Bending The Rules

Chapter 18

CH18

Christian POV

I'm seated at the same table in the same restaurant where we met on Wednesday. Why Elena wanted to meet here is beyond me. I thought the waiter we had last time was going to have a stroke when he saw me entering the lobby. I still chuckle to myself. He obviously remembers me and I catch him looking bleakly around the dining area attempting to predict any demands I might have. Still great service though!

It's Saturday afternoon and the streets are busy with shoppers catching up on errands and people in general swarming to get sun. Here the sun seems such a rare occurrence with the typical rainy springtime here in Washington. I hope it will last throughout rock climbing with Elliot tomorrow.

Noises rouse me from my thoughts as I first hear and then see Elena enter the room. I never noticed her being quite a force before. I know she is assertive and to some point aggressive. She has business savvy and I know that she will achieve anything that she can possibly think of doing. She can be a pioneer, which leaves me to wonder why she is married to a school administrator...

"Christian, my darling! Thanks for meeting me," Elena drawls. I stand to greet her and she leans her face in expecting a kiss on her cheeks. Surprised, I oblige and kiss her.

She is wearing a brilliant white pant suit; the only colour on her is a slash of red from the silk scarf around her neck and the matching red leather MK bag. I, on the other hand am dressed more relaxed. I'm wearing worn blue jeans and a heather t-shirt on under a suit jacket. I want this to reinforce that this is not a date, but to casually suggest that this meeting is more business related.

I pull out a chair for her and seat her before I rest back into my chair. I don't quite know how to make my proposal, but I decide that the direct way is the easiest. She makes it easier for me.

"Christian, do tell me more about that cryptic message you left me. I am so intrigued," she says. Her eyes are on me and her smile is grand. Why is this so creepy?

I am grateful that she started first. "Well, I want to make a business proposal.  With me I have the original proposal that I prepared for the banks, but I fear that I need money possibly sooner than later." I am so nervous. I hate asking her for help since she has given so much help to me for the last few years. And she has helped me in so many other ways, but I want this to be the final request I make of her. And in this moment I know why I am nervous: Ana. I need this loan to start a chain reaction which ends at me leaving teaching for good and being able to (hopefully?) date Ana freely. I hand her the blue portfolio with my business proposal and pay back schedules.

Elena looks surprised, but accepts the folio and begins to read it. Her eyes aren't giving away her thoughts as her fingers skim along the chaptered paragraphs. She seems impressed. I think. Although her jaw is a little tense she is definitely hard to read at times...

"So, you need capital to invest in a landscaping company with your brother," she says dismissively. Oh no! She taps the papers so they fall even within the folio. She then places the folio on the table and pushes it toward me.

"Elliot already owns his company and it is more than mere landscaping. It is a contracting company and he needs to expand into retrofit his designs into using greener and more earth-friendly materials and practices." I am trying hard to keep on the script I rehearsed earlier. I want to focus on the long term benefits of going green to help to get over the shock of the ticket prices for going green.

"What is your take from this? You're not a builder." We pause as the waiter arrives with our water. His face is ashen and from what I can see, Elena is even more memorable than I was on our last visit. He takes our orders and retreats back to the kitchen.