Page 44 of The Billionaire's Fortunate Accident
“Okay, so the things you can get there are pretty much limitless. Think of a sandwich shop, like Subway. They have all these ingredients that the customer decides on. That’s one part of how my thing’s gonna be. You can choose between an egg roll and a burrito, and then you pick what you’d like inside of it. We move along the assembly line, putting in the things you want, and then we roll them up and drop them into the fryer for five minutes. While they’re frying, the customer will pick from a variety of dipping sauces. On the menu, there will be my specialties for those people who can’t make up their mind.”
Sloan asked, “How come you aren’t opening this at the resort first? Why the hospital?”
“The interns, nurses, and doctors who work there don’t have access to the best foods. The cafeteria doesn’t exactly cater to healthy diets. And I’ve visited all cafeterias at all the local hospitals here in Austin and found the only healthy choices are the same old things — salads, raw veggies, cheese cubes or sticks, those sorts of things. People are done with that tasteless stuff. So, they will go for the tastier things that are available to them. Unfortunately, the tastier the foods in the cafeterias are, the worse they are for you.”
“So, you can only get egg rolls or burritos?” my sister-in-law Alexis, asked.
“No. I’ll have other items that will be prepared fresh daily and will already be packaged, ready to eat. Daily sandwich specials will be offered too, using only sourdough bread. Again, they’ll be ready-made, but fresh veggies can be added to them at no extra cost. Plus, they’ll come with homemade sweet potato chips.” I liked the nods I was getting from everyone. “There’ll be breakfast foods in the morning, and then we’ll switch to the other foods at ten. We’ll be open from six in the morning until seven in the evening. Most hospitals end their visiting hours at nine, and I’d like to be all cleaned up and closed up by that time.”
“Sounds like you’ve been working hard this last month or so,” Tyrell said. “Glad to see that spark of passion in your eyes, Stone. Cohen told us that he’s going to file for some grants for you once you’re established. He said you’d like to talk to us about funding a grant until those kick in. So, what do you need money for?”
“Feeding the interns and the residents — those are doctors on the last legs of their journey to becoming independent doctors. The interns and residents work twelve-hour shifts. Sometimes it can even go longer. But they don’t get paid by the hour. The interns make around thirty-thousand dollars a year. And the residents make around fifty thousand. This isn’t the kind of money someone who works that many hours in any field would take home. It leaves some of them broke. And being broke means they buy cheap food. And cheap food isn’t always the most nutritious.”
Jasper asked, “So the grants are to cover the cost of the food you’re going to serve?”
“No.” I knew I wasn’t great at explaining things. “The grants are to cover the costs of the free meals we’ll give the interns and residents. Everyone else will pay full price. But I’m doing all I can to keep those costs as low as I can while still making a tidy profit.”
Jasper was quick to offer, “You can have our fresh, organically grown veggies at cost.”
“Wow!” That was some gift. “You sure about that, Jasper?”
“One hundred percent sure. All I ask is that you put up some signage that has our logo and web address on it so people can look us up online to buy our products. A hell of a lot of people can go through hospitals. The way you’re talking, I’m guessing you plan on putting these little bistros in as many hospitals as you can.”
“I sure am.”
Tyrell held up one finger. “You got all the meats you want at cost too, cousin. Do the same thing for the meat that you do for the veggies, and we’ve got a deal.”
“Holy shit!” I knew my cousins were generous, but I had no idea how generous they truly were. “Thank you, guys. This is such a blessing.”
Cash nodded. “We’ve all been blessed, Stone. This whole thing came out of nowhere for us. And what you want to do is good. It’s good for people, and it helps our medical staff too. Giving people who are giving up so much just to learn how to care for the sick and the injured is just the right thing to do. I’m behind you, man. Now, all we got to give is liquor. But I bet you can’t sell it up there.”
“Probably not. But I can put up signage for that too.” I, too, could finally give something back, and that made me happier than I’d ever been.
I had to tell Jessa all this fantastic news. So, as soon as dinner was over and I’d gotten everyone to agree on the grant, I found a quiet spot to make a call to her.
The call went straight to voicemail, giving me the impression that she’d turned her phone off for some damn reason. But she was working at Hamburger Hut, so I began looking up that number. A television was on in the corner of the room. Some of the kids must’ve been watching it before they were called to dinner. So I went over to get the remote to turn it off.
The sound was down, but what I saw on the screen immediately grabbed my attention. Raymond Joseph Moxon was written underneath the picture of a nicely dressed, older man. I turned up the sound to hear the reporter say, “It’s a sad day in North Carolina, where textile heir and multi-billionaire Raymond Joseph Moxon has passed away from a sudden heart attack. His entire estate will be passed down to his only heirs, his daughters, Carolina Lily Moxon of Durham, North Carolina, where the family estate is located, and Carolina Jessamine Moxon, currently living in Austin, Texas, where she attends Dell Medical School.”
I went to my knees as I suddenly felt as if all the air had left my lungs. “She’s rich!”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Jessa
A knock came to the door of my office and Tammy opened it. “Hey, you’ve got a call. Some woman is crying her ass off. She says she’s been trying to call your cell, but it seems to be off.”
“Who’d be calling me at ten at night?” I picked up the phone on the desk then pressed the flashing number one button. “Jessa Moxon here.”
“Jessa,” came my sister’s tear-filled voice. “Thank God I got you. I told the media I’d already contacted you. It was a lie, I know. But I honestly thought I would get you before the ten o’clock news would come on. It was headline news, so they already put it out there. Did you see it?”
“See what?” By the sound of her voice, I knew it couldn’t be good. My stomach tensed, and I instinctively put my hand over it, already feeling protective of the baby. At three weeks, it wasn’t even considered a fetus yet — it was still an embryo. And it was the size of a tiny vanilla bean. But in my mind, I’d already been calling it a baby.
“Our father,” she said, then gasped. “I still can’t believe it.”
“Believe what?” I hated how dramatic Lily could be. “Come on, Lily, just tell me what’s happened.”
“He’s dead!” She wailed so loudly that I had to pull the phone away from my ear.
