4. Look Who’s Calling – Larry
My home office was light, airy, and peaceful, and it overlooked the pool. From the ninth floor, I had one of the best views in the city—superb even. There were only two apartments on each of the twenty floors in the building, so I could see all the way to Davis Island on one side, the entirety of Tampa Bay from the middle, and practically to St. Petersburg from the back. It was a fantastic place to live and work, and from my built-in desk and bookshelves that surrounded the window, I could make all my calls, like the one I was on. It was easier to convince people like Jake Cornell to invest when I was comfortable. And I was, with my feet propped up on the desk, leaning back in my chair. I explained what our company was about again and what kind of returns we expected on his investment, and I listened to him talk on and on about his finances.
Calling investors was normally a thrill. There wasn’t much I loved more than parting rich people with their money, except doing it for a good cause, and that was definitely this project. The renewable energy team of scientists that Hudson found had designed something that would be a much-needed help to the environment.
But I had to admit it was all losing some of its polish and pizazz. The game. The hustle. Moving and shaking. Maybe I was getting too old for it? At least I’d taken Hudson’s advice over the years and invested my money well. I could walk away if I wanted, but I never felt like I had enough. Never felt like I was actually good enough. No matter how much money I made.
After getting Jake’s commitment, I ended the call. I still needed to follow up with Ward Predmore to see if I could get him on board. So I started to scroll through my contact numbers to figure out who I could get his number from when I noticed I had a voicemail. The call had come in when I was on with Jake, but I’d nearly forgotten it, and I didn’t recognize the number. I clicked on the button and played the message.
“Uh…so this is Todd Foster. Um…Levi’s friend. I’m sure you know who I am. Shit. I’m messing this up. Look, I have a business proposal for you. Fuck!” He’d said the curse under his breath, but I could still clearly hear it. “You’re probably not interested but call me back. If you want.” The message ended. He was rather amusing.
And well, I had thought about Todd a lot since Hudson’s party for his boyfriend. And even more since that crappy and completely boring dinner. He was a cutie, for sure. His hair was brown with some blond streaks on top where it flowed away from his forehead, and he seemed studious with his thick-framed glasses that didn’t quite hide his hazel eyes. His lips were perfect for kissing and his body, long and lean, was perfect for holding. But I’d blown it big time with him.
So why was he calling now? He said something about a business proposition, but I had no clue what kind of proposition he would have that I’d be interested in. I hated to sound snobby, but I was involved with multi-billion-dollar deals, not any penny-ante stuff he could come up with. Hell, he was fresh out of college and so young. But…
Maybe I could get a second chance with him after all. I still didn’t know about that pup-stuff or how I could navigate around that. I could explain that I didn’t care about it. He could do it all he wanted, but I wasn’t interested in being involved. That in no way meant I was judging. Hopefully, he could live with that. Or perhaps I was rushing things.
Fuck it.
I tapped the phone to call him back, and when he answered, he seemed so unsure, but it came across as endearing. “Uh…hello?” he actually asked like it was a question of whether he was answering the phone.
“Todd? This is Larry. Returning your call.”
“Yeah, about that. Sorry. Forget it.”
“No, no. Don’t hang up.”
“I-I wasn’t.”
“Good.” I put my feet on the floor. “I’m not sure what kind of proposition you have, but I’m interested in whatever you have to say.”
“Oh. Okay. Well…it’s kind of a long story and, uh, complicated.”
“In that case, let’s have dinner—on me. You can take plenty of time to explain.”
“Sure. When?” He didn’t sound all that sure, so I figured I would make it worth his while. Dinner and drinks somewhere nice where he didn’t normally get to go. We set up a time, and he texted me his address so I could pick him up. That was surprisingly easy to get out of him. But I wasn’t taking it for granted.
Out the window, the sun was setting somewhere behind me but still casting pink streaks across the sky and water to the east. It would have been nice to see the sunset directly over the water. But I still had a stunning view, and on the odd occasion when I could get my ass up early enough, the sunrises were incredible, especially from my favorite balcony—a clear, unobstructed view of the bay. But none of it was calming right now.
For the first time in as long as I could remember, I was excited about something. Truly excited and not merely acting like I was. I had the butterflies and everything to prove it. And I wasn’t even sure what the hell I was excited about. For all I knew, Todd could be interested in something purely platonic with no desire to take things further with me at all.
And wouldn’t that just suck?