The four met out in the lobby. Tom and Bill had conspiratorial grins, "Let's go over to the hibachi place, we have news." Tom said.
"Ok, so what is your news?" Mary asked. "Jack and I had the Michaels drooling over what we can do for their throughput and redundancy, however, they weren't sure if your guys would buy into it, we might have been too aggressive by basically restructuring their entire data center. Tom, which phases did they sign off on, the first three? That would be great, but four and five would be huge."
Tom looked doubtfully at Jack and Mary. "No, sorry they didn't sign off on the first five, nor the first three..."
"Then what, we license our software to them?" Jack asked bitterly.
"You didn't let me finish," Tom said, "Bill, you tell them, you were the real negotiator."
"Yeah, we couldn't sell them on the first five phases without all eight, so they forced us to draw up a contract for all eight phases. We are going to set up our first fully fiber, dedicated datacenter with all eight phases. Mary you meet with the Michaels tomorrow, all three, to go over and sign the contracts. This will a 10 digit contract." Bill finished with a huge grin. "I still am baffled how they found three guys named Michael to vet this project...no Mikes, just Michael." Bill and Tom laughed. "We need saké, who wants some?"
With a huge grin, Mary interrupted, "No, we need Champaign. Who wants to toast with some bubbly?" Waving over the waiter, "Not sure if you have it, but do you have Champaign?...You do, Yes want that and four glasses." Turning back, "This is why they put us together, We finally did it, you guys are the best...I want to kiss you all." Mary said with a huge smile.
"And, what is stopping you?" Bill asked leaning over to her. He pulled her head towards him and planted his lips on hers.
Mary pursed her lips and felt his tongue probing and pulled away wiping her lips with her napkin. "Easy boy." Getting up she went and kissed Tom and Jack full on the lips, came back and sat down as the wine steward was opening the bottle and pouring out the glasses. Raising her glass, "To the best team I've ever been part of, Bill, your eidetic memory, ability to read people and full understanding of the technology were critical to handling every objection. Tom, your architecting and project planning were key and the way you knocked 4 weeks off the conversion timeline with parallel networking was brilliant. Jack, your recoding for their needs on the fly blew them away, no way would this have happened without any one of you...to the best team and group of guys ever!" Mary raised her glass and downed the bubbly. "I love all of you." She ended with her hand over the top her left breast.
Tom took the bottle and refilled all the glasses, raised his, "Mary your total understanding of what we all do, hell you even pointed out a typo in Jack's code and no one understands that crap he writes, you showed all of us that we can be a power when we work together, but even though you have stressed we are all equal and there is no leader to this team, the reality is, you are our leader and all of this is you." He raised his glass and with the other two downed it.
Mary blushed and quietly said, "I am no more a leader than a puzzle piece, a piece that joins with three other pieces..."
The rest of the dinner was filled with excited chatter about demonstrations, numbers, conversations, the future, the commission...yes, the commission, and after the Champaign, saké and more saké.
"Holy shit," Ted said as they walked back to the hotel. "I've got a huge buzz." Shaking his head he turned to Mary and Bill. "Are you guys alright? You have eighty pages of contract to review for your meeting tomorrow."
Laughing, Mary said, "I'm fine. I nursed one saké and I only had the one glass on Champaign, you and Jack make me a little worried though. If we have questions will you be awake?" Mary looked over at the two grinning friends. "I guess they can wait until morning." She sighed. Turning the Bill, "You OK to answer questions?"
"I'm good, I have a nice buzz, but pretty sure it was just three drinks in all, though saké is pretty addicting, I easily could have had more like our friends here." Nodding his head over to Jack and Tom. "Let's do this in your room, I'd say come to my room, but Tom's snoring might be disruptive." Bill laughed.
When they got back to their rooms, Mary turned to Tom and Jack. "You guys relax and recover. I'm going in with just Bill tomorrow for the finalization and, finger crossed, signing." When Tom and Jack questioned that, Mary responded. "Relax, you guys did everything you could and it's perfect. I need Bill because he will be a terrific resource with his memory and his readings. Just relax, take the day off so to speak and then we can head out tomorrow evening to SEA-TAC with a signed contract."
Bill and Mary got the eighty pages of the specifications and contractual overview out and laid them on the desk. Groaning, Mary mumbled, "Who do I need to blow for a good cup of coffee?"
Bill spun around, "Be right back, black, right?"
Mary turned her head, "Yes please." She stammered. "No more drinking..."
Mary leaned over the desk shaking her head, 'who are you and what did you do with Mary?' Deciding to get out of the business wear if she had to pore over eighty pages, she went to the closet to change before Bill got back and put on a light top and shorts. She was aware her red bra was very evident through the blouse and decided to remove it since the fake front pockets would cover her nipples.
She was on the twelfth page when Bill knocked at her door. "Whoa, nice legs..." Bill stopped and appraised her from head to toe.
