Making a Big Splash in Belize
On their first full day in Belize the maitre'd in the restaurant immediately recognized Robert DeLeon as a returning guest. "Mr. DeLeon, so nice to see you back with us again."
"Hello, Jose. It's nice to be back. Let me introduce my partner, Katie. Any chance that you have a nice quiet booth for us."
"Certainly. Nice to meet you Katie. Please just let us know if you need anything. I have a nice corner booth where Julio will be your server. He will take good care of you."
The couple was promptly seated in a cozy corner where they had an excellent view of the whole dining room, including the horseshoe-shaped bar in the center. The room was reasonably full, but not overcrowded. Most of the patrons were men, some middle age and many even older. There were a few families with children of various ages and a few couples. The bar was not over-crowded and the action was concentrated at the far end of the bar where many of the older men apparently knew each other. There was plenty of laughter and copious amounts of alcohol were being consumed.
Katie and Robert had ordered drinks and were awaiting delivery of their entrees when a movement caught Katie's eye. "Look at her."
Robert looked up and saw a family group leaving their table, apparently finished with dinner. A middle-aged couple preceded a pretty, dark-haired, younger woman wearing a sundress. The woman was attractive and very curvy. "I wish I had boobies like that for you to play with!"
"Hey, I am crazy about my 'Treasure Chest' exactly as is." Katie put her hand on the inside of his thigh. "You are sweet, and I know you mean it, but you can't tell me that she doesn't look hot."
"She looks great, for sure. But I would bet you that you are more responsive, more sexy than she is."
"I would love to think that."
Just then, the young woman stopped following her parents and took a seat at the end of the bar, an occurrence quickly noted by the men at the other end of the bar.
Robert spoke quietly, "This could get interesting."
Almost immediately one of the older men at the bar walked over and began talking to the young woman. It was too far away to eavesdrop the conversation, but it was clear very quickly that whatever he was selling, she wasn't buying. Negative head shakes, hand gestures, body language, all very plain. The man walked slowly back, much to the amusement of his colleagues. Katie and Robert exchanged knowing glances.
Grilled grouper platters were delivered to Robert and Katie by the waiter, with refills of the wine glasses. After only a few bites Robert noticed a second man approaching the woman at the bar. "Looks like Round 2 is coming up."
The preamble was longer this time, but after a few minutes it became clear that this pitch would not be successful either. There were more head shakes and negative body language from the young woman. The man ultimately retreated to his even more amused colleagues at the other end of the bar.
"I feel sorry for her. I don't know if she is waiting for someone specifically or is just not interested, but I think she is feeling stressed. Would you object if I invited her to sit with us to discourage the old guys from hitting on her?"
"No, not at all."
"Okay, keep watch. If you see another guy start in her direction tell me and I will beat him to the punch." Their meal was almost ended before Robert noticed another man gather himself.
"Round 3 is going to start."
Katie jumped up and walked quickly to the woman at the bar, causing the approaching man to pause and reassess, as Katie had expected he would. She spoke very quietly. "Hi, I'm Katie. Robert and I have seen what has been going on. We just wanted to invite you come and sit at our table if you would like. We don't know if you are meeting someone or just don't want that kind of company...but it looks like it might happen again so we thought we would give you an option."
The woman looked at Katie for a moment, then at the man who had paused only a few feet away. Then loudly, "Katie, so nice to see you here. Of course, I want to meet him."
Katie signaled the bartender, "Transfer her tab to our table in the corner."
"Of course, Mrs. DeLeon." The man turned on his heel and walked back to his colleagues.
The two women walked back to the corner booth. Robert rose to greet them, extending his hand in greeting. The woman ignored the hand and hugged Robert instead. "I can certainly greet my friend Katie's husband with a hug rather than a handshake!"
Katie laughed. "Okay. True confessions. Robert is not my husband...he is my boss...and much much more...but not my husband. We saw what was going on and I thought you might want relief from the overtures of the 'grampa brigade'."
"Thank you. I am very appreciative. I was feeling a little trapped. I didn't want any of them hitting on me and I didn't want to leave the bar alone. I wasn't sure what to do."
Robert spoke next, "You are safe. We will see that you get back to your room okay. I think you may need to unwind a little. Can we refresh your drink? Would you like dessert?"
"A drink refill would be great, thank you. No desert. By the way I am Samantha Morris. I am a third year nursing student at St. Louis University. I am here with my Mom and Dad. They are fishing, I am on Spring break."
"I am Robert DeLeon. This is Katie Swift. Katie is a first year pre-med at Fordham. She is also my Administrative Assistant in her spare time. And, as she mentioned, much, much more. She is also on Spring break."
"Fordham pre-med? That's ambitious! So you are both in New York City? I have never been to New York City but it is on my wish list. Maybe after I graduate. Robert, what do you do?"
"I am a lawyer by training. My business involves managing equity portfolios for high net-worth individuals."
"That is out of my league. What does that mean?"
Katie chimed in, "He makes very rich people even richer."
"Interesting. Can I ask how you two meet?"
"There was an ad posted on the bulletin board at school for a part time job. I was spending my savings faster than I expected, so I answered the ad. Two days later, Robert invited me to interview."
"Wow!"
"I don't mean to interrupt, but, Samantha, are you meeting someone? Do we need to be looking for some one expecting to meet you?"
"Oh no. I just wasn't ready to go back to my room to go to watch TV again. I wasn't paying attention to the fact that this is not a place where a lot of people my age hang out. My Dad is going fishing early in the morning and my Mom is supporting his schedule. Are you guys going fishing, too?"
"Robert has booked a couple of half-day trips later in the week. This is actually a 'working' vacation for us. A combination of a little bit of business, a lot of pleasure and mostly R&R."
"I am very grateful that it happened, but I have to ask, why were you paying attention to my stupid dilemma?"
"Well, we had a ringside seat. But in addition, I had already pointed you out to Robert because you have the kind of figure I wish I had."
"What are you talking about? You are gorgeous. I have bigger boobs but so what? As you can see they can be more of a problem than an asset."
"Samantha, for reasons unclear to me, Katie has never understood how sexy she is. She sees herself as 'skinny' or 'flat-chested'. I see her β and now, know her β as one of the sexiest most feminine women on the planet."