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“Are all your time slots full?” Hudson asked. “Or are you just sitting around collecting a paycheck?”
“Oh, they’re usually full. Sometimes Wednesday can be a little slow, so if I need to take a day off, I try to make it that one.”
“I’ll talk to HR and give approval for you to work any hours over and above the usual ones with overtime pay.”
Wilder rested his hands on the table, gripping his knife and fork. “Thank you. I really appreciate that.”
“I have a feeling that the extra money won’t just pad your bank account.”
“It will temporarily, but it will be passed on once I begin to travel again.”
“I was very interested in what you shared last night about the organizations you work with.”
Wilder gave him a curious look. “Are you aware of the dangers that street children face in many of these countries?”
“Yes. But to be honest, I haven’t spent a lot of time thinking about them.”
“Most people don’t,” Wilder said. “I certainly hadn’t. Not until that moment when I witnessed that situation.”
“And that’s how you came into contact with those organizations?”
“Yep. I did some research on them, because not every organization is on the up and up. There are some who pocket more donations than they use to help the children.”
“And you found some reliable ones?”
“Once I found one that was vetted by other organizations that I trusted, they put me in contact with more people in other countries. I wanted that introduction because a single man wanting to make contact with organizations that worked with vulnerable children could be viewed as suspicious.”
Hudson nodded, and his respect for Wilder rose, as did his respect for the Halverson family as a whole. Wilder was no doubt the man he was today because of how his parents had raised him. Their family, as a whole, seemed to be unique. At least to him.
“I want to help financially,” Hudson stated after they’d talked about it for a bit longer.
Wilder paused in chewing the bite he’d just taken, then swallowed. “You want to help?”
“Yes. I know you plan to tell your family how to help. I’d like to receive that information as well.”
“Sure. Of course. That would be great.”
Satisfied that he’d achieved his main goal for the meal, Hudson changed the subject. “So, what do you think about the events going on here at the resort?”
Wilder grimaced. “They make me mad because of how they’re stressing Kayleigh.”
“Do you have any thoughts about who might be behind them?”
The remainder of the meal was spent discussing the situation, and Hudson found that Wilder had a different opinion on some of the employees at the resort. He bet that was because Wilder gave off a happy-go-lucky type of attitude, while Kayleigh was more serious.
People would let their guard down more around him as a ski instructor than when they were around the manager of the resort. Hudson found the man’s thoughts were interesting, and he wondered if Wilder and Kayleigh had spoken much about what was going on.
Maybe he should have asked Kayleigh to join them for dinner, so he could have heard both their opinions of things at the same time.
Hudson was tempted to ask Wilder about his sister, but he didn’t. Something told him that the man would be wary about handing over any sort of personal details about Kayleigh to a man who had the power to use anything he shared against her.
Strangely enough, it was the personal details that he found himself wanting. The first detail he wanted was if she had a boyfriend. Though it was none of his business and had no bearing on his purpose in Serenity, Hudson really wanted to know at least that much.
But truthfully, he wanted to know so much more as well.
It was probably good that he hadn’t extended the invitation for that reason alone. However, he knew that given the opportunity again, he would probably take it.
Though he wasn’t usually someone given to impulse decisions, Kayleigh seemed to bring it out of him. He knew he should make the choice to keep a professional distance, but for the first time in his adult life, he really didn’t want to.
