For some reason, she laughed. A nice sound and her whole face lit up. The transformation wowed him. Without the wary expression, she was one gorgeous female. “What’s so funny?” he asked, smiling.
“The eager look on your face when you talked about food. I could almost picture you as a little boy.”
Maybe in the days when his father was still alive. “I’m not only eager, I’m ravenous.” He signaled the waitress over.
After she took their orders, Vi picked up the conversation where they’d left off. “I was stressed before I walked into the 709. My day was taxing enough without this.”
“Something at work?” he wondered.
She nodded. “I’m a sales manager at DD Telecom. Last night, without anyone but the board knowing what was happening, they filed for bankruptcy and voted out Alan Ragen, the CEO. His replacement seems like a good choice, and I’m sure everything will work out.”
She was solemn and earnest and attractive, and strands of her tightly bound hair kept fluttering around her face no matter how often she smoothed them down. Was she involved withanyone, and why did he care? Just last night, he and Daisy had split up. Anyway, this was no time to think about that.
“Oh, man, I hadn’t heard.” He’d been too immersed in getting his second store up and ready. “What happened?”
“I don’t know much except that Ragen is responsible for bankrupting the company. Apparently, he embezzled a ton of money. My boss delivered the news at a hastily called meeting this morning. They also laid off half the employees.”
Blake winced. “Sorry you got laid off.”
“I was spared from that,but they let go of some of the teammates I manage. And I didn’t get my first quarter bonus or the promotion I was slated for.”
“That sucks.”
“And not only because it came as a shock. I was counting on that money to help Gran with the down payment at the 709. I knew nothing about Malcom or this so-called love thing till they announced it. At least I found what bad thing number three was—is.”
“Because bad things always come in threes.” His mother used to bemoan the same thing, and he deliberately ignored it. “You don’t really believe that, do you?”
“I definitely do. First the bad news at work, second—” She broke off and shook her head. “Never mind about that. I’m curious, if you’re running AM Auto Parts now, how do you have time to open a new bike store?”
Why she’d cut herself off, he’d never know. Now that she’d lost the ability to help Caroline out, both her question and the gold digger possibility made sense. He shook his head. “I’ve had nothing to do with the auto parts business. Grandpop sold the company and transferred his partnership in the franchises about seven years ago. Even before that, I didn’t have anything to do with it.”
“Why not?”
“Overseeing all those franchises and the daily stress of running a big company? Not for me. I was only twenty-three but smart enough to recognize I wasn’t ready for that kind of responsibility.”
“That’s young to be so insightful about yourself. So you’re thirty now—the same age as me. And you own BW Bikes.”
“That I do.” He puffed up with pride.
“I was in there once, to rent a bike for a few hours with a guy I was seeing at the time. It has a good feel to it.”
“Always good to hear. What happened to the guy?”
“We were all wrong for each other. Story of my life.” She looked horrified at saying that and covered her mouth with her hand. It was obvious she didn’t want to talk about that.
He added to his story. “Like Malcom said, I’m getting ready to open a second store on the opposite side of town from the first one. It’s a great location, about a mile north of where Henry Simms Highway leads into town.”
“Isn’t that where the paper mill used to be and was closed due to environmental pollution issues and lack of funds to pay for the cleanup?”
“That’s the place. The mill is long gone and all sixty acres of land and the fresh-water lake are clean again.”
“I read about that, but haven’t been out there.”
“You wouldn’t recognize it. The land has been divided into a nature preserve and a development with restaurants, new homes, businesses, schools, churches and synagogues.”
“Smart of you to locate the new store there. Have you put up a big sign letting tourists know where to rent bikes?”
“A ‘coming soon’ sign is up. Do you ride often?”
