Chapter 2: Saving Christmas Manor

Ben Spencer and Frost Marley Construction

Ben stared out of his 15th story office window onto Times Square. He was making a list in his head of what he needed to discuss on his 3pm call with Mr. Frost regarding the Noel Manor buyout. Mr. Frost had been trying to attain that house for a year, but the owner had never been willing to budge. She still wasn’t willing to budge on Mr. Frost buying her out, but now the bank was on their side. The house was in dire need of repair, and was becoming a fire hazard. Nan Parker couldn’t keep resisting selling for very much longer. Ben had been assigned the project last fall, and had been communicating with Mrs. Parker’s attorney for a little over a year.

They had met several times throughout the year in New York, but Ben had never been required to go to Hopestown…until now. He was scheduled to meet Mrs. Parker and her attorney on Friday evening after he arrived, to discuss the financial terms. She was six months behind on her mortgage payments, and although the bank had been lenient at first given the history of the family, and the house, it couldn’t last forever. Ben was ready to act as soon as the bank’s patience ran out.

Vacation condos were the new up and coming real estate money maker. They were a cross between a chain hotel and a timeshare. The vacationer didn’t need to buy the condo, but could stay in one, with all the luxury amenities of a condo available, including being surrounded by an all-inclusive resort. It was a dream. The vacationer got the privacy of their own space without the weird sterile hotel room smell, and wouldn’t have to deal with noisy neighbors at 2am, as one sometimes does when staying in hotels.

It was just the type of thing New Yorkers and Bostonians would love to stay in when coming up to ski and do other winter sports. It was brilliant, super luxurious, yet incredibly affordable, and it was going to make them a fortune. Ben couldn’t wait to get there, and finish the deal.

As General Counsel, his job was to close deals on obtaining land and oversee the buyouts. They already had built properties in the Berkshires, the Hamptons, New Hampshire, and in Hartford, Connecticut. The existing properties were doing well, and turning a higher profit than originally anticipated. Market research had shown the average person wanted to escape the big city for small quaint towns, especially on the East Coast, at least a month. The new up and coming Hamptons and Berkshires were small towns where people could go antiquing, attend festivals, and get locally homegrown food. The revenue stream was totally under-utilized, and Mr. Frost intended to cash in on the quaintness of rural America.

Ben had perfected his legal technique throughout the last seven years since graduating from law school. He moved to New York City for undergrad, and stayed for law school. Ben was a big city guy, despite growing up working on a farm and volunteering with rescue horses in rural Virginia. While he had a great childhood with his loving family, he had always wanted something more hustle and bustle. Much to his parent’s disappointment, he left at 18, and had not been back to visit in almost three years. This year he had finally convinced his parents, and his brother, to visit him in New York for Christmas.

New York City was the best place on Earth to spend Christmas. There was SO much to do: skate at Rockefeller Center; catch A Christmas Carol on Broadway; go for a carriage ride in Central Park; visit the Macy store windows on Fifthth Avenue; and go to Tiffany’s to buy his mother a sterling silver ornament. She loved Tiffany’s, having always wanted an ornament from the Fifth Ave store. So, this year was the year. He would show his family how well he was doing, since his parents worried about him a lot. They worried about how much he worked, and how he didn’t cook, surviving off of takeout, mostly Chinese food, sushi, and Chipotle. Until last year, he had rarely taken a vacation to get out of the city, but he was happy with his life, or so he thought.

Ben had a great group of friends in New York, and a beautiful girlfriend of three years, Katrina. Katrina was a New York City socialite, whom he had met at a Met Gala party. She was tall, with long, flowing blonde hair. She was flirty, fun, and always up for a good time. She loved attending the newest and greatest art gallery opening or club. She was a seen and be seen type of person, and Ben had been stunned the first time he laid eyes on her. She had been wearing a gorgeous red designer dress with designer camel color pumps, and had been surrounded by a sea of beautiful and influential people. Instantly he knew, he had to talk to her, and be near her. So, that’s what he did. He went up to her, introduced himself, and the rest was history.

Unfortunately, Katrina wasn’t impressed by Ben’s choice of profession. She didn’t value education, or professional degrees. She valued power, money, and partying. Katrina’s father spoiled her as a child. But Ben saw past her indulgent lifestyle, and fell in love. She had the entire Tiffany’s jewelry catalogue by the time she was 15, and regularly spent thousands of dollars at a time on shoe shopping. Her shoe collection, to date, probably was around two-hundred pairs strong. In fact, her shoe closest in her penthouse apartment was bigger than most people’s apartments in New York. Katrina didn’t have a good sense of how normal people lived, so she, much of the time, found it hard relating to Ben’s upbringing. For her, the idea of growing up around animals was torture.

Cleaning out horse stalls, and washing horses was not her idea of what work was. Not that she had any real concept of what work was to begin with... That was one of the reasons, why Ben had never introduced Katrina to his parents, and why he was particularly nervous this Christmas, because they would meet for the first time. Ben really felt it was time since Katrina had recently started talking more about marriage. They say love is blind...

She was eager to get a Harry Winston on her finger, and to start planning her socialite wedding at the Plaza. When they first started dating, she texted him a picture of what she wanted her engagement ring to look like: a pink Harry Winston diamond- five carats, of course. She valued things more than people most of the time. But, she had a fun, and generous, side to her as well, which is what Ben really loved about her. Plus, the sex was fantastic.

What Katrina lacked in life skills, she certainly made up for it in the bedroom. Ben told himself there was no perfect relationship, or perfect person. Relationships were about accepting the good and bad traits in your partner and deciding to love them anyway. No one’s perfect, that’s just life. Another thing he wasn’t so thrilled about was that in the three years they had been together, they were frequently featured in magazines, and on gossip websites. Katrina loved it, and she had the paparazzi on speed dial. It was really difficult for them to go out to a quiet dinner and not be photographed. Ben hated it. At his core, he was extremely private. Again, he talked himself into thinking it was just another compromise he needed to do to be with the woman he loved.

Katrina’s family were prominent on Wall Street. Katrina’s father had been an economic consultant for Greenspan back in the 1990s. They had a mansion on the Upper East Side. It was, big and more than a little intimidating. They also had high expectations for Katrina to marry well, and to marry the correct man for the family brand. Ben had been trying to be that man for three years, to little or no avail. Her family were tough critics of him. His choice of career was an attorney did not significantly help with their impression. But, he was going to change their minds this Christmas when he landed the Parker manor for Frost. It was guaranteed to be at least a $20 million-dollar sale, which would definitely help.

It had been Ben’s idea to turn the estate into vacation condos, which were estimated to bring in over $6 billion dollars for the company once the condos were built. That warmed her family up to him…or at least they were more cordial to him now...

Thanks for reading! Until next time...All my healing love,

K