everyone sitting at the table and chatting, even the Secret Service 6 were chatting as well. Sammy and Bobby began to serve plates of food. One of the things that I always like about the chefs is that they serve the ladies first. It doesn’t seem like a big thing, but it is to me.

Once everyone had a plate of food and Bobby and Sammy were seated at the table, I stood up for a moment and told everyone how happy I am with our family. I thanked everyone that they are working hard and making me proud that they are all part of our family. I ended my dorky speech by raising my glass and toasted the family.

Once my silly toast was made, everyone began to dig into their plate of food. My first bite was with the ham, which was delicious. The glaze the chefs put on the outside of the ham was possibly the best glaze that I have ever tasted on ham.

CHAPTER 4

We took about 2 hours of eating and chatting with each other. As we were finishing up, Allison moved down and sat in Jill’s seat.

“Darling, what’s up. I get the idea you have something on your mind,” I say to her.

“Yep, and I am hoping you will be happy with me,” she says.

“Darling, I’ve already told you that I am happy with you,” I say to her.

“Well, I know that you want me to stop doing the job that I have been doing since I have come to know you. So, here’s my plan. Instead of filming as I’ve been doing, I start teaching the art of filming. I have lined up several people that will pay good money to learn class by class how to properly use a video camera,” she tells me.

I really like the idea as she takes the time to explain it. However, she is still focused on making money. I have eliminated her need to pay me anything, so I ask, “Darling, I thought we got rid of you having to pay me,”

She looked at me and lowered her eyes as if I was scolding her.

“Well, it feels like you are not believing me when I tell you that I can make the proper money to pay you. Belinda still has to pay you, how is that fair?” she asks me. Her point makes sense, but she doesn’t say anything about the porn twins only Belinda.

“That makes sense, so let’s eliminate Belinda payment to me as well,” I tell her.

Now she looks even more frustrated.

“Allison, tell me what I can say to not frustrate you as I am currently doing. You mean more to me than you know. I want you to stop filming porn, that you already know. However, this doesn’t mean you still need to find a way to pay me. I told you that I’m not looking for money from you at all. Your point to me about how it’s not fair that you don’t have to pay me, but Belinda must, makes sense. So, why don’t I eliminate Belinda from having to pay me as well,” I tell her?

“David, when I sat down here, I thought I had worked everything out in my head to make you happy, but I see that I haven’t done that,” she tells me.

“Darling, I’m not frustrated at all. I believe that you still think that you need to work at some sort of job to make money and pay me. I’ve already told you that I don’t want any money from you. Stop trying to think about how to earn money and give it to me. Do you realize that my bonus and Jill’s bonus together exceeds 500 million? Yes, 500 million. I don’t need you to work at all, nor do I need Belinda to work. All I want you two to do is attend college. Can you do that for me?” I ask her.

She stares at the floor for a few minutes before she says, “Yes, I can do that. Somehow it doesn’t feel right that I don’t have to pay anything to be here. Don’t any of these others have to work and pay you to rent?”

“Not a single person sitting here or living in this house pays me rent of any kind. Now, I don’t want anyone to be sitting here just being a lazy slob. What I do want is for everyone to have a job of some sort, so they have spending money. That is what I want out of them and now you. Does that make sense?” I ask,

“Yes, it does,” she says to me.

“Can you get me, Belinda, please?” I ask her. She gets up and goes to the other end of the table to bring Belinda back to my end.

When she is bringing Belinda back to my end of the table, she is holding Belinda’s hand. By now, Dakota has gotten up, tossed her plate away and headed out to the TV room.

“Belinda, I have a new deal for you. Care to hear it?” I ask.

“Um, sure. I guess so,” she says very hesitantly.

“You no longer have to pay me anything. All I want you to do is go to college,” I tell her. She looks confused like I’m going to tell her that I’m just kidding. I lean in on the table to her and Allison and tell them that to me it is more important for them to go to college and not continuing in the porn industry. They both look at me and I tell them that I’m serious and want them to focus on being college students. I stand up from the table, put my arms around each of them and kiss them before I head to the TV room to sit with Dakota.

As I pass Bobby and Sammy, I thank them both for another wonderful meal.

I ask the Secret Service agents how dinner was to them. They all told me that they enjoyed the meal. However, one of them did say that we needed to set up some rules and set things up so that they have my schedule and can make the necessary scheduling changes. They were a bit put out that none of them went with me to New Orleans. They believe that at least one agent should go with me wherever I head to.

I did suggest to them that they should be in touch with the two crews for the jets. That way if we call them last minute, the jet crew will contact the agents that I’m going to be traveling and they can adjust their protection detail.

As we continue to discuss protection detail, I ask them should we be discussing having a couple of agents for Mom or would the two that we have currently be enough? They said to let things stay as they are for the next three to four weeks to see if we need additional female agents to protect Mom.

One other thing that the agents did suggest is that we consider that Dakota is pregnant, and she becomes an easy target so we may want to hire a third or fourth agent to protect Dakota. I liked the idea immediately, so I told them to find two female agents and I’ll be happy to hire them. They told me that it would be done by morning.

So far, I was very happy with the agents. At first, I thought that they would be in the way, but as it turns out they are used to not being in the way. They said that they would work out a schedule for when I’m at the Chateau and adjust it when I was traveling.

I really had not considered protecting Dakota, but when they made their case it sure made sense. Dakota is pregnant as well as being my personal assistant. However, most importantly I love her.

Jill comes over to me and tells me that she’s tired from working all day on the stock transition project and is going to bed. I kiss her and watch her cute ass wiggle as she heads to the hallway to go to our bedroom. I think for a couple of minutes how much time she has put in on the stock project and wonder if I need to get her more help. I’ll ask her in the morning.

Before I get up from the dining room table, Paula comes over to me to talk about the two limo companies.

“David, I want to chat for a couple of minutes about the two limo companies if you don’t mind,” she says to me.

“Sure, what’s up,” I say.

“I think we need to cut back on the client portion of Happy. Lately, we’ve been getting people who say that they want the services of Happy, but then back out when they find out that they must pay cash and can’t use their debit card nor a credit card. What do you think about that?” Paula asks.

“I think that your instincts are probably spot-on. Let’s cut back services to people that we haven’t dealt with before,” I say to her. She smiles at my agreement with her suggestion.

“Paula, my darling, if you think you need to make changes, then make them. You are an extremely brilliant woman who I trust completely to run the two limo companies. Make whatever changes you think we need. You don’t need to ask me just to take care of it. I trust you completely,” I say to her which causes her to smile, then kiss me and get up and go sit down in the TV room.

I’m getting summoned by Dakota to come over and sit with her. When I do, she turns sideways and puts her cute little feet in my lap almost immediately. I begin to rub her legs and feet as she wiggles her little cute ass at me. She leans in an puts her head on my chest and puts her arms around me making me feel like she’s giving me a hug.

John comes out to the TV room and announces that he’s taking Diane to bed and will be turning in for the night. I wish him good dreams and ask if he has gotten his truck from the hospital yet. He tells me that he had to Uber over to the hospital and pick up his truck. He tells me that the truck in now back in the garage along with everyone else’s vehicles.

I hear Allison and Belinda just chatting about really nothing, but hopefully, the two ladies will concentrate more on college than on porn. Allison comes over and sits on the other side of me and asks if she’s ‘allowed’ to teach how to use a video camera.

“Darling, of course, you are. I’m not trying to stop you from doing something that will make you happy. I just don’t want you to be trying to figure out how to give me money. Whatever money you make is for you. Is that OK with you?” I ask.

She seems to agree with that idea. In my head, I believe that she set up teaching some people how to use their video camera and then she felt as if I was making her not follow through but now, we came to an agreement that is making her happy.

I really like Allison. She is much smarter than she realizes. If she applies herself, she easily could be a manager for me, but I want her to finish her college first. Who knows, maybe a career in cinematography would be a nice career for her, she just needs to stop filming porn.

Once again, I look around the room and am very happy with all that I see. The weekend is coming and I’m thinking that maybe a small party within the family plus a couple of additions. I lay over onto Dakota’s lap and just kind of drift off to sleep with her gently massaging my head.

Tomorrow is a new day and will have new issues to take care of, but I am very happy that I took that job as a chauffeur for it changed my life.

IF YOU ENJOYED THIS CHAPTER PLEASE LEAVE ME A COMMENT, THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTINUED READING. PABLO DIABLO

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