After she left, Jimmy sat again in the chair behind his desk. He swiveled back to face the window. He didn’t for a moment believe that Monica’s arrival was pure coincidence. Richard must have planted her, knowing she had been his lay-of-the-week. Maybe he thought… Jimmy stopped. He couldn’t think of a single reason Richard would have gone to the trouble to find her.
“Mr. Buko,” his secretary’s voice interrupted his thoughts.
“Yes, Julie,” he called out to the intercom.
“Your brother is on line one, Mr. Buko.”
“Danny,” Jimmy picked up the phone and greeted his younger sibling. “What’s up?”
“Meet me for lunch, Jimmy.” Danny’s sentence was characteristically terse and hovered between statement and question.
“I’m doing those interviews today,” Jimmy reminded him.
“Meet me for lunch at the Beach House,” Danny repeated. “At one o’clock.”
“Okay,” Jimmy relented. “I’ll get Julie to make a reservation.”
“I already did. Bye.”
Jimmy shook his head as he hung up the phone. Danny was an enigma. As intelligent as anyone in some areas, he was naïve to the point of simplicity, almost an idiot savant. With perfect photographic recall, he could master any academic subject. But he seldom could apply any of the millions of facts at his command to useful purpose. Jimmy loved him with a fierceness that defied opposition, and protected him from the outer world with a diligence that only great wealth could purchase.
Jimmy’s reverie was again interrupted by the intercom. “Mr. Buko, Mr. Urbano is here.”
“Send him in,” Jimmy ordered.
“Richard,” he greeted his lawyer. “The conference call?”
“There was a slight hitch with the figures from Copenhagen but I persuaded Dallas to go ahead anyway. The adjustment was slight and shouldn’t affect profits over the long haul.”
“How long is the long haul?” Jimmy queried, his voice sharp.
“We’ll be down about a hundred thousand a day for the first three months. Then it will turn around. We should be back in the black within five months and showing a good profit within eight.”
“What’s a good profit?”
“Fifty thou a day, conservatively. The break-even on the initial investment comes at six months two weeks.”
“That’s my man,” Jimmy clapped his lawyer on the shoulder.
“It was your idea,” Richard reminded him. “I’m just the number-crunching, i-dotting, t-crosser.”
“Time to get to the real work, Mr. Crosser.”
“The women,” Richard groaned.
“The women,” Jimmy agreed. “You sit here and weed through ’em.”
He pushed the lawyer into the chair behind his desk.
“There should be,” he looked at the list on his desk, “fifteen left. Narrow it down to two or three. Good looking but not flashy. Intelligent. Sense of humor. Just find me the perfect woman.”
Richard’s head hung in his hands. The man could face down a hostile faction and save a profitable venture, but he cringed before a few eager women. Jimmy was still laughing as he walked out the door.
Chapter 10
Aggie stood in the lobby of the Vancouver Hotel. She wasn’t sure what Danny would look like. She had her doubts that he had managed to arrange an interview. She didn’t know if she could pull it off. At that moment, she had no idea what she was even doing in Vancouver.
She pulled down the hem of her sweater. At the last minute, she had insisted on wearing the outfit Angela had bought her in Atlanta. She hoped the pants and sweater would bring her luck, that some shred of good karma clung to the wool. Besides, it was comfortable and conservative and it made her feel pretty. Angela had capitulated with bad grace, certain the look was too plain. As the minutes dragged on, a niggle of doubt twisted into Aggie’s brain. Maybe Angela was right. Maybe the outfit was too plain.
“You are beautiful.”
The voice spoke from right behind her.
“Oh,” she turned and studied the young man who had startled her. He was tall and thin, his molded suit hinting at sleek muscles. His hair was blond and simply cut. His clear blue eyes stared into hers with unnerving intensity. He was a hunk. “Are you Danny?”
The words came out more breathless than Aggie anticipated. She cleared her throat and tried again.
“You must be Danny.” she thrust out her hand. “I’m Aggie Trout.”
“I’m Danny,” the young man agreed solemnly. “I didn’t know you were so beautiful.”
“Thank you,” Aggie blushed.
“Come with me.”
The young man turned on his heel and walked away. Aggie hurried to catch up. Danny strode through the lobby and out the main door of the hotel. Then he turned left and started down the street.
“We’ll walk,” he announced.
“That’s fine,” Aggie agreed. “I like to walk.”
The young man shot her a sharp glance.
“That’s good,” he commented.
“Do you think we could go a little slower?” Aggie asked.
The man slacked his pace and Aggie adjusted her stride to approximate his.
“Tell me about your brother,” she essayed when she had her breath back.
“He’s a good person.”
Evidently Danny wasn’t big on small talk. He quickly confirmed her estimation.
“You talk,” he commanded. “Tell me about yourself.”
“Well,” Aggie began, “I’m a librarian. I live and work in Cincinnati.”
She waited for some response. None came, so she continued, trying to stick to the script she and Angela had agreed on. The words died unspoken as a sudden thought took precedence. Maybe she should turn on the tape recorder. She and Angela agreed that she wouldn’t be able to remember what she told the lawyer verbatim, that she should record every word. Aggie fumbled in her pocket and pushed what she hoped was the record button. Then she continued her monologue.
“I like my job. I love books and obviously the library is full of them.” Do I sound as stupid to him as I do to myself, she wondered. She tried again. Maybe a direct question would get a response, take some of the burden off her. “Do you like to read?”
“My brother does.”
Silence again. Still, she stored up the morsel of information, hoping it might prove useful at some point. They walked in silence for some moments and Aggie studied their surroundings. They were walking down a busy street lined with small shops. It felt almost European. She looked around for a street sign. Robson. Maybe she and Angela could come back here once the inquisition was past.
Several minutes and turns later, they walked by a huge mansion on the right. The next block held a more prosaic Safeway. The scent came to Aggie first, the familiar briny tang of the ocean. A moment later she began to recognize buildings and then their hotel came into view. If Angela was looking out the window she would see them, see Danny.
“This is beautiful,” she commented to throw Danny off track. She didn’t want him to guess that she knew this view well. He glanced at her and smiled, almost as if he knew. But he couldn’t, she reminded herself. “What is this body of water called?”
“English Bay.” The words were polite, but the accompanying look was almost disappointed.
They were walking along the seawall now and Aggie forgot her anxiety, forgot the scheming, forgot the coming ordeal, in the sheer pleasure of walking between ocean and green grass, passing and being passed by walkers and bikers, each intent on their journey. The place had a sense of combined peace and purpose that eased Aggie toward well-being. If only I could walk here every day, she thought, I think I would be a happy woman.