Page 61 of Healing You
She launched into describing her fundraiser... the 10K race with the adoption event at the end. About halfway through, her father interrupted her.
“Yes, Jonah told me all about it. He's gotten many of the lawyers at the firm to sponsor him for his 10K. I donated $50 per mile.”
Her breath sputtered and she momentarily lost her words. “He did that?”
“Oh sure. Your mother and I were planning to come to the event.” He paused, then added, “Not running of course. But after, for the party.”
“It's nothing fancy, you know. Burgers, hot dogs—”
“You'll have wine, right?”
“We'll have wine. I'll even make sure there's pinot gris for Mom.”
“Who knows, maybe I'll finally cave and get your mother a little lap dog. You got any small dogs that don't shed?”
Yvonne was rendered utterly speechless. “Um, uh, yeah. Yeah, we do. The event you'll be coming to actually has a couple of miniature poodles because we found a breeding mill—” She stopped herself. Her dad didn't care about the little details. “I didn't even know mom wanted a dog.”
“Oh, sure. She grew up with show dogs. She loves those little things. Hell, anything that she can put in a cute outfit and paint its toenails,” he chuckled. “Don't know what the hell she would have done if you had been a boy.” Yvonne laughed, too, completely taken aback by this chatty, affable man she was speaking with. “Anyway, was that all? Just calling to invite us to your event?”
“No, I, uh—well, it's actually going to be a much larger turnout than we expected. And um, I'm trying to move the party location across the street from Steve Tripp's veterinary clinic—you remember Steve, right?” Her voice broke and she found herself suddenly wishing she had left his name out of it. Too late now, though.
“How could I forget the boy who nearly killed my daughter?”
She cleared her throat, ignoring the jab. “It's late and the permits are hard to acquire. I emailed Mayor O'Donnell, but who knows if she'll even get it. It probably goes to an assistant—”
“I'll put a call in,” he said. “With all the money we've donated to her campaigns? She sure as hell better get you that permit.”
Yvonne breathed a sigh of relief, her eyes fluttering closed. “I'm really glad you and Mom are coming. I didn't think you'd want to—”
“Of course we do,” he said, cutting her off. And even though the sentiment was kind, his voice was still curt. Annoyed. Annoyed that she had so little faith in them, maybe? She thought back to her various fundraisers... there wasn't a single one they had missed. Granted, most of the previous ones had been finer dining events that were more up their alley. But even still. “Your mother and I… you know how much we love you, right? Everything we've done, it's been—”
“To protect me, I know.”
He cleared his throat. “Yes. Well, I'm sorry if we ever went overboard in doing so.”
Yvonne opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. Her father just apologized? For being overbearing? She looked out the window to the sky to see if pigs were flying overhead, too.
“Thank you, Daddy. I actually have one more favor to ask...”
“You're cashing in all at once today, aren't you?” She heard a quiet clink in the background and she had no doubt he was pouring himself two fingers worth of whiskey.
“Steve will be there on Saturday. Can you and Mom make an effort to be nice?”
There was a soft sigh on the other end of the phone. “I'll talk to your mother.”
The doors at the front of Elsa's diner jingled as Sophy walked in. Yvonne gave her a nod of acknowledgment, waving her over. “Thanks, Dad. My twelve o'clock is here.” They each said goodbye as Sophy sat down, ordering a cup of coffee and a club sandwich.
“So,” Sophy said, finally settling in at the table. Yvonne shut her laptop, moving it to the side. “I guess you're wondering why I, of all people, called you here.”
Yvonne lifted an eyebrow. “I presume it has something to do with the development deal you've convinced my ex-fiancé and parents to participate in.”
She gave Yvonne a shrewd smile, but not an altogether unpleasant one. “I really love this little town. And I believe that an expansion would do great things here. But I also don't want to see the landscape change. And I don't want to alienate the locals with big business.”
“Okay.” Yvonne narrowed her eyes, not really sure where this was going.
“And after a quick chat with Steve, I think I found a great solution. I want to offer local businesses first right of refusal for the storefronts in the shopping center we're building on the outskirts of town. Any shops or restaurants who are maybe thinking of expanding would get first dibs. For example, if Elsa here decided to franchise and open a second location in the outlets, she would have diner exclusivity. We wouldn't bring in any Denny's or IHOPs or anything like that. If Lex opened a second location, we wouldn't bring in a Starbucks.”
“An outlet mall...” Yvonne said carefully. So far, it wasn't a bad plan, giving the locals first crack at the location.
