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Jacob’s mother came forward and clasped Josie’s hands. “Josie Gallagher, I want to thank you.” She squeezed Josie’s hands lightly, quietly accentuating her meaning. “I cannot begin to tell you what your kind and sacrificial heart has meant to our family. Thank you.” She reached out and hugged Josie. “For blessing us.”
“Now, ladies, this is a business meeting, and I don’t recall drama being listed on the menu.” Bob Weatherly motioned her toward a side table, set up in the shade of another mature tree. “Business first, or food?”
“If I don’t like the business, do I still get the food?”
“Absolutely not.” He smiled, teasing.
“Then let’s eat.” She met Bob Weatherly’s smile and matched it.
“Josie, you wouldn’t believe how many fun things my dad and I do now that he’s not working! It’s totally amazing!”
Two days of amazing. That was the sweet innocence of a child.
Jacob brought a plate of fresh burgers and Zweigle’s hot dogs to the table. “Mom was thinking formal. The rest of us outvoted her, so it’s mac salad, burgers and hot dogs.”
“My favorites,” Josie assured them. “Except for amazing barbecue, that is.”
“Exactly the reason I brought you over,” Bob jumped in, impatient. Clearly waiting until after dinner was too much to ask. “Josie, I’ve got a proposition for you.”
“Dad, I thought you were going to let her eat first?” Jacob pointed to the hot food on the table.
“Food tastes best when we’re happy,” Bob said. He sat down next to Josie and opened a loose-leaf portfolio. “Here’s my plan.”
The simple prospectus was outlined on the face page. And the simple offer was enough to capture Josie’s attention. “You want to franchise the Bayou Barbecue?”
“That’s exactly what I want to do. A partnership. You. Me. Him.” He pointed over his shoulder to Jacob, and Josie had to sip water to keep from choking. “You provide the dive design and recipes, I build, Jacob oversees the entire operation. Easy, right?”
Easy if you had millions of dollars to invest. She stared at the paper, then the two men. She didn’t want to ask the question with Addie right there, but the coincidence of timing wasn’t lost on her. “Mr. Weatherly, you know I’m not looking for anything, don’t you, sir? That was never my intent.”
“Young lady, I believe I fell in love with your food before anything else occurred, and while I pride myself on being a Southern gentleman, that mode does not inspire me to invest a small fortune into a new business endeavor. Great food, however, which fills a dearth in a market niche, does. This—” he tapped the cover sheet lightly “—is all business. The rest?” He raised a glass of sweet tea as if in her honor. “I’m leaving up to you.”
“I need to think on it. Seriously think on it. Read it,” she added. “And pray.”
“I’m in no rush, but once you give me the green light, it will be full steam ahead. Son, these burgers smell perfect.”
Simple delicious food, grilled by Jacob, and salad mixed by Bob’s own hands.
A lovely afternoon, calm and peaceful, but awkward, too. She couldn’t address her relationship to Addie, and Jacob’s parents seemed just as reticent.
Did she spark memories of their lost daughter? Good ones? Bad ones?
By eight o’clock she begged off an evening boat ride. “It has been a long week, and it seems I’ve got a date in the morning,” Josie reminded Addie when she asked her to stay longer. “I’ll see you then, okay?”
“Okay.” Then Addie won her heart further when she wrapped her arms around Josie’s waist and whispered, “I just miss you when you’re gone. That’s all.”
“I miss you, too. How nice that I won’t have to miss you for long because I’ll see you in fourteen hours. Okay?”
“’Kay.”
She waved goodbye as she eased out of the awkward driveway, then waved from the road as Jacob and Addie watched her go.
Bob’s offer gave her a lot to consider, and a lot to think over.
