Oh, I still indulged in some ego stroking moments. The Camden Country Club did a never before reversal of a member’s ouster and extended a membership to me. I suppose, after word got out that Harrison Williams Enterprises was contemplating placing a landfill adjacent to the golf course that it was felt that my opinion might sway the board of directors at Harrison Williams.
I thought I spotted quite a few looks of hostility and irritations each time I came
back to the country club, but as long as they left me alone, I left them alone.
Still, for the sheer bedevilment of it I made it a point to promote minority membership and convert the study to a daycare facility once it was remodeled. I also took supper each night at the club as a show of my power.
I took advantage of the situation and saw to it that Thomas Clark, the manager of the country club got full autonomy in running the club. He listened to my suggestion that the restaurant be improved to a five star facility. Now, I had somewhere I could take business luncheon partners to have a great meal or a game of golf, or both.
One of my fondest memories was playing a round of golf with the female Chief Operating Officer of a corporation that I wanted to do business with. She sliced her second shot at the par five dogleg at the 13th hole. Somehow, we found ourselves together in the thicket of woods and found a new source of entertainment for the golf course.
At least, I finally got some pleasure out of the game of golf. I could finally understand a little bit of the Zen of golf, albeit, in a different form than what was expected. Hey, you enjoy your type of hole in one and I’ll enjoy mine.
In fact, the same COO came back for another visit and lo and behold, sliced her shot right back into the same thicket which required us to disappear into the woods again. We were having a leisurely supper at the club enjoying the risque double entendres about the round of golf when Staci arrived.
To say I was discombobulated would be putting it mildly. I realized the morsel of food poised on my fork had fallen off as I kept the utensil suspended in the air. My companion frowned at the break of conversation and turned to watch as the bewitching woman approached our table as I placed the fork down.
She wasn’t the only one. The entire dining area hushed as everyone focused on Staci. Christ, I hadn’t seen or heard from her since she left two years ago. And now I had the weight of the fallout of what happened to her father and David to contend with. I mentally prepared for the showdown confrontation. I would try to manage this with what grace I could. I at least owed her that.
Her focus was directed solely at me as she walked toward me. I don’t know if her inattention to my dinner companion was intentional or not, but it apparently held no interest in Staci that I was not alone, or that we were in the crowded dining room of the country club.
Now she stood by my chair, towering over me as I prepared for the humiliation that was sure to come.
Then she knelt down by my chair, down on her knee and said, “I made a terrible mistake years ago. I’m here to make up for it, if you’ll have me. Troy Williams, will you marry me?”
There was no mistaking the sincerity in her voice, or in her face. Somehow, she was willing to look past how I destroyed her father, her family’s fortune, her husband. All that concerned her was that she loved me and she was willing to put it out on the line for me.
In a microsecond, I was pondering, should I… could I be just as forgiving? Could I let go the pain and be with the one woman that I so desperately wanted to be with? Would my ego allow the betrayal of my vengeance to be countered by her public ploy? Did the ghosts of my parents look over my shoulder begging me to let go of my past and join the only woman I could truly love?
I was cognizant of the expectations of the unintended audience. Sitting across me, my dinner companion was waging a gamut of expressions on her face. There was the shocked stunned look as she reacted to Staci’s proposal to me. There was an apparent look of jealous hostility of this breach of etiquette that can only be fostered by two beautiful women in direct competition. And there was something hidden in a clinical detachment as she watched the events unfold.
Now, I found myself with the table turned. Now, I caught a glimpse of the pressure that every woman experience by a proposal. This was what it must have felt to Staci when I put her on the spot years ago. How could I experience all the reasons to say yes and no at the same time flood in my brain? I so desperately wanted my heart to say yes and my fears wanted me to say no. And I was being pressured to respond in public. Just as I subjected Staci on that fateful evening so long ago.
“No.”
I wasn’t sure I actually said it until I saw the calm composure of Staci’s face crumble and tears welled in her eyes as she staggered up, maintaining the last vestige of her dignity as she walked out of the dining area with her head held high, ignoring all the gawkers.
I don’t think I ever loathed myself more than during that moment.
Excited murmurs erupted throughout the room as I quietly signaled for the manager, Thomas Clark to approach my table.
“Yes, Mr. Williams,” he enquired.
“Thomas, I know how impossible it is to keep things quiet during this age of social media. That said, I need you to let everyone know how unhappy I will be if I hear one word of this on Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, or any other site that will embarrass Ms. Buckman,” I quietly instructed him.
“I understand, Mr. Williams and I will take care of it.”
He left the table and went directly toward Fred Carter’s table. After less than a minute of conversation, I saw Fred blanch and began furiously deleting something off his smartphone. When he was finished, Fred looked over at me with a worried look on his face. Thomas Clark had already left to go to the next table.
Within minutes, Thomas Clark had gotten the word out that should anyone be so foolish as to publicly discuss the event ran the risk of incurring my wrath. After what I had done to Charles Buckman and David Porter, no one wanted to test me.
I turned my attention back to my dinner companion. She had a strange look of bemusement on her face.
“Well, I never had that happen on a dinner date before,” she looked me in the eyes.
“Really?” I finished the last of my wine, “It happens to me all the time,” I drily explained hoping the tongue in cheek response would mask the raging emotional boiler inside me as I looked back at her.
She attacked me before we even got to my car. By the time I was in the driver seat, she had me unzipped and was sucking my cock for all it was worth as I started the vehicle. How I arrived back at my place without having a wreck is something I will never understand.
She jumped onto me straddling my body and I carried her up all those steps as she furiously kissed me. When we got to my bed, she ripped off my clothes and began giving me the Fuck Of The Ages. How she managed to keep me erect the entire night was an inspired mix of enthusiasm, experience, and downright debauchery.
As dawn broke, we sat at the kitchen table, bleary eyed and exhausted as we shared cups of coffee.
“I think I’ll call a cab to take me back to the airport so I can fly out early to my office.”
“What is your rush?” I asked.
“No rush, I just know when it is time to leave. Last night, I was pissed at that woman for disrespecting me and proposing to you in front of me. That is why I took you home and fucked the everloving shit out of you. ”
“But three things let me know we could never have that much of a future. One, that woman truly loves you to force herself to do something that publicly. Two, I could never do that for any man so whatever we are it isn’t to the point that I would be willing to go that far for you.”
I could only nod to her comments as I found agreement with her. She was fun, but we both knew we weren’t eternally matched for each other.
“You mentioned three things. What is the third?” I asked.
“Last night everybody in that room could look at her and tell that she was in love with you. I was looking at you the entire time and could tell that you are in love with her. In love or business, you don’t set out in something you can’t succeed at. I’ve already lost this fight.”
I watched as the taxi drove off carrying her to the airport as I weighed her words and contemplated my next move. I only had to wait less than twenty-four hours. Staci showed up again at the country club as I was dining alone and went to her knee again and publicly proposed to me again.
Once again, I suffered through the turmoil of conflicting emotions as I was being put on the spot once again. Somehow, once again I managed to say no and once again my negative response caused Staci the pain of rejection and she slowly walked away trying to keep her composure as tears streaked down her face.
The room erupted again in a buzz of excitement and I called Thomas Clark over and requested he repeat his service of the night before. I knew it was impossible to keep people from a whisper campaign of the event, but I could still attempt to limit the damage to being only local gossip.
The third night the dining room was jam-packed by people anticipating Staci’s arrival. They weren’t disappointed as she did show up and propose to me again. Unlike the audience, Staci was disappointed as I once again refused to accept her proposal of marriage. This time it was unnecessary to instruct Thomas Clark to inform the people not to air any of the event they witnessed. He automatically went into damage control mode.
Staci showed the next evening and left disappointed. And again the next night. And the next. And the next.