Chapter 13 #3
“That’s not what I said or did!” he yelled after her, as he stood there watching as she left him standing there.
Then he realized he needed to call Travis first, and quickly.
He dried his hands and grabbed his cell phone off the table near the pizza he’d brought.
He scrolled through his contacts and pressed the ‘call’ button above Travis’s name. It rang twice before Travis picked up.
“Joel! How’s things?” Travis asked.
“Well, they were great. We were forming a friendship, a bond. But then I think I pushed too hard, and now she’s irritated.”
“That’s not hard to achieve. She’s easily irritated lately. What happened?”
“Well, to give you a summary… met her at the airport, since then dinners, breakfasts, lunches, introductions like we talked about. Had lots of quality time. I had intentions of just being welcoming and introducing her as your daughter; you know, let people get to know her and that she’ll be taking over the business.
But I like her, Travis. I really do. She’s funny, and witty, and smart! ”
“And beautiful,” Travis said dryly.
“Without a doubt. But I think I read more into it than she did.”
“She throw you on your ass?”
“No, not at all. Just totally rejected me and stormed away. I’m not sure what happened, but all day she was distant.
She said she missed home and wanted to get back home so she could get some exercise and feel like herself again.
I suggested we skip closing day on Sunday because it’s usually just breakdown and ship the booths back to the company anyway, not a lot of networking going on and we could catch an early flight out tomorrow.
She liked that, but still didn’t seem to settle.
I suggested she go to the pool in the hotel and go for a swim.
I went and took care of the details of us returning early — we’ll be there tomorrow morning by the way — and decided I’d come back here and spend some more time with her.
Maybe swim a little, let her know I was interested.
Brought her a pizza. She was not impressed. ”
“Did she seem so before hand?”
“I thought so. Things were easy between us. Lots of laughing and just being real. We never spoke of anything other than the reason we were here, but did share a few anecdotes and enjoyed each other’s company. I know we did.”
“Maybe that’s what threw her. She thought it was all professional.”
“That’s what I expected, too. Until I met her and realized how amazing she is. It’s why I’m calling you. I’m definitely interested in her, and I hope it’s not a problem. But if it is, I’m willing to assign a salesman to your account.”
“I understand. And I appreciate the call. I would have told you to take it slow and not tip your hand if you’d called me before talking to her about it.
But if I’m being honest here, when I sent her out your way I was kind of hoping she’d be interested in you and you in her.
If she develops interest in working with improving our farm, it keeps her home, and if she likes you, too, keeps her focused on the subject of our farm and improving it. Even better.”
“Honestly, I wasn’t interested in anything other than making sure she had a pleasant trip and got back to you safely, until I saw her and spent some time with her. But I think I pushed too hard.”
“Yeah, you said that. What’d you do other than bring her a pizza?” Travis demanded.
“Nothing! Just helped her out of the pool and got a little too close, for her comfort at least. Nothing disrespectful. I didn’t touch anything I shouldn’t have. She seemed highly offended, though.”
“If you had, you’d most likely still be unconscious in the pool.”
“Either way, I’m not willing to give up yet. It might take a while longer than I’d hoped, or than you’d hoped, but I’m still going to try to win her attention. And I just wanted to let you know that things were not good and I obviously offended her somehow, and I wanted you to hear it from me.”
“Appreciate that. I knew you weren’t very on board when I first brought up the idea of introducing you to my daughter, and that I’d appreciate you taking her under your wing for the trade show.”
“It wasn’t that I didn’t want her here, it’s just that I wasn’t looking for anybody. She’s thrown me for a loop, though, to say the least. She’s like nothing I’ve ever met before.”
Travis laughed. “You have no idea how true that is, Joel. Take care of her, get her home, and we’ll take it from there. We’ll spend next week going through our processes and see where it leads.”
“Thank you. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
~~~
Harper got out of the shower, wrapped a towel around her head to help dry her hair, and went out to the living room to relax and call her father.
First, though, she searched the Internet for a nearby pizza delivery and found one just half a mile away.
She placed her order for a large, extra sauce, topped with pepperoni and black olives, then settled in to call her dad. She dialed the number and waited.