Walter set a clean shirt on the bed next to his backpack. He removed his toothpaste and toothbrush from a zipped pocket and walked toward the bathroom checking the lighting options on the way.
Once he'd finished in the toilet, Walter washed his face and hands, dried off, and removed the cap from the toothpaste. The room telephone rang before he had a chance to squeeze the toothpaste onto his brush.
"Hello!"
"Hi! I'm in the lobby!" Susan sounded energetic and cheerful despite having driven from her parents' home in Boulder.
"I'll be down in a few minutes."
"Okay!"
Walter brushed his teeth and changed his shirt. It was a relief to freshen up after a long trip on the plane.
He zipped the suitcase shut, checked that he had his wallet and room key, and grabbed his laptop case. It was too risky to leave the computer behind in the unattended room.
Walter called the elevator and waited. A family of four in wet bathing suits emerged when it arrived on his floor.
"Hey, thanks for coming!" Walter exclaimed as he opened his arms toward Susan.
She hugged him back. "Thanks for inviting me!"
"Is the restaurant here okay?" Walter asked. "I'm pretty sure that I can expense it."
"Sure, that's great!"
A waiter with a long, black apron greeted them at the door. "Two for dinner tonight?"
"Yes, please," Walter responded.
The waiter guided them to a large booth in the back of a spacious room adorned with dark wood beams and surfaces. Only about a quarter of the tables were occupied.
"This is nice!" Susan exclaimed.
"Well, you drove all this way. I didn't want you to have to spend more time in the car."
"It wasn't that bad, really!" she said. "About an hour and fifteen minutes. I thought it would take longer."
"Well, I hope that you didn't break any speeding laws."
"Maybe just a few," she said with a smile.
They looked over the menus. Walter had a beer from a local brewery, while Susan tried a pinot noir imported from New Zealand. They each ordered Cobb salads and shared the seared tuna appetizer that the waiter had announced as a special of the day.
"It's so cool that you're here!" Susan said raising her glass.
"Get used to it," Walter said. "I'll be out here at least every couple of months. Maybe more often when projects are in high gear."
"Well, you'll be here more often than I will," Susan noted. "But I do try to come out to see my parents when I can schedule a long weekend."
"How are they doing?"
"Oh, they're fine," she said. "Dad's trying to decide whether he wants to retire, but I don't know what he'll do with himself if he closes his practice."
"What does he do?"
"Dental surgeon."
"Oh, my goodness!" Walter said. "No wonder you have great teeth!"
"I'd like to think that I had good teeth anyway," Susan said. "But I guess having a dad in dentistry might have helped a bit."
"And your mom?"
"She volunteers, mostly. And she's loves opera."
"Really?"
"Oh, yeah! She goes all the time."
"Does your dad go with her?"
"Only when one of her friends can't make it," Susan explained. "He hates it, but he'll go to keep her company. He knows how much it means to her."
"Well, that's really nice!"
"Yeah, I guess it is."
"Yeah, if Louise were into opera, she'd never get me to go!"
"You're so bad!" Susan scolded him. "I thought you were a nice guy!"
"Well, I am nice," Walter argued. "I just draw the line at opera."
"You'd love it!"
"I don't think so."
"Yes, you would. The drama, the staging, the great music."
"The boredom."
"Oh, my goodness! We're going to have to give you a crash course in culture, Mr. Anderson."
"That's okay!" Walter argued. "I need to focus on work for a while. Culture will have to wait."
"So, how's the new job going?"
"Well, I might have a better idea after this week," Walter said. "This will be my first time meeting the Colorado team face to face."
"Well, I hope they like you despite the fact that you have no culture."
"Oh, wow!" Walter exclaimed. "It's going to be like that, is it?"
"I'm afraid so," Susan said playfully. "By the way, do you have those photos from your hundred-mile race?"
"Uh, I think so," Walter said. "I have them on my iPad."
"Do you have it with you."
"It's upstairs."
"Okay, well, maybe we can take a quick look before I head back."
"Sure! Sorry, I should have brought it down with me. I brought the laptop, because I can't take a chance of losing it."
"Oh, yeah!" Susan agreed. "They're totally paranoid about lost laptops these days."
"Well, yeah. We don't keep critical designs on them anymore. That's all of the servers. But if someone has a laptop, they're one step closer to being able to crack into the network."
"Right."
"Hey, do you want to have dessert?"
"I'm kind of full, but I'll take a look at the menu."
'The Horse Farm'
Copyright © 2015 Daniel R. South
All Rights Reserved
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