“Evenin’, Bitsy”, I greet her as she comes in straight from the door to the bar.
She sits down, says nothing.
At this point, I know Bitsy well enough to know when she has something on her mind. Usually those are gin-and-tonic nights, so I reach for a glass and the bottle. She nods.
“How are ya?” I ask. “How is the new houseguest working out so far? Hopefully, not a load on you, not in your way, not obnoxious?”
She shakes her head and smiles. “I like her a lot. I hardly even know she is there. We’ve only had a few opportunities to sit down and talk, mostly chit chat, basic stuff … Talked a little about your relationship with her in recent years, but not too much.”
I place the drink in front of her and she sips hungrily. “My relationship with her?”
Bitsy waves me off. “Not for real. She said all good things. Seriously, though, I had a thought. How do you feel about having Jill play host at the book club meetings? I mean, she’s whip-smart; she’s a natural communicator. She knows how to organize, and Lord knows I won’t have the time since I’m all but Deputy Mayor at this point. Basically, she could run the room – soup to nuts … book discussion, drink orders, the food, all of it.”
As usual, a brilliant thought.
“I love it,” I tell her. “Jill is whip-smart, you’re right, and it’ll keep her mind off … what’s his name.”
“Daniel,” Bitsy says, raising her glass to her lips. “Yes, he came up in conversation, as well.”
I nod.
“I think she’d fit in well in with the group, although they skew older, but they’d probably like that.”
“To Jill,” Bitsy says, raising her glass. I nod and raise my water bottle. “To Jill.”
“Now, Partner,” I say. “I have one for you. It’s about … expansion.”
“Ah,” she says, draining her glass. “How much is this going to cost me?”
I shake my head and reach for the gin bottle. “I don’t know yet, but don’t you think it’s time to have that discussion?”
I fill her glass, add a splash of tonic and a fresh cube.
She laughs.
“You don’t stop, do you?”
“Come on!” I can feel I’m getting through to her. “We need a plan! We should at least make some preliminary decisions about what walls to knock out, where to add the new room …”
“Walls to knock out?” Bitsy feigns surprise. “I thought we were just adding a porch off the back, where people can watch the water flow by.”
I laugh. “Well … I think it’s going to be a bit more than that. We don’t want to make major changes all at once, both to make sure we keep the business thriving while work is going on, but also we will need to spread out the costs.”
“Good thinking,” Bitsy says, sipping slowly, barely suppressing her chuckle. I know I’m getting to her.
“There’s expanding the bar, dining room, and kitchen … and then renovating the large room upstairs, adding the dumbwaiter for receptions and business gatherings … and yes, a deck and outdoor dining … maybe including a small secondary bar in the outdoor area. Of course, if we add a stage, we can have bands in every night, so we’d need a sound system …”
I felt like a little kid sitting on Santa’s knee, rattling off my wish list for the Big Guy.
“Of course,” I say, fidgeting just a bit. “We’d need funding.”
Of course, I think, that’s the kicker.
Bitsy begins to laugh, outwardly this time.
“Okay, Ms Morgan. Do you know who Julia Morgan is?”
I shake my head.
Bitsy tips back her glass and drains it. “Julia Morgan was the architect that designed Hearst Castle in California. You ever been there?”
I shake my head again.
“You should go.”
And with that, she stands, slides her purse onto her arm and turns for the door.
“I can’t keep Miller waiting, now can I?”
“So we’ll discuss it tomorrow?” I ask.
She laughs again as she steps out onto the sidewalk.
I guess this conversation is to be continued …