Chapter 4
FORREST WASN’T certain if this was a good idea, but Lizzie looked up at him with those huge eyes, and he found his resolve caving. “Is that all right with you?” he asked Conrad, fully prepared to come up with a previous engagement.
“Of course. We usually go to Miseno’s for pizza. Lizzie likes it, and there’s enough variety that I can get a dad pizza.”
Lizzie made a face. “Dad pizza is yucky.”
“Not to dads,” Forrest said to her. “I need to check on a few things, but I can meet you there if you like. Let me give you my number in case something changes.” Forrest gave it to him and Conrad called so Forrest would have his.
“All right,” Conrad said, and Forrest went back up the stairs to tell the organizers that he was leaving. Then he returned downstairs as Lizzie and her dad were leaving the gallery. He followed them out and got in his car in the lot across the street before heading to the restaurant.
By the time he got there, they hadn’t arrived, so he got a table and made himself comfortable. Lizzie hurried inside and sat across from him. “What is it you like here?”
“Lots of cheese,” she told him.
Conrad slid in after her. “I usually order Lizzie a cheese slice and then something more grown-up for me. They have a special, which is basically everything, and that’s what I get.”
“Sounds good,” Forrest agreed, and they ordered a large special as well as a slice of cheese pizza for Lizzie. They also got sodas.
“What do you do?” Forrest asked Conrad.
“I’m a CPA with Brunner Maxwell. I specialize in accounting system setup, so when a company has system upgrades or where their accounting systems are no longer working for them, I’m the one they call.
I come in and assess what they have and what they need.
Then I help them plan how to get there. At times I’ve managed their plans for them, but mostly I work with their people to help them get things up and running again. ”
“So you’re an accounting system fixer.”
“Yeah… you could say that. I’m a CPA, but I also have a strong computer background, so I spend a lot of my time in the systems area.
Lots of my colleagues understand accounting, but so much of it is done with computer programs now, and a lot of them don’t understand them.
So it’s my job to bridge the gaps between them all.
” He smiled and hugged Lizzie to him. “The best part of my job is that I get to come home to this munchkin here.” The server brough their drinks, and he helped Lizzie get the straw in hers.
“So you’re an artist as well as a schoolteacher. ”
“It’s something I do in my spare time. In the summers, when I wasn’t subbing or teaching, I work for a local construction company.
They’re always looking for qualified help.
It’s not my favorite thing to do, but it’s good money.
I’ve taught summer school, but that just seems kind of unfair.
The kids have so much energy and they’re stuck inside for part of the day.
No, I don’t want to do that again,” Besides, he needed a break from the classroom, and being out in the fresh air, doing something different, helped him clear the cobwebs and got him ready to go back for the new school year.
He loved his work, but it also took a lot out of him, “Do you do anything for fun?”
“Daddy and me go on walks, and he likes to play Lego,” Lizzie answered for him.
“Do the two of you do Lego together?”
Lizzie shook her head. “Daddy does Lego.”
“I used to do a lot of building competitions before I got this little one. Since then I haven’t had the time. The basement of the house has millions of bricks and tons of models I’ve put together.”
“Daddy has a big trophy,” Lizzie put in.
“So you won?” Forrest asked.
Conrad shrugged as though it were no big deal “I did a few times, but that was a while ago. I haven’t competed in over a year, and I rarely go into the basement anymore. I don’t have a lot of time to spend on it.”
Forrest grinned and leaned over the table.
“I love Lego. I think I have all my stuff at my parents’.
I used to ask for sets every year for Christmas.
I made my own stuff too, but I never entered any contests or anything.
” That was so cool, but what was more interesting was the way Conrad’s eyes lit up.
They got this glow, and his eyes grew wider.
And for the first time, he sat comfortably and those worry lines around his eyes smoothed out.
Dare he say that Conrad might have even felt comfortable around him?
Forrest wondered just how long it would last, but still. “What did you win with?”
“The last contest had a theme, which was space. Most of the other contestants did fantastic worlds or even ships, but I used it as an opportunity to design a Mars space station. That was so cool, and I got to let my imagination run wild. It had to be a minifigure-scale model, but I designed my own figures in the same scale and used them in the model. I think that was what pushed me over the edge. The figures themselves can tell a lot of the story, so designing my own meant that I had to tell the whole story, and I really think it impressed the judges that I didn’t take the easy way out.
” He leaned forward as if telling a secret.
“But in the end, it made everything easier for me because I wasn’t limited by the minifigures that existed.
It’s really surprising the kind of parts you can use. ”
“How long ago was that?” It tickled him that the quiet accountant had a creative side. Forrest loved his job, but his passion was his art.
“A little over a year ago.” He began fussing over Lizzie, who squirmed and drank her Sprite.
“Daddy.” She pulled away a little bit, and Conrad sighed softly, but Forrest got the meaning pretty clearly.
Lego was something he had largely given up because of Lizzie, and his time and energy was spent on her.
Forrest understood the need and not having enough hours in the day.
Still, the light in Conrad’s eyes when he talked about it had been sexy.
But it was already fading as the real world pushed its way in.
“What do you like to do most?” he asked Lizzie.
“Play dolls. I have Marcie, Betsy, and Lulu. I also have Lucy, but she’s a bad girl.
” She was so serious. “Marcie likes dogs, and Betsy had horses and she cooks. Lulu reads and is quiet, but Lucy likes to climb trees and she talks back all the time. So she sits in the corner where bad girls go when they’re being punished.
” She sipped from her Sprite, and Forrest had no idea what to say to that.
“She makes up stories about her dolls sometimes,” Conrad said for her. “You told me one of them a while ago.” Lizzie nodded, suddenly shy because Conrad had put her in the spotlight.
“I like making up stories too,” Forrest told her.
The server brought Lizzie’s slice of cheese pizza, and she began to eat. Their pizza arrived a few minutes later. Forrest was hungry, and things quieted at their table.
“Hey Langdon,” a voice almost sneered. Conrad set down his pizza with a sigh. “I hear you almost lost the Smith job.”
“Hardly. There was an issue. It was resolved in less than an hour.” He turned back to his pizza, but the interloper seemed intent on sticking around. “Forrest, this is Lester Drovers. He and I work together.” From his tone, Forrest figured it was not a happy relationship.
“Conny and I are both up for the head of systems,” the man explained.
“And that gives you the right to be rude?” Forrest asked. Lester’s eyes widened, and he looked at Conrad like he was going to get some support.
“I just came over to say hello,” he said as though he were trying to sound innocent. He continued standing at the end of their table, and Forrest figured he was waiting for an invitation, which he’d be damned if he’d offer.
Forrest slid out of the booth and stood tall, crossing his arms over his chest. He didn’t say a word, but Lester swallowed, and to his surprise, glared back at him. “What are you, a wrestler? Shithouse kicker?” He seemed to think he was clever.
“I teach kindergarten, and my kids have better manners than you do.” He kept his voice quiet and gentle but leaned forward. “Have a nice evening and enjoy your meal.” He waited until Lester turned and left before sitting back down.
“Who was that?” Lizzie asked.
“You know how you have Lucy?” Conrad asked. She nodded. “Well, at work, I have him, only they don’t make him stand in a corner. But I wish they would.” He nudged Lizzie. “Finish eating your pizza, Peanut.”
Conrad glanced to the counter, where Lester seemed to be placing an order.
“He and I are both up for a promotion to the head of accounting systems. The thing is that I do most of the work, but the old director is retiring in a few months, and as soon as Lester got wind of it, he started bucking for that job. He isn’t qualified, but he talks all the time, and I swear they give him what he wants to shut him up.
And if they do give him the job, I’ll end up doing all the work while he takes the credit.
Either that or I’ll have to find another job. ”
“There have to be plenty of firms who would want you.”
“Oh, there are. And I have enough clients who would go with me that things would be fine.” He shook his head. “You don’t need to hear about office politics.”
“As long as you let me complain about school politics, we’re even. The PTA groups will drive you crazy, I swear.” At least Conrad smiled. Forrest like that smile and wished he saw it more often.
Conrad set down his fork and drank his soda.
“I hired in with a fresh CPA. John Brunner, one of the founding partners, hired me into the firm. He was hard-driving but fair and believed in nurturing people. He taught me the ropes, and found I had this gift for managing accounting systems, so we developed that end of the business with Carter Grove. He and I have worked together for eight years, and soon he’s retiring. ”