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I’ll go anywhere she wants me to. And of course we want kids! We’re young and in love.

“Finland, man.” I pat him on the shoulder. “Good on you, for showing them the world like that.”

“Well, my youngest daughter wants to see the northern lights. She got everyone else hooked on the idea—even the grandkids are trying to pronounce aurora borealis.”

“I can’t wait to take my kids on trips like that.”

“Well, you’re going to have to get through paying for this wedding first!” Chris laughs at his own joke, shaking his head. “Sounds like you and the fiancée are going all out.”

“Oh, we are,” I say, because my imaginary fiancée can’t say otherwise, and because I know that’s what Chris wants to hear. “Ready to start a family. The little ones can’t come soon enough after we get married. I can’t wait.”

Chris Moreno was a family man. In fact, the most family man I’ve ever met in my life. How did it take me this long to realize my single, independent lifestyle was going to be a turn-off for him?

“Well,” Chris booms, clapping me on the back, too, “maybe not soon enough. Good to have some alone time with the missus before the chaos begins, if you know what I mean.”

I smile back at him, flush with the victory of figuring this out. I’m a family man now, with a family life, when I’m around Chris. I’m the man getting married and looking forward to the future.

In a way, I am like that.

Planning for the future, not in the frame of babies, but in acquiring this toy company.

So far, I’ve found my success in software. Who wouldn’t? Overhead is low, sales are high, return on investment is through the roof. But after nearly two decades of doing tech, I’m ready to move into something physical.

I’ve had the idea to produce e-readers, a new line of tablets, but first, I need to learn more about manufacturing and distribution. Need to observe how one of the best players in the game manages inventory and warehouses.

And that’s why adding Moreno Toys to my portfolio is what I have my eye on. Not to mention the fact that diversifying my revenue streams will finally let my accountant sit and breathe for a moment.

“What was it that you wanted to talk about earlier?” Chris asks, leaning against his truck like he wasn’t just telling me he really had to get going earlier. “Something about the operations side of things? Gloria is really the one who handles those things, but I could try and answer some questions, if you have them.”

Of course I have questions. I have nothing but questions. It’s all I’ve wanted, in all the time I’ve spent chasing after this man, to actually talk about business.

But I’m smart. I’ve spent decades honing this ability. Now that I finally figured out what Chris wants from me, I have to make sure I give it to him before I ask for anything back.

“Oh, forget all that.” I take a sip from my water bottle and lean against my own vehicle, a low-to-the-ground sports car I thought would be impressive. Maybe I should get a truck? Or an SUV? Would Chris see something bigger as a family vehicle? Scanning my brain for information he’s shared, I ask, “How is Bailey doing? The daughter-in-law? Didn’t you say she announced her pregnancy at Thanksgiving?”

Chris’s face lights up like it always does at the mention of his family, and especially at the thought of more babies entering the fray. “Oh! Gloria was just telling me that they are thinking of repainting their office as a nursery. But you know what I always say…”

I lean against my car and listen, already drafting plans for how I can show Chris I’m the man for this sale. It has nothing to do with strategy, with the logistics, and everything to do with looking the part. Different car, for sure. Maybe I could even ask him for parenting book recommendations. For relationship advice.

Older guys love to be asked what’s made their marriages so successful, even when the right answer is, almost every time, their wives.

The plan unfurls in my mind. How to be what Chris wants. How to be Mark, the guy that Chris stops for when he’s leaving the clubhouse. The guy that’s the perfect candidate for this sale.

I stand in the bright Miami sun and chat with Chris. I act like, when I pull out of this parking lot and go home, there will be someone waiting for me.

Chris tells me about Bailey’s pregnancy, and I tell him about my fiancée’s obsession with sourdough. How much bread I’ve had. He laughs and says I might get a gut like him!

I go along with it all and remind myself that once I have Moreno Toys as part of my portfolio, this will all be worth it.

CHAPTER 4

CAMI

Poppy can make fun of my practical purchases all she wants, but nothing has been as useful to me as the little folding trolley I use to bring things to and from my car.

I use it now to wheel totes of decorations from my car to the office. I also empty out the office’s storage unit, bringing up everything I’ll need to transform the space into the perfect winter wonderland.

There are strict rules around here about how and when I’m allowed to decorate. When I first started working here, it was the official policy of the HR department—but we all knew it came from the CEO—that we wouldn’t decorate for any holidays. It would be easier that way, they said, to make sure nobody was excluded.