Apparently, she had a plan of her own. He glanced over at Alice and saw she was as shocked as he. Then she pushed her glasses up on her nose. Then she blinked, as if just realizing she still had them on. She slipped them off and put them aside.
For some reason, that little tableau simply melted his heart.
Unbidden, thoughts of his sister Jennifer came to mind. If a couple of guys hit on her the way he and Ken had just hit on Bailey’s sister-in-law…yeah, he’d have a boatload of questions, too. And he wouldn’t, as Bailey had done, ask them with a smile.
He looked over and saw that Ken was already in the same mental spot he’d just arrived at.
“Neither of us is married, engaged, or involved with another woman,” Ken said.
“And yes, we are gainfully employed,” Ian said. “When we were in our early twenties, we relocated from Wyoming to Denver, where we bought a failing sporting goods store. We had a vision and followed through because we think like you, Miss Benedict.” He looked over at Alice. “We wanted it bad enough and found a way to make it happen. Our business is called Edgers, Inc.”
“Oh! I’ve heard of your company,” Bailey said.
“So have I.” Alice nodded. “I have a friend outside Albany who booked tours through your company when he vacationed in Denver.”
“Ours is the full-service experience,” Ken said. “Not only do we supply the gear, but we also hook people up with reputable excursion operators.”
Ian was beginning to feel that tingling he got whenever a dynamite idea began to formulate in his brain. He wondered if it would work—and wondered what he could say to get Alice to keep talking about their business.
Fortunately, he didn’t have to do a thing.
“I thought that was a fabulous idea—a single source on site for the whole vacation,” Alice said. “Why did you call your company Edgers? Was it a sales pitch? Making your clients feel as if, utilizing your company, they were living life on the edge?”
Ian grinned. Got you. “That was a part of it, absolutely. The other part was far more simplistic, and real, than any sales pitch. Hell, the truth was we sank everything we had into the damn company: we were a couple of guys living on the edge—on the edge of financial annihilation. It was a pure case of ‘this gig had better work, or else.’”
Alice and Bailey both grinned.
“You’ve done well with that. I heard you had an IPO that broke a few records.” Alice shrugged. “I’m a bit business oriented, myself.”
“We neither of us have any disgusting habits.” Ken said.
Ian held back his grin. Ken must have understood Ian’s thought process enough that he knew it was time to leave talk of the business be, for a moment.
“But because we understand that men and women are different and have totally dissimilar ideas of what constitutes disgusting,” Ian said, “we are willing to negotiate on any habit that you might identify in the future as being so.”
“You also asked about embarrassing secrets,” Ken said, “There’s just one, and it’s mine.”
“Dude, no, you don’t have to disclose that!” Ian looked over at Ken.
“I do, as a show of good faith.” He sighed. “The family sometimes refers to me as triple K and has for years. It’s because my name is Ken K. Kendall.”
“How is that embarrassing?” Bailey asked.
“Because my mother thought it would be cute if she gave me a particular name.” Ken nodded. “Do you want to know what Ken is short for? Or what the initial K stands for in my middle name?
Alice was quick—another check in the plus column. Her eyes went wide. “She did not!”
“She did, indeed. My mother named me Kendall Kendall Kendall.”
“Oh, dear.” Bailey put her hand over her mouth and appeared to be trying very hard not to laugh.
“I have a brother named Jason,” Alice said. “And I also have a first cousin named Jason. I am never, ever, going to do that kind of a disservice to a child of mine. Who knows what damage could ultimately be inflicted!”
Alice wasn’t laughing. She was sympathetic as hell and maybe even a little pissed, on Ken’s behalf. Perfect.
Bailey took a long drink from her tea. “So, you’re visiting family here in Texas?” she asked.
“We are, but that’s not the only reason we’re here,” Ian said.
“We decided it was time to add another outlet to our Denver and online business. That’s partly what the IPO was all about. We’ve put an offer in for an established sporting goods store in Waco. We’ll be using the same business model as we have with Edgers, Denver, only with a bit of a twist.”
“This time,” Ian said, “we’ll be looking for excursion experiences that will appeal not just to men and women in peak physical condition, and not just to the millennials, but to the whole, multi-generational vacationing family of today.”
“That’s brilliant,” Alice said. “I read not long ago that vacationing these days is a family experience, one that often includes kids and grandparents.”
“Exactly. You may not know it, but we went on every excursion we endorsed the first time around. And still do, with anything we add to the selection. We plan on doing the same again.” Ken’s enthusiasm seemed to be affecting the women, and that really was just perfect.
“Since we are looking for activities that appeal to more than one sort of vacationer, we have a proposition for you, Alice. Want to spend some time with us trying out tours and excursions, all while getting to know us? It’ll be fun, and we’d truly value your opinions and insights. If you’ve the time available, that is.”
Ian sat back and waited for her verbal answer. Her emotional one was already shining in her eyes.
He flicked a look at Ken. Yeah, they’d both had the same idea, all right. He looked at Alice and let her see how very badly he wanted her to say yes.
Chapter
