Page 116 of Fierce-Zander

“You mean like setting them up?” she asked. “I most certainly will not be telling them that.”

He laughed. “I didn’t mean that. Just that you can say you’ve got more clients just like I do from people seeing us in the building and the newsletter that goes out twice a month.”

“You’ve got no problem meeting my father?” she asked.

“No,” he said. “Do I need to worry? I’ve got a gun. You do too.”

“Oh God. I appreciate you trying to make light of this. I really do. And none of this needs to be brought up either. Not the letter I got nor the fact I’ve got a gun. I’ll never hear the end of it.”

“I thought your parents didn’t show a lot of emotion,” he said.

“They don’t, but that doesn’t mean they can’t nag like the next overbearing parent.”

“Kellen?” he asked.

“Yes. I guess my brother isn’t talking to them much. He didn’t in the past either, but when he lived locally they didn’t care so much.”

“How often do you talk to Kellen?” he asked.

“We text a lot. He’d like to meet you too. He’s trying to come home at the holidays. The problem is, he doesn’t want to stay with either parent. Not see them either.”

“He wants to stay with you and I’m there?” he asked. “I can stay at my place. Don’t worry.”

“It’s not that. I mean, I think he will stay with me and you can too. I’m not sure what I’m doing for the holiday yet. I’m only working half a day on Tuesday. We are closed Wednesday and I’ll be back to work on Thursday. He doesn’t have much time off either. He said that he planned to come on the weekend, spend a few days here, maybe see some friends and then leave Christmas morning.”

“So if we spent it with my family on that day, he wouldn’t be around?”

He hadn’t talked to her yet about the holidays.

“No,” she said. “That would be his reason to leave. He’d have to get back home. I think he gets Christmas Eve and Christmas Day off, so he’d only be taking Monday off. My father is out of town so that is one less thing he has to worry about. My mother is more into Christmas Eve. She hasn’t reached out yet, but I expect that she will soon.”

“Do you think she’s going to want to meet me too?”

“Once my father does, then my mother will be the next person. It’s what they do.”

He shook his head. “They still talk a lot?” he asked.

“I don’t ask much. I don’t want to know.”

“I’ll be game for anything,” he said. “I’ll be your backup.”

“Good,” she said. “I’ll need it.”

He pulled into a parking lot of a pub he’d passed by on the way to the range. “Do you care if we eat here?”

“I’ve never been here before, but it works for me.”

“I’ve been here a few times,” he said. “They’ve got good food and a lot of sandwiches and salads.”

“Like you ever eat a salad,” she said, getting out of his vehicle and laughing.

He reached over and put her gun in the glove box and locked it and then locked his SUV.

They got a seat and ordered their drinks.

“I appreciate you doing everything today,” he said.

“I don’t feel as if I had much of a choice.”

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