Over the next several days Shane tried in vain to arrange a meeting with Jon Ohana in the hope of finally securing the purchase of the coveted property. He had practically promised the deal to his father on a silver platter and originally that was the only thing that mattered; Tanner International’s Hawaiian conquest. But now he realized his cause had taken on a much greater meaning; he was fighting on behalf of Hawaii.

“How can I move forward on this if that jerk-off won’t communicate?” Shane complained to Dani while they were both getting dressed for work.

“Maybe he decided against selling altogether?” Dani was struggling to zip up her linen skirt. “Can you get this for me honey? I think the drycleaner shrunk my clothes again.”

“Sure….there ya go,” he said as he cinched her in. “I guess that’s possible. That would be a real kick in the balls but I could live with that I suppose. At least nobody building on the land would be better than what Fong has planned for it… but I really wanted a chance to show the Hawaiians that Tanner could build a fully sustainable, eco-friendly resort from the ground up.

“Well eventually you will, no matter what happens with this deal.” Dani sat down and shoehorned her feet into her suddenly too small designer pumps. “My feet are a little swollen today… I guess I need to lay off the salt.”

“I don’t know what else I can do on this matter. I’m tired of leaving him fucking messages and so is Margie. By the way, how are the arrangements for the next charity fundraiser coming along? Is everything all set for this Friday?”

“Yep. Everything looks great. The Hawaiian Conservation Alliance is ecstatic that we’ve chosen them as the beneficiary for the event. My friend Allyssa is coming also so I’m excited about seeing her. Paolo’s been helping me quite a bit with a lot of the details. He’s going to go with me to shop for a new dress after work today. He’s got such a great eye for fashion.”

Shane’s phone began to ring in his pocket; it was Margie calling.

“Good-morning Margie what’s up?”

“You’ll never guess who left me a voice mail in the middle of the night. I just listened to it.”

“Please tell me it was Ohana.”

“Bingo. He said he wants to meet with you and Tony Fong. He’ll get back to us with a date and time.”

“Fuck Tony Fong. I don’t need to meet with him, I just need to meet with Ohana. And what’s with the voice mail? Why doesn’t he want to speak to us directly?”

“I think he’s just a cowardly little weasel. Anyway, that’s more than we had before. Does Danielle have a dress for the benefit this Friday?”

“Uh.….she’s shopping with Paolo after work for one today.”

Dani shouted into Shane’s phone as she passed by, “Do you wanna join us Margie?!”

“Tell her I’d love to come. I’ll see you later at the office Shane. Bye.”

Shane tucked his phone back into his jacket pocket and gave Dani the message.

“Margie said she’s going to join your shopping excursion. Geesh! You ladies and your dresses. Women sure do spend a lot of time on their appearance.”

Dani couldn’t help but balk at his last remark.

“Excuse me? Did I just hear you say women spend a lot of time on their appearance? Puh-leeze mister twelve-pack abs. You make me laugh. How many hours a week do you spend working out?”

Shane grabbed Dani and kissed her long and hard on the lips.

“Oooh that was fun. What was that for big boy?”

“Nothing. I was just trying to shut that pretty little mouth of yours. You’re so damn smug when you’re right. Ready to go? Guess we better take separate cars so you can drive your girlfriends to the mall after work.”

They went downstairs to the garage, gave each other a quick peck on the lips and climbed into their his and hers Aston Martins. Following behind Shane on their drive to the Kai, Dani smiled thinking about her treasured friendship with Paolo. She had barely noticed that Shane called him her girlfriend because Paolo had referred to himself in that way for years. They hadn’t hung out much lately and she was really looking forward to shopping with him.

Later that afternoon, Shane popped his head into her office.

“Hey guess who just called me?” he asked her excitedly.

“Don’t tell me. Jon Ohana? Are you finally going to meet with him?”

“It was Ohana’s secretary actually but it appears so. Unfortunately the dishonorable Mr. Tony Fong will be joining us as well. He’ll be arriving here in a few days so the three of us will be having a lunch meeting on his mega-yacht this Friday afternoon. I’ll have to make sure I’m the one calling the shots on this deal.”

Danielle frowned at his news. “This Friday afternoon? Does it have to be this Friday? What if the meeting runs long? I’d hate for you to be late to the fundraiser.”

“I can’t exactly call everybody back and change it now, but there’s no need for you to worry about anything Danielle. I hardly anticipate it taking seven hours. How about this? Just to be safe, I’ll wear my tuxedo to the meeting so I can go to the benefit directly afterwards. Would that make you feel better?”

Dani looked up at him from her desk and sighed, “I guess it’s alright.”