Page 73 of Grumpy Billionaire Seeking Wife

"Oh, hell, no," she says. "Gary's my son. I left my deadbeat husband a long time ago. Actually, right after we got to Florida, I found out that he was banging the stripper at Hooters. Well, she wasn't actually a stripper at Hooters. She worked at Hooters, but she also worked at the strip club. And anyways, she was getting money," she pauses, "but maybe you don't want to hear about all that."

I nod slowly. "I'm sorry to hear that."

"It's okay. You know, that's men for you."

"I guess that it takes all sorts of men." I nod, wondering if Gary is going to show up soon.

Thankfully, he walks in about five minutes later. He's a short, stocky guy with bald hair, and he also has a lot of tattoos. He looks me up and down and walks over to me.

"Hey. Are you Mr. Carrington?" He's got a deep voice, and I nod. "Thanks for waiting. We can go in this way. Hey, Ma?" he says to Mona.

"Yes, Gary?"

"Hold my calls. I'll be in a meeting."

"Yes, Gary, but what about if Amanda calls?"

"Ma?"

"Yes, Gary?"

"Hold all my calls."

"Fine. I'm just saying if she shows up here yet again, accusing you of cheating..."

I press my lips together. Did I somehow walk into an alternate reality TV show?

"Come on," Gary says.

We close the door behind us and have a seat. I'm pleased to see that Gary's office looks a lot more comfortable.

"Sorry about that. Ma can be a little inappropriate, but she's a good secretary, and she's cheap." He grins. "So, how are you doing today?"

"I'm fine. I just wanted to meet with you and follow up on the case and see if?—"

"Yeah, I've actually already started researching. This dude, he's nowhere to be found. He was very active in a lot of databases up until about twelve years ago, and then he just disappears."

"Well, that's why I contacted you." I nod slowly. "It's very important to me, well, she's very important to me, and it's her father, and I would like for her to get some closure, you know?"

"Even if he's dead?" He stares at me.

I stare back at him, my heart racing. "I don't know. We'll come to that decision once I find out what's going on."

"Makes sense," he says, nodding. "So this girl, she mean a lot to you?"

"Yeah, she does."

"Okay. Well, then, I will do my best to find her father." He leans forward. "I do have to tell you, in cases like this, it's usually not good."

"What do you mean it's usually not good?"

"I mean, they're usually dead or in jail or"—he shrugs—"living in the streets, homeless because they're drug addicts. I don't know. Things happen in life."

"Yeah, I know. But I know this has been something weighing on her mind for a really long time, and I feel like perhaps it could be helpful for her to know what happened. Maybe for her mom, too."

Gary nods. "Well, we'll see what we can do."

"Thank you. I guess I should write the check over to you?"

---