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I nodded. “I promise I can.”
She laid a folder down and turned it to me. “This better be good.”
I would have preferred to be next to her, but the tiny space didn’t allow that. I opened the folder and started my perusal. “Patience, dear.”
Her nose curled up at the endearment as it often did. “Make it quick. I can’t leave him alone for long.”
“This will only take a second.” I took a picture of the loan officers business card paperclipped to the first page, then moved on to the second, third and fourth pages. “Good inventory ratios, returns are good, sales increase looks good to me.” Then I found the line I was looking for and pointed to it. “Move these all down one and Change this first entry here to, Evan McAllister, McAllister International. Add my personal cell number. You have it.”
She looked confused. “Credit references? You’ve never done business with him. You don’t even know him. How can you be a credit reference?”
“I’ve looked it over. I like the numbers, and I trust you. Your the accountant. Do you think he’s a good risk? Do you think his character is good?”
“Absolutely,” she said without hesitation.
“That’s enough for me. We can’t both be wrong.”
“And, that’s it?”
“It’ll get approved. Trust me. Banking is more relational than mathematical. Character is the most important metric. You trust him and I’ve reviewed the numbers. I’ll vouch for Mr Perez. This will get approved.”
“Just like that?”
“Absolutely. When I call this guy…” I tapped the loan officer’s card. “And, he passes it up the chain, he’ll protect himself by mentioning my name as a reference. You may not like the McAllister name, but it carries weight in banking circles.”
“Did you get my package?”
“We’re done here,” she said standing quickly. Her blouse was too opaque for me to get a sense of the color of her bra, but from her body language I could guess. “You’re wearing them aren’t you?”
Her blush answered for her as she gathered up the folder. “I have to get back to my client before he bolts.”
“You look great in them.” And she certainly did. She entranced me more and more as we spent time together. “But we can talk about this later.” I stood and exited ahead of her.
Rita was looking our direction.
Alexa glanced quickly in Rita’s direction before straining up to give me short kiss on the cheek—way too chaste for my liking. “Now get out of here before your suit scares someone away.”
“I did take off the tie,” I explained.
“I appreciate the big concession. I’ll talk to you later.” She turned and left.
I returned to Rita’s desk.
“Don’t listen to her,” Rita said. “Your suit doesn’t scare me one bit. And, anybody who likes penguins gets my seal of approval.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence. I can use all the help I can get with her.”
“She’s a tough one our Alexa, but the way she looks at you, I don’t think you need as much help as you think.” Her words gave me odd comfort.
“Thanks. Does Sydney have a minute?”
“Hey Syd. You free?” she yelled.
“Yeah. I guess,” came from the far office.
Rita led me to the man himself.
Except for the decidedly casual attire, Sydney Perlmutter looked every bit the accountant, with his fingers on a calculator, a computer to the side, a pen in his pocket, and a multi-ruled pad in front of him. “Can I help you? Mr…”
