Catgirls Can Do It! (Build-A-Catgirl Book 2)

by Simon Archer

  I looked at Kennedi and Ellie, and the three of us traded a simultaneous nod. Each one of us was certain the call was from Mirai. We stood and followed Macy across the showroom and back to my office. Once inside, I took a seat behind my desk as Kennedi and Ellie sat across from me.

  “Macy,” I said before she left the room. “Can you patch Charlie in on the call as a silent third party?”

  “Absolutely,” she said as she pushed the door open. “When the light on line three turns green, you’re set to go.”

  “Perfect, thank you,” I told her. She exited, and I watched her go directly to the counter in the showroom and pick up the phone. Ellie, Kennedi, and I stared intently at the multi-line phone on my desk, waiting for the one glowing red light to turn green. When it did, the three of us looked at each other. Kennedi plastered a huge, beautiful smile on her face.

  “Here we go!” she whispered. I picked up the phone to answer it.

  “Clark Watkins,” I said, trying to sound as unsuspecting as possible and then waited. Someone on the other end of the line cleared their throat before starting to speak in a heavy Japanese accent.

  “I appreciate you accepting my call,” a man’s voice said in a traditional Japanese greeting of expressing gratitude to kick off a business call. I was no expert on Japanese phone etiquette, but I’d picked up a couple of things over the years. The man paused a moment before continuing. “This is Mr. Sato.”

  “Thank you for contacting me, Mr. Sato,” I started. “How may I be of help to you?” There was a momentary pause on the other end of the line.

  “I have travel arrangements for you,” Isamu Sato said. “How many guests will you be bringing to our meeting?”

  I was shocked at the invitation to meet in person. Isamu very clearly was not going to talk business over the phone which made sense in hindsight. I’m sure he was as leary of Omnicorp spies as I was. I had to think quickly about who I’d need for such a meeting.

  “I have two cat girls I must insist travel with me,” I said with as much firmness in my voice as possible without sounding rude. “Will you accept females at your meetings?” I knew it wasn’t commonplace for a male-run company to do business with females due to gender prejudice in the Japanese culture.

  Isamu replied with a simple, “Yes.”

  “Then the arrangements will be for four,” I said commandingly. “Two females, two males.”

  “Thank you for your continued support,” Isamu said. It was a traditional ‘goodbye’ in the Japanese business culture. I responded in kind.

  “Thank you for your continued support.” I heard the line disconnect. Just as it did, the small blue light on my desktop lit up to indicate that I’d received an email. I pulled up my hologram computer and opened my email. There was a message from a Japanese travel company containing an itinerary.

  I scanned the travel plans. It was impressive how detailed the trip was planned. There were four open-ended airfare tickets to Narita International Airport in Tokyo, accommodations for four at the 5-star rated Prince Gallery Tokyo Kioicho hotel, a car service booking, and a map of Tokyo city included in the message.

  I looked up to see Ellie and Kennedi staring at me. “Looks like we are going to Tokyo, ladies!” I was excited, and I could tell they were too. Both of them jumped up out of their chairs and started squealing and clapping like excited females do.

  “When do we leave?” Kennedi asked in a high and excited voice.

  “In three days,” I told her. “Now, I have to call Charlie and get his take on this.” Ellie and Kennedi both immediately started walking towards the storage room exit at the back of my office. “Ellie, can you get what you need done at Belavi’s in time for the trip? You ladies are doing food for Leah’s little volunteer event tomorrow, yes?” I didn’t want to impose on any of the other businesses VSG was involved with just to take an unexpected trip that may or may not result in a business deal.

  Ellie smiled and laughed. “I will get everything handled one way or another. There is no way I’m missing this trip!”

  “I’m going to go help Ellie and Bev,” Kennedi told me. “Then I’ll start packing for us!” she called out excitedly as she and Ellie bounced out the door and were gone.

  I picked up the phone and dialed Charlie. He answered on the first ring.

  “Clark!” He sounded jazzed up. “What did you do?”

  “You’ll have to excuse the ambush call, Charlie,” I told him. “There was no way I was going to speak to the founder of Mirai Gurasu without my business genius on the line with me!”

  “Why did he call you to begin with?” Charlie was awestruck.

  “I had Ellie do a little remote reconnaissance to see if the company was on the outs with Omnicorp. She dropped a message on one of his private email servers after she’d seen that there is definitely a rift in that relationship.” I explained quickly. “Charlie, we have to leave for Tokyo in three days. Can you swing it?” I held my breath. I knew I was more than capable of taking the meetings myself, but after everything Charlie and I had done together in the business world, I knew having him with me would be a huge bonus.

  “I’ll make it work,” Charlie replied swiftly. “Do you have an itinerary already?”

  “Yes, I’m forwarding it to you now.” With the press of a virtual keypad, I had the itinerary email sent to Charlie. He paused, and I could tell he was opening the message.

  “Clark, have you ever been to Tokyo?” Charlie sounded mischievous.

  “No. Why?”

  “Then you’ve never seen the Prince Gallery hotel?” he asked.

  “No. Again, why?” I wondered where he was going with this.

  “No reason, really,” Charlie said slyly. “You are in for quite the surprise!”

  “Adventure and intrigue,” I said. “I’m down! We’ll set up dinner so I can fill you in about all the craziness.”

  “Gotta go,” Charlie said quickly.

  “Me too,” I responded, and we both hung up the phone. I got up and walked around my desk to my office door and popped my head out. I looked around for Macy. She was behind the showroom counter and wasn’t currently with a customer, so I waved her over when I caught her eye.

  I was excited about my upcoming trip to Japan, but it meant that I had a lot of arrangements to make so that things would run smoothly while I was gone.

  6

  Macy hurried over to the office and stepped inside. I motioned to one of the chairs in front of my desk. She sat down, and I took the chair beside her.

  “We’ve had an unexpected trip come up,” I told her. “I will need you to take over VSG operations while I’m away. I have full confidence that you can do it, but I want to make sure you have the confidence that you can do it.” She instantly smiled and, without pause, started nodding her head.

  “That won’t be a problem,” she replied energetically. “What additional duties will I need to cover while you are away?”

  “There isn’t a whole lot that you don’t already do,” I started. “The biggest addition to your normal workload will be logging store activity in the database and doing daily bank drops.” Macy continued nodding.

  “Not a problem,” she said. “Will you be reachable where you are going?” I hadn’t thought about my communication abilities yet. I couldn’t think of a reason I wouldn’t be available other than the time zone difference.

  “I’ll be available,” I told her. “Leah will be around as well.” Although Leah wasn’t directly involved with the operations of VSG, she was a very savvy businesswoman and was familiar with our model.

  “Perfect!” Macy’s bubbly personality made me smile. It was the same effect she had on everyone who walked through the showroom door. “Is there anything else?”

  “Yes. I will forward you my itinerary and notify you of any changes. I don’t know exactly how long I’ll be gone, but I can’t imagine it would be more than a couple days.” The Japanese were famous for their efficiency in accomplishing tasks, so I
didn’t anticipate any long, drawn-out, unnecessary time-wasting to go on.

  “Great!” Macy said and stood up. “When will you be leaving?”

  “In three days,” I answered.

  “That works!” She started walking towards the door, so I stood up to open it for her.

  “I appreciate you, Macy,” I told her as she walked back into the showroom.

  “Thank you, Clark,” she called back over her shoulder as she moved to greet a guest who’d just walked through the store doors. It was just about the easiest conversation I’d ever had while trying to add to a person’s workload. VSG really was lucky to have her.

  I returned to my desk and sat for a moment to reevaluate the afternoon’s events. When I’d woken up that morning, I hadn’t expected that, by the end of the day, I would be putting events into motion that could change my future. My mind started to rev up to make sure I’d have everything in order before I went to Japan. I still needed to create a presentation for my vision of how Mirai and VSG could work together. I also needed to study up more thoroughly on Japanese business practices. That wouldn’t be too difficult because I’d have Kennedi with me. She would be able to inform me of things like that as we went along. Additionally, it wasn’t every day I was able to travel across the world to a foreign place, so I wanted to look up some places or events to enjoy while I was there. I didn’t believe in traveling one-hundred percent for business. That was how business ended up not being fun. I would most certainly take advantage of this opportunity to expand my cultural experiences.

  After I’d finished making a mental checklist of what I needed to accomplish over the next several days, I got up to leave. I waited until Macy looked in my direction and waved at her from behind the glass wall. I pointed to the back of my office with my thumbs to let her know I was going. She smiled and nodded then immediately turned her attention back to her customer. Fully satisfied that the store was in good hands for the remainder of the day, I exited out the back door to head to Theo and Bev’s barn loft, the place I’d come to think of as home.

  Twenty minutes later, I was pulling up the Cavanaughs’ drive in my 4Runner. Not a single person I knew could understand why I hadn’t chosen a more luxurious vehicle when I upgraded. It was simply because I didn’t need one. I didn’t believe in wasting money on things. I was more of an experience-type man.

  I brought my SUV to a stop and pulled the emergency brake but didn’t get out. I reached for the key to turn the engine off but paused. Instead, I released the brake. I’d had a last-minute urge to go see my property. The house I was building would eventually be my home, and I loved the piece of land it sat on. Some days I was still in awe of the fact that Theo and Bev had gifted it to me.

  I pulled the car around the side of Theo’s house and drove straight into the flat, dusty desert ahead. Currently, there wasn’t an actual road to my property, so I was driving on the dirt-covered, tumbleweed-littered ground. A massive dust cloud kicked up behind me as my tires disturbed the dirt. I enjoyed driving in the open desert like that. There were no road signs, there wasn’t any traffic, and best of all, there was no speed limit. I pressed my car to move as fast as the engine could handle, which topped out at about one-hundred-ten miles per hour.

  It didn’t take long before I saw the grove of trees surrounding the spot I was building the house on. It always appeared to be an oasis in the middle of the desert. The heat from the ground between my car and the grove created a gasoline cloud effect and made the trees seem unreal. The nearer I got, the clearer the trees became until I was pulling up to them. I slowed the car down to a crawl and drove through a break in the trees. The temperature dropped fifteen degrees immediately due to the shade the trees provided.

  I brought the car to a stop and turned off the engine. I waited a moment to let the dust from the tires settle before opening the door and stepping out.

  I closed the car door behind me and started walking to the construction site before me. The area was littered with tools, materials, and tractors of varying sizes. In the middle of the mess, there was a perfectly laid foundation. It was deeper than average foundations because Kennedi, Ellie, and I decided to create a dry goods storage area and hydroponic garden in the basement. With Ellie being the foodie that she was, that would be her happy place. The thought of her tending the garden and prepping the items she grew made me smile. Ellie was incredibly efficient, methodical, and focused as a general rule. I imagined her using the basement space as a place where she could do what she loved without needing to place a strict routine on herself.

  I refocused my attention to the shape of the foundation. I could envision the left side of the house where the pentagonal tower would sit. There would be a two-person balcony next to a large window-seat. Next to the tower, on the right, would be the main portion of the house. There would be a white wrap-around porch with a retractable netting to keep unwanted lizards and bugs away. The house would have lots of large windows and functioning shutters.

  Off to the side opposite the tower, there would be a three-car garage with a large apartment over it. The apartment had been Kennedi’s idea for Krysta. Kennedi had rationalized that she had the tower, and Ellie had the basement, and she wanted Krysta to have her own special place as well. The apartment was still attached to the house which Kennedi made sure of. She didn’t want Krysta feeling excluded, quite the opposite, in fact. She wanted Krysta to feel as much a part of our unconventional group as possible.

  I walked around the side of the foundation where the garage would be and to the back of the house. There would be an enclosed patio with two sets of doors leading out to it. One set would be off the kitchen, and the other would be off the dining room. When Theo saw the plans for the patio, he’d suggested a retractable wall that opened up to a firepit, not unlike the one we’d built as his house earlier in the year. We’d checked into some designs that would accommodate the idea and settled on a roll-top garage door to make the wall transitional. They were becoming more popular and would allow us to open up the space completely when we wanted to. Because the patio would be attached to the kitchen, serving meals around the firepit would ‘be a cinch,’ according to Ellie, who would undoubtedly be the one doing the cooking most of the time.

  I continued my walk around the foundation to the side of the house that the tower was on. Ellie had asked for an outdoor greenhouse and garden area, and when Kennedi heard the idea, she practically begged to have it placed where she could see it from one of the window seats on the backside of the tower. Ever since I had taken Kennedi to relax and gaze at the stars once, she’d been very keen on finding the beauty all around her that she’d never paid attention to before. She was the one individual in my world that I had a need to make happy, so agreeing to place the garden where she could see it was as easy as pie.

  As I passed the garden area and made my way around to the front of the foundation again, I marveled at how clearly I could see the house in my mind. More than that, though, I could see us all in the house. I could imagine evenings when the Cavanaughs and Lindys would come over and the fun that would result in. I could see myself and Kennedi setting up a woodshop in one stall of the garage and building all the furniture for the house. It was all so vivid and enticing.

  I took a step back and admired the image in my head one more time before blinking myself back to seeing just the foundation in front of me. We were planning a wall-raising party to take place there soon. That event would have to wait for my return from Japan now, though. I took one last look around before turning to head back to my car. I got in, started the engine, and backed out through the opening in the trees where I’d gone in.

  Once I was clear of the trees, I stepped on the gas. I pressed the pedal to the floor, and the car gained speed, still in reverse. When I was completely out in the open, I turned the steering wheel hard to the side, let my foot off the gas, and pulled the emergency brake. The 4Runner spun around at a furious pace. Halfway through the spin, I stepped on the brak
es and took it out of gear. When I’d turned one-hundred-eighty-degrees, the car came to a quick stop just long enough for me to slam the transmission into first gear and gun the motor. I shot forward with barely a pause between direction changes. I laughed out loud to myself. Others may not understand my vehicle choice, but it was fun in the desert dirt like that one-eighty that made it worth it. I gained speed until I topped out the speedometer, and in no time, I was back at Theo and Bev’s house.

  7

  I slowed the car as I approached the house in order to lessen the dust I was kicking up. Soon I was doing a mere five miles per hour as I passed the side of the house. I pulled up beside the barn, parked, and got out. I was amazed at how much tension had been building in me that I hadn’t noticed. Fortunately, after my little outing, I felt amazing.

  Theo’s truck was in the drive, so I knew he was home. I went to the loft and quickly grabbed a change of clothes and then headed over to the house. I needed to shower before dinner. When I walked through the door, I announced myself.

  “Hey, Theo, it’s me, Clark.” It had been established long ago that none of us needed to knock because Bev was sick of answering the door all the time. Also, she actually preferred a house full of people, so there was no worry of imposing.

  “Hey, hey!” Theo shouted back.

  “I’m going to grab a quick shower if you don’t mind?” I hollered into the living room where Theo’s voice had come from.

  “Sure thing,” he replied. “Charlie is coming to dinner tonight. He called and said y’all had some stuff to chat about.”

  I walked into the living room and answered, “I guess news travels fast! I can’t wait to fill you in on what happened today!” I was exhilarated after my short trip to my oasis and the drive back. Theo was relaxing in one of his leather loungers with a drink in his hand.

  “You look like a kid returning from an amusement park.” He laughed. “Now, I’m a lot more curious!”