"Thank you for you time Mr. Poths."
"Oh, thank you Ms. Gaffney, for your time and patience I will call your office on Monday."
"No, no, see the deal is you sign. Now…while I'm here."
"I see."
Julie put a chrome pen down next to the contract.
"Well, ah, you see, I, ah, won't be able to sign that for at least another hour or so."
"Well you see, Mr. Poths, time is of the essence."
"True."
"Let me put it to you this way, the offer will have expired by then."
"But Ms. Gaffney, do you think that is reasonable?"
"What I think is reasonable is that we have been sitting on this deal for 2 months. I have waited for you until now."
"I see."
"Maybe you should look at this…"
Julie lay down a folder that was absolutely the last resort, but she was not going to leave without this deal.
Stewart Poths looked over the information in the folder.
"You are thinking of doing this deal aren't you?" Julie said.
"Well, I, ah…"
"And you weren't going to tell me, were you?"
"I, ah, well you see."
"-Ah! Don't bother. Look, I am going to give you this deal with a bonus. How about if we increase the territories?"
"By how much?"
Julie wrote down a number.
"Humph,"
"Now I ask you again, are you ready to sign, or shall I just leave, and you can take whatever they were going to offer you."
"How are you in a position to offer me this?"
Julie smiled "I am Julie Gaffney, that is all you need to know. If I say it will be done, you can bank on it."
"Where do I sign?"
Julie smiled and handed him the pen.
Stewart signed the contract and they shook hands.
"Now see Ms. Gaffney you put me in a bind here, I have to explain to the gentlemen outside that I can't accept their deal."
"Well you do that, I have another appointment."
Julie left by the back door.
Stewart cleaned up the papers, waited until Ms. Gaffney exited the room, and went to the door.
"Mr. Long and Mr. Portman?" Mr. Poths said at the door.
"Yes." Said Dean.
"You may come in now."
"Great. Your other appointment?"
"Oh, she left by another door, please sit down."
Dean let out a sigh of relief, although he had prepared himself to see her again, he was relieved he didn't have to.
"Gentlemen," Mr. Poths began "please have a seat."
Dean began his presentation and ended it beautifully.
"Well Mr. Portman, I am very impressed, I must admit I was not going to accept whatever offer you made, but, I must relinquish, may I get back to you on Monday?"
"Sounds great." Mr. Long said.
Dean looked at him from the corner of his eye, he didn't like it. However, he wasn't the senior here, so he just held his tongue.
They shook hands and went out to eat.
"So how do you think it went?" Dean asked.
"I think it went really well."
"Really?"
"Yes really."
"Do you have any suggestions for me? I mean I have given presentations before just fine, but on big accounts I just want perfection you know. It's different. I want perfection on all, but if I get it on the big ones, then I will do better all around you know what I mean?"
"Yeah, and really, I don't have any criticism for you, you did awesome!"
They continued to eat lunch and chitchat.
"So what do you know about Gaffney?"
"Well, I know that her father is ruthless, I mean merciless. He will blackmail, bribe, lie, anything to get a deal, but you would never know he is doing it."
"What about his daughter?"
"Well, I have never had to do business with her, but I have heard about her. She is not nearly as mean; she has ethics, and will play by rules. They are just her rules. If you don't play by her rules, you don't play."
Dean smiled remembering how she used to be, that sounds like his Duchess. "Hum…but she doesn't do underhanded things to people?"
"No, not at all. I mean, I asked around about her when she came on the scene 3 months ago. She plays hardball with any of the 'big boys' and she doesn't take crap from anyone. I think it comes from her background."
"Which is?"
"What's up with all the questions?"
"I like to know my competition." Dean said with an edge in his voice.
"Good, that is really good. It is important to know who and what you're up against."
"So, what is her background?"
"She comes from obscene rich, she played hockey or something till she couldn't anymore."
"Oh because of her father?"
"Well no not directly, she has a weak heart condition or something. I think it happened a few years ago, I am not sure, she was in college, and ah, she was going to be getting married. It was announced in the local paper. I found out about it because it made it's way to the firm in NY, and if it gets there it's common knowledge in the business world, especially a name as big as her family's is."
"Oh to some rich boy?"
"No, actually, it didn't say, who. I heard her father was against it. He read it in the paper, and made them retract it, or print that it was called off, because it wasn't going to happen, and you learn, if James T. Gaffney says it, he's gonna do it."
"What happened?" Dean asked.
"I don't know, I guess he didn't have to 'do' anything, the no name boyfriend died in a drunk driving accident. Anyway, she ended up in the hospital, and for the most part died until she came to the firm. Therefore, that is why she couldn't play hockey anymore, because the news made her heart weaken and the doctors said she wouldn't play hockey anymore. I heard she was good. Check please."
"He didn't die."
"Huh?"
"The boyfriend, he didn't die."
"Really?" Long said all interested.
"And pray tell how would you know that?"
Dean smirked, "cause it was me."
"Yeah right, shut up."
"I'm serious."
"Wow, what happened then?"
"Her father."