Page 227 of Share with Me

Ned must’ve noticed his eyes on the wall clock. “How about you come over to the house for dinner tonight?”

“Uh…”

“It’ll just be you and me. Brin won’t be there. My wife’s in Paris.” Ned pocketed his wallet. “We have a lot to talk about. When do you get off work?”

All Ivan heard was:We have a lot to talk about.

That couldn’t be all good. Did Ned have a problem with the prenup? It wasn’t that bad, was it?

“Tonight I’m working late, sir. I work late every night except Wednesday nights when I have church. And Sundays. We close on Sundays.”

“We’ll have to do lunch another time. How about tomorrow? Same time?”

“We can do that, sir.”

“For today, sorry we had to cancel lunch. I’ll have Chaz here go get you a sandwich or something for lunch and you can eat it on your break. How does that sound?”

“Thank you, but no need. I’ll be fine. I’ll see you tomorrow at noon. Same place?”

“Barbara Jean’s. How about I meet you there, sir?”

“So that I don’t come here to buy up the store?”

Ivan didn’t know what to say about that. “Well, the antique store next door might have more stuff you might like to see. I’ve gotten some old music manuscripts there myself. Nineteenth century.”

“Possibly from Charleston too?”

“I wouldn’t be surprised. Matt’s raiding history there, but that’s not the only place he goes.”

“All right, son. Sorry our lunch is a bust.”

“But you made it out okay. You’re not going to ride that curricle, are you?”

“Nope. It’s a museum piece. Goes into my vault.”

Another vault.“Have you ever thought of opening up a museum so everyone can see your old cars?”

“There’s a reason it’s called aprivatecollection.”

“But history is meant to be shared.”

Ned seemed to be mulling it over. “Just like the musical instruments you talked Brin into loaning to the future MOMI.”

How did the SISO Museum of Musical Instruments get into the conversation?

“Does she tell you everything?” Ivan blurted, but it was too late to retract his thoughts. Somehow he felt comfortable with Ned. Too comfortable. There should be a distance between him and his future father-in-law.

“Not everything, but we’re close.”

“Glad to hear that, sir. My dad and I weren’t—uh, I haven’t heard from my dad in years. I don’t even know where my mother is. Brinley is very fortunate to have you and Mrs. Brooks around.”

Ned looked visibly moved. “Well, son, I’d better let you get back to work. See you tomorrow. Noon. Don’t be late. Bring a starving stomach.”

“Yes, sir.” Ivan watched Ned and his one-man security walk out of the thrift shop. He had a new respect for Ned, the gulf between them notwithstanding. He thought Ned was rather down-to-earth.

Brinley must’ve gotten that from him.

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