Page 19 of One Good Reason

During one of his calls, he pulled the phone down from his ear and asked if I had eaten lunch yet. After confirming that I hadn’t, he had “Baker” call someone to make a reservation for three. I was under the impression that we would be going to wherever this person of Poppa’s was. Sadly, I was wrong. The truck rolled to a stop in front of STK Steakhouse and before I could ask questions, Baker was pulling the door open.

“Right this way, Ms. Howard,” he said while holding his hand out. Grabbing ahold of his outstretched hand, I let him assist me out of the truck. When Law stepped out of the truck, the wind drafted causing a woody, citrusy scent to waft across my nose. Placing his hand at the small of my back, he lightly pushed me forward all the while still on his call.

“Reservation for Harvey,” he uttered to the hostess who checked the computer for our names before grabbing three menus and telling us to follow her.

The minute I stepped forward to follow her, Law’s hand was back at the small of my back. It wasn’t until we reached the table did he remove it. Pulling a chair out, he nodded his head for me to take a seat before rounding the table to sit across from me. Not wanting to seem like I was eaves dropping on his conversation, I picked up the menu and scoured it.

I was supposed to stop and grab lunch after I left my doctor’s appointment, but it ran a little longer than expected so I figured I would just send Rossi out to grab me something. In the midst of work, my hunger pains subsided so naturally I forgot to do so. Had Law not mentioned lunch, I probably wouldn’t have eaten anything until I got home for the day.

“You have to excuse me. I wasn’t trying to be rude. I had a few things scheduled for the day before getting this meeting,” he apologized as soon as he ended the call. Placing the phone down on the table, he slid out of his coat and draped it over the back of the chair next to him.

Bringing the menu down from my face, I asked the question that had been on my mind since I was picked up. “I thought we were having a meeting?”

“We are. I’ve been so busy today I hadn’t had the chance to eat lunch and clearly you haven’t either. So, we’re going to do it here.”

“I understand.” I nodded. “Thanks for that. I’ve just had a busy day and it slipped my mind.”

“Likewise. Before our third party arrives, I wanted to bring you abreast. The guy we’re getting ready to meet is William Pellegrin, he oversees the accreditation. He’s going to give us a list of things that we need to do before we can even begin the application process. According to a few people I’ve spoken with already, we can expect the first application to be denied.”

“Denied!” I gasped.

“Unfortunately, yes. It’s a tedious process which is why Poppa sent me directly to him. I wanted to set the expectations first. Denied doesn’t mean that it won’t happen. It just means we have to work harder at impressing the accreditation board.”

“What all do we have to do?”

“Finding a location is at the top of the list. I want to get that squared away before we even submit the application.”

Rubbing my temples in a circular motion, I fluttered my eyes until they closed. “In other words, be prepared to be stressed out like I said.”

I thought the purpose of this meeting was to ease the tension I was feeling. The damn meeting hadn’t even started yet and my anxiety was back. This time instead of it being geared toward Gema, it was on this whole application process. Tonight, I would definitely be taking Rossi up on his offer to go out. I needed a drink or four if I was going to have to deal with stuff like this along the way.

CHAPTER 5

Lawton

The pained expression on her face was laughable. However, I knew this wasn’t a laughable moment. It was clear Talitha wasn’t used to these type of things. I, on the other hand, had dealt with it plenty of times before in the past. Me being the type of businessman I was, I hardly ever heard no but this was a quest that I didn’t know too many people in.

Granted, Poppa had leant me his connect but this man didn’t know me therefore I had a feeling I couldn’t pay my way through this process.

“Nothing to stress about. No, it won’t be easy, but we got this.”

Talitha stopped massaging her temples and slanted her eyes. “I’m not so sure anymore. I hardly know anything about residential real estate and now you’re saying we have to find a school. How is that not stressful?”

“Lucky for you, I’ve purchased several commercial properties. I’ll get with an agent and have them pull a few spaces. I’ll even let you tag along with me to view them. The main thing I want you to focus on is the application.”

“I can do that.” She breathed.

“Well then, the rest should be pretty easy.” Picking the menu back up I asked, “Anything on here catching your attention?”

“A few things. I’m ready to order if you are.”

“We can order,” I confirmed. Waving the server over, Talitha and I placed our order. After having done so, we talked more about what I had found out from my trusted sources about the application process.

William had given his confirmation with Baker who let me know he would be running a few minutes behind being that he was leaving work. I planned to have Talitha good and relaxed by the time he showed up. I needed her mind to be at ease so she could listen to everything he had to say. Even if I was expecting to be denied the first go around, if we could prevent it, I was more than okay with that.

“Mr. Harvey, I understand this will be your school but the way this works, both of you have to attend the class. You because it’syourbusiness, her because well...” he trailed off, prompting me to speak up.

“Because it’s her vision. I’m just here to make it come true.”

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