CHAPTER 3
January - February 2005
Adam’s 2004 ended with a $25,000 bonus from KR&S. No matter what anyone said, being unfulfilled and unsatisfied was better with money than it was without it. Thanks to Moody, Adam’s 2005 was shaping up well, too. The legal war was escalating. Moody and his expanding squadron of lawyers had never battled an attorney with Adam’s dislike for the law and the profession. For Moody, it was like fighting a war at night, on foreign terrain, without night-vision goggles. Adam strategically unloaded bombs, catching Moody off-guard. Both parties had various points of law on their side. What Adam had that Moody didn’t was the ability to psychologically outmaneuver his opponent.
Back on the home front, Adam was getting ready for something he had not done in awhile — a second date. He had met Keri Ross, the head television buyer for a large retail chain, through Esther Goldberger, Minneapolis’s self-proclaimed Yenta the Matchmaker. Esther was one of the happily married people, whose goal it was to fix up every single person she knew. While her track record with Adam was miserable (0 for 12), her matchmaking resume boasted five marriages, two engagements, a gay partnership, and four children in the past six years.
Adam’s first date with Keri was nondescript — dinner, a bottle of wine, forced conversation, and an awkward goodnight kiss. But the absence of anything too disastrous happening on the first date, coupled with their mutual attraction for each other, was enough to make them want to climb in the ring for round two. Keri was tall and olive-skinned, with a sophisticated Mediterranean look. The second date started out well. After a few margaritas at a new Mexican restaurant, Adam was pleased with the ebb and flow of the conversation. Keri seemed receptive and interested. Then the bottom fell out.
“I got this really weird call last night,” Keri announced. “A guy was breathing hard and masturbating. I thought it was you.”
Astonished, Adam’s jaw fell open as he struggled for something to say. Finally, he said, “You think I was jacking off on the phone with you last night and you’re here tonight? How badly do you want an enchilada with unlimited chips and salsa?”
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