“Sheldon, this is Sylvia Denton. She´s our architect on the new building.” Rudy waved to the small woman at the conference table. She rose to greet Sheldon. She wore a tan gabardine suit with a long, slit skirt and a tailored white blouse.
“Nice to meet you,” she said. Her dark eyes gazed steadily at Sheldon, somehow watchful.
“My pleasure,” he replied and shook her hand.
Rudy led the meeting. “Sylvia is with Jones, Jones and Schildwachter here in Boulder. She´s the lead architect on this project, and I´ve given her the information you´ve already seen on what the company wants. You´ve both been out to the site and know what´s up there as far as utilities, access and so on.
“Sylvia, Sheldon is the one you´ll be dealing with on our side. He has the full support of management and unless you two can´t agree on something, he´s the decision-maker. If either of you has to escalate, you come to me. Policy decisions come from the Board, of course, but I think most everything is clearly defined.”
Sylvia´s surprisingly deep voice interrupted. “Rudy, we need to talk a bit more about the general specifications and the scope of work on this. I don´t think you´ve addressed everything you need to in your RFP.
“But I shouldn´t interrupt. Sorry.”
Rudy nodded. “Well, then, that´s your first task, Sheldon. Make sure you and Sylvia have what she needs on this. There´s not much argument about which firm is going to do this – Dennis Jones is our CEO´s uncle.” Rudy leaned back with a grin. “But, if I know the boss, he´s turning the screws on Dennis´s fees already. I´m pretty sure we´ve got a good outfit working for us.
“Why don´t the two of you go at it? Call me if you need me. And, Sylvia...”
The dark eyes turned toward Rudy.
“Sheldon has gone through this very thoroughly, met with the boss and knows what we want. If he says something is okay, it is. If he has any doubts, he´ll bring them up to me.”
“That´s good to know, Rudy. Thanks,” Sylvia said.
When the door was closed behind Rudy, Sylvia took off her jacket and hung it over a nearby chair. She turned to Sheldon. “You´ve got strong support, at least right now. I hope it lasts.”
“It will, as long as I do my staff work. I´ve been with the company three years now, and they try to do things by the numbers, loyalty up and down – all that.
“We put a lot of work into the RFP. What´s missing?”
“In general, only two things, although there´s a lot of detail we need to discuss and clarify. The two big problems I have are that you haven´t defined the style or appearance factors you want us to consider in the design. The other is that you haven´t given enough thought to expansion of the intelligence functions in the building. As it stands, you´re going to run out of network and workstation space in about two years. And there´s a lot of smart environmental things you could be using to save operating cost.”
Sheldon leaned back in his chair. “The appearance and style issues are basically up to you. The boss told me he wants a ‘handsome building´, but that exactly what it looks like is up to you. I have some ideas I want to discuss with you, but I agree with him – what are architects for, after all? If we wanted a concrete-block taxpayer, we don´t need you; any contractor can build that. The smart environmental things are your expertise, too. We just need to stay on budget.”
Sylvia´s eyebrows were raised. “That´s quite a surprise. I hope it really works out that way.”
“It will, but I don´t understand what you mean about intelligence functions. I mean, I know what they are, but why do you think we´ve slighted them?”
“My experience is that requirements for workstation locations, networking and other connectivity double every two years. You haven´t allowed anything like that. And, you need to have capacity for at least ten years built in.”
“Well, our business isn´t really that heavy in IT demands. We included what we feel will be needed for about five years.”
“Then you´re kidding yourselves. Your business is growing. That means it´s going to need more IT functionality, even if you don´t know where yet. And anyway, inside ten years, you´re going to either move up or go out of business: sell the building. You need to provide for the needs of the next tenant, at least in terms of expansion capability, to retain re-sale value.”
Sheldon grinned and chuckled. “Rudy spoke highly of you, Sylvia. I see why. Okay if I move over next to you?”
She nodded and he moved next to her, bringing his files. “Let´s go over this bit by bit,” he said. “I want to get this done today, as far as possible. Then I want to take you out to dinner.”
Sylvia gave him a sharp look, then spread the files across the table, setting them in order for a lengthy discussion.
At the Boulder Café that evening, Sylvia settled across the table with a drink in her hand. “I don´t date clients. I usually don´t accept dinner invitations from clients. Do you understand me?”
Sheldon returned her level gaze. “Right now, I´m not your client. I only do business on company time and, usually, on company premises. I asked you to dinner because you impress me as an interesting person. I want to get to know you, whether we work together or not.” With a smile, he added, “Can we close negotiations now?”
“Agreed,” she said, getting up from her chair, “I´ll be right back. And you can order me another glass of wine.”
When Sylvia returned, her suit jacket was folded over her arm and her tailored shirt was gone. She wore a white camisole that hugged her tightly, her nipples concealed by the shirred fabric. Almost involuntarily, Sheldon rose from his chair.
Sylvia nodded as Sheldon held it for her. “Thank you,” she said, and sipped from her glass.
“Where did that come from?” Sheldon asked, astonished.
“I´ve been wearing it all day,” she replied, regarding him coolly. “It´s how I avoid the firm´s policy that women must wear bras. I got it at a shop on the Mall. Actually, I got several of them.”
“Sylvia,” Sheldon said, “you´ve had me off base from the get-go. Now, I´m totally at your mercy.”
“Bullshit, Sheldon. You´re one of the most self-possessed men I´ve seen around here, and that´s a compliment. You never checked me out when we first met – most guys check out how tall I am and figure how big my tits are. You just looked me in the eye, shook my hand and got down to business. And you asked before you sat down right next to me. I liked that, and that´s the primary reason I didn´t blow away your dinner invitation when you made it.”
“Well, I´m not blind, Sylvia. It doesn´t take a lot of eyeballing to see how... how tall you are. What I cared about is whether you can do what you say you do. I decided that very quickly, and that was that. Finished.”
“Okay,” she replied. “I´m hungry, so tell me your life story while I read the menu.”
Much later, they left the restaurant. Sheldon´s car followed hers toward the center of town.