They sat there a little bit, both of them seeming to think about everything, and then she decided that maybe she should ask a couple of the questions she was curious about.
“I… I don’t want to overstep, because we just agreed to me living in your house, but that doesn’t give me the right to any of your personal history.”
“It’s open for discussion, if you’re interested.”
“I guess I was just thinking that I might like to know a little bit about you. Considering that we’re going to be living in close quarters. I know a good bit about your children, but you are more of a mystery.”
“My life’s an open book, for the most part.” He seemed to be thinking about something, but he didn’t say anything more.
“What kind of business do you have?” she asked, figuring she would start with something simple. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to try to delve into any of the things that she was super curious about, because there were things that maybe were a little bit too personal, but she did want to know a little bit more about him. After all, she really was going to be living in his house.
“I own an equipment rental company. My business is located in Harrisonburg, and that’s where I lived for a while, but I really wanted the kids to be able to grow up in Mistletoe Meadows. It’s much smaller, and you know how it is. A close-knit community with people who watch out for each other. We like each other, and we take care of each other. Harrisonburg isn’t that big, but it’s a completely different feel. Although, I don’t think my business would be a success in Mistletoe Meadows.”
“Are you going to be traveling back and forth?”
“No. I… Maybe you heard that it was on the brink of bankruptcy right after my wife died?”
“I did hear that.”
“My office manager was embezzling money. Suffice it to say she was accepting cash from clients and then keeping those rentals off the books. She was also not paying bills when they were due, and part of the reason was there wasn’t a whole lot of money coming in, since she was getting everything paid in cash.”
“How did you figure that out? There wouldbe no paper trail.”
“She made an offer to someone who considered themselves my friend, thankfully. It was kind of surprising to me how many people didn’t consider themselves my friend enough to feel like they needed to tell me what was going on. Or at least alert me to the fact that it was strange she was wanting cash payments. But this guy did, and I was able to report it to the police who did some undercover work, caught her red-handed, and while she didn’t get charged for everything she did, we can look at the books and see that she probably took over half of the money that my business made for the last six months of my wife’s life.”
“I think it takes a special kind of person to embezzle money from a man who has three children and is losing their mother and his wife to cancer. Wow.”
“Yeah. I guess I thought the same thing. Who could do that to someone, right?” He gave a wan smile. “Well, I found someone who could, and I hired her and put her in a position of authority. I believe I’ve been a little bit more careful this time, and I’ve made sure that my employees know that there are cameras, with sound, so I can check on my business anytime.”
Chapter Fourteen
“But you’re not going to be there daily?” Summer lifted her shoulder, watching a couple stroll by toward the parking lot, leaving the festival hand in hand and whispering to each other. They looked so happy and in love, she almost forgot what she was going to say. “I’m not trying to figure out when you’re going to be there and when you’re not, exactly. I have no nefarious intentions. I was just curious.”
“I can let you know what my schedule looks like, although right now, it’s wide open.” Gilbert laughed a little. “I don’t think it’s going to stay that way for long.”
“I hope not. I did call about the horses, and I know I can get them back, but I figured I might be being a little bit too optimistic if I called my clients and told them that I was back in business. But I can guarantee you that I’ll be doing that first thing in the morning. Once I talk to Sunny and find out how long she wants me to work and what kind of notice she wants me to give.”
“That makes me happy. I’m glad you think that you’re going to be able to get back into business that easily.”
“I’m hoping.”
“To answer your question, I shouldn’t need to be in the office at all, but I do want to keep my finger on things. It’s too easy for people to run away with things, if I’m not there and they know I’m not going to be there keeping an eye on them. At the same time, the whole point of me rebuilding the business, and getting it so that it was making money again, was so that I could spend time with my children. As you probably know, since my mom and my sisters were the ones who had been handling the kids, I haven’t been around a whole lot for the last year, as I did that. But I promised myself that whole year that once I got things under control, I was going to step back and spend as much time as I could with my kids. I can’t believe Lucas is twelve. Before I know it, he’s going to be out of the house, and it’s going to make me sad that I missed so much of his life.”
“I do think you have to cherish the time you get to spend with your kids, because it’s fleeting.”
“Yes. I’m starting to figure that out. How did you get to be so wise? You don’t have any children of your own.”
“No. I love kids, and I always thought I’d have some, but it just hasn’t been the way the Lord’s worked my life out so far.” She didn’t say anything more. She really did want children. And it felt like that opportunity was slipping away. “Maybe I focused a little bit too much on my career and allowed the opportunities that I had to possibly develop a relationship that could lead to marriage and children slip by.”
“Or maybe God was just having you do something else until the right one comes along.”
“Like you did with your wife?” she asked, hoping he answered, because she was extremely curious.
“I suppose. Although, maybe not. We were high school sweethearts and got married shortly after I graduated from high school. I think I was twenty. And she was nineteen.”
“Wow. So young.”
“Yeah. I don’t have anything against kids getting married young. In fact, I think maybe the whole idea of people needing to wait tomature is not as good of an idea as what everybody thinks it is. You don’t need to see the world first, or fulfill yourself, or whatever. If you’re following the Lord, He’ll provide whatever it is you need, and you will be fulfilled in Him. I think we’ve totally missed that, especially as Christians, and we have a tendency to speak the way the world speaks, instead of the way we really should speak, according to the Bible.”
