Chapter 65

Alison, Ann, and Sally were seated in the corner booth of the restaurant, laughing hysterically. Wiping the tears from her eyes, Alison said, “I’ve got a feeling that Dan is going to propose when he gets here.”

“Ya think?” Sally asked looking around. There were no birds although there was a mechanical parrot on the wall near their table.

It wasn’t exactly a garden filled with flowers, although the artificial plants did look rather realistic. Shaking her head, Ann said, “This is not what I had in mind.”

“I kind of like it,” Alison said, trying unsuccessfully not to laugh. She looked down at the menu on the table in front of her. The food didn’t constitute a gourmet meal. The music in the background wasn’t exactly an orchestra.

The mechanical parrot squawked.

Sally nearly fell out of her chair laughing. Wiping the tears from her eyes, she said, “I had to ask for singing birds.”

“I’m not going to be able to keep a straight face if he shows up wearing a tuxedo,” Alison said.

Dan entered the restaurant running ten minutes late. He looked around at the jungle themed restaurant and muttered, “I’m sure this isn’t what they wanted, but it’s as close as I can get.”

The hostess asked, “One?”

“I’m with the Parker party,” Dan answered thinking this was a stupid idea.

“Oh,” the hostess replied, “They are in the corner booth. I must say that they are having a very good time.”

“They are?” Dan asked.

“They’ve been laughing ever since they got here,” the hostess said with a smile.

Shaking his head, Dan realized that he could hear their laughter from where he stood. He said, “I was afraid of that.”

“Excuse me?” the hostess asked.

“Nothing. Lead the way,” Dan said thinking this whole idea was a disaster.

Alison, Ann, and Sally took one look at Dan wearing the tuxedo, and cracked up. It wasn’t just a regular tuxedo, but one with tails and top hat. When Dan got close enough, Sally raised a hand and, struggling not to laugh, said, “Don’t say a word.”

“I’m going to wet myself if I laugh any harder,” Ann said. She covered her eyes so that she wasn’t looking at him.

“We’ll marry you, just don’t get down on your knee,” Alison said thinking that the sight would be too much for her to handle.

“I’m sorry,” Dan said. A group of waiters started singing happy birthday to one of the kids at a table near theirs. Looking in dismay at the waiters, Dan said, “This was supposed to be romantic.”

At that, all three women fled the table, heading for the bathroom. They stumbled on their way. It was too hard to laugh and run at the same time. Confused, the hostess turned to Dan and asked, “What just happened?”

“I think we got engaged to be married,” Dan answered scratching his cheek.

The hostess said, “That’s so romantic. Which one of them?”

“All three,” Dan answered.

“Oh.”

Sue and Ann were talking over coffee. Sue was laughing as Ann relayed the story of Dan’s grand proposal. When Ann finished her story, Sue said, “You’ve got to love him.”

“God help me, I do,” Ann said chuckling.

Sue asked, “As one artist to another, which one of us gets to immortalize this moment in history?”

“I don’t know,” Ann answered looking at her friend with a smile.

“I think it should be life size,” Sue said.

Shaking her head, Ann said, “I think that you’ll be able to capture the true spirit of it better.”

Sue sat back in her chair. She said, “It was kind of a noble gesture.”

“I know,” Ann said, “We gave him an impossible set of conditions to meet and he basically met them all. It would have been romantic if we hadn’t built up our expectations too much.”

“Let me see your ring,” Sue said leaning towards Ann.

Ann held out her hand so that Sue could see her engagement ring. Eyes glistening, Ann said, “It’s a beautiful ring.”

Sue examined the ring with the eye of an artist. There were three diamonds surrounding a single small emerald. The emerald was smaller than the diamonds. She looked up and said, “This is gorgeous. It must have cost him a fortune.”

“He bought three of them. They were all identical,” Ann said looking down at the ring with a satisfied smile.

“It has three diamonds. One for each of you,” Sue said appreciating the symbolism.

“Yes. We went from laughing to crying in one second,” Ann said looking at her ring.

“I’ll paint the great proposal,” Sue said. She winked at Ann and asked, “Any chance of getting the three of you to pose nude?”

“No,” Ann said shaking her head. Sue had been trying to get her to pose nude ever since they had met.

“I didn’t think so, but I had to try,” Sue said with a laugh.

“I know,” Ann said with a laugh.

Sue said, “It will make a nice wedding present. When are you getting married?”

“In March,” Ann answered.

“Why so soon?”

Ann answered, “Alison doesn’t want her pregnancy showing.”

“Ah,” Sue said nodding her head. She asked, “I’ve never figured out where she fits in that relationship of yours.”

“She’s our nurturer,” Ann answered.

“What?”

Ann said, “She’s the one that takes care of us. When we’ve had a hard day, she’s the one that hugs us and tells us that it will be all right.”

“Interesting,” Sue said.

“All three of us love Dan, but he doesn’t hold the family together. When we have a problem, he’s the one we run to. Dan is our protector. Alison is the glue that holds the entire family together,” Ann said.

“Very interesting,” Sue said. She had a perfect image for the painting of Dan’s proposal in mind. With a cornucopia at his feet and sword in hand, Dan would be the protector and provider surrounded by his beautiful women. Alison, in translucent green robes that blended into the earth below, would serve as an earth mother image. Ann rising from stone with a chisel in hand would be portrayed as both art and artist. Sally would be the healer in ancient Greek robes with the staff of Asclepius held up to the sky.

The second meeting between Terry and Ellen concerning the affiliation was about to begin. The two women faced each other across a table in the middle of an upscale restaurant like warriors in a coliseum.

Ellen asked, “How’s Tom?”

“He’s fine. He sends his regards,” Terry answered smiling at Ellen.

“That’s nice,” Ellen said.

Tom still talked about Ellen in a very respectful manner. It wasn’t that he loved her, but he retained a fondness for her that spoke of a great friendship.

Terry said, “He talks about you a lot.”

“I hope that doesn’t bother you,” Ellen said.

“It doesn’t bother us,” Terry replied.

At first she had hoped that Tom would run back to Ellen and leave Amanda alone. With time she had come to love Tom and was thankful that he had stayed around.

She smiled and said, “Actually the fact that you dumped him worked out to our advantage. He never would have asked Amanda out if he was still seeing you.”

“I didn’t dump him. We parted friends,” Ellen said feeling a little defensive about her past relationship with Tom. He had been so young at the time.

“Have it your way,” Terry said finding that she was surprised at how protective of Tom’s feelings she was.

Thinking that this meeting was getting off to a bad start, Ellen frowned and said, “We’re here to discuss the potential for making Parker’s Perfect Pizza an affiliate of Derkins Restaurants.”

“Okay,” Terry said opening her notebook.

“The information that I have is that Dan started Parker’s Perfect Pizza with a hundred thousand shares of stock,” Ellen said referring to her notes.

“That’s correct. He has sold seven thousand shares to Eric and has given our management team a thousand shares each. There are four of us on the management team,” Terry said.

“So Dan still owns eighty-nine percent of the corporation,” Ellen said making a minor notation to her notepad.

“That is correct,” Terry said.

“What is the current value of a share?” Ellen asked.

Terry said, “We have estimated the current value of one pizzeria at a little less than two hundred thousand dollars. He has fifteen pizzerias in operation, and another three that will be opened in a few weeks. Based on that, we value the company at three and a half million dollars.”

“That would be thirty-five dollars a share,” Ellen said.

“That is correct,” Terry said.

Knowing that it was very difficult to establish the true value of a business, Ellen asked, “How did you estimate the value of an individual pizzeria?”

“We used the earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization to establish a baseline value. We multiplied that baseline value times six, although common practice is to use a value anywhere between five and eight inclusive,” Terry answered. “That was seen to be the fairest method of establishing the value of the company.”

Ellen nodded her head and asked, “What would be the value of the company if we were to just auction off the equipment?”

“Considerably less than that,” Terry answered. It would be a shame for the pizzerias to come to that end. She added, “Of course, the cost of establishing each pizzeria would be nearly the same value that we estimated for the pizzerias. If you look at it in terms of return on investment, you’re approaching twenty percent. Based on that, I’d say that Dan is undervaluing his company.”

Ellen added some notes to her pad thinking that she agreed with Terry that Dan was undervaluing his company. Of course, from his perspective he was trying to be accurate in how much he could get for each location. There was an intangible value to being a chain.

Looking up at Terry, she said, “I’m impressed.”

“Thank you,” Terry said.

Ellen made some calculations. If Derkins Restaurant was to buy thirty percent of the company at thirty-five a share, then that would give Dan over a million dollars. She said, “We’ll want to buy thirty percent of the company at thirty-five a share.”

“No,” Terry said knowing that Dan wouldn’t go for that deal. As far as she was concerned, that would be the same as stealing the company from Dan.