Page 29 of Second Chances in Cedarwood

As Remy spoke, Henry started thinking. “Like how it’s just a nice plain small town where I can hear the birds? Like that?”

“Yes, exactly. Charlie must’ve wanted to get out of writing the reviews. I don’t know,” Remy said. “Doesn’t matter. You’ve got a handle on what I’d like you to write.”

“I don’t review. I talk about a place or hit the highpoints, but I don’t want to do that for Cedarwood. I’m happier to do that with places I don’t live in—if that makes sense.” He could review a foreign country or town, but not Cedarwood.

“Then don’t. Write what makes you feel comfortable.” Remy tapped his index finger on the table. “I want you to write something that makes you happy.”

“I can do that.” The more Remy talked, the more Henry considered taking the job. But he wasn’t sold yet.

“I figured you’d be upset and I wanted to smooth your feathers.” Remy shook his head. “Charlie is shit at presentation. He’s a decent enough writer and has the enthusiasm, but he can’t always get his point across if he’s trying to sell someone on something.”

“I noticed.” If it were up to him, he’d fire Charlie.

“Jack’s a pretty good bulldog for you and that restaurant, too.”

“What?” His blood chilled. What had Jack done?

“You sent him to rip my ass a new one, didn’t you?”

“No.” He held up both hands. “Why don’t you tell me what happened?” He wasn’t angry with Jack, but he wished he knew what Jack had done before he’d come to the meeting.

“He called and reminded me you’d chosen Cedarwood as your home base and you weren’t here to critique it,” Remy said.

“It’s true.” He wanted to settle down in his semi-retirement here.

“And I understand that. I’m not asking you to critique anything,” Remy said. “Charlie mis-sold it.”

Henry nodded. “I’m sorry about Jack.”

“No, he had a point. Featuring a place is fine. Like saying the doughnut shop has great bear claws on Wednesdays. That’s a good feature. But to say they don’t make decent ones…that’s not what I’m wanting. Critiques are helpful to a point and not in the way Charlie thought. I’d like to do a meal of the week feature or special dish of the week thing to show off the best dining in Cedarwood. I’m a sucker for Jack’s hot dogs.”

“Ah.” He was, too.

“And I get why Jack was so angry about the perceived gossipy angle Charlie presented. He thought we wanted you to report back on what you hear. No one would trust you and when they saw you coming, they’d run the other way.”

“They would.”

“Which is why I want your thoughts on Cedarwood, you know? What’s great about our town? I don’t expect a weekly column. Could be one every other week,” Remy said. “I’ll work on your schedule.”

“I’ll think about it, but you might want to have a chat with Charlie,” Henry said. “Soon.”

“What’d he do now?” Remy shook his head. “That kid will give me gray hairs worse than I already have.”

“He mentioned something about seeing Jack with someone else. It wasn’t his business to make comments and truthfully, it was bad form for a reporter,” Henry said. “It didn’t look good for the paper to have him butting in.” Getting his concerns voiced did help.

“Agreed. I’ll talk to him.” Remy jotted something on the notepad already on the table. “That’s not the look I want for the paper, plus, it’s just rude.” Remy hesitated. “So that aside, consider my offer.”

“I will.” He did want to write more.

“Please do. I’m trying to revamp the paper and make it more relevant. You’d be good for that,” Remy said. “Can I be frank with you?”

“Sure. I’ve been so far with you.” He wasn’t sure where Remy was going with his line of thinking, but he’d try to keep up.

“You and Jack are a couple, yes?”

“We are.”

“Why don’t you come together to the LGBTQ support group meetings?” Remy asked. “I’ve invited Jack a few times, but he’s always busy. It’s mostly a chance to be around others in the community who understand our struggles. Why not come? We meet tonight at eight.”

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