Page 34 of The Deal Maker

"Today you'll need to recreate a famous photo. Head over to Josie's Photo Lounge to see your options."

"That doesn't sound too bad," Duke says, perking up a bit. "She's got a ton of dress-up stuff so we might not need to hunt anything down. Save time for you to get back to The Candy Jar."

It's nice that he's trying to be considerate about my time, but he looks like he's lost something. Maybe things at work aren’t going well?

He starts walking down the boardwalk that winds closer to the far end of the shops, over by the bakery.

"Did something happen to you last night?" I ask, having to jog a couple of steps to keep up with his longer strides.

He grunts and says, "Family happened."

I mull that over, knowing just how much family can play against a mood. My biggest question is if I can handle him like this for our tasks.

"Do you want to talk about it?" I ask, softly.

"No," he says, flatly. I'm hoping we can make it through all this scavenger hunt stuff and then get back to my day. But from his flat tone, I’m now invested.

"You know what?" Duke says, turning toward me. "It's lame that people can comment on a relationship status or a major life decision and just think that they're completely right."

I pause, not sure where this is going. Apparently he did want to talk about it.

"My family wasn't behind me when we started The Candy Jar."

"Are they now?" he asks.

Shaking my head, I say, "It's only been a couple of months, but they think I should've stayed in Virginia and worked at the same accounting firm my dad owns."

"So how did you get past the part where you went against their wishes?"

I blink a few times, trying to figure out what he means. "Do you mean my thoughts and emotions?"

He nods. "How do you let it not bug you?"

"My parents understand that I need to grow up and make my own decisions. It took them some time to come around, but they finally understood that I was going to pursue this and see where it went." Are they happy about it? No. I’m pretty sure that they’re just waiting for the store to fail so they can convince me to come back to Annandale.

Duke is silent for a few moments and nods.

It’s so weird that he isn’t leading out the conversation like always. "What about you? Are your parents against you doing the timeshares?"

I shouldn't feel so triumphant to have a few other people on my side of this issue, but I can't help it.

"Relationships, my career. They mean well, I'm just sick of them getting all over me about things I'm working through."

"What made you go into timeshares?" I ask, curious if it's just a money grabbing scheme to him.

"I heard about it from someone when I was at my last job. There are benefits and trip rewards when I get high enough in the company. Traveling is the thing I want to do the most right now, and not having to pay an arm and a leg sounds like a great plan."

"But don't you have to buy a bunch of points to do that? Or hit a certain target of sales?"

He nods. "I just set up the presentation appointments and then work a deal for people to do some of the cool activities nearby. Eventually, sales would contribute to it. If I can keep going. It's a goal. If I have something set, a great reward, I'm motivated to hit it."

"And your past jobs?" I ask, raising an eyebrow.

"No motivation."

"What happens if you stall out in this one? Maybe you don't get a promotion you were hoping for?"

"Why you gotta ask me questions like that?" Duke says, laughing. I must've struck a chord because he puts his hands over his face and shakes his head.

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