“Please Frauline, call me Greg. I’m getting tired of all this honorific nonsense.” She smiled again, all sunshine.

“Only if you promise to call me Betina,” she bargained happily with him.

“Agreed then Betina,” he offered her his arm “Now let’s take a look at AERIE, the new home of the Alternative Energy Research Institute, Europe,” Greg urged.

Greg and Betina spent the next 2 hours pleasantly exploring the property and buildings. It was pretty in a lonely sort of way, with the winter birds singing and chattering in the trees. Greg decided that aside from the mill itself, the rest of the warehousing and outbuildings were still solid. Cleaned up and repaired, they would make fine manufactories for the wind power project and would help the local economy at the same time. He glanced over at the young woman and made a decision.

“Betina,” he said, “I need a solid person who is a friend of the environment to be my representative here. Do you know of anyone who might fit the bill and want the job?”

Her eyes widened.

“Are you serious Greg? I really don’t like my job with the realtor, but I must eat you know. I’d take the job in a flash, but don’t you need a lawyer or something?” she asked breathlessly.

“Well I’d really prefer someone that cares enough about the planet rather than someone who cares only about the law. Could you take the job?” Greg smiled warmly. Trish was startled, to say the least.

Trish protested.

Greg answered Trish’s concern candidly.

she admonished him.

Greg explained.

“You do understand Betina, I’ll have to have a security check run before I can hire you, as I work very closely with governments and such, but I think you’ll pass. The job is yours if you want it. Handshake now with contract to follow shortly,” he held out his hand toward her but she actually squealed, jumped up and hugged him tightly instead.

“Oh yes Doktor! I accept! Thank you, thank you, thank you!” Betina erupted in a whirl of excitement.

“Now Dear, be careful,” he grinned, “I’m old and I might break in half. The job has certain benefits, which will include living on site in a house of similar design to my own in Canada and a generous remuneration and benefits package. But I do expect you to be responsible for overseeing all operations here as well as the hiring of like-minded people to yourself,” Greg continued more seriously.

“Yes Doktor, I can do this,” she was trying her hardest to contain her exuberance and appear quite serious.

“Betina, if I ever hear you call me doctor again, the deal is off. Doc is OK, but Greg is preferred,” he enjoined good humouredly. Betina’s grin was like a solar flare.

“OK Doc,” she acquiesced impishly.

“Cheeky girl,” he teased, “now let’s get down to business. I want you to arrange an auction of the materials on the site for two weeks from now, but certainly take a couple of days to wrap up your old job, and please arrange for three flatbed container rail cars to be on site in three days. My transport team will handle the loading and I will contact you from the conference by the twenty first, OK?” he asked.

“Yes Boss,” she giggled, “and here I thought it was going to be a good day because of the commission I was making on the sale of this land.”

They drove back into the city and after a late lunch, Greg drew several drafts from the AERI accounts for Betina’s use. He left at 5:00pm that day after getting her started on setting up a small office in town.

“You’re to handle the rental and equipment needs Betina and you can reach me at the Best Western Domicil in Bonn,” he instructed. “You’ll have thirty thousand Euros to use, but remember to keep all the receipts. If you need to reach me at the hotel, use the code word Roxanne, as in ‘Roxanne is calling’. I seem to have acquired a stalker in Bonn and I want to keep my personal affairs private. Have a good weekend and keep in touch.”

“Tag Herr Doc. Have a safe trip,” Betina hugged him goodbye.

Greg drove the car back to Bern thoroughly enjoying the trip.

he thought fondly to her.

she smiled inwardly. Greg was so startled that he momentarily lost control of the car.

He was naturally oblivious when it came to this sort of thing.

she smiled again.

Trish intimated. They both had a great laugh over that and before he knew it, they were boarding the train for Bonn.

Greg had a nap while Trish enjoyed the rushing scenery. All too soon, they were arriving in Bonn and facing a dinner date they couldn’t avoid. They took the tram to the Domicil and went up to the room for a shower. It was 9:00pm when he finally faced the situation and dialled Natalia.

“Good evening Natalia, I hope it’s not too late to call?” asked Greg.

“Greg Darling,” she purred sensuously, “why it’s wonderful to hear you. I’d rather thought I’d been stood up… again. Where would you like to go?”

“Now Natalia, last night was an accident,”

he thought.

“I was rather hoping to sample a chophouse, if that’s agreeable with you,” he suggested.

“Oh you, I was just teasing. A chophouse would be fine and I believe there’s one not too far from your hotel,” Natalia replied laughingly. Trish snorted her amusement.

“I know the one. I’ll meet you there in 10 minutes, OK?” he asked.

“Wonderful Darling, see you soonest.” Natalia was all feigned exuberance and Greg felt like gagging.

They arrived at Amadeus and were seated at the most non-intimate table that Greg could spot. He wanted this evening to go as uncomfortably as possible for Natalia. He refused to make it easy for the bitch to vamp him. He ordered a less than spectacular wine from the sommelier and extra strong bourbon to steel himself for the evening. He planned to play the absent-minded scientist and hick to perfection. Natalia swept in five minutes later and adopted a slight frown when she saw where Greg was seated. Nonetheless, she accepted a seat across from Greg in moments. He had to admit that she looked stunning, but it was a cold calculated beauty, and it gave her an unattractive and steely edge.

“Hello Natalia,” he greeted her without rising. “A pleasure to see you again and sorry about all the confusion but your note to me came as quite a surprise last evening.”

“Charmed Greg, I remembered that you’d mentioned a trip to the continent and I decided to surprise you,” she replied, her smile faltering somewhat.

“That’s so nice of you. How did you know I was coming to Bonn?” Greg asked, simulating pure innocence.

“I-I’m fairly s-sure you mentioned it, didn’t you?” Natalia stammered. She was furious with herself. Greg had only mentioned a trip to Europe, not where or when. How could she have slipped up so badly?

“No, I don’t think so…” he replied shaking his head.

“Uh…” she was starting to squirm and although he was quite enjoying her discomfiture, he decided to let her off the hook at the last moment.

“… but I could be mistaken,” he divulged casually. “Try the wine, I ordered it especially for your visit.” The face Natalia made as she choked down the wine made Trish break up in fits of giggles. Greg managed to outwardly keep a straight face with a great deal of difficulty and self-control.

“Ah… it’s lovely. So, how was your trip to Switzerland?” Natalia wrung out the words with great effort.

“Very productive, I’m well on the way to setting up a European lab and manufactory just outside Biel,” he smiled graciously, “and I’ve even gone as far to hire my director of operations. How was your day?” Natalia nearly choked on her wine again.

Terrible, she wanted to reply, not only were you out of my sight, but I couldn’t even find my Italian boy-toy to pass the time with. Instead, she smiled.

“I really did nothing as exciting or productive as your day, just some shopping and a visit with some family friends here in town. It’s a pity you don’t have that much time for me this trip,” she again contrived sulkiness.

“Well, in all honesty, I didn’t expect to see you until I returned home,” Greg said. “That’s why my schedule is so tight my Dear. A scientist’s work is never done. I’ve spent most of my time either writing my notes for a panel discussion or working on setting up the European AERI. Maybe in a few months we can take a ski trip together or something,” he affected contriteness.

“I’d enjoy that, and I won’t let you forget either,” Natalia promised and Greg knew she wasn’t kidding. The waiter arrived to take their order at that very moment, rescuing him from anymore phoney small talk.

“Good evening Madam, Sir. How may we serve you this evening?” the waiter asked affectedly. Natalia glanced momentarily at the menu.

“I’ll have the broiled lamb chops with asparagus and Parisienne potatoes please,” she blurted, “and you Greg?”

he baited.

Trish smiled indulgently.

Greg made a brief show of studying the menu as well.

“Um… I’ll have the 26 ounce steak, Kansas City cut, with the special spicy garlic sauce, the potatoes Romanoff and the broccoli… rare please. Oh yes, and bring me another bourbon, thanks.” Natalia’s eyes betrayed her disgust, but her face remained a smiling mask.

“That’s a rather large amount of food before bedtime, isn’t it Greg?” she asked, tipping her hand slightly.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I skipped lunch today,” he responded unabashedly. “So, how is everything back home?” he inquired, deftly changing the topic.

The rest of the meal was a nightmare for Natalia. Greg polished off every morsel of food before she was even half way through her own meal. She looked slightly ill when Greg ordered dessert and coffee and by the time he lit a cheap cigar, he had carefully abandoned all of his table manners and was delighted when Natalia made polite noises about leaving.

“Well Greg, it’s very late and you have an early start tomorrow. I’d best let you get back to your room to get some sleep. I’ll give you a call,” she finished noncommittally.

She rose and left in as elegant a hurry as was possible. It was all Greg and Trish could do to keep from laughing out loud. Greg crushed out the foul stogie, signalled for the bill and sighed gustily.

he chuckled proudly at his academy award worthy performance.

she challenged.

he grinned.

he quipped.

They paid the tab and walked back to the hotel. They were headed for the elevators when the night clerk called them over.

“Excuse me, Herr Doktor? There are 2 messages from someone named Roxanne and a Ms. Ravensclaw dropped off a note about 5 minutes ago.”

“Thank you very much. I need the wake-up call and the breakfast tray again in the morning.” Greg requested.

“8:00 and 8:30, yes Sir. Have a good night,” the man said as he wrote down the instructions.

“Gute Nacht.” They retired to their room and read Natalia’s note first.

“Dear Greg, I’m sorry to say that I have to leave Germany first thing in the morning. Thank you for a pleasant evening and I’ll call you when you get home. Best regards, Natalia.”

Trish sniggered.

Betina’s first message was to inform him that she’d taken a lease on a suite in one of Biel’s older hotels in order to set up an office. The second was to let him know of the new telecommunications installation that was scheduled for the twenty third and that the railcars were arranged for the twenty first.

Greg said.

chided Trish.

Trish commended him.

Greg shut out the light and was asleep almost before the room went dark.

To be continued