As they dropped Aliyah at her apartment and drove off Gary looked up into the rearview mirror and raised an eyebrow.  “Your key?”  Every so often it was fun to poke at Duncan.  

Duncan flushed and fought unsuccessfully to contain the grin.  “Yeah.  I had to lock up somehow.”  Suddenly serious, he added.  “And I am going to need to add her name to the room and get her a key card.  And, she’s not going to like it, but she needs to go shopping to meet dress codes or she is going to feel out of place.”

Gary raised his eyebrows high at that remark.

Duncan growled a little.  “Yeah … yeah.  Me too.”

“You did like the way she devoured you with her eyes when you dressed even a little for that first date?”  Gary asked.  Duncan grinned and Gary added, “Just saying.  Try making other ladies stare and drool when she isn’t there to swat them away.”

Duncan laughed.  But he hated to admit it.  He liked that idea.  Then it hit him.  “Problem with that is it works both ways.”

++++++++

Duncan arrived later at Aliyah’s apartment.  It had been a productive day.  His taxes were paid through the next year except for anything generated by investments.  $3.685 billion.  That’s what he had to play with.  He had decided to leave $185 million in the bank for all his fun and expenses.  The other $3.5 billion were divided into 6 financial empires.  He started a real estate company. Which was actually divided into 3, commercial business, commercial residential, and a construction and house flipping company.  He had his attorneys working on ethical agreements to assure laws and the public interest was preserved placing his CEO’s in positions of responsibility.  And he made it clear that if the Law had any reason to search records of business dealings, he was more likely to cooperate rather than make them go and get warrants.

He started a tech firm, a think tank.  He had had dreams of having a multi billion dollar super think tank, but set those aside to be more practical and started smaller.  About $2.5 billion was divvied up among 5 investment brokerage firms, with instructions to work on growth and income.  His expected after tax earnings were estimated at $25 million a month.  He asked for $10 million a month with instructions to re-invest the rest.

Of the $185 million he had already spent less nearly half.  He had taken over a 160 foot solar yacht and upgraded it with some of the latest technologies.  It was expected to be ready in about 6 months.  It sported a small submarine, a viewing port to look down, some dolphin shaped probes, a small greenhouse, solar distillation plant, living quarters for 10-12.  He was still trying to figure out how to add a mini fusion powerplant.  But even without any added power, the yacht could sail around the planet without using a drop of fuel.

He had selected a butler and an estate manager.  Well, that was tentative.  He actually had narrowed his selection down to 3 candidates for each position.  He was a little surprised at how few applied for the butler position.  One of his conditions had been the matter of travel - to include naval travel.  Both of his final candidates had applied.  One was qualified for the estate manager position.  The butler was Japanese though she was bilingual.  The estate manager was British.  Both had attended the International Butler Academy.  He discovered that his yacht was … too small.  Oh, that news came from the placement services.  Apparently most of their people went to much larger vessels.  They actually managed to make him feel …. Poor.  But he explained the nature of his wealth and that he was young and really just getting started - and would probably need at least one able to train butlers or select ones with the right skills for later efforts.  When he brought up his real estate plans they brightened up a bit.

Link to images of the butlers https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UonI8-vVtvZpIDz6vf0SHi9eVB5dUPmLKE3gF6k8Ggc/edit?usp=sharing

He up set up plans for a video conference interview of the finalists.  The Academy was slightly more impressed at Duncan’s methods.  To be honest, Duncan had had a lot of help with this.  He had taken weeks to learn how to answer his smart phone and still didn’t know how to add Apps.  But the employment agency recommended by Caesar’s had been more than helpful.  He made a simple off to pay them for placement services even though the butlers weren’t their clients - just for the use of of an office set up for the video conferences.  They set up his laptop, docked it by wifi to transmit to a large widescreen.  They even offered to dress him up a bit - which he declined.  He did however, dress up and had a picture taken.

He made his decision and got help with making a good offer.  But he allowed room for negotiation regarding benefits. Masumi Fujita was going to have it the hardest as she would be traveling everywhere with them.  Marcia Adams would live and work out of his estate home in Albuquerque.  He set up first class travel arrangements with the employment agency as a point of contact with any troubles in their travels.

+++++++++

Duncan tried to knock first.  But Alyah had mentioned that she might have headphones on.  So he unlocked and poked his head in.  “Hello?”  No response, he slid into the room and closed the door behind him.  In one hand he had a pad of various colored stickers.  He had thought of an idea how to get rid of her old furniture, but save them the agony of having to move it themselves.  His idea was to have the Kidney Foundation send a couple guys in a truck to come and take it away.  All Aliyah had to do was use the stickers to mark what items to take.  The rest of her stuff he suggested to be packed into a POD.  The smallest unit was a 7 foot that was equivalent to a 5’ x 10’ storage unit.  But it could be shipped anywhere and stored until they were ready to unload it.  He could store it in the garage of his estate home in Albuquerque.  The minimum rental was 3 months.  He could pay online for the rental of the pod.  And even the smallest was plenty big enough for all her stuff.  He brought a bunch of boxes - small ones - and tape.  He figured she had been using whatever boxes were handy.  He also thought to bring markers.

He caught her oblivious to his presence as he poked his head into the room.  Then he stepped into plain view and just waited until she noticed him standing there admiring her form.  He was grinning and waiting for the startled look.  He had been sorely tempted to surprise her from behind with a hug, but thought better of it.