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“Ah, so you do know some of the lingo.”
Lucy held up her finger and thumb with a small space between them. “Just this much.”
“Cool. But the Yankees are the home team.”
“What? I don’t…Oh! You want to fly us to New York for a baseball game?”
“I’d like that, yes,” he told her. “If we have time, I’d also like to have dinner in SoHo.”
She was shaking her head, “You’re crazy, you know that?”
He had just taken a bite of his sandwich, but she could see his eyes dancing as he said, “Why? I just want to spend more time with you. Before…well before this has to end.”
She swallowed hard. “I’d like to spend more time with you, too.”
The next day, they ended up taking his jet to New York and having dinner at an amazing little Sushi restaurant in SoHo. They watched the Yankee’s game from a private skybox. Then they flew back home, a little bit tipsy from the few beers they’d had.
Lucy confirmed that Jamie’s jet had a bedroom. They made love throughout the entire flight home. It had been the perfect ending to a day filled with taking silly pictures in baseball gear they bought in the gift shop, singing “Take me Out to the Ballpark” during the seventh inning stretch, and eating foot-long hot dogs (even though she spilled mustard all over the front of her shirt, thus leading to them visiting the gift shop in the first place).
But when she was back in her apartment, alone, she started to worry.
She was falling hard for Jamie.
It had nothing to do with him flying her in a private jet to a ball game, and everything to do with how much fun he was to be with when they got there.
She didn’t want their time to end.
And she didn’t know what to do about it.
* * *
Two days after flying Lucy to New York, Jamie was in his office when his father called.
“Well, I got a call from Tom Landry over at the EPA offices today. At your request, we’ve been checking into the practices of the old auto-manufacturing plant in Summitville, and it looks like your suspicions were correct. Even though its distillation system technically met EPA standards, the runoff from the plant significantly diminished the quality of the land around it. That includes fields that were previously used for farming and are now lying empty.”
“Right,” Jamie said. “And that means even though our distillation system is environmentally friendly, there’s going to continue to be reduced plant production and profit for those nearby farms. Can we rehabilitate the land before we begin operation—assuming that we’re even granted that right by the town council?”
“We could, but that would be expensive. Very expensive. I’m not sure I’m willing to spend that kind of money on a project that may or may not get off the ground. If the town council commits beforehand, maybe, otherwise…”
“You know this project is important to me, Dad. My goal isn’t just to profit our company, but help the residents of Summitville. I’d like to explore repairing the land that’s been damaged.”
“Before we’re guaranteed a presence in the town?”
“That’s right. It’s a calculated risk. But it’s also something I feel strongly about.”
And his father knew why. After only a brief hesitation, his father said, “You do what you think is right, Jamie.”
“Thank you, Dad. That means a lot to me.”
“You mean a lot to me, son. It’s good to be working with you again. I’m proud of you. Proud of what you stand for.”
After ending the call with his father, Jamie finished packing up his things, then called Lucy. “Hi. I’m about to catch my flight and should be at your apartment within the next few hours. How does shrimp scampi and rice sound?”
“Fabulous.”
“Great. The restaurant’s close to the airport. Do you want me to send a driver over to pick you up and drop you off at the restaurant?”
She chuckled. “I let you fly me across the country to one ballgame, Jamison, and suddenly you think you need to send a car to drive me to a restaurant? I can get there myself, but thank you.”
