Smiling to himself, Jake thought, “Yeah, fits. You might have young eyes but that’s an old soul inside.”
Despite the set agenda, the board meeting at Hyde Properties overran by an hour. Once she had taken her seat at the table, Lori instinctively slipped into “business woman” mode and found herself questioning and challenging some aspects of the acquisition paper that she hadn’t initially intended to. Her obvious understanding of the deal caught some of the junior members of the board off guard. Only occasionally deferring to David, her financial confidante, Lori held her own throughout the meeting and, after a few minor amendments, she signed the deal off shortly after five-thirty.
With the agenda finally completed, the meeting was brought to a close and the board trooped out of the conference room. Only David and a younger man, Townes, remained seated.
“You drive a hard bargain, Lori,” declared David sincerely. “Your father would be proud of you.”
“Thanks,” she said with a weary sigh. “Nice to know I’ve not lost my touch.”
“You certainly haven’t, Mz Hyde,” complimented Townes, his accent a soft Southern drawl. “Impressive.”
“All in a day’s work,” replied Lori, pouring herself a glass of water. “Do we have time to go over my Mz Hyde accounts or should we reschedule for tomorrow morning?”
“Whatever is easier for you, my dear,” said David with his usual paternal concern. “I do need to talk to you about a personal matter.”
Checking the time, Lori said, “Well, I promised to meet Annie and the kids at six-thirty for dinner. How about we meet for breakfast at the apartment tomorrow morning to go over the accounts?”
“What time?” quizzed Townes.
“Eight,” replied Lori. “And bring the JJL figures too. Jason was talking about investing in a third studio in Nashville. I want a look at the projections for JJL and JJL West before I agree to anything.”
“Certainly, Mz Hyde,” said Townes as he gathered his paperwork and iPad together. “I’ll have those ready for the morning.”
“Email them over tonight if you can,” requested Lori as he got to his feet. “I’ll look them over after I get the kids to bed.”
“Yes, Mz Hyde.”
Both Lori and David watched the younger man leave the room. As he closed the door behind him, David rose from his seat and came round to sit beside her.
“I see congratulations are in order again,” he said warmly. “You’re looking radiant.”
“I’m looking fat and exhausted,” laughed Lori, her musical laugh echoing round the vast empty conference room. “This is definitely the last.”
“Jake must be thrilled,” commented David, oblivious to the events of the past few months.
Keeping her head bowed, Lori whispered, “He doesn’t know yet.”
“Oh!” exclaimed her surrogate father. “Care to enlighten me?”
Struggling to keep her emotions under control, Lori explained about the workshop at the high school, the incident at JJL, the text messages and her separation from Jake. Beside her, David sat listening without interrupting. When she finished her tale, he let out a long sigh and sat watching her.
“Lori,” he began softly, reaching for her hand. “Jake isn’t your father. I’ve seen how he looks at you. It’s clear he idolises you. He freely admitted what he’d done. He didn’t try to hide anything from you. He loves you too much to lie to you.”
“I’m going to see him tomorrow,” she whispered. “I miss him but I don’t know if I can forgive him.”
“That’ll take time, my dear,” soothed David, recalling a similar conversation with Lori’s mother from almost thirty years before. Silently, he prayed his gut instincts were right and that Jake would never cheat on her again. He’d witnessed first-hand the pain and heartbreak that her father’s infidelity had caused. “Now, I hate to mention this but I need a word. A personal word.”
“I think I can guess,” said Lori sadly. “You want to retire and hand the reins to Townes.”
David nodded, “It’s time. I was seventy-five on my last birthday, Lori. Townes is the first person I’ve worked with that I deem capable of taking over from me. He’s a bit shy and awkward at first but he’s excellent at his job and his judgement’s sound.”
“That’s praise indeed coming from you.”
“Yes, I guess it is,” said David with a smile. “Do I have your blessing on this?”
Lori nodded, not trusting herself to speak for fear of opening the flood gates on the emotions surging inside her.
“If you’re agreeable, I’ll finish up at the end of the year. That gives me plenty of time to bring Townes up to speed on your personal financial accounts and the JJL finances.”
“And if I need your advice?” she asked, her voice barely more than a whisper.
“I’m still your Uncle David. I’m still here for you whenever you need me,” he promised sincerely. “And, for the first few months, I’ll still be here to support Townes should he need a second opinion.”
“Oh, David,” sobbed Lori, her emotions getting the better of her. “I’m going to miss you.”
“You’ll be so busy with this new baby and Melody and Jesse and Jake that you’ll not have time to miss me,” he prophesied wisely. “Now, don’t you have a dinner date to keep?”
“I do,” she said, forcing a smile. “Want to join us? The kids would love to see you?”
“I’ll see them for breakfast,” promised David, checking the time. “Olivia has tickets to a lecture at the Natural History Museum. If I’m late, she’ll never forgive me.”
“Breakfast it is then,” she agreed, gathering her paperwork together.
With the shop closed for the day, Garrett joined Riley and Jake down in the dragon’s lair. They planned to work their way diligently through Garrett’s set, ironing out all the kinks. When the older man stepped into the room, he walked straight across to pick up
