Page 15 of Wait For Me

“No other way to be. So, what’s your name?”

“Zane Frik,” he held his empty hand out to me, and I placed mine into it and shook.

“Star Martin,” I returned.

“Star? Were your parents hippies?”

It was my turn to laugh. “No, my parents just thought they were being funny. My mom insisted that her children carry both her last name and my father’s.”

“Were they not married?”

“Oh, no, they were married, and she even used his name, but she replaced her middle name with her maiden when she married, and she wanted us to carry on that new tradition.”

“Did she not like her middle name before?”

I threw my head back and laughed then, remembering all the times that my mother had bitched about her name. “Kimberly Eunice Cross,” I told him. “She was named after a great aunt who everyone hated, because her dad thought it might get them put in the old bat’s will.”

“Did it?”

I shook my head, laughing some more. “Nope. She left it all to some cat rescue. Never even bothered to meet my mother.”

“Wait, your mother’s maiden name is Cross?”

“Yes.” He smirked at me, and I already knew what was coming. “And that’s where my parents’ sense of humor came into play.

“Star Cross – Star Crossed,” he teased.

I rolled my eyes because everyone who ever knew my middle name came to the same conclusion. “Yes, and people pointing that out for me led to a whole lot of romantic notions about life that I had to get over as I grew older.”

His brow popped up in surprise. “Don’t believe in star crossed lovers, fate, romance and all that?”

I shook my head. “Not anymore.”

“Ah, already had your initial heartbreak, huh?”

“Something like that. What about you?”

“I’m old enough to have gone through several heartbreaks at this point,” he joked but quickly took a sip of his beer to keep from adding to it. I wouldn’t pry because honestly, I’d probably never see this guy again. It was just one of those random, happenstance encounters that people have from time to time.

“So, what do you do in finance?”

“Stock market, well that’s what I started with. Now, I do some investing in businesses too. That’s what I’m here for. The resort just beyond the lake is looking to expand and either wants an investor or to be bought out altogether.”

“Are you going to do either of those things?”

“I’m thinking about it, sure. That’s why my stay here is extended. I wanted to get a feel for the area, the locals, how they treat the vacationing masses, and what tourist season might mean for the business. It definitely needs some overhauls, but so far, I think it might be a worthy investment.”

“That’s really cool.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, especially since you’ll be helping people here retain jobs, maybe opening up more jobs for them. It’s hard to be the bottom-level worker in a resort town. Everything is so expensive, and yet, without those people who are barely making it, a resort like your place couldn’t exist.”

“Hmm,” the sound was a thoughtful one. “What do you think their biggest expense is?”

“Housing for sure.”

“Would you be interested in a job here if it provided housing to its employees?”

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