The next morning John was sitting in the Lobby waiting for Michael to come down. He sat there reading a local paper, mostly looking at the pictures as it was printed all in Italian. He finished his coffee and heard someone call out his name. He stood and saw Michael waiting for him by the lobby door, laptop case in one hand, and coffee mug in the other. "John, are you ready for our big inspections today?"
"Absolutely, I look forward to seeing their operations. Did you get a good night sleep Michael?"
"Very good, I was asleep the minute my head hit the pillow, Jennifer was so excited to talk to me but I couldn't last, poor girl. Michael looked down at his cell phone and read a message on it. "My company contact just texted me and said their driver will pick us up in front of the hotel. From here he will drive us to the first facility for inspection." The two walked outside to wait for the driver to arrive.
After a long day of inspecting numerous manufacturing facilities, some as far away as fifty miles, John was worn out and was dropped off in front of his hotel a little after six. His first thought was of a long shower and then a change of clothes. He was even too tired to think of food first. He headed up to his room. After he showered and changed, he flopped down on the bed, still too mentally and physically tired to think much beyond lying on the bed. No sooner had he closed his eyes than the hotel phone rang beside his bed. He opened his eyes and turned his head to stare at it for a moment. He labored to get the will up to answer it, thinking it would most likely be Michael looking for a report on all he had seen during his inspections today. He slowly reached over and picked up the phone. With a tired sound to his voice he answers. "Hello?'
"Hi John, this is Jennifer, I haven't caught you at a bad time have I?"
Suddenly John perked up, just the sound of her voice made him suddenly feel revitalized. "Oh no, I had showered and changed and was just lying on the bed relaxing for a few minutes."
"I got a call from Michael, as you know he went to visit the company's corporate headquarters somewhere in a town called Firenze and it's getting late enough that they are going to put in a few more hours in to finish off what needs to be finished and he will stay the night there. He said he should be back sometime tomorrow morning. So, I was sitting here alone dreading even going to dinner by myself and was wondering if I could talk you into going with me, that is if you haven't eaten already."