I noticed that Mr. Morris had highlighted several sections and had put notes in the margin for Caryn. There were also notes from Tom Dole and Ms. Dixon. It rather scared me that I needed three lawyers to read an agreement from the NCAA. I understood them all wanting to earn their fee; I couldn’t remember a time when a lawyer didn’t want to add their two cents’ worth. Mom had said some rather unkind words regarding the subject. She dealt with contracts for real estate deals all the time. She said if a lawyer was involved, they always found a way to muck things up. That might explain why it had taken several weeks to get a simple waiver so I could be declared an amateur.
“Hurry up and sign it before they find anything else wrong,” I encouraged dad.
Caryn pulled out a clean copy with the NCAA’s signatures on it. Dad signed and dated it. Megan had her notary stamp, which she affixed to the contract.
“Let’s go on the tour,” Caryn said.
◊◊◊
The restaurant renovation was coming along. The kitchen had been power-washed, and fresh paint was evident. County permits were posted in the front window so the public could see what was going on. Caryn said all the equipment was to be looked at and thoroughly cleaned. She told us that Granny assured her it would be better than new when they were done with it.
The contractor also pulled out the flooring in the back and put in commercial-grade flooring designed for restaurant kitchens. That meant there weren’t cracks or grout where anything might fall in, and it didn’t get slick when wet. It was a slate gray and looked sharp.
Caryn said the walk-ins had been gross. All the shelving was pulled out so it could be cleaned and repaired. Because of what they found, it was decided to do pest control. I appreciated that Caryn didn’t go into detail.
Mary and Granny were working with a designer to figure out the best locations for everything for optimum workflow. The designer was also working out the best seating plan for out front and upstairs. Caryn showed us some concepts for downstairs. They were trying to get it to look and feel a lot like Granny’s current restaurant. We’d half decided to call the place “Granny’s West” to capitalize on her good name. Upstairs they wanted to name “Our House.” Megan joked that you could say you were going to “Our House,” and people would think you were going home. Dad threw in that when people would chant “Our House” at the games, it would be free advertising. I wondered why I was even there.
◊◊◊
I had to be home early today. The woman from
As I was walking to the house, a car pulled up and parked on the street outside the gate, and I waved at it. Two women got out of the vehicle and approached the gate. One, dressed in ‘New York business’ attire, was a medium-height brunette. The second was more casually dressed and had mousy brown hair and glasses. She looked familiar, but I couldn’t place her.
“Have I met you before?”
The videographer smiled at me.
“No, we’ve never actually met.”
She didn’t say any more, so I shook it off and offered to help with the equipment. She accepted, and as soon as I picked up the two cameras she had, I knew why. Those suckers were heavy!
I opened the door, only to be met by Dad.
“Angie and Duke are upstairs with your mom; the babies are fussing right now,” he said.
Then he reached to take one of the cameras from me as I walked by. Duke came bounding down the stairs as I headed towards the living room, but he skidded to a stop. Amazingly, he greeted our guests with a low, menacing growl. I looked up into the mirror in the hallway, startled, and saw the videographer’s look of loathing as she backed away from Duke, who was still growling at her. All of a sudden, it clicked.
“Guys, I’m going to take Duke up to the apartment and get him settled there, and then I need to take a shower. Dad, would you show them to the living room and then help me with something from the car for a second?”
“Sure,” he said as he looked at me, a bit perplexed.
I had to grab Duke by the collar to get him to follow me as I walked out the door with Dad trailing.
“David, what gives?”
“I’m not sure. For now, would you keep them occupied in the living room until I get back? We’ll get everything set up after I do a few things. I just have a bad feeling,” I explained.
He nodded as I ran up to the apartment with my phone already out. I hit the speed dial for Fritz.
◊◊◊
In the next fifteen minutes, I showered and changed into some of the clothes Halle had picked out for my travel to LA. I also made a few preparations in the kitchen.
I emerged into the living room and told them we would set up in the kitchen. The two women conferred a bit and then worked together to get everything arranged. They had one camera pointed at me and the other aimed at Lucy, the woman doing the interview. If I’d been doing it, I would have had a third camera focused on both of us.
