Diego was surprised that Alan asked him to stop by the Tar-Mor shipping office. He assumed it was possible to conduct any necessary business over the phone. If they were dismissing the possibilities of a personal relationship, there was no need to meet face to face.

Although Alan didn’t specify the reason for the meeting beyond the discussion of his proposal request, Diego assumed that he was receiving the contract. He could not imagine how any of the other firms could compete with his terms. Alan was too smart to reject reliable service and significant cash savings for Tar-Mor.

As he approached the door to the shipping offices, Diego cradled the goodwill gift in his arms. It was a rectangular cardboard box approximately two feet long and six inches wide. Elaine greeted him generously. “Mr. Flores, please come inside! You are about five minutes early. I’ll let Mr. Hansen know that you’re here.”

The waiting area looked like Alan went shopping at a store for refurbished office furniture. The chairs were metal-framed with scratchy, dingy fabric-covered seats. Diego sighed deeply as he seated himself.

Only thirty seconds later, Elaine leaned forward and said, “He’s ready for you, Mr. Flores.” She gestured to her right. “Through those doors. Of course, you already know the way.”

As he entered Alan’s office, Diego realized one advantage of the spartan appearance of the office. It made Alan the focus. There was nothing else worth seeing.

Alan said, “I hope you really were planning to be in the area like you said on the phone. I didn’t want to have you drive an hour down from Red Wing, but I thought it would be good to do this in person.”

Diego placed the package on Alan’s desk and said, “It’s a good thing I don’t already work for you because you sound like you’re getting ready to fire me, and you didn’t want to do it over the phone. Cheer up. At least paint a smile on your face.”

Alan looked down at the package and asked, “What’s this?”

“It’s a small token of our esteem for working with you so far.”

“Should I open it, or should I share my news first?”

Diego shrugged. “It’s nothing big, but I assume you have a collection of items like this somewhere. You must keep all of the interesting features in a closet.”

“Why don’t you have a seat, and I’ll go ahead and open it.”

Diego settled himself and leaned back. He couldn’t stop himself from trying to be slightly seductive. He wanted Alan to feel comfortable in his presence, so he pulled his arms up and placed his hands behind his head. He knew that the movement also pulled his jacket up and open revealing the dress shirt fitting snugly against his muscular chest.

Alan tugged at the flaps of the cardboard box and smiled when he saw what was inside. He pulled the box away as a scale model of an M-Trak rig rolled out onto his desk. Alan stood and ran his fingers down the length of the trailer. “You know, we should have a collection like this. I think my predecessor took any that existed with him when he left.”

“Well, this can start your new collection. At least I hope we will continue to do business together.”

Alan stepped around his desk toward Diego. He said, “That is the reason why I called you. We were very impressed with the full proposal and how timely you acted in getting it here.”

“And?” asked Diego. He pulled his arms down and sat upright staring up at Alan’s handsome face. He noticed that Alan recently got his hair cut. The sides were perfectly sheared, and the top was just long enough to hang over onto Alan’s forehead. His attention was drawn to the detail when Alan raised his hand and swept the hair off his forehead toward the side.

“I would like to formally offer you the contract.” Alan reached his hand out to shake.

Instead of reciprocating, Diego climbed to his feet and offered a hug. He said, “I know this isn’t standard practice, but when you’ve seen each other naked, I think you’re some distance beyond everyday business partners.”

Diego saw Alan cringe as his arms wrapped tightly. He slipped his hand up behind Alan’s head and gently stroked the buzzed hair.

Alan pushed back. He placed both hands on Diego’s chest and said, “No, we can’t do this. I can’t offer you the contract and then do this. I sorted it all out already. M-Trak needs Tar-Mor, and Tar-Mor needs M-Trak. That’s our role.” He pulled his arms back and crossed them over his chest. “Don’t you agree, Diego?”

With a half-smile, Diego said, “I agree that we need to be partners.” He slowly lowered himself back into his seat. “Do you have some papers for me to sign?”

Alan closed his eyes and took a deep breath before retreating behind the relative safety of his desk. He shuffled through a small stack of documents and said, “Yes, the agreement is right here.”

Sitting in his chair, Alan pulled the sheet from the stack and pushed it across the desk. Diego asked, “Did you make any relevant changes.”

Alan shook his head. “I expected I would need to, but your proposal was so thorough that we didn’t need to change anything. I had two of my colleagues and the legal office go over it. They were impressed, too. We just need to sign, and then it’s done.”

Diego added his signature to the contract with the giant loops that made up his “D” and the sweeping lines that formed into an “F.” He pushed the document back across the desk and smiled as Alan applied a tight, formal signature.

“Maybe we should have lunch,” suggested Diego. “I will buy. I’m sure Zephyr has a nice cafe or an old-fashioned restaurant downtown.”

“Diego, please, don’t make this any more difficult than it is already.”

“Difficult?”

“You know what I mean. I have to turn down your lunch offer. I do hope you have an outstanding day, and I am very pleased we’re doing business together. If we hadn’t met before, it wouldn’t be so easy to trust you in business. That was an unexpected advantage in making this deal.”

Diego raised an eyebrow, “It wouldn’t have been so easy to trust me because I’m…?”

Alan cut him off with a scowl. “No, because I’m wary of doing business with anyone I don’t know, particularly someone who has never done business with Tar-Mor in the past.”

Diego eased into a smile. “Oh, of course. That makes sense. Don’t worry. We will honor the contract and more.”

Alan looked up, and his eyes met with Diego’s. Then he quickly looked away to the side. “I don’t mean to throw you out, but I do have work to complete. We have out-of-state shipping contracts to sign.” He touched the model truck again and said, “Thank you for this. I do appreciate it.”

Diego stood. He said, “I get the hint.” He was also fascinated by Alan’s obvious discombobulation. “Please let me know if you have any questions later. Otherwise, we’ll wait for the first instructions. I hope to see M-Trak trucks roll with Tar-Mor products by the time the month is out.”

Alan rose from his seat and nodded. “I do, too.”