ÂŠī¸ 2000, 2023 J Rydher
Rachel Greer was the epitome of elegance and class. She carried herself in a way that women envied and men craved. However she was no mere beauty. Rachel had graduated with the highest of honors from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. She had smashed through the corporate glass ceiling at the age of 32, becoming CEO of Trans Consulting Corporation.
Almost overnight, Rachel had transformed the once struggling software developer into a Fortune 500 dynamo with profits in the billions.
Some saw her as the female counterpart of Bill Gates, minus the ruthlessness and greed that is sometimes associated with the latter. The majority of her employees respected her. Some even looked at her with adoration. Women in the competitive world of business looked at her as a role model. She graced the cover of magazines ranging from Forbes to PC Computing to Vanity Fair. It was not uncommon to see her on television, on Meet the Press or Larry King. Quite often, you could find her in the society pages of the daily rags, usually on the arm of various affluent men.
Rachel Greer was 40-years old. Her career was on the rise; her life was at its end. I dropped the obituary on my desk and quickly wiped a tear from eye before anyone could notice. I had seen death far more times than I wanted to as a homicide detective, but it was rare that I felt it personally. I barely held my emotions in check at the crime scene the night before. This was not the way I wanted to remember Rachel. Her life ended early, survived by no family. She was gone in the blink of an eye.
It had been 18 years since I had met Rachel. Two friends, Tom and Matt, and I had driven to Ft. Lauderdale during our college senior year Spring Break. One night, I needed a breather from the drinking and endless wet T-shirt contests, so I took the car and went to a Yankees Spring Training game.
The game had just started when three women made their way into the row in front of me. One immediately caught my eye. Her tanned skin contrasted beautifully with her short blonde hair. The stadium lights reflected off of her deep blue eyes. When I noticed that she was wearing a navy blue T-shirt with the famous NY logo on the front and the number 31, topped by Winfield on the back, I was ready to propose to her right then and there.
I went unnoticed until the 3rd inning when Dave Winfield stepped up to the plate for the second time that evening. Just as she did when Winfield batted earlier in the game, the object of my affection starting hooting and hollering for the man who was obviously her favorite player.
Winfield lifted a high foul ball directly overhead. As I looked skyward, I could feel the crush of bodies around me, each with arms outstretched in the direction of the baseball. The ball glanced off of someone's hands and nestled softly into mine. As I brought the ball down, my eyes met directly with Rachel Greer's. She had a look of both excitement and disappointment. The fans began returning to their seats, but Rachel and I continued to stand there, our eyes fixed on one another. With shouts of down in front echoing in the background, I extended my right arm out to her. The ball lay in the palm of my open hand.
"Take it."
"Are you serious? I can't, you caught it."
"Forty-five minutes ago I would have kept it, but forty-five minutes ago I saw you walk in here." Rachel blushed immediately and flashed a tender smile.
"Ordinarily I would think that was just a line, but somehow coming from you, I know that it's not. I'll take the ball on one condition."
"What's that?"
"Let me buy you dinner tomorrow night." It was more than I had hoped for.
"You're on" I said and flipped her the ball.
"Great! Oh, by the way I am Rachel Greer and these are my friends Michelle and Jillian."
"Nice to meet all of you. I'm Casey Reynolds," I said as we shook hands.
"Casey? Could you be named after The Professor?" Her baseball knowledge strangely aroused me.
"Indeed, my Dad insisted I be named after Casey Stengel." My Dad always loved the late Yankees manager, and this was his way of honoring him.
"Cool! It fits you."
"Thanks," I said, smiling somewhat sheepishly.
As the game neared its end, we exchanged local telephone numbers and addresses and said our goodnights. Rachel politely pecked me on the cheek and I felt as if I had died and gone to Heaven. Before she left, Rachel got Winfield to autograph the baseball. Even than Rachel Greer could get what she wanted.
The next evening I hopped in the '78 Mustang, that I borrowed from Tom, and picked up Rachel at her motel. On the way I stopped at a local florist and picked up a single red rose. I knew that this romantic gesture could be pushing the envelope a bit, but I decided to take that chance. My heart skipped a beat when Rachel walked out of the motel gate, wearing a sleeveless flower-print dress that stopped above her knee, and hung on her in such a way that you could appreciate the firm, toned body underneath. She opened the car door and settled in.
"Hi Stengel," she said cheerfully and reached across and quickly kissed me on the lips. I laughed and returned the hello. She looked even more astonished than the night before when I handed her the rose. "Oh my God. Thank you! What is this for?"
"For coming to Florida". A huge grin appeared on her face and she gave me the kind of look you never forget. I stepped on the gas and we were on our way.
Over dinner we discussed everything from Reaganomics to the criminal justice system to the designated hitter rule. Rachel was clearly like no woman I had ever met before. Over coffee we discussed our futures and it was obvious that Rachel Greer would be going places. It also made me feel a little inferior by comparison. I came from a family that had been in law enforcement in one form or another for five generations. I was about to become the sixth generation to follow in my family's footsteps. Though it was expected of me, it was also what I wanted to do.
After hearing Rachel's plans, I wondered if I was right. Nevertheless, I could not take my eyes off of her while she spoke. My focus moved up and down her face from the incredible spark in her eyes to the luscious outline of her lips. At times I felt myself lost in her face, her words going through me like a warm summer breeze flowing through a screened-in porch. Everything Rachel said was important to me. At the same time, her sheer beauty and presence held me in a spell.