Read Online A Baby in the Bargain by Victoria Pade - Free Book Online Page B

“But was there another occupation you would have chosen if you weren’t a Camden who had to go to work for the family business?”
    “Actually, we were all raised knowing we were expected to work for the family business, but choosing what we do for it was completely up to each of us individually. If I had wanted to be an architect, for instance, I could have been. Then I would have designed Camden Superstores and facilities and office buildings. What each of us wanted to do, we’ve done, we’ve just done it for the family business. I liked public relations and marketing, so I head public relations and marketing.”
    “And who runs the family business as a whole?”
    “There are ten grandchildren—we make up the board of directors and we all have one vote on everything. My brother Cade holds the title of CEO, but in fact he doesn’t have any more power than any of us. H.J. set it up that way and so far it’s worked. I guess it helps that we’re a very close family. We get along, we were taught to cooperate with each other and we all just basically like each other.”
    “I’m an only child so I guess I don’t have much of a concept of that,” Gideon said.
    As they’d been sitting there, the donut shop had filled up considerably and there were now people searching for free tables. And there Jani and Gideon were, taking up a booth when they’d finished their coffee and donuts.
    So, as reluctant as she was to end what had turned into a normal, pleasant conversation with Gideon, Jani said, “We should probably eat more donuts or get going...”
    She was half hoping that Gideon might actually want another donut and would give her the excuse to draw this out a little longer. But when he looked around and seemed to notice for the first time that they weren’t alone in the place, he began to gather their empty coffee cups, napkins and the tissue paper the donuts had been served on.
    “Yeah, I guess we have been taking up space for longer than we should have.”
    As Gideon disposed of everything, Jani stood and put her coat on so she was ready to go when he returned to the booth and grabbed his own jacket, slipping it on as they left the shop.
    “If you’re still on board with the community center,” he said as they went across the street again, “I can have preliminary paperwork drawn up by Friday—a proposal of what needs to be done, an estimate of what it will cost. We can go over it and then you can take it back to your family. If they still want to put up the money, I’ll get things started.”
    “We will,” Jani assured him as they reached their cars. He escorted her to the driver’s side of hers this time.
    She unlocked her door and opened it but didn’t get in as she said, “When do you want to go over the paperwork? I’m swamped all day Friday, but we could do it over dinner Friday night, if you’re free. I’ll put it on my expense account and we’ll make it a dinner meeting....”
    There wasn’t a single part of that that Jani had thought about before she’d said it. Including that Friday night was not a time for a business dinner. Her mouth had just run away with her while her brain had been busy thinking about when she was going to see him again. And wanting it to be sooner rather than later.
    Then she realized she’d just basically asked him out, and even if it had been under the pretext of going over the paperwork, that wasn’t actually what was prompting her to do it.
    “I’m free for dinner Friday night,” Gideon said with surprisingly little hesitation.
    Well. Okay then...
    “There’s a great place, a Tuscan grill, near the Cherry Creek mall—”
    He said the name of it before she did and agreed that it was a good meeting place. “What time?” he asked.
    “Seven-thirty?” She was more inclined toward dinner at eight, which would make it easier to run home after work and change clothes. But somehow an eight-o’clock dinner seemed more datelike, while a seven-thirty dinner