“I know, Aunt Dottie, I know. I’m already taking steps to insure some income in my retirement.”
“Like what?”
“Well, there’s the investment in this building.”
“You won’t see a profit from this place for quite a while. It must have cost a mint. Plus, Ralph says the plumbing needs to be updated. What if an injury took you out of the game permanently?”
“I know that’s always a possibility, but I have other things in the works too.”
“Like?”
“I have stocks.”
“The stock market is unreliable, or haven’t you noticed?”
He fidgeted uncomfortably. “Of course I’ve noticed. But there are other things I can do to make money.”
“For instance?”
“Well, my manager told me to keep some notes in a folder in case later I want to write my memoirs.”
“Really?” Her eyes lit up. “Can I see them?”
“No!”Crap, that was about the worst thing I could have said to an old busybody.He shook his head. “No, it’s just a bunch of disjointed notes, not very interesting.”
“Wait a minute… You’re going to share it with the world, but not me? Maybe I can help. I was a decent writer in high school. You were no Rhodes Scholar. I’m sure I could make it a lot less,well, grammatically incorrect.”
“I’ll have an editor for that. And if it stinks, they’ll hire a professional ghost writer, I’m sure.”
“Fine,” she said casually. Dottie shivered. “Why is it always so damn cold in here?”
Chad had just caught the end of this conversation.“If only the guy was psychic, he could have arealghost writer. That would be more fun than just watching live humans get themselves into train wreck after train wreck. Although, I have to admit, that’s fun, too. I can’t wait until his aunt sneaks in and looks all over for his notes.”
At last, her hand reached for the doorknob, but just before she left, she said, “Oh, and I might have a renter for 3A. Some bio-physic-something-or-other professor.”
“Good. Thanks, Aunt Dot.”
Chad gasped.“3A! That’s my place! Well, we’ll just see about that.”
As soon as she closed the door behind her, Jason rushed to his computer and changed his passwords.
“All aboard, folks!”
Jason assisted his date onto the Boston Duck Tour vehicle and whispered something to the tour guide.
“I’ve always wanted to do this.” Merry grinned.
“Why haven’t you?”
“Well, it’s not exactly around the corner from Rhode Island, and it seemed like I was always busy whenever my friend Roz and I thought about going.”
Jason took her hand. “C’mon, let’s sit in the back-facing seats.”
“Isn’t it colder out there?”
“Don’t worry, I’ll keep you warm.”
Merry happily followed him to the end of the big yellow duck. They found seats and Jason wrapped one long arm around her back and cuddled her.
