Gil's."
It took the woman a moment to recover, but she finally turned to a man leaning against the wall a few feet away. "Jack, where's Gil?"
"I'll get him." Jack stood up straight, glanced over at them, grinned, then walked into the crowd gathered around a bar, which looked to be constructed just for this purpose.
The woman turned to them and asked, "What's your name?"
Grinning Chase pulled up their hands, which were still clasped together, kissed her knuckles then replied, "This beautiful woman is LuAnn. My name is Chase."
"Chase," she muttered. LuAnn wondered if she were going to start drooling.
"Chase, so glad to see you." A tall man, clearly in his fifties, muscular for a man his age, boomed as he walked toward them. His white hair was cropped short and his white beard neatly trimmed made him look like muscular Santa. Though he’d need a bit of padding around the middle.
"Gil, it's great to finally meet you in person."
They shook hands and Gil pulled Chase in for a quick hug, then stepped back and looked directly into her eyes. "And this little blue-eyed beauty must be LuAnn. Nice to meet you, LuAnn."
He held his hand out and she shook it and smiled her biggest smile. "It's nice to meet you, too, Gil."
Gil turned toward the party and the bar he'd just come from and called over his shoulder. "Come on and meet the crew."
He squeezed her hand and tugged her along with him, and she tried to look where they were going but there was so much to see. The back lot looked like an old western town and some folks were dressed up in western wear. There were gals walking around delivering drinks in Daisy Dukes, cowgirl boots, red and white checked shirts and cowboy hats. They weren't taking any money, just delivering the drinks.
Gil stopped at a small group at the end of the bar. "Boys, this is Chase, who I hope will be our new designer, and his woman, LuAnn. Remember I showed you the white bike he built last year? Chase this is Buddy, Lane and Cowboy."
Each of the men took turns shaking hands, offering welcomes and asking what they wanted to drink. She wasn't sure who was who, but figured if she needed to know later, she'd figure it out. They were each given a beer and Gil turned to them, and said, "Let's go and I'll introduce you to some of the other members of our staff."
Nodding to the men at the bar, they followed Gil to another group of people sitting at a table in front of a "Sundries" storefront. They were once again introduced and continued to meet even more of the folks. Basically, what she got out of this was Gil had a large staff and a huge payroll. But everyone was polite and pleasant, and she felt oddly relaxed and, dare she say it, at home.
It felt like they'd met a hundred people before long and, unfortunately, Gil saw her yawn at one point which caused her cheeks to burn bright.
"I'm so sorry. Please know that I am not bored. I guess I’m just a bit jet lagged."
Gil laughed and that confirmed it, he absolutely was Santa Claus.
Chase looked at her and smiled. "I'm happy to go back to the hotel if you are. I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed myself."
"I don't want your time here to be anything less than you want it to be."
He leaned down and kissed her, and a couple guys whistled from her left. Chase looked over at them and smiled, then pecked her lips again.
"Let's say goodbye, we'll be back here tomorrow anyway."
"Okay."
"Gil, we're going to say good night, we were up before dawn and it has been quite the day."
"Completely understand, Chase. See you both at nine tomorrow. I'll show you out through the side gate, so you don't have to talk to everyone on your way out. Easier that way or you'll get sucked into several more beers."
Gil led them through a wooden storefront that said, "Bath 5 cents". Just through that doorway was a gate he had to enter a code to open, then he stepped out and held the gate for them. Stepping through the gate she saw they were right in front of where they'd parked. They'd essentially gone in a complete circle though it sure didn't feel like it.
Gil turned and shook Chase's hand. "Thanks for coming Chase, I look forward to our meeting tomorrow." He turned to her