employees said. He had a light lunch delivered to the office, for which she was grateful. Turkey sandwiches, with fruit salad, and more ginger ale.
“You feeling better?” he asked when she drained her glass.
“Much, thank you.”
“You gonna be able to tell my story in six weeks?” he asked out of the blue.
“Yes, I’m sure I can, but do you mind if I ask why?” She hoped he wasn’t dying and wanted her to write his final good-bye to the world.
“I always said I’d have a bio by the time I was seventy. I’m seventy-two, and late.”
She laughed. “Seriously?”
“Yes. I’m the kind of guy who likes to keep his word, though I am late on this. I’m thinking that at least now I have a couple more years’ worth of stories to tell you.”
“Then it all worked out for the best,” she agreed.
They spent the next three hours going over the high points of his life. He told her how he had to work three jobs to put himself through college. His parents had died young. He wanted to make them proud, even though they weren’t around to witness his success. Lauren took notes, using a pencil and a steno pad.
“Kind of old style,” he remarked.
“It is, and I’ll transcribe my notes later. My dad is old style, too.” She told him her father’s story, how his father and grandfather worked, opening the general store, then how the big-box stores forced them to sell pieces the big stores didn’t want, hence their exclusive Christmas pieces.
“He’s an entrepreneur, then. Sounds like he and I’ll get along just fine.”
Lauren panicked. “What do you mean?” she asked, feeling silly, but she had to know.
“If we’re going to work together, I want to meet the man. I try to meet as many of our suppliers as I can. It’s not always possible, but this, well, I’ll let you talk to him first. I know he’s not too thrilled about jumping on the Internet bandwagon, but I think I can change his mind. Now, I want to ask you something, and you’ll tell me if I’m out of line?”
“Of course.”
“John is smitten with you.” He chuckled. “Though he didn’t use that word, it’s what us old guys call more than a casual date; I think those are the words he used.”
Shit.
Where to start? What to say?
“He’s a great guy. I think we hit it off.”
At least that was true. Not knowing what John had told his father, she didn’t want to say more for fear of assuming too much in the sense that she’d decided he was definitely the guy who’d knocked her socks off, took the wind from her sails, whatever.
“He said the same about you, though he led me to believe you two might end up being more than just friends.”
Her heart filled with joy. Yes, they were on the same page. She knew he’d felt what she had. She gave Mr. G her first real genuine smile of the day. “He’s probably right.”
“Yep, I could tell. So you’ll have dinner with us tonight? At the house, and we can talk more about the book, and I can watch you and my son together.”
He wasn’t asking, but she was good with this. “I would love to,” she said, and meant it. “Something light.” She added, fearing a repeat of this morning.
“I’ll keep that in mind when I order up the groceries.”
“Really? You use your service?”
“Heck yes, I do. All that traffic, I don’t want to drive in it unless it’s absolutely necessary. Helping to keep my employees employed.”
“So you’re making dinner yourself?” The words flew out of her mouth.
“Always. I like tinkering around in the kitchen. John does too. We’ve been our own family for so long, and as he got older, it seemed we spent a lot of our quality time together while we made dinner.”
Lauren thought this would make an excellent addition to the bio, yet she knew there was much more to be learned. He wanted this bio completed in six weeks, so she would need to focus her undivided attention on every detail in order to make this a best seller. It wasn’t so much the money the worldwide business made that her readers liked; it was the in-between, the everyday details that made them want to turn the page.
She glanced at her watch. It was after 4:00.
“We’ll have dinner at eight; that sound good to you?”
“That’s perfect,” she agreed. It would give her time to unwind, maybe soak in