Here's the next chapter. Enjoy!

Usual disclaimer applies.

14. Let Your Dreams Guide Your Decisions

During the night, I had several strange dreams and one relatively scary one. I couldn't remember much about the dreams, but I did remember smiling in the Morris' apartment. I also remember being scared in my old apartment. That right there was the deciding factor.

Until the issue with my break-ins and the Molotov cocktail were solved, I wasn't safe in my apartment in New Brunswick. The apartment here in Newark had plenty of security, and the Manosos were nearby if I ever had an emergency.

I woke up my computer and erased most of what I had written the night before. This time, I thanked Linda for her generous offer, and accepted it graciously. I also asked if it would OK if I invited the Manosos over when I moved in this Saturday. I knew that the girls would love to swim in the pool, and we could get some pizza or cook something on the BBQ. I sent off the email and then went to have a shower and get ready for work.

The Manoso men and Maria were very happy for me when I told them about my decision. The girls on the other hand, were a little sad to see me leave. I was also sad to leave. I felt at home here and I never was criticised or compared to another daughter from the Burg.

By the time I arrived at the office, Linda Morris had replied.

Stephanie,

I'm very happy that you will be staying in our apartment. Despite what you think, it is not an imposition. Having somebody there makes our insurance on the apartment and the building itself significantly less expensive, so this is helping us a great deal.

Please feel free to invite any of your friends and to use the facilities. All of the operating instructions for everything in the apartment are in the filing cabinet in the hall closet.

I will inform Jonny that you will arrive Saturday with some guests to help you move in.

Please let us know if you need anything or if there are any problems. Also, don't hesitate to contact Jonny if needed. He lives in the only other finished apartment on the ground floor of the building.

I look forward to future correspondence with you, and good luck living in Newark.

Yours Truly,

Linda Morris

When I finished reading the email I looked up and saw that Carlos was smiling at me.

"Carlos, what are you doing on Saturday afternoon?"

"At this point in time, I don't think I have any plans. Why? What's up?"

"I want to invite you and your family to my new apartment. Actually, I'd like your help to get me moved in and then I'd like to invite your family for dinner, a dip in the pool or a film on my gigantic television that you're so fond of."

"I think the girls would really love to swim in the pool. My parents would probably love just lounging on the deck, and there will probably be some sport or another that I could watch on that gigantic television of yours.

"I can drive you and your things over to the apartment just after lunch. You can get settled in and we can either go to the market or we can just order in. You can be the boss and I will be your willing slave for the day."

"Too bad you offered to be my slave on a day that doesn't require a lot of physical labour. I only have a few bags of clothes that need to be moved, and they're not very heavy."

"I'm sure you'll find something useful for me to do. We can talk about it later though. I have to go meet with my father and a new client. I'll see you later Babe."

I watched Carlos walk away and then returned my attention to the tax return I was working on. It was the personal income tax forms for one of Ricardo's first ever business clients. He is a recent widower with a fixed monthly income, and Ricardo asked me to take a look at the filed returns for the past few years, just in case something could be improved next year.

I spent the rest of the day reviewing the forms, but it wasn't the end of the following day that I had anything to report. I gathered my thoughts into an email and sent it off to Ricardo. It turns out that his client had been paying taxes on a leased building for the past 5 years that no longer belonged to him. As a result, he had overpaid around $6000 of taxes that he could claim back.

On the ride home that evening, Ricardo thanked me for my thorough attention to details. "When I called Marco to tell him of that small oversight, he was very grateful. This was a personal favour, and I'm very glad that we were able to help. He was a great client over the years, and this has been a particularly hard year for him. Thank you very much Stephanie."

I was quite happy about my success, and I let it carry me though the rest of the week. I was so engrossed in the work I was doing that I barely noticed Carlos' absence on the days he wasn't there.

On Friday morning, I was reviewing the accounts of one of our larger customers. They thought that some money had gone missing, but they couldn't pinpoint where the problem was. I noticed a few minor discrepancies that concerned me, but I wasn't sure what to make of them. I needed some guidance, so I called up to Amanda to see if Ricardo was free. I explained my situation to Amanda and she promised to call me back as soon she could talk to Ricardo.

I sat at my desk, finding three more curious entries before I heard back from Amanda. "Ricardo is on his way down to you right now. He'll be there momentarily."

Sure enough, as soon as I hung up the phone, Ricardo walked into the room and over to my desk. "What's up Steph? Amanda says that you found something curious in the shipping company's finances."

I spent the next 15 minutes showing Ricardo the odd entries I had found. Qith his assistance, we found several more. After about an hour, we were confident that we knew why there was missing money.

"I'm going to call the customer and have him come in as soon as possible. I'd like you to sit in on that meeting because you were the one to find the discrepancies. The CEO may have questions for you on how you discovered them, and how to prevent them in the future."

I agreed and then took a quick break for lunch. When I returned to my desk, there was a note asking me to come up to Ricardo's office as soon as I returned. The client was nearby so he'd be here shortly. I put my things down at my desk and walked upstairs, slightly nervous about meeting with a client. I was also thankful that I chose to wore my Armani suit that morning because it gave me a little bit more confidence, and I needed all I could get.

Amanda greeted me when I arrived and ushered me into Ricardo's office. We met with the client, outlined the problem that somebody was skimming off the top of his profits and attempting to make it look like stationary orders that never were delivered. Who needs that much stationary in the first place?

The customer was going to launch an internal investigation to find the person that was skimming from his organisation. He was very grateful for our assistance and left with a huge smile on his face.

When we were alone, Ricardo turned to me and said, "You've done really well for your first week. You regained a dear old friend of mine a sizeable chunk of money and you single-handedly discovered that an employee was skimming. I think I'll assign you to another customer who is about to be audited because it can't account for some of its funds.

"The government thinks that there is something illegal going on here, but the jewellery shop owner is a long-time client, and they've only started having problems in the past few years. Perhaps you can work your magic there as well."

I blushed at his attention and said, "I'd be happy to take a look, but wouldn't one of your more senior accountants be more suited to something like this?"

"Actually, none of the senior accountants would accept this job. They all thought it was too tedious or that the client was guilty. I'm the only one who thinks something other than plain fraud is going on here. You seem to have an aptitude for this sort of thing, so if you don't mind, I'd really appreciate it if you could take a look."

"OK. I'll start straight away." I stood to leave, but Ricardo stopped me. He said, "Actually Steph, why don't you leave it and start first thing on Monday. Maria is making a special goodbye dinner tonight, and you have worked hard enough already this week. I know it's only 4PM, but let's start the weekend a little early and head home. Carlos is getting dropped off by a friend, and he'll be home just in time for dinner."

I ran down to my office to grab my things and met Ricardo at the car. The rush hour traffic was a little heavier than usual, but we still made it home early.

Maria greeted us when we came in, but she refused my help in the kitchen. I ran upstairs and changed out of my Armani suit and into a comfortable pair of shorts and a cute t-shirt that I managed to salvage from my destroyed wardrobe. The t-shirt is one of my favourites, so I was happy that it escaped ruin at the hands of whoever broke into my apartment. The tee is black and quite fitted. On the front, it has a picture what at first appears to be Charlie's Angels. On closer inspection, all three differently posed figures are Marvin the Martian. Instead of a gun, he's holding his space modulator.

I walked into the sitting room and was immediately pulled into a high-stakes game of Crazy 8's count down with Evelyn and Isabella. The stakes they were using were actual candy, and you know that I love me some candy!

I hadn't played a card game like this in a really long time, so I was constantly losing the candy that the girls gave me to start out with. When Carlos and Tom came in around 5:30, I was tenaciously holding on to my last Tootsie Roll. I was slowly catching up to the girls, and purposefully holding on to some of the cards they needed to go out. When I jumped down to the twos, I gained back some of my lost candy and the girls were looking nervous. We were now on an even level, all trying to find the twos in the deck of cards.

The tension in the room was palpable and no words were spoken as we each took our turn. Carlos and Tom were watching us with amusement but they knew better than to say anything. When my next turn came around the suit was hearts and I was down to my last card. Unfortunately, my card was neither a heart nor a two. My card was the 7 of diamonds, so I was forced to take a card. I picked up a two, thought for a moment, and even though there were no clubs in my hand, I put the two down on the discard pile and called clubs.

Evelyn played a three of clubs, and Isabella laid a 3 of diamonds on Evelyn's card. Isabella's change of suit was exactly what I was hoping for. I laid down my last card, hearing both Evelyn and Isabella complain that I tricked them by calling clubs. I simply shrugged and picked up one card, the Ace round and said, "Last card."

I had an evil grin on my face. I looked behind me and noticed Carlos and Tom for the first time and waved. I saw Carlos whisper something to Tom and quiet down when Evelyn threw him a dark glare.

Evelyn put the 7 of clubs on my last card and then Isabella put down the 4 of clubs. I looked at both girls, grinned, and then put down the Ace that I had just picked up. I had won the game and all of the candy as a result. The girls were good sports, so I shared the candy with them and then let them go and share the news with their parents.

Carlos laughed at me and said, "You were pretty serious playing with my little sisters there Babe."

I laughed and said, "You should have seen the first two games. Those little girls are ruthless."

I looked at Tom and said "How's it going Tom?"

Tom isn't a man of many words, so I wasn't surprised to hear his reply. "It's going good Steph."

Maria popped her head in the door and said, "Hey Pierre, are you going to stay for dinner?"

Tom looked at Carlos and then back at Maria and said, "Sure, as long as there's enough food."

"Don't worry Pierre, I made plenty."

"Thanks Mrs Manoso, it's been a long time since I've had one of your home-cooked meals."

Maria smiled and said, "Dinner will be ready in about 20 minutes."

After she left, I turned and looked at Carlos and Tom and asked, "Who is Pierre?"

Tom looked slightly sheepish and said, "My real name is Pierre Sherman. I've known the Manosos my whole life and Mrs Manoso refuses to call me anything but the name my parents gave me."

"OK, but why are you called Tom then?"

Carlos laughed and said, "That's Lester's fault. Have you ever heard of rhyming slang?"

I thought for a moment and asked, "You mean Cockney Rhyming Slang?"

"That's exactly what I mean. Lester's mother is a professor at NYU, and when Lester was 12, they took a trip to Cambridge University in England. While they were there, Lester made friends with the janitor who like to talk in rhyming slang.

"While Lester was away that summer, Tom grew about a foot and a half. When Lester returned, he took one look at Tom and said something along the lines of "Wow, you're as big as a tank, a Sherman Tank." At first, Lester started calling him Sherman Tank. That moniker morphed into Thomas the Tank Engine, which was later shortened to Thomas the Tank, and eventually, just Tom. For some reason, it stuck and the rest of us still use it today."

"That's a cute story, but that's not really Rhyming Slang."

Carlos nodded and said, "Yeah, we know, but that's how Lester likes to explain his reasoning. Besides, it makes for an interesting story."

"I suppose it is a cute story, even if some people still call you Pierre."

Tom had a sheepish look on his face that reminded me of when people blushed. Fortunately for him, his skin colour was so dark that he could blush anytime he wanted it and nobody would ever know.

We had a lively dinner that evening. We discussed the plans for the following day and everyone seemed happy with a little fun in the sun. The girls were excited about swimming in my pool, Maria was looking forward to the Jacuzzi, and somehow Carlos talked me into inviting Tom, Lester and Bobby.

I also wanted to invite Molly and Christie, but Tom informed me that Vince and Jimmy had taken them to Point Pleasant for the weekend.

When Tom left that evening, he and Carlos had already contacted Lester and Bobby. Tom would collect them and bring them to my apartment around 4 the next afternoon. The plans were all made and I was getting excited to live and entertain in that fabulous apartment.

The next chapter will follow soon.