groovygamers.com

When Megan gets home from pep squad practice she finds a note on the refridgerator frm her mother;


Her brother arrives a few minutes later and sees the note.  "Noooooo."  He says, taking out his cell phone and calling mom.  He leaves the room for some privacy but Megan can hear he's yelling from across the house.  "I've got plans tonight mom, plans I've had for almost a month."

"Mom, this is ridiculous."

"No.  You can yell at me tomorrow then."

A few minutes later Megan sees him heading out with a gym bag.  "Later squirt.  Have fun at the dinner thing."

Megan sticks her tongue out after her brother as he leaves and then rushes upstairs, knowing she has a lot to do to be ready.  She was halfway up the stairs when she realized she was alone, she had all the time she needed.  Zipping the rest of the way up and then into her room, she tossed her bed on her bed and pulled out the notes on the new dance as she turned on her computer, impatient at how long it took for it to boot.

Zipping over to her closet, she opens the section holding her more formal dresses and begins rapidly flipping through them, pulling out a few that she holds up in front of the mirror for half a second before putting them back.  After a minute or so, she has picked out the dress she would wear and was back at the computer, opening word and then typing away on the keyboard at incredible speed.  It took her all of about two minutes to type the dance notes in and email them to Sylvia. 

She is then off to the bathroom and in the shower.  Taking some time as she washes her hair, she is back out and drying off as she looks at the clock in the bathroom.  Realizing she still has a good amount of time, she starts to slow down, some, as she begins to work on her hair.  She still works quickly, though is still unhappy with how long it takes to blow-dry her hair. 

Once her hair was done, she was back in her room and sitting down in front of her text books.  She begins reading at an incredible speed, taking some notes and within 30 minutes had finished five hours worth of homework and was more than prepared for tomorrow.  From there, she returns to normal speed, taking her time as she finishes getting ready and relaxing a bit, also having heard her parents arrive to get ready.

At fifteen before seven, she is downstairs, dressed in her elegant red evening dress with matching heels.  Makeup and hair were conservatively and elegantly done and she had a thin gold chain with a small ruby (her birthstone) that she had gotten on her birthday this summer.  She was smiling calmly as her parents made their way down from getting ready.

"There's my angel."  Her father said, giving he a kiss on the head as he passes her, "I'll bring the car around front."  He says, passing into the kitchen on his way to the garage.

"I appreciate this honey, and so does your father.  He knows that these last minute plans need to be very limited, but he just got bumped to be the speaker at this dinner.  The man who was going to be there had to cancel.  We aren't ruining any plans for you, are we?"

“Thanks daddy.”  Megan says with a smile as her dad kiss her forehead and goes to get the car.  She then turns to her mom, keeping the smile in place as she replies.  “Isn’t this what dutiful daughters do?  But no, I didn’t have any plans for tonight.  What is this dinner for anyway?”

"One of the business coalitions is giving a citizen of the year award to someone.  Your dad's going to be presenting and giving a speech and I'm sure he'll be making the rounds, he's been talking about making a Senate run.  Nothing firm yet, but you know your father."

The ladies exit and dad drives them into the city.  The dinner is being held at one of the nicer hotels near the lake.  It's a warm gathering, lots of smiling faces and friendly handshakes.  Megan wathes as her dad makes the rounds of the room.  Mom is at his side, remembering names for him and details about who people are.  Dad never fails to introduce both Megan and her mother when he greets someone, beaming with pride as he does so.

Once they're at their table Megan is introduced to the man occupying the fourth chair, Paul Patillio.  "Sorry to crowd you, but my wife wasn't able to make this trip and they said you had a seat Mr. Mayor.  I hate to sit with an empty chair at these things."

"Of course, Paul, can I call you Paul?"

"I insist."

Megan's mother returns to the table from the ladies and when the two gentleman stand Megan catches a moment of shock on mom's face when she see's Patillio.  She hides it with a smile, "Honey this is Paul Patillio, he'll be taking Donnie's chair tonight.  His wife wasn't able to make it, I hope you don't mind"

Megan's mother is silent for a moment.  Megan realizes that Patillio has a much better poker face then her mother, but around the corner of his eyes she's sure she sees the same tension her mother had.

"No, of course not.  Your wife wasn't able to come?"  She says, and Megan gets the impression there is more to the question then the words.

"Yes, she's a doctor and her patients come first.  One of her young mother's is having her first child, Daniella is very devoted to her patients."

Mom seems to relax some, and her smile seems to become more genuine then a mask to hide suprise.  "That's nice to hear."  She says, "That she's so devoted."  she adds as if to clear up any possible confusion.

Patillio smiles, and looks to Megan's father.  "You have a lovely family Mr. Howell."

"Please, Donald.  My wife Erin and our youngest Megan.  Thank you, but I can assure you I don't need anyone to point that out to me."  He give Megan and her Mother a brief hug.

Megan follows along through the beginning of the event with her parents, a warm and friendly smile on her face though she was hoping that the event wouldn’t be to completely boring.  She could only imagine that if her father did try to run for the senate, the number of these she would need to attend would only increase.  She tried to remember the names of some of the people that they met, but knew it wouldn’t matter to much if she did nor didn’t, she was after all the pretty daughter.

When her mom met their table guest, the blond teen wondered about the reaction her mom and this Paul Patillio, her father had to have noticed that as well.  He was very good at reading others she knew, it had helped him in intense corporate negotiations and it helped him in his political career.  But then she wondered if he might have a blindside in terms of his family, seeing only what he wanted.

A broad smile came to her face as she pushed all those thoughts from her mind as her father introduced her and her mother.  “Nice to meet you Mr. Patillio.  I am sorry that your wife couldn’t make it tonight.”

"So, Paul, what do you do when you're not attending these things?"  Megan's father asked.

"I'm a scientist for Jade Industries out of Seattle.  R&D stuff mostly." Paul looks at Megan's mother, "What is it you do Mrs. Howell?"

Megan noticed her smile fall a little, then she took a sip of wine before replying, "I'm a homemaker.  I have the PTA and various charity work, my family is my career."

"Really."  Paul says, taking a sip of wine.  Megan knew the answer concealed a slight suprise, "That's very uncommon in this day and age.  Bravo."  He raises his glass to her and Megan catches a slight glint in her mother's eye that makes her realize that Paul Patillio and her are not strangers.  "Will there be dancing later?"  Paul asks, looking around, "Maybe we can get a chance to dance."

"Well, Erin does love to dance."  Donald says, "Megan too, she's a cheerleader at the high school in Oak Park."

"Really?"  Paul says, "Some of the best times of my life were high school, it's a great time."

Dinner continues and the table conversation covers a pretty broad range of current events.  Megan's dad leaves the table about 10 minutes before his speech and Paul excuses himself from the table to go call his wife to see how she's doing.  Megan sees her mother watch him walk away from the table, that odd smile coming back to her face.

Megan had watched things over dinner and felt a bit worried about her mother’s apparent connection to this guy.  It was hard to tell, but she hoped that it was just a case of them knowing each other from long ago.  There were a few things that seemed to hint at that possibility, but she couldn’t tell for sure other than they knew each other somehow. 

 Come on mom, don’t be so obvious, dad is bound to notice eventually.  If he hasn’t already.  She thought to herself as she saw the smile on her mom’s face as Mr. Patillio went to call his wife.  Looking back towards the podium where her dad would be speaking and the award given out, Megan tried to think about other things than what ever connection Mr. Patillio and her mom had.  She wondered if that idiot Spark was working on making her reputation worse, and just what she could do about fixing that.  She also wondered what Cal was doing, if he had tried to call her while she was at this event.  Reaching into the small purse she carried that matched her dress, she checked her cellphone, having set it on silent for the event.

There were no messages from Cal on Megan's phone when she checked.  A few moments later Paul returned.

"Did I miss anything?"  he asks as he sits down.

"No, Don hasn't gone to the podium yet."  Erin replied.  "So, Paul."  Erin says in a way that makes Megan think it's not the name she expected to hear, "You're a scientist and your wife is a doctor.  Any children yet?"

"Not yet.  My wife has a project that she's committed to for a couple more years.  We decided to wait until after that's over to start trying.  You said Megan was your youngest, how many do you have?"

"Three.  Our oldest Denise is at Yale, and Don Junior is a Junior in high school still."

"Wow, you must have had your first right after college then."

"Yes."  Erin says, "Donald is a little older then I am, he was gearing up for his career in law when we met at Princeton.  We got married right after I graduated."

The MC opens the mic and gets everyone's attention.  He introduces Donald Howell and Megan's father takes the podium to the sound of applause.  His speech is fairly short, priasing the organization and it's efforts for the less fortunate.  He makes the award presentation, the recipient being a local store owner that helped coordinate a charity effort for several homeless shelters in the city.  After his brief acceptance speech they conclude the ceremony and open the bar.  A few minutes later a band begins to play and several people start to dance.

"Honey, I'd better get a dance in before your card fills up."  Don says, taking Erin to the dance floor.  Megan sees that Paul watches her go with a smile, similar to the one she had when he walked away.

Eww, gross.  Megan thought as she caught the look and smile Paul gave her mom as she went out to the dance floor with dad.  The blond teen had hoped that what ever seemed to be going on was something far in the past, but she wasn’t so sure, as Paul seemed a little bit younger than her parents.  Despite the bothered thoughts going on in her mind, Megan kept a warm smile on her face, just like you had to do when the football team was losing but you still had to try and rally the crowd to cheer for them. 

She glances around, hoping there were some younger men present she might be able to have an excuse to go dance with soon but knows she can’t let any silence settle in or it would be harder to keep up the appearance that nothing was going on.  “So, are you originally from Seattle Mr. Patillio?”  She asks, looking back at Paul as she recalled where he said his company was based.

"Port Angeles actually, couple hours from Seattle.  I travelled a bit after high school, ended up there with friends after I finished my education."  Paul looks around at Megan's mom and dad dancing.  "Your mom seems really happy.  You should consider yourself very lucky."

Megan nodded as Paul explained where he was from.  “I’ve been to Port Angeles before, several summers ago we chartered a sailboat there for a trip into the San Juan’s and British Columbia.  It seemed like a really pretty area.”   

As he mentioned her mother, Megan looked out at her dancing with her father as she replied.  “Yeah, I know.  I know a couple of friends who’s moms either worked as well, though they didn’t need to, or majorly went overboard on the charity stuff so they were pretty much raised by nannies.  My parents never made too much use of nannies as we were growing up, more to just help mom really.  I hope to be as dedicated and involved a mom someday.”

"Just don't forget to do things for you.  Too many people forget to do things for themselves." 

“I won’t.”  Megan replies quietly as she looks into Paul’s eyes.  “But there comes a time when we make choices that we have to live with.”  The blond teen then stands up and walks away, not certain where she will go, but just wanting to be away for the moment.  If there is a balcony attached to the ballroom the dinner was in, she will make her way outside to get some air.

A few minutes later Megan's mom comes out onto the balcony with her.  "Hey sweetheart."  she says, taking a sip of wine, "How are you holding up?"

Megan looks over at her mom with a smile as she replies.  “I’m fine mom, just needed a bit of fresh air.  You shouldn’t have stopped dancing, it was nice to see you and dad enjoying yourselves out there.”  She lets the last comment hang in the air a moment before looking back out at the city and asking, “mom, do you regret not focusing on a career of your own after Denise was born?”

"Your father had some hands to shake."  Erin replies about her and Donald dancing. 

Erin is quiet for a moment after Megan's last question.  "No.  I miss some of the things I used to do, but I've enjoyed every hectic minute you kids have given me."  she turns to look back into the ballroom.  "Besides, there were other people who were going to be so much more dedicated.  why do you ask honey?"

“Oh, just some of what was said at dinner.”  Megan replies.  “I don’t think I have ever said this, and if she hasn’t, I am sure Denise feels the same way, probably Donnie to, though he might not admit it, but I have really appreciated the time you have given us mom. It wasn’t hard to see what happened with some of my other friends where their moms either did decide to work or found other ways to not be there.  I find it hard to think of to many moms that could be much more dedicated.”

Megan is quite for a moment and then looks over at her mom.  “I don’t have anything going on after practice tomorrow afternoon, is there something you would like to go do?  I would love to do something you wanted to.”

"That's sweet honey, but I wouldn't want to keep you from whatever it is you sneak out to do two nights in a row."  Erin is smiling, but she's looking right into Megan's eyes.

Megan frowns slightly, not sure how to respond, but deciding she might as well air all her suspicions and leave it at that.  “Who said you would have kept me from anything?  But I understand, your affair with Paul is probably far more important.”  She then turns and starts back towards the party.

Erin grabs Megan's arm to stop her, she's almost laughing.  "Affair?  Honey, I haven't seen Paul since my Freshman year of college.  He went by Eugene then and had the most horrible voice, very nasally.  What makes you think we were having an affair?"

Megan looks at her mom, not sure what to think at this point, wanting to believe her mom, but unsure if she can at this point.  “Really mom?  The looks you two kept giving at dinner made it seem more than that.”  Megan replies.  “Dad is usually far more observant than me, I would be a bit surprised if he didn’t catch the ones that took place while he was there.  Is he really just some old college tryst?” 

Erin tries to hold back a laugh but one escapes, "Oh Megan."  her amusement plain on her face, "Really nasally voice honey."  She pinches her nose and says, "And he wore thick glasses and was always pushing them up his nose."  She chuckles again.  "He was a really good friend though.  He got me through a couple of really bad times."  Erin walks back to the rail of the balcony to look down onto the city, "Paul was brilliant, and socially unsure of himself.  He'd lost his parents to violent crime, and was emotionally a wreak.  We helped each other though.  I'm just so glad he finally got all the things he was hoping for, someone to love him and the prospect of children.  I guess he's happy I got what I needed too, since I sure as heck didn't know what I wanted."  She turns back around to look into the ballroom.  "I'll talk to your father about him later.  Your father and I have a strict policy about our lives before we met at Princeton.  We try to pretend that all the pain of our youths never existed, and our lives start with each other.  It's not too far from the truth."  She steps closer and hugs Megan, "And I would love to spend some time with you tomorrow if you want, but I also don't want to interfere in something that might be important to you."

Megan listens to her mom, starting to feel rather silly as she explains how she knew Paul.  She seemed very sincere and there seemed little reason to doubt the story, save perhaps why Paul went by another name, but that wasn’t to far fetched a thing to do either.  When her mom hugged her, Megan hugged back, keeping herself from crying from embarrassment.  “I feel so stupid, I think I watch to many shows like the OC.  But you are important to me mom, which is why I think I got so worried about what I thought I was seeing.  I should have said something a few weeks ago when you gave me my ATM card, but I was just so wrapped up about being part of the squad.  As much as I like shopping with the other girls, I still would like to shop with you sometimes.”

Stepping back slightly, she continues, “I feel so bad about my suspecting Paul, that’s terrible to hear about his parents.”  She didn’t quite know what to say about her mom’s knowledge of her sneaking out, there was very little she could think of saying that would make any sense,, other than what she was really doing.

"Your life is becoming bigger.  Eventually your father and I will be a small part of your life, it's the circle of family.  I went through it with Denise, I'll go through it with Donnie, and then you'll leave home.  I figure by the time you're ready to go I'll have gotten better at accepting that my kids are becoming adults of their own."

"Paul certainly has changed.  The life he's chosen for himself seems to suit him.  I'm not sure, but I think he had a crush on me but was too terrified to say anything.  He would have been a pretty good catch back then I guess, if a bit young."

"Speaking of love, how are things going between you and Cal?  I mentioned him to your dad, I'm sure he's had a full background check done by now."  Erin chuckles slightly.

“Well mom, you don’t have to worry, you still have four more years before I am leaving to wherever, I hope I won’t make it too nerve wracking on you.”  Megan replies, managing to smile.  When her mom brings up Cal and the fact her dad had likely checked his background, Megan winced slightly, only because it was likely true. 

“I am sure he has, but I doubt it came up with much.”  Megan replies.  “But things are going pretty well I guess.  He’s sweet, and has that really charming accent.  He spends a lot of time what time he can with his family.  We both just seem busy at times, he has football, I have cheer, and now this Constitutional debate thing starting.”

"Like you said, you have four years.  There will be plenty of time.  Your father would advise you against relationships now anyway, maturity issues."

That's when Megan's father chooses to come out onto the balcony.  "How are my favorite girls doing?"  He asks, kissing Erin.  "Not too bored I hope?"

"No."  Erin says, "Just girl talk.  How's the campaigning going?"  she says with a smile.

"Well, I'm about to have brandy and cigars upstairs with a couple of people that will help me find out.  Listen, I might be late.   I can get a cab home if you guys decide to leave, okay?"

"I think we can manage that."  Erin says, "Go have your meeting."  Donald smiles and kisses his wife again, then hugs Megan on his way back into the ball room, turning to give them the thumbs up sign and a smile as he goes.  Erin chuckles slightly, "And to think he wanted to drop out of college and become a drummer."

“Yeah, four years for all the other girls to try to steal him away.”  Megan mutters and then speaks up.  “I bet dad will be advising me against relationships till I graduate, from college.”

Megan turns over towards her dad as he comes out, giving him a smile.  “Hey daddy.”  She just listens as her mom and dad talk about his campaigning, grinning and waving as he gave them a thumbs up as he was leaving.  At her mom’s comment once he is gone, Megan turns towards her mom with a surprised look.  “Dad wanted to be a drummer?”  She asks, really having trouble imagining her dad playing drums and doing anything other than law and politics.

Pushing the surprise aside, she looks back at the party.  “Well, dad will be late, but that doesn’t mean we have to leave right away mom.”

"Well."  Erin begins, "We could circulate or corner Paul and find out what he's been up to.  We shouldn't be too late though, you have school tomorrow."

“Whatever you want to do mom.”  Megan replies as they start back in, slightly disappointed at the mention of school tomorrow.  “And I have gotten my homework done.”

"Oh, I know you have honey.  Don't think I'd let you keep slipping out if you weren't getting your assignments turned in."

Erin and Megan make the rounds, touching base with various friends and people of influence that Donald knows.  The conversation is fairly light, with the occassional touch on current issues.  Megan picks up a hint that Paranormal Registration is becoming a hot topic with the arrival of so many paranormals in the Chicago area.  The the federal government unwilling to tackle the issue again, there is talk of trying to get a state bill passed in Illinois, just to test the waters.

Eventually the pair meet up with Paul again.  He's trying to not be a part of a discussion on polotics.  Megan picks up from what she hears that he's someone who stays clear of politics if he can.  Erin steps in and saves him from the group, insisting that he's supposed to buy her a drink.  He smiles and excuses himself from the crowd, taking Erin and Megan over to the bar and getting them drinks.

"I owe you for that one."  He says, sipping some club soda.

"Still too polite to tell people you're not interested?"  Erin says.  Paul only nods.  "Megan picked up on something at the table when you came up.  She thought we were having an affair."  Erin's tone is light and a smile never leaves her face.  Megan is shocked when Paul seems to almost drown in his club soda.  He's coughing for a long while before he can speak.

"Not likely."  He says, finally mastering his voice.  "I'm flattered to think that your mother might have that kind of interest in a man like myself, but quite frankly your mother scared me too much for me to have seriously entertained the idea of asking her out."

Megan makes the rounds with her mom, thinking about why she might be letting her go out when she knew she was.  Had her sister done that regularly?  Megan didn’t think so, Denise had told her about a few times she had, and Megan figured if she had done so more, her older sister would have told her.  Did Donnie?  The idea didn’t seem to farfetched, and he certainly wouldn’t be telling her if he did. 

As they came back around to find Paul and went over towards the bar with him, Megan drinking a non-alcoholic version of a drink of course, not particularly thrilled the term “virgin” was used in ordering the version without alcohol.  As her mom proceeded to tell Paul all about her suspicions, Megan gave her mom one of those looks that screamed “MOM!” loud enough to be heard halfway across the city.  But she was somewhat relieved that Paul seemed more embarrassed by the revelation than she was. 

When Paul finally managed to reply, she simply smiled and answered, “well, just an overactive teen imagination warped by the mainstream media.”  God, that was an embarrassing comeback.  She thought as she quickly tried to recover from that.  “But you really must have traveled to get from Washington to New Jersey to met mom when she was at Princeton.” 

"Well, I actually knew her at Harvard."  he says, "Before she transferred to Princeton.  I was working on my business degree, kind of taking a break from science stuff for a while.  She taught me to dance and drive."

Megan thought a moment, and then remember that her mom said they had met her freshman year, for some reason she had thought it had been at Princeton, she had forgotten about her mom being at Harvard first.  “Oh, that’s right, I forgot about her going to Harvard first.”  Megan replies.  “Still, Boston is even further I think.”

"I travelled a lot.  My folks died and I was adopted by a friend.  He though I should get away from Port Angeles for school.  Harvard was my second college.  Still kinda geeky, I used to have a bad nasal condition and I had the most sgrivating voice.  I'm sure your mother can attest."

"Oh, I made fun of that earlier, Eugene."  Erin uses the name she knew him by in school.

"Yeah."  Paul says with a chuckle, "I started using my middle name when I went back home.  Got my nose fixed, got eye surgery.  Generally stopped looking and sounding like a geek.  you actually have to talk to me for a few minutes to figure it out now."  Megan realizes that while Paul seems attentive and involved in the conversation, his eyes scan the room and he seems to catch every little detail of everything going on around him.

"Tell me about this wife of yours."  Erin says, "You struck me as someone that would never get married."

"Well, some friends of hers actually set us up on a date, and then they did some industrial strength meddling.  We started to see each other, I bought a house closer to her work, since I can telecommute, and we eventually tied the knot.  She's Cuban American, very driven, and I think she's the only woman I could have ever found that would understand me.  All the sides of me."

Megan was just listening now mainly, feeling she had embarrassed herself enough so far to not need to do anymore.  Something about Paul seemed a bit off, but Megan figured it could just be some idiosyncrasy of being really smart.  Her mom had said he was brilliant, and he apparently had gotten into college at a rather young age, so that could be just part of it. 

“So what kind of research do you do Mr. Patillio?”

"Mostly quantum physics.  Back in high school I pioneered dimensional physics technologies with some Harvard pen pals.  Lately I've been sticking to this dimension and working on advanced aircraft designs and power generation systems.  I also work in defensive technologies.  The illegal energy weapons market has exploded over the last five years, so I'm heading the division that's working on armor technologies.  My hobby is nanotechnology, a friend and I are working on an advanced medical nanite for use in trauma wound care."

Megan listened to Paul describe his work, though she only had the vaguest idea what half of what he was saying involved.  It all pretty much pointed to the fact that, as her mom had mentioned, he was very smart.  “Wow, that all sounds really, really advanced.  I’m happy to do well in normal physics, and not looking that forward to chemistry next year.”  Megan replies with a grin.  “For likely apparent reasons I am more interested in civics and other social sciences courses.” 

"The world needs all kinds of minds.  I'm sure you can imagine that I've never been good at interacting with people, but I love the social sciences.  They make it seem so simple."

"So, how is the Wayne Foundation these days."  Erin asks, "Last I read you were still in charge over there."

"Good."  Paul says, "Mostly charity and humanitarian efforts.  I'm really just the name on the org chart over there these days.  There is an army of people who manage that."  Paul takes a sip of his club soda and looks at Erin, "I don't suppose you'd be interested in a job?"  he says to Erin.  "There is a Wayne Foundation office in Chicago, the event planner left for greener pastures.  Might be a good fit for you.  You'd have assistants, so you could set your own schedule.  I'm sure there could be an internship over the summer for Megan if she'd be interested."

"That sounds like a lot of time.  I have a lot of charity work now."  Erin says, looking at Megan, "And I like to be able to spend time ith my kids."

"Well, you give it some thought.  If you change your mind, you call them.  I'll make sure they know your name if you do call.  And, even if you don't take the job, I'm sure that Megan could get an internship if she wanted one.  One of the guiding principals of the foundation is to encourage the next generation to become active in social reform."

“You don’t seem so bad at interacting with people now Mr. Patillio, better than average I would say.”  Megan replied with a smile. 

She listens with interest as the conversation turns to the Wayne Foundation, an organization she had heard of over the years.  When Paul offered her mom a job as an event planner there, Megan gave her mom a look that was excited for her.  Given how much time she and Donnie were starting to spend with things in school, she was sure her mom had more time than she typically had.

“It sounds like a great position for you mom.”  Megan said, the excitement slightly evident in her voice.  “Both Donnie and I have lots going on after school now, I bet you have a lot more time than you used to.”  She suddenly paused and then added.  “Though, having time for yourself to relax is cool too.”

She then looked back at Paul as she added.  “Thanks for the offer of an internship Mr. Patillio, one with the Wayne Foundation would be amazing.  Though right now I have no idea what my summer is going to look like, so I might have to get back to you on that.”

"No hurry.  Summer is still a long way off.  Trust me, I know how much can happen in a single school year."

"Megan's got a point."  Erin says, "I do have more time then I used to.  Let me talk to Don about it, look over my schedule.  I'll give them a call later in the week and let them know one way or the other."

A beeping sound draws Paul's attention, and he reaches into his coat for his phone.  "This is Paul." he says as he answers it.  His face goes from jovial to flat in a moment.  "I'm on my way, I'll call you when I'm close."  he hangs up the phone and sits his drink down on the bar.  "Sorry ladies, I need to go.  Duty calls."  he gives Erin a hug, "It was really great catching up.  You're a very lucky woman."

Erin returns the hug, "You seem to have gotten everything you hoped for.  I'm glad."

Paul offers Megan a hand, "It was nice to meet you Megan."

After the good-byes Paul exits the ballroom at a brisk walk, like a man with a purpose.

“It was nice to meet you Mr. Patillio.”  Megan says as she shakes his hand and then watches him leave.  Finishing the drink she had, she sets the glass down on the counter as she looks over at her mom.  “He is a really nice guy mom, but sounds like he has changed a good bit from when you last knew him.  So what now?  More rounds or time to call it a night?”

"Ah, it's getting a bit late.  Let's head ofr home.  Last thing we need is you to be tired tomorrow at school."

Megan grins, not wanting to argue for staying out later at this point.  She follows along with her mom as they make their way out, saying a few good byes as they passed people her dad and mom knew.  Once down in the main lobby of the hotel, her mom tells the doorman to get them a cab, and he quickly has one waiting for them.